Brett and I went on our first vacation since our honeymoon. We drove to Galveston and hopped on board the Carnival Conquest to set sail to Montego Bay Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Cozumel.
The main deck had a huge screen that they played movies on every night...
The first few days were "days at sea" so we enjoyed time on the boat and ate way too much food.
Main lobby area...
One of the formal nights...
The third day we arrived in Jamaica. For our Jamaican excursion we took a bus to the YS Falls to zipline through the canopies and swim in the waterfalls. The drive to get to the falls was very long and a little scary. The driver said the phrase "no problem" a little too many times for my comfort. They drive on the left side of the road so I was always scared we were going to hit the other cars. The areas we drove through made you feel very fortunate for what you had. They were telling us on the ride out there that it can take up to 20 years to complete a house there. They will only build a room at a time until they have more money to add from there. We finally arrived at our destination after couple hours on the road. The views from the ziplines were amazing I wish we would have been able to experience them a little longer and with a smaller group. After the ziplining, we had a chance to jump in the waterfalls for a quick swim. On the way back we stopped at this cool little area for lunch. It was on top of the hill so you could see over everything.
This is a picture looking back out to one of the
ziplines we just finished. We came from the other side of the trees to this spot. It was one of the longer lines.
Brett showing us how it is done...
Picture of us in the waterfalls. The pictures did not come out clear, we were using a disposable waterproof camera that day...
Brett jumping off the cliffs into the waterfalls...
That evening back on the boat we had dinner and enjoyed one of the shows
The next morning we arrived in Grand Cayman. For our excursion here we took a catamaran out to a sandbar to swim with stingrays.
Arriving at the sandbar...
The stingrays would come up and swim around you and were not scared of being around humans. They felt slimy and would swim in between your legs. We were able to hold them as they would lay down on your arms. Below is a random person holding one. We didn't do very good about taking pictures when we held them! We feed them squid by holding it in your hand with a fist with your thumb down. They would swim by and "vacuum" it from your hand.
After swimming with the stingrays we had lunch at Rackman's and ventured around the island a bit through the shops. The island definitely was a change of scenery from the area we were in the day before in Jamaica. There was a lot more money on the island. The water was crystal blue and would be a fun place to stay in a resort type setting. There is a company called Blackbeard's that produces Big Black Dick's rum liquor and rum cakes. It was a favorite icon on the the island. Us posing with the captain himself.
We stopped at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to have a drink and watch the crazies party it up.
Later that evening we headed back to the boat for a relaxing evening.
To be continued...
