We decided to go on a cruise for our honeymoon. Our cruise ship was amazing. It had everything... a water slide, a putting green, a rock climbing wall, a basketball court, swimming pools, a salon and spa, a gym, an outdoor running track, a movie theater, a theater for shows every night, and so much more. There was always something fun to go to. It was such a fun vacation! Here are some pictures that we took on the ship. Brad is such a funny guy so I made sure to post a couple pics of some of the things he always does to make me laugh.:)
Cayman Islands
Our first port was the Cayman Islands. The island was beautiful! We decided to start off by hiking down the seven mile beach. We brought our snorkel gear to each of the islands just in case there would be time to look for fun things in the ocean. On the Cayman Islands we found many fun fish which included parrot fish and huge tarpin. We weren't sure of the names of some of the other kinds of fish that we saw. Snorkeling by the tarpin was a bit scary at first because they were huge. We were able to get pretty close to them. While we were walking through the city we saw a machete stuck in the ground by the side of the road. Brad cut open a coconut for us to drink it's milk. We took a taxi to another snorkeling spot. We then ate dinner and walked around the city a bit before boarding back on our ship. The island was absolutely gorgeous!
Costa Maya
Our second port stop was Costa Maya, Mexico. We loved being in Costa Maya. When we arrived we decided to rent a car in order to see as much of the state as possible. We began our journey by going to see the Mayan ruins. They were amazing! We then drove to a placed called Cenote Azul. There was an amazing blue fresh water lake that we decided to go swimming and kayaking in. We rang a bell on the side of a little hotel and were able to rent kayaks for $5. The lake was so beautiful! We then drove to Chetumal which is the capital of Costa Maya and ate dinner. We had to hurry back to the port by 8:30pm. As we were quickly walking up the dock we heard Brad's name over the load speaker. It seemed like hundreds of shipmates with a little too much alcohol were calling out to Brad as we were walking up. We were the last ones on the ship...we just barely made it back on time:) We enjoyed every second on each of the ships stops to the fullest!
Belize
Our third stop was Belize. If we had to choose a favorite place that we visited it would have to be Belize. It was sooo beautiful! We enjoyed taking an early morning walk through the city. Afterwards we signed up for a hiking and cave tubing adventure. We loved hiking through the jungle and then tubing through an amazing pitch black cave. Our tour guide had so many fun facts to tell us about the culture and city. He took our little group of 6 on an extra long hike and we also were able to spend the whole day on the river floating, swimming, and jumping off rocks into the clear fresh water pools. While we were tubing the fish kept biting by behind. Brad found it to be quite funny, since they didn't bother anyone else but me.
The people speak English in Belize and also Spanish. Brad spoke with our tour guide in Spanish for awhile on our way to the jungle. Our guide told Brad that he has taken BYU students on many tours for their study abroad program. He said that he had taken the discussions and made it a point to drive by the only LDS church in the country so we could take a picture of it. It is so neat to hear Brad speak to everyone in Spanish!
We loved every second that we spent in Belize!
Cozumel
Our last stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. It was so beautiful there. We were the only cruise ship that made it to Cozumel due to hurricane Paula. Our captain steered us in the right direction so we were able to make it to our destination. I sleep like a log so I didn't hear the storms that were taking place the night before. Brad woke up and ran to the balcony to make sure that we hadn't been hit. He was afraid that we were going to sink. Luckily we only had a little bit of rain here and there and one stormy night while were were on the ship.
In Cozumel we rented a scooter so we could explore the island. We were able to drive around the island and make stops to look at the city, wild life, go swimming in the ocean, and snorkel. We came across a turtle crossing the road, many iguanas, peacocks, crabs, and a sign that said that there were crocodiles in the swamp land areas. Brad confirmed this by talking to a man from the area. Cozumel was a beautiful place to visit!
We had such a wonderful honeymoon together:)
