Caribbean Cruising Part 1

We've been home a week now, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of our cruise. We took quite a few, so I'm splitting them up into a couple of posts. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Flying out of KC during the biggest blizzard of the year.

The day before we left, it snowed more than a foot in Wichita. After an extremely mild winter, it came out of nowhere! For some reason, it was so much more exciting to leave for the tropics when we knew that snow was covering the ground at home.

Getting to see sleep apnea up close and personal.

Brian had the opportunity to sit next to a man with the most severe case of sleep apnea we have ever seen. He seemed perfectly normal when he sat down, but he soon fell asleep and stayed asleep for the remainder of the 3.5 hour flight. You cannot imagine the noise and the drool that accompanied (watch the video below). You simply will not believe it.

(He was a very nice man, I'm sure - I'm really not trying to make fun - just want to document this unique experience. I know I'm certainly not attractive when I'm asleep!)

Sitting in the sun, with absolutely nothing to do.

Our first and last days of the trip were super relaxing days at sea. We had nothing to do but sleep in, order breakfast in bed room service, find a chair on the deck and lay out in the sunshine with our books (and lots of sunscreen)! Once in a while, those sorts of days can be good for the soul.

Completing my first two open water scuba dives in Grand Cayman.

I finished my bookwork, tests and pool dives in Wichita before we left, but to complete my certification, I had to make four open water dives. We scheduled two in Grand Cayman, which was our ship's first port of call. We randomly chose a dive shop called The Lobster Pot - one of many on the island. When we arrived we checked in and learned that the girl behind the desk was originally from Wichita! She was a few years older than us and grew up only a couple miles from my parents' house. Then we discovered that my dive master was also from Wichita (he and the check-in girl had not previously known each other)! He went to a rival high school and graduated a few years after us. So crazy. Unfortunately, we forgot the memory card in our underwater camera, so we couldn't take pictures that day, but I'll post some later of our dive in Cozumel.

The towel creatures.

Every evening after dinner, we'd come back to our room to find a turned-down bed, a cute little towel animal and chocolates on our pillows. So fun!

Meeting new friends.

We were a little skeptical when we realized that every night at dinner, we were expected to sit at a table with three other couples that we didn't know. We're all about making new friends, but let's face it, this setting could quickly become painfully awkward. However, the first night we were relieved to find that all of our table mates were our age - we ended up having a blast every night at dinner and hanging out with our new friends during the days.

Tatyana Beach and snorkeling at Isla Roatan.

We didn't know much about this island off the coast of Honduras, but were pleasantly surprised to come ashore to beautiful land with hills, cliffs and gorgeous white beaches. We spent the day at a private beach that was impeccably maintained, with lots of chairs, umbrellas and palm trees, and live reggae music. The reef off the coast was incredible - full of colorful fish and coral. We spent hours in the water with our snorkels, marveling at the world under the water. Most of it exists for God's pleasure alone - men haven't even been able to scratch the surface of discovering what exists on the ocean floor.

more to come soon!