Hey Poncho, Yea Sisco - "We're home!"

Well, we are back from our cruise. Thanks to Beryl (Mum) for taking care of Miss Kitty.

It was great to have a week off and time together away from work as well as house chores. Chris actually talked me into standing in front of a camera to have our 1st ever 'together' portrait taken. Aren't we pretty! It was painful to say the least. Well maybe that's a tad bit dramatic...

We did meet some great people on the cruise, many of which live right here in Orlando.

Labadee, Haiti was, well to be nice, totally uneventful. We had issues there with our pre-arranged wave runner excursion. It did not happen. So we spent the day on the ship.

Once in Jamaica we hired a Taxi to drive us to the not-so-touristy places. Man did he give us a four hour trip! We were zipping up and down mountains at crazy speeds on roadways neighboring a solid rock wall on one side and a sheer 1000' drop on the other - and no guard rails! At one point we weaved in and out of a group of school kids crossing the street so fast I was sure that we would have a new hood ornament. But the driver managed. We met a hermit who lives in a cave. No running water and no electricity. With his dread locks, big grin and one brown tooth, he happily gave us a thirty minute spiel on native Jamaican herbs... Hmmmm... I was on a mission to secure a hand carved iron wood parrot statue and was happily successful. Bartering is so much fun.

Grand Cayman was about the same as Labadee. Totally uneventful. Each of these ports seem to gear their entire tourism base around alcohol and jewelery. To make it more redundant, the items are identical in each port as well as on the ship. We wanted to visit the marine museum but discovered that it was closed due to major damage from recent hurricane Dean. That left either Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, or Hard Rock Cafe... two establishments that are also strongly prevalent and promoted at ALL ports of call. What happened to individual culture? I just don't get it. I can see all of that here and for far less dollars!

Cozumel (day 5). Not only was this my (18th birthday with 32 years experience), it was also a welcome change from all the other let downs.

We had a great excursion at the Buena Vista Ranch. With wonderfully funny tour guides, we spent the day on horseback travelling through the jungle. This was Chris' second time on horseback and he was a bit leery but gave it a go. He took to it quite well and within 45 minutes was keeping up with me in full gallop mode. He did manage to lose his water, his camera and his shirt at different points along the way. Luckily one of the guides managed to scoop'em up and return them to him.

http://www.buenavistaranch.com/videos/index.html <--- Click to view video of ranch and some of what
we experienced.

We have quite a few pics yet to be developed. But the one above is a shot taken by one of the the ranch hands. Notice this is pre-loss of shirt, water and camera...

Well gotta run. Things to catch up on around here. Later and love to all. C&R