21 January 2009

Pirates of the Caribbean

Jeff and I spent the most amazing week in the Caribbean on a 7 night cruise. We left out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and had stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten/St. Martin (depending on which side of the island you are on), Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. Here are a few of the highlights...





There is a big, old fort in old San Juan called El Morro. We walked around and read a little about the history of the fort. I was sure there were ghosts there. It is also very windy.


In front (or in back) of El Morro.


This cathedral was very pretty and we stopped to take pictures, turns out there was a wedding going on! So we sat in on it for a while.





This was our stateroom. Um... not really that much to tell about it.



Our first stop, St. Thomas. We went to a beach called Magen's beach, which was supposed to be one of the best in the world. Even though it was a little overcast, we all still had a great time.



A few nights on the ship, we went to the basketball court and played lightening. A word of warning!! If you know Susy Cotterell, watch out! She is AWESOME at this game!!



Our second stop was at St. Maarten/St. Martin. The island is shared between The Dutch and the French. So we got off on the Dutch side, rented a van, and drove to the french side and enjoyed Gallion Beach and Oriental Beach. Beware!! Even on the not-topless side of Oriental beach, women still take their tops off. Yeah, that was funny....



Clark, Susy, Jeff, Empty Chair, Jaime, Dave

Next up was Antigua. Clark, Susy, Jaime, Dave and Jeff and I just went to a beach and (tried to) read. We got a few locals trying to get us to buy jewelry and other stuff. Jaime and I caved and got our girls some necklaces and BFF anklets for us. At lunch, we got some really good barbeque chicken which came with some really good noodles. And we heard some crazy people yelling about how Antigua was God-fearin people. Good times.



St. Lucia was a little disappointing, to be honest. The island was beautiful, but when we went to the beach, we were litterally accosted every second by people wanting us to buy stuff from them, or rent their jet skiis. So though we liked the island, we didn't love that beach.
Clark, Taylor, Dave and Jeff

Our last stop was Barbados. And this was definately our favorite. At Crane beach, the sand was so soft and the water was an amazing color of turquoise. We were lucky to get this guy named Sylvester as our driver. Dave (a guy in our group) who had been telling everyone we met about the church, started talking to Sylvester about the church and the missionaries. Sylvester said he would like to hear more about it, and gave us his card, with all of his contact info on it. Then on the way back to the ship, Sylvester took us to the LDS chapel on Barbados, and the gates were unlocked, and there were some construction people working on the building. So we took Sylvester inside and showed him around the chapel. It was so great to plant the seed. We gave his info to Courtnie's dad (who is a mission president in Atlanta) and hopefully, Sylvester will join the church!


This is my awesome stud of a husband rock climbing the fake rock wall. He climbed it in less than 2 minutes.
So after we would leave the ports of call, that's when the real fun would begin. There were a few shows we went to, but mostly we would play basketball, or go dancing, or my personal favorite, playing games in the game room(I am freaking awesome at Mafia!!). Oh, and there was a little KARAOKE. Let's just say "Loveshack" never sounded so good (good job Court and Susy!). I am so glad we went with so many fun people. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a VERY long time. So thanks, Jaime and Dave, Clark and Susy, Courtnie and Taylor, Ryan and Tiffany, Jared and Jill, Steve and Pauline, Mike and Kayleen, Teresa and Dave, Pete and Rachel, Cary Jo and Tim, and especially Dirk and LillyAnn.




But most of all, I'd like to thank my wonderful husband. Thanks to his hard work, we got to go on the cruise, and I am so glad that he is my best friend, and the person that I'd most like to be with. I had such a great time with you, Jeff. I love you very much. And I'd love you even if you didn't take me on awesome cruises.

9 comments:

Courtnie said...

How fun! That was the greatest trip ever. I don't know how we'll ever out-do it. We will probably just add to it. . .oh, and I love the picture on the bed. Glad you ducked! :) When's lunch?

ba and the boys said...

you suck.
but it looks like you had fun so i dont hate you all that much.

lisa said...

Wow...I'll stow away next time! Everywhere you went looks like something out of a postcard! LUCKY--(said like Napolean Dynamite)

WanderingJennie said...

Wow! You guys look so happy. I love it!

Jordan said...

What beautiful beaches- glad you two had such a great time!!!

Susy Cotterell said...

Wouldn't have been the same with out you Stacie! BFF (and all the other BFF's that went with us)! Can't wait for the next cruise.

Anonymous said...

FUN times! We love cruising...perhaps someday, we'll hook up and go together!

Jaime said...

I am going through cruise withdrawls! It isn't fair to get so spoiled and then have to come back to reality. I miss you and want to do something when the guys go to Reno.

Kristen said...

Wow, cruise looks like so much fun! You look super cute in all the pictures too!