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Day 49: Miami – cruise

We got onboard after waiting in line and going through security where we saw lots of old people, and I was very worried there were no young people except me on the cruise! We had to wait for our rooms to be cleaned and finished so we ate some lunch on the main pool deck and listened to the provided entertainment. After they were finished with our rooms, we set up our stuff and continued to explore the ship, make new friends with young people and generally have a good time. I had to get a PC card (parental consent) so I could legally drink since I was 18-20 and I wasn’t 21 till the next day. It was a huge issue for them, but I finally got it, only to find out that I could only have beer and wine, not spirits! Cut as! Tonight I went to the ‘nightclub’ with my Argentinean friends – made some more friends, who were also Argentinean, 2 American chicks and a group of Boston ‘youngens’ and ended up back at the room at 3.30am. The club was pretty sad in comparison to any other club in the world, but it was better than nothing I suppose.

Day 50: 1^st sea day

Happy birthday to me!!!! Someone had a cake and champagne delivered to our room for my birthday. It was a lovely surprise, but we still have no idea who ordered it for me. Our first day at sea was a simple day which included breakfast in bed, sunbaking, meeting up with my Argentinean friends, partying in the ‘nightclub’ which was playing 70s and 80s music till 11.30pm and some dance music after that. During the day we watched the ‘Mr sexy legs’ competition and one of the Boston guys won – Shawn I think. The Boston group are insane dancers which is very entertaining to watch.  If I ever go on a cruise again I should definitely do that next time – travel in a group of YOUNG people.

Got to bed at 1.30am – sad I know for my 21^st birthday, but I was kinda over it all.

Day 51: Samana

Since I was officially 21 I went to reception to get an ‘adult’ card (that states I am 21 and can legally drink) and she tried to tell me I couldn’t have one! As you can imagine I was pretty annoyed and I made her double check and she ‘made the exception! Pssh- they were always supposed to change it over.

Our first day tour today was on the island of Samana, Barbados. It began as a lovely sunny day and we took a boat from our cruise ship to the island. Before long however it started raining. We took a comfy bus with aircon to the countryside – which reminded me a lot of Bali. We did a horseback tour around a little village called ‘la cafe’ to a waterfall. It was scary being on a horse in the mud with so many steep hills and rocky areas in the rain. I had a guide who helped me stay on the horse though and he was very helpful with river crossings as well. Mum’s guide actually carried me across the first big water crossing we did! I was pretty worried he was going to fall over and we’d both end up in the water! Maybe next time I’ll ride a horse in a more stable area without the rain.

After we’d finished our excursion we came back onto the cruise ship, got changed out of our wet clothes and headed for dinner at the Venetian Restaurant – which was too full so we went to the Aqua Bar instead. Steak, of course, was delicious!  Been chilling in the room, swaying to the rhythm of the boat, watching the most recent HP – good times.

Day 52: Tortola

We opted for the Best of Tortola tour today. It rained, had windy roads and it was overcast all day. We stopped at the Marine University for a leg stretch and bathroom break –riveting area. We went to a beach for an hour and a half and I sat/slept in the car for most of it because of the rain… who wants to go to the beach when it’s raining!

I had pizza for dinner in the cabin but M&D went out for dinner. It was good to just chill, eat pizza and watch movies. Didn’t feel well tonight and wasn’t too fussed on going dancing with my friends – they tend to speak only Spanish most of the time and they don’t get too enthused about dancing to lots of American music- gay!

Day 53: St Maarten

DIAMONDS! Today we were docked on the Dutch side of St Maarten Island. As we docked next to the Freedom of the Sea cruise ship we felt tiny and insignificant since it was so insanely massive! We did a tour on the Tiki Snorkel Hut today – it was mad! It was a floating jetty, bar, and a collection of boats that fenced in the snorkel area. There was a sunken helicopter, a canon and a submarine in the area. I made a random friend with a guy that worked at the snorkel hut and I can’t remember his name, but he showed me around the area so that was pretty cool. I ended up pretty burnt from today but that’s ok because it’s all adding to my lovely tan!! (stop laughing Damo!)

Did some experimenting with my GoPro underwater at the tiki hut… didn’t turn out how I wanted it to , but good for experience and figuring out how much is actually in the frame when I’m shooting. Will definitely have to read my instruction manual and do some messing around with the settings.

There were heaps of other boats floating around the area, using it as well, but they were sunbaking on their own boats instead of our little ‘pier/jetty’.  Sunbaking, swimming and cute fish – it was a great day.

After we were sufficiently crispy we headed back to town to do some shopping! Boy did we do some shopping! We bought clothes, shoes, souvenirs and of course, diamonds! I bought a 0.35 162 facet ‘O’ diamond for Mum’s ring (which will be my inheritance when she croaks) because she didn’t have her VISA card and Dad was back on the ship. M&D also bought a ring for Dad as his anniversary present from Mum. As you avid blog readers should know, we also had the use of some slow internet while they put the diamond into the ring, so that was a nice change.

