Matt and I just love going on cruises. It is one of our most favorite ways of traveling. So fun to get on a gorgeous ship with some much to do, amazing entertainment, food and a great staff to anticipate your every need. And then to be able to wake up every morning to a new exciting location where all you have to do is get off the ship and you are instantly there to tour and explore and do fun activities is just so enjoyable. This is one of my favorite ways to travel. For this cruise we left on a Saturday with our good friends Marti and Barbi Cooper who we have traveled before on with on cruises. They are a lot of fun to travel with and are good sports. They picked us up at South Towne Mall at 6:55 in the morning. Coby was nice enough to drive us that morning bright an early on a Saturday morning. We had a little problems with our travels getting to Puerto Rico. Apparently the wing flap on our plane wasn't working so they had to find a different plane for us to go on. Well after a long journey to Puerto Rico we finally made it there at 12:45 Puerto Rico time, but 9:45 our time.We rented a minivan and then attempted to drive straight to the Hampton Inn and Suites where we were staying. . It was difficult because the roads were so crazy and people were EVERYWHERE. I was so glad we weren't driving poor Marti. The night life is exuberant on a very late Saturday night. Our hotel was situated next door to a cock fighting arena, and across the street from many cantinas and resorts. Police, it seems were taking care of situations everywhere. But our hotel was nice, quiet and clean. I would recommend it for anyone heading in that direction.
We unfortunately overslept going to church because we didn't set the alarm right. We were sad about that, but because of that we ended up getting eight hours of sleep. When the rest of the group got back we did a little bit of touring of the island as we looked for a Wal-mart since we got lost. We saw our ship and got really excited so we dropped off our luggage when we saw the long lines and decided to see around the island.
The main focal point being the Raices ("Roots") Fountain. Maybe you will notice, but everyone in this fountain is naked! The artist, Luis Sanguino, and architect Miguel Carlo, are depicting the history of the people of Puerto Rico, for the 500th Anniversary of the Columbus' New World discovery, by recognizing the Taino, Spanish, and African cultures, heritage, and influence. I have not been able to find more information on the inspiration for this fountain, but I can only imagine that we come from God in our birthday suit, so he loves us all equally the same. There is a family, a man riding a horse, a woman riding 2 dolphins, and cowboy singing and playing a guitar for a woman, and the woman in the middle looking toward heaven. The fountain is really beautiful. Something for everyone to see. Apparently, the best time to experience this most romantic place is at sunset. The humidity here was amazing too. I couldn't believe how strong it was. It made you want to just stay in the shade. I was grateful they were selling water all over the places.
Here is our group that day minus Rollin and Vi . Here we are standing in front of the San Juan Gate. This is a gate that they left closed at night to keep the mauraders out of the city. The door and gate were stamped with the date 1749. I didn't really take very good pictures of the water in front but they were beautiful.
Our first night at dinner was formal night and we were at sea. We had a big table which made for great company and great laughs.
Day 1 - St. Thomas - U.S. Virgin Islands
Being only about 50 miles from Puerto Rico, I am sure we did not take long to arrive.
Well, we decided to get together outside the explorers lounge at 9:45am to meet our ride taking us to Coral World and Coki Beach for some fun and snorkeling. The driver took us up the mountainside through very narrow and winding streets, driving on the left side (That's what they do here..strange). What a beautiful island. Lush and green, Hot and Humid..expecting about 85 degrees with very high humidity. Coral world is a miniature sized sea world. Sea life exhibits outside, including sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, a couple large aquariums, and a building in the ocean that allows you to go below sea level and watch the natural sea life in the area. Matt and I snorkeled and had a great Coki Beach next door. I snorkeled, but Barbi wasn't up to it. Kevin and wade spent most of their time snorkeling, but we all enjoyed the exhibits.
For a little extra, you could swim with the turtles. The hermit crab to the left below was HUGE! I would find my own starfish like the one above later in Aruba! Cool. There were Iguanas roaming around. Norm fed one some beef jerky..too funny! There was a Lorikeet aviary that you could feed the birds, and a pen with local tortoises and ducks.
The snorkeling at Coki beach was awesome. Plenty of room to roam around the rocks. You could buy a dog biscuit on the beach and use it to feed the fish. They would literally swarm to get a bite of the biscuit. Kevin, Wade and I snorkeled over to the building that sits in the water at Coral World and swam down to the winto wave at the people inside.
