Trips, Pics, and Tales

Our cruise was winding down.  Here we are, our last day on board. I got up early and went out to my usual spot on deck. Grabbed a "to go" breakfast from the Uptown Cafe and went back to my chair to eat it. Some sort of egg breakfast sandwich I think. And I read. I met a lovely group of people who were sitting next to me and we spent a good deal of time talking about their time on the ship and what they had done and got to know one another.  My goal for the day was to do the ropes course  and I really wanted to do that big slide that has the drop! When the kids showed up, Megan and I went off to do the slide, and wouldn't you know it was closed! I knew I should have done it earlier in the week! I'm not sure why it was closed - it didn't seem windy or anything. So, I never got to do it. Bummer! But I was determined to do the ropes course! And we know, I'm not the picture of fitness! So my kids thought there was NO way in the world their mother could do it! I was...

So, tonight was the fireworks! Pretty much the theme of the night was the "80s" Pretty fun if you're my age! So, around 10:30 up at Spice H20 they started the Awesome 80s Party. Basically a big 80s dance party with videos on the screen and the crew all decked out in 80s clothing. I'm not usually one who is much into the deck parties, but what the heck - fireworks were coming up, and 80s music - Megan and I went up and joined in the fun and really, we had a great time!  We noticed about 10 minutes or so before the fireworks the kids from the teen club started to filter into the crowd. We saw Alex come in with a bunch of friends. He didn't see us, and that was probably just as well. He was having a good time with his new friends. They hung around through the fireworks and left shortly after. Megan and I hung around for a pretty long time after the fireworks, during the 80s party and had a really good time. It was a concert like atmosphere. I have to s...

After our catamaran trip in the morning we still had a few hours before we'd set sail again, so we went back to the ship for lunch and then set out for some shopping and mini golf! When in Bermuda....right? Our original plan was to go to the beach right by the ship, but after spending the morning in the water, we decided to just get changed and skip the  beach.  And yes, if you read my European posts, you know that Alex had an issue with sunglasses! And not always his fault! So, we're on our last day in Bermuda and we're standing by the stairs getting ready to walk down to exit the ship and I'm  not  kidding the arm thing that goes over your ear - whatever you call it, on glasses just  falls right off of his glasses!  It was if it just jumped right off! No way right! So if you notice carefully in the next pictures, he's wearing glasses with no earpiece thing on one side! So yes, next stop in Bermuda....shopping for glasses! But first.... For those not aware...

Here we are - Day 6, our 3rd and last day in Bermuda! We decided to stay relatively close to the ship. There was plenty to do, and plenty that we wanted to do close by. We had a lot of time in port, all aboard wasn't until 4:30 so if we wanted to venture away to see more of the island, we definitely had time.  Today we had scheduled a catamaran sail and snorkel in the morning. A beautiful day for it! I booked this through the ship excursion. I priced it through a couple of other vendors and it was so close in price  that it just was easier to do it online before we left. So, 9:30 am was our time and we were ready for the Rising Son Catamaran Swim and Snorkel. Fun! The kids had never been on a catamaran before and they loved it!   Some views of the marina as we were leaving We sailed for awhile....the captain talked about Bermuda, his life, life as a catamaran guide...you name it. It was a fun ride! I can't tell you how much I love being out on the ocean! ...

Life got a bit busy there for a few day!  But now, back to the Bermuda trip...we left off with our morning at Horseshoe Bay Beach and had plans for the afternoon...We had just gone back to the Norwegian Breakaway to have some lunch and were ready for our afternoon! After lunch we went back out and did our sort of spur of the moment excursion. Something came across me yesterday and I was just swept away with all of the water and I decided that we just had to get UNDER the water! It may have had to do with watching the list of excursion options on the tv in the cabin! But we booked a Helmet Dive and it was time to go! This was slightly different from Snuba, and I had remembered reading some reviews on this particular tour operator before we went. So, here we go! We met our group right at the dock by the ship. There were 13 people booked, small group. Our captain took care of the paperwork and off we went. He was quite the eccentric type. On our way out to our "dive" site he w...

Today was our second day in Bermuda and today we had a plan! Originally we planned to go to Horseshoe Beach for the day, but yesterday something else caught our eye! Hartley's Helmet Diving!! This is sort of like Snuba....so we booked this yesterday afternoon, we hoped for morning availability, but only could get afternoon. But we would make do. So, that being said, it was an early breakfast, off the ship and down to the Dockyard to find the 'Special' bus to Horseshoe Bay. We walked down the hill to the beach and I rented one beach chair for myself. Then it was off to the cliffs. You just can't keep a 14 year old boy away from climbing huge cliffs! This boy had no interest in spending hours at a beach...until he saw it! Then he was in heaven! A beach with cliffs and caves to explore!  Anyway, this was perhaps one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. And we were there early, so it wasn't too crowded. I fell in love right then and there! ...