Back in Tampa!

Well, it's official. The Taylors have re-entered reality from the land of relaxation and fun. Total bummer. :)

We are now sitting in the Tampa airport waiting on our flight. We arrived here about 10am this morning and our flight doesn't leave until 2:25pm.

We had a fabulous time! I kept a written diary of things we did, mostly for scrapbooking purposes, but I will also use it to blog. However, the quick itinerary is as follows:

Last Sunday, Day 1-the flight out of Nashville to Tampa and then boarding of the boat and embarkation. Most of this day was travel and unpacking etc.

Monday, Day 2-at sea. We slept in and had a big breakfast. Spent just an hour or so at the pool on board (because EVERYONE was there) and then just hung out until dinner...you know, exploring the boat.

Tuesday, Day 3- Grand Cayman....ahhhhh....that's all I'll say for now. But we toured the Turtle Farm, Hell (oh yes...I sent myself a postcard from Hell) and Stingray City.

Wednesday, Day 4-Cozumel Mexico. We did a little self tour around the pier, ate lunch and then took Jenna to do Dolphinaris where she got in the pool with a Dolphin. Very cool pics from this. One of my first purchases when I get home is a scanner. :)

Thursday, Day 5-Belize City, Belize. This was a private beach day. It was nice to just relax. The beach was a little rough as there were lots of shells and shell pieces, but once you got just a few feet into the water, it was OK...the sand was a little mushy feeling, but it was beautiful.

Friday, Day 6 - Isla Roatan, Honduras. Holy Cow. I almost did not book an excursion on this stop because really...Honduras? Who does Honduras on a cruise? The waters we docked in were beautiful, but the port was just like you would imagine Honduras to be. Very poor looking. We had booked a beach day at this stop as well. It was about a 15 minute trip by van/taxi and it was straight throught the poorest part of the city. But then you end up at the beautiful, wonderful white, powder sand beach. Unbelievable.

And here I must confess...I have never snorkeled before. I did try on the last cruise and basically hyperventilated the minute I put my face in the water. It's that pressure or something. I just couldn't breathe. But I rented snorkel equipment on this beach determined to get it right now that I had time to do it slowly and learn at my own pace. My first dip in the water caused the familiar hyperventilating, but after removing those stupid flippers and readjusting the life vest, I had the hang of it. I saw a fish here and there, but nothing spectacular. That is, until the little man in the kayak (who was apparently patrolling the reef) pointed me in a different direction. And as I swam, this beautiful coral reef opened up below me and there were colored fish all around. I was amazed. I have never seen anything like this before and it was amazing. So amazing that I rented ANOTHER set of snorkel equipment for Jenna and took her out with me. Of course, she has no fear and is a way better swimmer than me, so it was easy. She was amazed and kept wanting to go further and further out. I'm so glad we did because there was like another world out there. However, we got too far out and somehow got caught up in the coral close to the surface. Not sure if any of you have done battle with coral, but it's no fun and you will lose. Suffice it to say, Jenna got an express ride back to the beach in one of the kayaks patrolling the reef and it took me another 30 minutes to swim it back. And both of us had bleeding scratches on multiple parts of our body. But we survived. :)

Saturday, Day 7- Sea Day. Got up early this day, had breakfast by one of the pools and then let Jenna spend most of the morning at the pool and then just a variety of things around the ship.

And that brings us to today, in the Tampa airport. And on a PC that has a battery about to die. I need to start thinking toward getting wrapped up because in just a couple more hours, we'll be on the way home. I will give you more details about our stops when I'm home. I took all next week off and have a couple things to do (dentist appointment, meetings for school, registration, first 1/2 day etc.), so I hope to have time.