Our fabulous trip!

So after 10 years of lamenting the lameness of our honeyman, Regina and I finally had our do over. To celebrate our first decade together, we went on a caribbean cruise. We had a great time and wish we were back on the boat even now. No, we did not take the kids. What kind of vacation is that? We were very fortunate that my sister Andrea and her husband Dan were able to come watch the boys for the week. We couldn't have gone without their help.

We went over spring break week. We were a little afraid of the type of crowd we'd be with during that week, but I can't say we had a problem. We cruised on the Norwegian Jewel ship. We liked Norwegian because they give you freedom to eat when and where you want, no schedules. The boats are amazing. The Jewel was over 1000 feet long, 14 stories high and weighs 93,000 tons. There were about 12 restaurants, a huge stage theater, stores, a casino, pools, cabins for thousands of people, and that doesn't include all of the area for the crew, and machinery on the 4 lower decks. We were gone 7 days, during which we had one-day stops in Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, Costa Maya, Mexico, and Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. It was great to go to places where I could speak spanish to everyone.

In Roatan we just did whatever looked like fun. We rented this scooter and cruised all over the island. We stopped and hiked into the jungle and found lots of lizards. We spent some time on the beach and snorkeled around in what is considered the second largest coral reef in the world. We had never been snorkeling before and it was really amazing. We were surounded by fish of every size, shape and color. That was the only day that we had any rain, though it didn't dampen the fun time we had. Get it...dampen? Nevermind.

The next port was Belize City. We had prearranged a tour that takes you out to go cavetubing. On the way we encountered some familiar figures outside the bus.

Cavetubing was really fun. Basically you ride on tubes through a cave for about a mile. There were bats flying around and it was really a beautiful sight. On the hike to the hike to the river, our tour guide stopped us for a short snack - termites. Surprisingly, they aren't too bad. They taste like pine.

Our favorite port was Costa Maya. We loved the beaches and ocean. it was so blue and the water was warm. Coming from the Oregon coast, warm ocean is a wonder. You hear about it, and know that it exists, but to feel it is awesome. We spent all day in the sun on beach or snorkeling or visting shops along the shore. Despite repeated applications of sun screen we still got fried, but it was worth it. Shouldn't ALL oceans look like this?!In this moment Regina is wondering why she is the one holding the spiny urchin we found just so I could take a picture. It was actually burying it's spines into her hand and we had a little trouble removing it.

In the end, after all the things we saw, tasted, smelled, and experienced, the best part was just being together. It was just the thing we needed to give us time for just us.