We took a 6 day Caribbean cruise with our 2 couples/best friends. We flew into Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. Sunday morning, we walked too many miles in uncomfortable shoes to go to sacrament meeting. (4 of us paid for an Uber on the way back.)
We boarded the ship and started the fun and eating frenzy.
Our first stop was in Nassau, Bahamas. One friend did research and we boarded city bus line #10. It cost us $1.25 per person. We got the local route with all the local music and passengers. We got off on the public Goodman's Beach. It was free and rarely did we have to share our space. We used our personal snorkel gear to practice our skills, laid in the sun, ate lunch we snuck off the boat in our backpacks, and had a blast enjoying the beauty of that beach.
We took the bus back into town to do some souvenir shopping at their Straw Market.
The Queen's Staircase was a highlight and I'm glad we got to see that. I also took a photo in front of the Brazil Embassy. For 20 seconds Josh and I were both on Brazilian ground.
Our second day was on Carnival's private Island in the Bahamas. We got off the ship as early as we could and walked all the way to the end of the beach. Our reward was a spot that had 3 hammocks, plenty of beach chairs, shade, and no one near us. The water was perfectly calm and clear. The sand was like powdered sugar. We practiced more snorkeling, napped in the hammocks, and just sat in the water for hours. It was the ultimate paradise and we had a blast.
Our third day was in Grand Turk. We did a chartered snorkel tour. Our first location was a shallow reef. It was quite windy but the waves weren't nearly as big as our Miami snorkel disaster. We then went to the Grand Turk Wall. It is like the "dropoff" in the Nemo movies. The ocean floor drops from 20 feet to 7,000 feet. I was pretty hesitant to swim close to it, but staying on the boat and getting sea sick sounded much worse. Having all my friends around me made it much easier. We saw 2 puffer fish, a barracuda, and tons of other fish I can't identify.
We were pretty burned from baring our Utah skin for 2 straight days so Jeff and I wore our long sleeved swim shirts, and I tied a ponytail holder on the neckline to cinch it tighter. The life jackets rubbing on the sunburn was a miserable feeling.
We tried to catch every sunset from our friend's balcony. We joked, philosophized, teased, and enjoyed every minute.
Chad wrangled me into doing a karaoke song with him. We chose "Sweet Caroline" because we thought we'd be familiar with the words and tune enough to get through it. We had plenty of help from the audience which was kind. Singing a song made for a man's register was rough. The higher octave was almost unreachable and the lower octave wasn't much better.
These three and their matching hats! 😂💙
Our fourth day was in Dominican Republic. We took a tour to the Damajagua Waterfalls. They are a series of waterfalls and natural water slides that run over limestone rocks. I was one who pushed for this excursion because I knew it was something I'd never get to do again. Upon arriving to the first jump, I wished I could turn around. However, walking all the way back through the jungle would be embarrassing, so I jumped!
The second jump was the tallest. Over 30 feet. Tifany and I chickened out and had to take the shameful walk down the staircase. Afterward, we both had zero regrets about that decision. We heard a few people hit the water with loud smacks and the guides would swim over to check on the grimacing tourist.
The photos aren't the best but what can you expect from a water drop filled lens trying to catch such fast motion. Here's Jeff jumping down the highest spot.
Here I am doing the next drop that was about 15-20 feet.
They came and sang a song for us to celebrate our anniversary. They gave us a cute chocolate dessert. It was adorable but gross. It tasted like a chocolate gummy bear with rubbery chocolate frosting.
Our last day was at sea. We watched a movie, attended the shows, ate, rested on the deck, ate, laughed, ate, and ate some more.
We returned to port and had a few hours before the Thomases flew back to San Antonio. We did a few sealings in the Fort Lauderdale temple. Jeff and Tami started a cold that day (Ken, Tifany, and I would get it the next day) so we mostly rested in the hotel room and watched MASH episodes. We did go to a beach during sunset. Jeff looked exhausted but he was so sweet to come with us.
