At the beginning of May, The Babe and I decided to take all our hard earned rewards points (yeah, because spending money is hard . . . ) and take a well earned vacation. The Babe and I take turns deciding on vacations since we both have very different ideas. This time it was his turn and since he has been dying to go on another cruise and snorkel, that's what we did. The adventure lies here-in.
I don't know what it was, but when we walked up to that huge ship, passports in hand, I've never felt more like an adult. I kept saying, "Babe! We are such adults! Look at us!" and he'd be like, "Yeah." in a 'duh, captain obvious' sort of voice with one eyebrow raised.
We learned a few things on this cruise all by our adult selves.
Good Things We Learned:
1. The food is good. 2. The endless amounts of free time are good. 3. The ocean is beautiful and fun.
Bad Things We Learned:
1. The food is good. 2. The endless amounts of free time are good. 3. The ocean is beautiful and fun.
Let me explain . . .
The food is good but with lack of self control it may have destructive setbacks . . .
The free time is wonderful. Except for when you have two days at sea and the pool is covered in children, all the activities are based around bidding and drinking (which we had no money since we payed to go on the cruise and we don't drink). Also, the ocean is beautiful and fun. But let it not fool you. That thing can rock you to high heaven and will give you a reflective burn that will scar. BUT!!! we still had fun. That is what counts.
After multiple amounts of fro-yo and hot tubing, we arrived in Grand Cayman. Some of the local businesses stood on the dock where we disembarked the ship and yelled at us continuously about buying an excursion. We planned on doing a beach day. But between one very persistent woman named "Angelina" and our thirst for adventure, we bought to tickets to Stingray City. Before we knew it, we were on this boat with twenty other people, headed out to a sandbar in the middle of the ocean (to my reluctance). Once there, we were massaged by stingrays, kissed them, held them, pet them, and swam with them.
Let me tell you, kissing a stingray may be seven years good luck, but man, it is one slimy kiss!!
The next day, the sun was out, and the humidity hit us harder than a ton of bricks, but we found our way to Cozumel and managed a taxi ride to The Money Bar. Once there we met our snorkel guide, Chala Michael Snorkel Excursions (awesome by the way! If you're going to Cozumel sometime in the future, look them up! They are a local group, but we trusted them and they were amazing!) at the pier. We had snorkeled that morning off the beach of another private club, and seeing how we saw some cool stuff right off the beach, we were pretty excited to see what else was out there.
We were pretty excited about our pending adventures because the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is what you see when you dive/snorkel in Cozumel. It is the second largest reef in the world. Second to the Great Barrier Reef. So, we were pretty stoked. Needless to say, we were not let down. The first place Captain Chala took us to was a three foot deep area called 'Heaven.' And it was. The sand it white, the water is turquoise and clear. It was beautiful. And refreshing to get out of that Mexican sun! We snorkeled around and saw stingrays, lots of fish, starfish bigger than our heads, and we even got to pick up sand dollars off the ocean floor to take home.
The second stop was about eight feet deep. Which freaked me out a little more, but it was still so worth it once I stopped hyperventilating. There were so many schools of bright colored fish and crabs. There was a squid, a spider grab, and tons of starfish. I kept doing perimeter checks for sharks, though. Like, seriously.
The last stop was twenty-five to forty feet deep. Instead of using the ladder, we had to slide in off the boat. That freaked me out a bit, but I wasn't about to let fear stop me from all those bragging rights. It was so worth it. I've never seen anything so beautiful under water. I've never seen choral so big and so many beautiful sea life. Right at the end, just before we swam back to the boat, a sea turtle swam past us. It was so peaceful and we all floated quietly, watching it swim into the deep. That was the one thing I reeeeeeally wanted to see. So, I was happy.
After that, we were ready for some fresh water and the journey home. Which, was a painful one thanks to that Mexican sun. Doesn't matter how much sunscreen I use, I burn like a shish-ka-baby. But, we were so thankful to get away just us. No fur-baby, no school, no work. Nothing but each other and endless amounts of non-drowsy Dramamine and fro-yo.
As we watched the sun dip under the ocean, we were ready for reality again. That is, until the storm hit us the next day and I thought we were about to star in the squeal of Titanic. We sat out on the deck and watched this foggy cloud of rain catch up with us. Nothing but rain and lightning and waves. Yeah, next time I'm taking some Xanax.
BUT! Despite the storm, the sunburns, the pounds gained from fro-yo, and two terribly sad rounds of mini-golf, we lived! Hallelujah!
Cruise, check.
Snorkeling the second best dive spot in the world, check.
Going to the gym to work off all that fro-yo . . . check.
Adulting at its finest in the twenty-one and older Serenity Lounge, CHECK.
