cozumel, mexico

Our second stop was on the island of Cozumel!

We went on a snorkeling adventure over two reefs! It was my very first time snorkeling, so I was a little nervous when they told us we’d be swimming for an hour to an hour and a half. I’d never even swam in the ocean before! I did just fine (except that I swallowed a little too much salt water. Whoops!)

We saw many many fish (including baby barracudas!), a sea turtle, and a stingray! Supposedly there was a shark too, but I didn’t see that, and I’m kind of glad!

The water was so clear and beautiful.

you better belize it

The first country we visited on our trip was Belize! We had to tender to shore. How exciting!

Michael and I had signed up for a trail ride at the Bacab Eco Park, so we were pretty excited!

Our horses were “Brownie” and “Ivan”. MIchael always gets the cute one. I’ll try not to pick on poor Ivan 🙁

We had a really great time and the tour guides definitely know so much about the plants and animals of the land. It was a “ravine forest”; not quite a rainforest. We heard Howler monkeys screaming in the trees, but didn’t get to see any. It was still pretty exciting!

We saw the tallest palm trees I have EVER seen in my life. Our guide told us that American hotels will pay $100 per foot of palm tree. Crazy!

 After the ride, we got to have a typical Belizean meal. Red beans and rice, fried plantains, and “Choo” chicken. I loved the spices. It was so delicious.

We ate lunch in this awesome hut. (That’s the national flag up there!)

We also saw a baby crocodile!

Michael was so excited to get in a hammock.

The day went so fast and I’d wished we had more time. Bye Belize!

cruisin’

We finally boarded the ship around 1pm on Saturday It was so cool to say goodbye to land and end up surrounded only by water!

Before we pulled out of port, we watched some of the other cruise ships leaving. This boat below (Oasis of the Seas) is the only boat bigger than ours (The Liberty of the Seas)!

Goodbye, Florida!

The first thing we all did was eat (it was our first meal of the day!), and then of course, Michael and Jeffrey wanted to go on the rock wall!

Michael said that this is when we passed Miami. It was the last we saw of the land!

go with the flo… rida

Before we got on the cruise ship, we had to actually drive down to Florida! Ahhhh! It sure was a long ride, but Dad is awesome and amazing and drove the whole thing without even stopping to rest!

We got to our hotel the night before we boarded the ship, so of course we went out for a Chinese buffet and then went swimming!

The pool was out on the rooftop. How awesome is that? Swimming on the roof in December in Florida!

My family is crazy.

They had a hot tub too! Since I had my camera, I just stuck my feet in and that was good enough for me!

When we woke up the next morning, Michael and I went exploring on this wetland trail next to the hotel. It was pretty cool to see all the vegetation, but there were some not-so-cool spiders hanging above our heads! There was one that had to have been at least 5 inches long… YIKES!

Here’s Michael in his shorts and flip-flops with the hotel Christmas tree.

And then we were off to board the ship!