I went back out clubbing tonight since I hadn’t been out for two nights. It was aight, still not a very ‘pumping’ club… very sad… My Argentinean friends were out but not many other people were so it was pretty empty – well emptier than usual. The Boston crew was suspiciously absent. I chilled with my friends for a bit after leaving the club, grabbed some food and headed to bed around 3am.

Day 54: Antigua

All of these islands remind me of Bali and Vanuatu – blue water, lovely beaches with a side of ‘developing country’.

We had a lazy day on the beach today with a Caribbean lunch and drinks- delicious! We also rented 2 ‘jet bikes’ (jet skis for regular aussies!) and raced around the bay for 30minutes. It was great fun despite the dangerous run in we had when I was driving with Dad’s leg and jet ski (he’s fine, don’t worry!). Definitely need to buy one… wish I’d bought my GoPro with me and put it on the front of the jet ski! Saying that, I’m not sure I’d trust the suction cap that attaches to it yet, wouldn’t want to lose my GoPro! M&D had an hour full body massage while I sat under my umbrella and read my book, trying not to get too burnt after yesterday. Awesome day: definitely one of the best on the cruise.

Got even more sunburnt today, despite my umbrella over my lounge chair. Thinking about going dancing later, don’t know how long I’ll stay.

Day 55: Bridgetown, Barbados

Barbados was amazing! We did a catamaran and swimming with the turtles tour. We ran into some guys on the boat that we’d met in the hot tub a few nights earlier, Troy and Jarrett. Hilarious guys – after today we spent more and more time with them – I wish we could’ve visited them after the cruise, but I don’t think we have time.

The guys working on the boat kept throwing bread right in front of me so the fish (at one stop for snorkelling) would go on a feeding frenzy in front of my face… he says it was so I could get a  better picture – I think he did it to make me freak out and scream. We went to 2 snorkelling places and a beach to relax and swim at. The shore excursion man Paul was nice and friendly –we had a good chat about working on cruises, in bars, etc.

We all swam with the turtles off the boat; they were sooo cute! But I was very worried they were going to bite me at several stages… there were a lot of people near them and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they did bite someone just to escape the many people surrounding them. At one point I was floating on the water taking video of a turtle when it decided to start surfacing – I freaked out and tried to get out of the way as fast as I could (with no flippers) just in case it bit me to make me move out of its way. Martes and Nawaul (Argentinean friends) were bitten by the turtles because they were too close for their liking. It would seem that my fear was well grounded.

The 7pm show in the Stardust Theatre was the hypnotist Tim (can’t remember his last name)– boring! Dinner at aqua – steak! Delicious but wish I had a jacket because it was ridiculously air-conditioned! I got all dressed up to go dancing tonight and had a lay down around 9pm before I went out… the only problem with that plan was that I fell asleep in my clothes and didn’t wake up till 3am. Guess I needed sleep more than dancing in the ‘club’ tonight. Saw one of my Argentinean friends at lunch the next day and he tells me that last night was great fun with all these crazy adventures happening. Of course when I’m not there they actually party!

Day 56: St Kitts

Today was the last time we set foot on dry land until we return to Miami.

We were supposed to go on the Rail and Sail tour at St Kitts today but it turned out that the train derailed earlier in the day and so our tour was cancelled – cut! We had a look around the port shops and then grabbed a taxi to take us on a mini tour of the island. It was a good relaxing day despite our original tour being cancelled. We drove around the island, stopping off at sweet photo spots.

We got back to the port shopping area around 5.30pm, checked out the numerous jewellery and tourist souvenir shops. Dinner was amazing at Moderno! They constantly bring over different types of meat until you tell them to stop! Shouldn’t have had any salad and saved room for more meat! It was delicious! We should have gone there every night!

Might check out my photos before heading out dancing tonight – hopefully I don’t sleep through it again!

Day 57: Sea day

I had a great sleep in with breakfast in bed served by our personal maid – Dad. M&D left the room before lunch to stretch their legs and do some shopping while I lay around, watched some TV and just generally ‘limed’ (hung out), as they say in the Caribbean. Left the room around lunch time, found the parents, grabbed some lunch at the Garden Cafe and then it was time to sunbake on the deck.

