Bill and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next month. As a gift to ourselves, we took a cruise...shocking to all who know us, I am sure. (We'd rather cruise than almost anything else:) We started in San Juan, Puerto Rico and sailed to the Southern Caribbean and then back to San Juan. The above picture is the view from our hotel room in Puerto Rico. It was beautiful!
In St. Croix we did a bike tour of some parts of the island. We have loads of stories, but this bike tour was a classic...we rode with 2 awesome guides, Troy who was raised in California and Angel who was from Puerto Rico. And then the rest of the group...4 OLD people. And I mean the men looked like they should be hooked up to oxygen. Both of the women fell on our journey and a time or two the older group was lead on a more flat route, while Bill and I rode with Troy up steep hills. In the end, the old folks had their bikes loaded in the back of Angel's truck and we rode back to the city with Troy...It was a unique experience and one we retell in years to come:)
Rockin' our bike helmets.
Many years ago those who came from Africa to live in St. Croix brought seeds of the boabab trees. These trees are massive and can even be used to sleep in because the trunks are so broad. They produce an odd fruit that is rich in vitamin C...we tasted it. I spit mine out...not my kind of thing. It was like sucking on a seed really.
Ok, so because we weren't traveling with any family or friends, we often would just stop and take our own pictures. Notice that I am always on the same side of the picture. That is because I have longer arms than Bill and have mastered the art of aiming the camera in just about the right spot to produce a decent picture of the two of us:)...Just wanted to point that out.
I cool old Catholic church we saw on our ride.
In St. John's, Antigua we took a 4X4 Jeep ride through some "rough" terrain around the island. It was a unique experience...but what we are finding out through our travels throughout the Caribbean is that most of the islands look the same...lush, poverty-ridden with beautiful beaches...some islands do have more apparent poverty and the residents are more annoying as they try to persuade tourists to buy their stuff. St Lucia was the worst! There was a constant stream of people coming up to us while we were on the beach.
Antigua
Loved this plant/flower with the water in the background. The water you see in the picture is the Caribbean, but just over that hill is the Atlantic Ocean. The water goes from shallow to very deep, very fast.
A shot of our ride and our guide:)
Beautiful beaches of Antigua
The happy couple:)
Yep, we're getting old...we are both wearing glasses:)
The Solarium on the ship...adults only. At night it was peaceful and heavenly.
I love this guy.
If you look closely you can see that our total bill 4 days into our cruise was a whopping $4.00! We prepaid our excursions so it is a little deceiving, but it is funny just the same...Our $200.00 on board credit helped as well...our final bill was $98.99! We are certain that some passengers had $98 bar tabs each and every day.
In St. Lucia this little "fruit boat" traveled up and down the beach selling all varieties of fruit. He looked like he just walked out of the jungle...we didn't buy anything...his "establishment" didn't look too clean. But he does get points for creativity...I think I'll make this picture my screen saver.
LOVING the Caribbean...not sure which beach this was, but like I said, pretty much, they're all the same:) I do believe this is in Barbados tho'. And the sand in Barbados is so soft...almost like flour. Loved it!
Bill loved this sign in Barbados...they are a different breed in the islands.
Meet Leah and Michael Smith from Scotland! We met them in St. Lucia and then spent time with them on and off the ship...they were on their honeymoon and they were delightful! Great memories.
After leaving the ship, we headed back to the Marriott at Isla Verde in San Juan for one last day and night before returning home. Wanting some familiar food, we walked several blocks to a Chili's for dinner and then walked back along the beach to the hotel. As we were taking our standard "do-it-yourself" pictures, a sweet girl offered to take our picture. Although I don't look my best and the wind was blowing my hair and my blouse, I love this picture. It represents who we are and what we love. We love being together and being near the water. I cannot imagine my life with anyone else. We are blessed.
