We arrived in
San Jaun, Puerto Rico on Sunday, the 18th of April. It was a beautiful, gorgeous day, the weather was very warm and humid, the skies were deep blue and clear...the ship was awesome! We sailed on the Carnival Victory, seven glorious days and nights!!
Our first stop was on Monday...St. Thomas. We took a taxi into town to do a little shopping. We HAD to visit the Linen shop there. I have waited over 10 years to go back. They still had my white linen/lace slippers that I wear to the temple! I wanted to get a new pair...mission accomplished!!
We took a tour around the Island...guided by a funny little black man who referred to himself as SpiderMan! It was great to sit in the open air little bus, and feel the breeze and see and smell all the great things that were there.
The first stop was a private beach that he called Lover's Bay/Beach, because of the heart shaped landscape. Several celebrities and Presidents have stayed here, because of it's secluded place.
Overlooking St. Thomas into the bay where we docked.
Our next stop, Tuesday...Dominica! Our most very favorite place...it is what I consider the Garden of Eden must have looked like. It is plush and green, and beautiful flowers and banana trees growing alongside the roads.
It has so much rainfall each year, with 365 rivers and so many waterfalls...it keeps it so beautiful!
We were able to shop the little roadside shops and find some good vanilla and flavorings, and some really cute necklaces and stuff!
Our next stop on Wednesday was Barbados! My mom and dad were very excited to go back once again and see their beloved home of their first Mission. We talked them into going with us to the Rum factory to see how their famous rum was produced. They offer lots of free samples at the end...but we had to pass on those!
My dad told us of a place called Harrison's Caves that sounded really interesting, so we went up there to tour the caves.
They take you on a little shuttle train down into the caverns...really, really cool! This is us waiting for our tour and shuttle, under these really cool vine trees!
I thought this one kinda looked like a nativity scene...with Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.
Our next visit was on Thursday, to St. Lucia. Mom and Dad had already seen the Island and just wanted to stay in town by the boat and do some shopping, so Brent and I went off on an all day tour of the Island and then they dropped us off at an awesome beach for swimming. This is the city center park.
It was one of the cleanest, prettiest Islands. People really took great pride in their homes and surroundings. It looked pretty prosperous, and beautiful!
On Friday we visited St. Kitts. We took a short tour that day (we were all getting pretty worn out!) and we had our driver take us up to the big Fort there. This was an old Sugar Cane Mill that we saw along the way.
The Fort was so green and pretty, with views (of course) of the entire Island on every side and a look over the ocean and the Carribean both. It was very interesting...and HOT!!
Beautiful view towards the Carribean Sea. I loved the green everywhere!
Saturday, Brent and I booked a trip to go on the Rhino Riders in St. Martin. They brought us from the ship across the Island over to the bay and we took these little watercrafts (half jet ski/half rubber raft) through rows of big yachts and sailboats...through the French bridge, and out to the ocean!
Once we were out in the ocean...we traveled clear up the coast to a place called Happy Beach where we soon found out why it's so happy! Apparently no one in this little bay or on the beach care to wear clothing! We spent about an hour there snorkeling...and watching the 'wild life'! LOL
Mr. Happy himself!! You know me...I had to take a picture! But I didn't take any pictures of the people on the beach. They were a little too up close and personal for that!!
This was the view of our ship and the Carribean on our bus ride back in St. Martin. It had some great shopping, and was a really cool Island!
A few pictures on the ship. This was the main corridor where the stairs and elevators were. You could see up or down about 8 floors....it was really pretty!
This is where we ate every day, in the buffet/dining area. Plenty of soft serve ice cream/frozen yogurt to keep mom and Brent happy!!
The grown up pool on the back of the ship!
Our waiter each night, Sheward from the Phillipines took very good care of us...and helped us all gain about 10 lbs. for the week!!
At the main big pool, there was a huge screen, where we watched a few movies at night and had lots of entertainment throughout the day. Laying on the beach chairs, watching "The Proposal" on the big screen under the stars was pretty fun!
We never quite took advantage of the waterslides or mini golf...but it was fun to watch others!
This is the classic shot of Brent! Waiting...ever waiting...doesn't he look Happy?! Maybe he is just wearing too many clothes...
We returned to San Juan on Sunday the 25th, and caught one of the first flights out of there to Orlando to spend the week with Tanessa's family and attend Jake's graduation. We had a marvelous time cruising...and it was fun to have mom and dad along with us!
