Tropical Vibes
The best part of winter for us is looking out the plane window and saying goodbye to negative degree wind chills and snow.
And waving hello 2.5 hours later to warm weather and ocean views.
This cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess was our 21st cruise. We still get that excited feeling walking up the gangway to board the ship.
We had a cute inside cabin for this journey.
With a couple of shots of Ron Zacapa XO rum in hand we said cheers to an early celebration of our 33 years together/29 married years ;)
For this trip we secured chairs in the sanctuary for all 5 of the sea days. Our first sea day was a bit chilly with temps around 70 and very windy.
The next day was our second sea day. It was a bit warmer and I knit the day away.
Our next day was a stop in St. Thomas. We hopped in a taxi.
Headed to Red Hook and jumped on the ferry over to St. John for the day.
We hiked the Lind Point trail to Honeymoon Beach in the national park.
The weather was rain off and on but we found a nice quiet spot to "set up camp".
And enjoyed the view.
I set up my hammock for a couple of hours when the rain passed and knit and watched the boats go by.
In late afternoon the clouds had finally cleared and it was that glorious warm and Caribbean sun we were hoping for!
The next day, a new port.
We booked an excursion through the ship and enjoyed a catamaran sail and a couple of snorkel spots.
Then we were off to the next day and another port.
We booked another snorkeling excursion through our ship.
Our first stop at the bat cave and saw some beautiful sun cup coral and tons of sea life here.
Our second stop, Anse Dufour, we floated above some pretty large sea turtles.
After our snorkeling adventure we did a bit of rum tasting and bought a bottle to bring home.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on our sail away from Martinique.
The next day we were in the beautiful island of Dominica. And you guessed it, more snorkeling.
We went to champagne reef with volcanic heated vents.
Then over to Scotts Head beach and beautiful deep blue water.
Husband enjoyed a natural hot springs at Bubble Beach spa on our way back to port.
It was time to sail away to another port.
And another glorious sunset!
New day, new port.
We hopped in a taxi and headed over to Carlisle Bay for the day. We rented a couple of chairs and an umbrella.
We snorkeled right from the beach and saw huge tarpon, lots of turtles and a spotted eagle ray.
Our next day was Trinidad.
It would be fun to come back to this island for Mardi Gras!
We headed over to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary for a boat/bird excursion. Boy did this one disappoint.
A bit of a cluster as I think the cruise line booked way too many people for this one.
I think we saw more snakes than birds on this excursion!
We were told the scarlet ibis (of which this sanctuary has around 8,000) is only seen at sunset so we were "lucky" to see one.
I was looking forward to a sea day after all those ports in a row. My favorite thing to order in the sanctuary was the fruit bento box. Delicious!
Husband ate more salmon on this Caribbean trip than our Alaska journey.
The next day we were in Aruba. We hopped aboard a city bus and headed over to Eagle beach for the day.
The next morning we arrived in Curacao and we were off on another water adventure.
No scuba for me this trip but I was able to ride along to PortoMari, where husband would be doing a couple of shore dives. Here he is heading out for his second dive.
He took lots of videos during his time underwater and this seahorse was one of my favorites.
He blends in to the coral but here's a cropped shot of this beauty.
I didn't mind snorkeling by myself and enjoying this perfect beach for the day!
We finished our trip with two days at sea headed back to Florida. We spent the days with long lunches in lido with a great ocean view.
Getting all dressed up for fancy dinners.
And more knitting in the sanctuary.
Just like that our trip was over and we were headed back to the cold north until our next adventure.
posted by Anna at 12:46 PM
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