Our First Cruise

This past week, (Jan 15th - 22nd) Nicole and I went on our first cruise. Our cruise was to the Western Caribbean, with 3 ports of call. Our 1st stop was Cozumel, Mexico. Our 2nd stop was Grand Cayman, and our 3rd stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
The trip was a Christmas gift for mom from all the kids. It was mom's first trip out of the country. There were 11 of us in total and we had a great time.
On the cruise were Nicole and I, Ryan and Kari, their two kids Carlyn (11) and Ethan (8), Chad and Vid, Aunt Jeannie, and Andrew. The weather was perfect, we had nice and warm weather, but when it was warm there was a nice breeze coming off the ocean. We spent the week eating (of course), sight-seeing, sunning ourselves, drinking tropical drinks (lots of them) and just enjoying time with the family.
At Cozumel we shopped at the many shops they had downtown. We then spent a beautiful day at the beach. Beautiful sand and ocean in Mexico.
In Grand Cayman we spent the day at the beach as well. We snorkeled, which was great as they had a natural reef right off the shore, so we didn't have to take a boat out into the ocean to see some very nice fish. We enjoyed a great lunch on the beach and even had a massage on the beach, it was a true relaxation day, our favorite stop of the trip by far. Grand Cayman reminded us of Maui, which is still our favorite place in the world (that we have been). Our last stop in Jamaica was also very nice. We thought Jamaica was very lush and green with lots of trees and almost rainforest. We walked up the Dunn's River Falls, something like 800 feet high and you can walk all the way to the top. It's not too steep, more of a gradual climb and it was a lot of fun. The people of Jamaica are mostly very nice, but there are some very aggressive street vendors that take away from the experience, but at the end of the day they are trying to make a living, they are just more aggressive than the folks in Mexico.
As I write this we are sitting in the basement watching Gopher BB with temps outside of -14 degrees. Very different than our last 7 days looking at the ocean each night with temps in the 80's each day.
It was a great trip, but as always, we are glad to be home!