Swam, baked, ate ice cream, drank cocktails and generally had a relaxed day in the sun with my Argentinean friends and partially with my parents. Felt like I was burning a little so I called it quits around 4pm and headed back to the room. Had a look in the mirror and realised that I should’ve called it quits much earlier. My neck, chest and collarbone were deep red and blistering.  It literally felt like my skin was bubble wrap! Of course, this was the night of M&D’s 30^th anniversary and we were going out to this nice French restaurant, so I had to wear something nice instead of a singlet, shorts and flip flops. The only issue with this was that with such burnt and itchy skin, I couldn’t wear much. I sat through dinner in a silk shirt (in an attempt not to irritate my inflamed skin), trying to stop itching, which turned out to be impossible.

While M&D went and had some professional pictures done by an onboard ‘professional’ photographer (which he lost on a corrupt memory card –LMAO), I went back to our room, got a bag of ice, sat with it on my torso and watched a movie. It definitely took most of the sting out of the burn, so that was good.

The Spinnaker Lounge (SL) hosted a ‘white party’ tonight and it was pretty packed (a definite change from the rest of the week). It was the first night that I did shots at the SL because I actually had people who were old enough to be served spirits. Two of the Argentineans, Matias and Agustin, and I sampled all of the available shots at the SL in between dancing the night away. Since it was also Matias’ 27^th birthday and they realised that I turned 21 on the 2^nd day of the cruise, we had several of the shots numerous times – awesome night! It was definitely on of the better nights of ‘clubbing’, despite it being a pale comparison to a proper nightclub.

Since the club closes around 2.30am, we all walked around the ship, listened to some music on the pool deck and generally just ‘limed’. Time flies when you’re having fun and I didn’t get to bed till 5.30am ish.

Day 58: Sea day

After another average sleep in and breakfast in bed, we headed out to lunch with our friends Troy and Jarrett at the Bambini Burger place. It was delicious.

During most sea days, the cruise would put on different entertainment all over the ship. On the pool deck it was generally DJ music, live bands, different competitions, etc. Today was a synchronised swimming competition – North America (Boston) vs. South America (Argentina)! Both teams were hilariously out of time, and the crowd loved them both so much that it was a draw in the end and they had to share the prize (a bucket of beer).

We hung around the pool, listening to music, chatting and eating ice cream until the next competition began. I didn’t sunbake like yesterday since I was already deep red and blistered, but I did try to get some sun on my legs – at least they weren’t crispy from the day before.  The next competition was the Miss Norwegian Dawn Biceps Competition. I was tempted to enter (since I’m sooo built) but I decided it wouldn’t be fair competition for the other women so I didn’t. It was basically a dance competition between ladies in bikinis (as was the pattern of most of the competitions on the pool deck). Funnily enough though, this older woman (probably around 55) smashed the younger girls because she actually had some exercise moves instead of just dancing. The judges got an up close and personal view of her bottom as she bent to do her exercises. It was hilarious to watch the judges faces, since most of them were younger guys.

After the competition we headed to the basketball courts to have a mess around game. Now as most of you know, I’m not a sporty person anymore, and as it turns out, this is for a good reason. In the space of a few hours on the basketball courts playing soccer, basketball and ‘knock out’, I managed to snap 2 of my toe nails off, be stomped on, get a busted lip from someone smashing a basketball into my face (and of course, against my braces) and to finished it off, I managed an unco somersault into the fence as I slipped out of my flip flops. I’d like to think that I managed a graceful exit from my impromptu somersault.

However, despite so many injuries, it was a great afternoon. When we played a 3 on 3 basketball game Agustin, Dan (Boston guy) and I smashed the other 2 teams and I even managed to score a few goals. At one point we were even joined by some little French kids (who spoke no English or Spanish) who wanted to play soccer with us. They picked the biggest guys on their team and we began a hilariously uncoordinated game of soccer. Many more injuries were handed out during this game – thankfully, not for me since I’d already acquired enough.

When we’d had enough of soccer and basketball we made our way to the hot tubs on the main pool deck. It was such a relaxing way to spend an afternoon sitting in the hot tub sipping iced water. We chilled in the tub for a while, chatting in mostly Spanish (sometimes with a little bit of English thrown in for my benefit), killing time before we had to grab some dinner and get ready for the nights activities.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant with M&D’s Canadian friends, Nola and Dennis, and our Floridian friends, Troy and Jarrett. They weren’t technically sitting with us, but every time the waiter looked the other way, we’d inched their table closer and closer. Naturally, when you’re at an Italian restaurant you have delicious Italian food. Naturally, I had steak, with pasta on the side of course…

M&D went to the show in the Stardust Theatre while Troy, Jarrett and I went to Karaoke in the Pearly Kings Pub, with a quick stop to our room to pack the rest of my bag and show the boys our photo albums. The Karaoke Party was pretty dead and sad. The poor guy running it only had about 4 oldies who were willing to sing with the microphone. Troy and Jarrett eventually left because they couldn’t find a song they were willing to sing and my Argentinean friends were beginning to arrive. I tried to convince brothers Agustin and Sebita to sing with no avail since they didn’t have the song Sebita wanted.

