From the Artic to the Equator, (almost)

So now we feel like explorers, having spent time in the artic circle as well, as coming to the Caribbean. 

Well, here we are all ready to go and see Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's own island. The original plan was to go to Haiti, when we bought the cruise last summer, but alas, with the political unrest there, this island was substituted.  It was pretty fun, at least we got to go snorkeling a bit, as Dave and Bri loaned us their equipment.  You can see how excited the girls are to head off the ship.

Here we are with all the kids.

The rest of the party in front of the amusement part of the island.

We admired this sand sculpture of the Utopia. 

Getting that sunscreen on ...

Papa and Mimi get in a little reading in.

and relaxing.

Adi saw someone else wearing 'their brand' of glasses, and showed her Dad, who said, "Oh I lost mine." when the kid saw their interest in the glasses, he said, "are these yours?  I saw them floating on the ocean." Davin had put them in the pocket of his swim shorts and they'd floated out. 

Adi swimsuit matches perfectly.

and what is more peaceful than a day at the beach snorkeling ... Ok, I know, it's a different kind of peace, but still it was lovely.

Getting back on board, we're the ship to the right. 

Dad and I went to the ice show with Adi ... the backdrop had "liberty" written in several different languages, Dad loved that 'Vapaus" was included, which of course is Finnish.

The show was great, ... and we all thought the skater second from the left looked like Van.  This is the Captain Cook section of the show.

Thye pulled little kids from the audience to ride on the boats.

Here's another shot of this cute skater.

Another shot ....

Everyone went to see the show the second time, but we were on the front row and it was soooo loud. 

Adi doesn't just love dance and skating shows, she loves bread too.

Dad and I went to the musical extravaganza.  They normally have two 'Production' shows.  

This one had bits from various Broadway musicals.  Of course, I was tickled that they included Joseph and the Technicolor dream coat.  Unfortunately, the other production was cancelled when the man in charge of the production had to be taken off ship and to the hospital.  

There was a lot of fun for Dave's crew in the pools on board and the hot tub, and no, Bri has not taken up smoking a cigar, she is just holding her phone sideways. 

Pinapple coolers for all. 

This is for Robin, I saw one duck on board, in the library.  There was a 10-year-old playing games with his grandparents and I pointed it out to them.  The library was entirely different than the other game room/ library from our previous cruise.  It was almost always empty.  And the book selection was pathetic.  85 % of the books were in foreign languages.  There was an Agatha Christie that I had not read, though, so I read it and the pages started falling out.  I found an elastic to put around it, and we added a couple of others we had finished reading.  Talk about a different population on the two cruises. 

Here are some people we love at the buffet. 

And here we are when we got off together in Nassau, Bahamas.  It was fun to see the old English Government buildings from the 1800's.

Also, the unusual flora and fauna.

It was quite a hike up to the Queen's Staircase, named for Queen Victoria ... 

Here we go heading down.

Kiddos on the staircase.

This girl climbed the rock.

Such unsual flowers.

And a view that Adi noticed looking up.  Stunning.

And a shot of others going up.

We were all so thirsty that we stopped and got drinks. Eli chose a sprite, so when his Dad saw this sprite add we all knew a picture was in order. 

We got talking about DNA, and it was fun to see Bri's.  She is from everywhere. 

  The third island was Falmouth, Jamaica and included a hike up a waterfall, and another through some caves ... I chose to stay home at the last minute because it was rated as difficult.  Which it was.  At the waterfall hike, Dad fell, and Bri stopped him from going over the edge, and a 20-foot tumble down a steep incline, but she also fell in the process.  Thank you, Bri. 

Here they are ready for the climb.

Holding hands, with 16 in all.

Happy faces.

Climbing.

Success ....

Here are the pictures from the spelunking.

The fourth island was Georgetown, Grand Cayman, where we all went snorkeling.  The first part was to see a sunken ship, that was sunken on purpose 20 years ago to provide a reef to attract fish.  The ship had been a submarine ship built in the 60's to rescue submarines.  It is actually the ship that found the black box from the Challenger disaster.

Here we go out to snorkel on Grand Cayman.

Bri and me.

Here is Dave's family as we get on the boat where we head out on our snorkeling tour, with our ship in the background.

We started with the sunken ship, which was amazing. Unfortunately, McKenna got stung on the knee by a jelly fish.  Poor kiddo, but she was so brave, and decided to snorkel when we got to the reef anyway. 

This is a picture of the reef.

Elias noticed a group of tarpins close to the shore after our snorkeling trip

The big boys in their Hawaiin wear.

Catching rays by the pool.

And taking advantage of the features of the ship.

He made it.

McKenna climbed to the top three times.  Whoa.

Look at her go.

This gal was at the buffet everyday for hours, saying "Good Morning, washi, washi."  and "Washi washi before Yummy Yummy."  I talked to her about how many people actually do wash, and she said about half.  She made me this paper towel rose!  How sweet is she? 

Here's Dave's family as we head out to snorkel

On our night before last the wind was blowing, and there was lightening.  Because Dave and Bri had a view of the Heli pad on the front of the ship from their room, they knew people were allowed, though there we no signs, and there was nothing showing on the maps of the ship, all over the place. It was a weel kept secret. They were out there and messaged us to join them, it was a trick to find the hidden passageway, but so worth it.  There was lightening, wind, and a gorgeously colored sunset that kept changing.

such a dramatic view.

a magical sky ...

and a cool breeze ...

A little bit of heaven.

Dad and I had gone for pizza on deck five where they have their 'street of shops', and they had a brass band.  As we sat waiting for the pizza (They never had vegi pizza available, except by request), they started doing a little ceremony to honor veterans.  Dad has gone up the stairs here to stand on the bridge that goes across the 'street'.

Here he is far right.

and a picture of the whole group, except the Marines, who had to stand under the bridge .... They played armed forces medley, then the National Anthem. It was pretty cool.

At breakfast the next morning, this man joined us at the table we had by the window.  He was super nice, and smart.  I loved his t-shirt, and he agreed to let me take a picture.  He's an Aeronomics-Engineer, and worked all over the place, with NASA and other agencies, in Florida and Texas, as well as other places.  He's mostly retired now, and living in Ohio.  He had come on the cruise with his wife and 80 others from his church group. 

With storms threatening to become hurricanes, as the season for them was just getting underway. we did have some choppy seas, and wind and wonderful skies to enjoy. 

Today we got off the boat and took an uber to the hotel.  We left our luggage and took another uber to a local church in Hollywood, Florida.  Who knew.  It was a lovely and very diverse ward, and the counselor who was conducted, he was from Samoa, showed a warning sign he would put on the podium if people exceeded their one-minute limit.  It was not that limited, but there were people lined up throughout the meeting, and there were something like 20 all told.   The spirit was lovely too.  This man's wife taught the Sunday School lesson, and also gave us a ride back to our hotel.  How nice was that?

As you see he is a mostly retired BYU professor, and they have lived here, in a rental for a year, while they decide on a permanent address here. They raised their family in Happy Valley, and with one of their two children living in Florida, they decided to retire here. 

And here we see yet another special occasion we missed while being gone for a month.  Van turned 6, though he wasn't back home either .... he celebrated it in his new home.