The Wests: Cruisin'

Dustin and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean last week. It was definitely one of our favorite trips! We flew into Miami (red-eye flight...blah) where we boarded the Carnival Liberty. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous that it was Carnival since they've had so much trouble recently. The ship was beautiful and we set sail that afternoon. We had so much fun and had so many unique experiences and adventures!

The Carnival Liberty

Day 1 - at sea

The first day was a day at sea so we spent the day exploring the ship, laying in the sun, and eating a lot of frozen yogurt.

Day 2 - Cozumel, Mexico

We reached the island and docked early. We grabbed a taxi and headed to Chankanaab Park a few minutes away. They have a beautiful private beach where you can go swimming and snorkeling. They also have dolphins, manatees, and sea lions. We relaxed on the beach for awhile and watched the dolphins play. We then grabbed another taxi and went to a great restaurant. I am so glad that Dustin knows Spanish. My Jr. High Spanish was not cutting it! Dustin had a great conversation with the taxi driver about the island, food, and religion. I've never really seen Dustin speak Spanish before so it was pretty cool to see! After the restaurant, we went shopping and then headed back on foot. I am horrible with estimating time and distance and I guess I'm rubbing off on Dustin. After what I'm sure was 5 miles (Dustin says 1 mile) we finally got a taxi back to the ship. We both agree that it would have taken at least 2 more hours on foot to get back. We set sail for our next port that night.

Chankanaab Park

It felt like our own private beach!

Doesn't it look like paradise!?!

View from the ship

The water is BEAUTIFUL!

Day 3 - Belize

Belize was one of my favorite ports! We did an excursion to see the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich. I've always wanted to do something like that and it was amazing! We took a 2 hour bus ride to the site. We basically drove from one end of Belize to the other. We could see the Guatemalan border from the site. It was amazing to be right there and to also climb one of their buildings!! Dustin has climbed ruins in Guatemala so he was a pro when it came to climbing. I was freaked out to say the least. It was so high! But it was an amazing view! Did I also mention that it was SO HOT! I've never experienced humidity and heat like that before. After the Mayan site, we went and ate an authentic Belize meal. It was chicken, fried plantain, and rice and bean cooked in coconut milk. We are still talking about how good it was! It was probably one of Dustin's favorite things about the cruise. It was pretty sad to see how poor everyone is there. I had never been to a third world country so it was definitely an eye opener. We headed back to the ship and set sail again.

The ferry

Crossing the river to the site.

Hard to see but there are monkeys in the tree

Xunantunich

View from half way up

That's Guatemala in the distance.

All the way up

Just a little nervous ;)

So high!

We were so hot and tired

Leaving Belize

Day 4 - Roatan, Honduras

Carnival owns part of the island of Roatan in Honduras. They made a beautiful private beach. I'm not a big "lie on the beach" fan but Dustin loves it. It did feel pretty good to just sit and relax for awhile. We were only there a half day before we had to get back to the ship. We didn't get too many pictures.

They had a chair lift to the beach

Day 5 - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

We docked early in the morning and went on another excursion. Our first stop was a turtle farm. It was pretty cool to see so many of them. We were also able to play with some smaller ones in a pool. The next stop was Hell. It's a small town named for a rock formation that looks a lot like what people think you-know-where must look like. Our final stop was to Stingray City. It's a small sandbar about 20 mins off the coast. Fishermen used to gut and clean their fish there so it attracted the stingrays. Now they stay for the food the tourists give them. It was absolutely amazing! Never thought I'd swim with wild stingrays! The stingrays would just swim right up to you! Dustin was brave enough to feed one but learned better when it bit him...he still has all his fingers. We ended the day by walking through the shops by the port.

At the turtle farm

Turtles, turtles, turtles

Welcome to Hell!

Dustin in front of the rock formation

Stingray City

Stingray massage anyone?

Getting lucky with a stingray

Surrounded by stingrays

What a stud!!

Day 6 - at sea

We spent the last day soaking up the sun, going to shows, and just relaxing. Oh and eating a lot more food of course!

Miami

We sadly got off the boat but we weren't quite done. We boarded a bus and headed to the Everglades. We went on an airboat tour. It was awesome!! We saw a few alligators and came close enough to touch one. Don't worry, we didn't so we still have all of our appendages. We spent the night in Miami and tried Cuban cuisine. We now have to find a good Cuban restaurant here because it was so good! We got up the next morning and flew home to Utah.