We eventually found the rest of the crowd, who sang in a big group before we left for the SL Toga Party to end the cruise with a bang. It wasn’t as busy as the white party was, but it was still fun with my Argentinean friends, the Boston crew, some NY stranglers and not to mention some hip hop and happening oldies that were getting their groove on! Since Matias was in bed early tonight, only Agustin and I did shots in between regular drinks and dancing. Since it wasn’t too packed tonight, they closed the ‘club’ around 2.30am and we all headed out to walk around the ship. We ended up in the library playing checkers for an hour or so and I’m happy to say that I beat Agustin, despite his cheating with Matias’ help. It was times like those that it’s inconvenient to not understand much of Spanish.

We got sick of playing checkers so we made our way to the front of the ship, sat in the place with the least wind (it was freezing!) and chatted. I managed to fall down some stairs near the hot tub and stack it on my other elbow so I now have two bruises, one on each elbow! We stayed up all night, and watched the lights of Miami get closer as we approached dry land. The sunrise was amazing over the port of Miami. Tonight/ early morning was definitely the best of the entire trip so far.

I went back to my room around 7.45am to have a shower, pack up the rest of my bag and head to breakfast with the parents.

Day 59: Cruise – Naples, Marco Island

After breakfast with the parents at Garden Cafe, we went back to our room, did a last minute emu hunt (check for anything under beds, etc) and took our stuff up to the exit to the terminal. While we waited for our bag tag colour to be called I went for a walk to find my Argentinean friends to say goodbye. Sadly, I only found a few and missed the chance to farewell the others.

Picking up our bags from the cruise terminal was insane! It was basically a massive room, kinda like a school gym, with suitcases in straight lines, coloured tags and hundreds of people looking for their luggage. We finally found ours and made our way to the passport check.  I saw some of my friends in the back of the line, but since we had so much luggage I couldn’t leave it with M&D to watch while I said goodbye – -cut as! We grabbed a large taxi when we got outside and drove to the RV place in Miami.

Once Dad had signed all the papers, watched the safety video and loaded all our stuff into secure areas in the RV and we were off. Since I hadn’t gone to bed the night before, I was wrecked! I slept on and off for most of the day while M&D drove and did some food shopping, etc. I woke up when we stopped off the highway in the Everglades to do an Airboat ride, like the Airboat in Water boy. It wasn’t as fast as I thought it would be, but it was still mad. The alligators aren’t as big as crocodiles in Australia, but they are still pretty deadly. I was glad to be in the boat, and not in the water. They feed them marshmallows as a treat when the boats go through each alligator’s territory – interesting that they enjoy them.

On the road again and we ended up at an RV park in Naples. It was a quiet night in the RV. We had chicken, rice and vegies for dinner, cooked in our mini kitchen.

While I waited for Dad to finished setting up the internet, etc, I napped on my bed. Once again, it turns out that if you’re napping on the bed and haven’t arranged for someone to wake you up; you’re more than likely to stay asleep until the morning. I have to stop doing this since it’s quite uncomfortable to sleep in your clothes, on top of the sleeping bag and upside down on the bed.

Day 60: Naples – St Petersburg

I’m surprised that I haven’t started peeling from my sunburn in the Caribbean. Saying that, I have a tiny bit on my hand that is peeling but overall, it looks like it will make me a darker white rather than peel off. Since I was continually wearing my sea bands to avoid seasickness I also have hilarious tan lines on my wrists. I will have to take a picture and show you guys. It reminds me of when I was in grade 9 and going through my punk stage: I wore a few interesting pieces of punk jewellery.

Anyway, we drove from Naples to St Petersburg today, with a detour to the old folk’s home called Shellpoint, to see some more of Dad’s friends from Connecticut. As my computer had died from lack of power today, we couldn’t research any RV parks so we winged it. The first two were a little on the dodgey side so we continued to Madeira Beach, St Petersburg. M&D went for a swim while I finished writing my numerous blogs. Thankfully, this is the last one for tonight!

January 27, 2012 | Categories: Adventure, America, Caribbean, Epic activities, Food, Photography, Random, Scenery, Shopping, Travel | Tags: airboat, Antigua, argentinean, beach, beer, bikni competitions, boats, Bridgetown, buffet, caribbean, clear water, clubbing, cocktails, cruise, dancing, diamonds, dutch, French, friends, hot tubs, injuries, italian food, kitchen, meat, monkeys, mr sexy legs, music, Naples, NCL, overcast, performers, pool deck, rain, rice, Samana, sand, shopping, shots, sleep, spirits, sport, St petersburg, steak, sun burn, tourist, turtles, water boy, wine | 1 Comment »