Our Vacation.....

Lisa and I got back from a much deserved vacation this last weekend. We flew out Thanksgiving Day for Fort Lauderdale to relax in the sun for a few days before our cruise.

I set up a dive in Florida before I left so I could get some “saltwater” time. I wanted to get an open ocean dive in so I could get comfortable with being in the ocean. I am waiting for pictures of the area we dove. I was supposed to get pictures of me diving but the camera flooded when the dive-master jumped in. He told me he would send me the “Best Of” the area we dove. It was pretty cool dive. I saw an 8 foot green moray eel and 2 turtles. I also saw hundreds of puffer fish. They have the coolest eyes you have ever seen. They are like deep blue jewels. The dive was shallow (only around 25 feet in depth) and we had a good time.

Lisa spent the day by the pool while I was diving. Our friends showed up later that day and we all just hung out by the pool the next day before getting on the boat on Sunday.
The cruise was nice. We spent the first day in Key West, we just walked around. I was stationed there years ago so we went to all the places I used to go to (well not all the places). We bought some great hot sauces, had a great sea food lunch (oysters, conch fritter, shrimp, and spiny lobster) and are looking forward to trying those soon.

The weather in Cayman sucked so I couldn’t dive. The waves and the currents were so bad that half of us on the trip didn’t dive, it was above our ability. The cruise ships by passed Cayman the day before (bad weather) so I think they were pushing it to get money that day. The dive shop said they have had a rough winter so far. Oh well I will go back eventually and will try again. Safety is the number 1 rule in diving so I spent the day on the boat and enjoyed the sun.

In Jamaica we went to the dolphin encounter and we got to pet the dolphins. It was a lot of fun. We then went to Dunn’s River Falls and climbed/hiked up the falls. It was a lot of fun. The only thing I didn’t like was the constant attempts to sell you cheap crap every two steps. In order to get out of the park where the falls are you had to wind your way through all the vendors shops. I understand that Jamaica is a poor nation and they need to the tourists to help them get by but man it got to be too much and they got way too pushy. Next time we go back we are looking at an all inclusive near Kingston. Also I plan on doing some diving in Jamaica.

The entire trip was nice, Lisa was disappointed with Cayman (she said it has gone commercial). The food in the main dining hall wasn’t anything to write home about but the last night on the ship we ate at the Sun King restaurant. It costs an extra $30 for each person but it was worth it!

We got home just in time for the snow and I got to use my snow blower this morning before coming in to work.