Cruising in the Caribbean

Vacation was heavenly. Jon & I left Brenton with his mom, and a ward friend for a 10 day vacation to the Caribbean. We flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico and had 2 days there before we boarded the Carnival Victory ship. Our cruise had 5 stops and 1 day at sea. We sailed from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and then St. Martin. It was not a relaxing vacation..in fact we were up earlier than we usually get up at home. But wow was it beautiful...and fun...and..not long enough!

I thought I would hit the highlights of each island

warning...lots of pictures!

& disclaimer- most of our island pics were taken with my Ipod since we were nervous to get my camera stolen..so they aren't great quality.

Puerto Rico was so unbelievably beautiful. We loved exploring the old naval forts, walking thru the streets of Old San Juan and admiring all the bright colored stores fronts, and rustic ornate door coverings, eating the delicious Puerto Rican food, and foolishly thinking gas there was only $.98 a gallon. We were so excited to gas up our rental car and only spend like $5-$10. It ended up being in liters (whoopsies) so it was even more expensive than here..ha!

We visited one of the main rain forests on the island and took a hike down to a waterfall. On the way back we got stuck in a torrential downpour and were stranded for about 45 min under a little stone shelter.

We visited the forts "El Morro" & "Castillo San Cristobol". Amazing!

I was so in love with all the colors in Old San Juan. Makes me want to paint some more vibrant colors in this house!

I couldn't take enough pictures! That's why it took me so long to post..I had to sort thru hundreds

Our next stop was St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We rented scooters and drove all around the island...on the wrong side of the road I might add. I was kinda afraid for my life! We found Koki beach where the snorkeling was great and spent a few hours there. They had HUGE iguanas there that were not afraid of humans and would charge at you just for kicks and giggles.

Scooter team out!
Then it was off to Barbados! This was probably our least favorite islands because it was a bit dirtier, and the weather wasn't great that day. We rented scooters again (cheaper than paying for taxis everywhere) and made our way thru the small villages to some cool underground caves.

The food on the ship was great. You could order as many different appetizers, entreas, & desserts as you wanted. Oh and they had an icecream and pizza stand that was open all day and night. Oh it was lovely! The etnertainment was pretty fun too. One of the nights we decided to sit closer to the front and poor Jon was picked out of the crowd to participate for 2 different events. My friends from Arbor Cove @ Ricks College will recall a gross game of "butthole golf" (not my choice of words) that we played for F.H.E one night (and got in trouble for later by our bishop) Well, this was similar. We had a battle of the sexes night and they made Jon go up and squeeze a quarter in his cheeks while walking across stage to drop it in a cup. And he did it! Then later on that night Jon was picked out during a juggler's act to be his guest on stage. They put this sparkly vest on him and made him juggle. Hilarious! I only had my Ipod so the pictures didn't turn out great:(

From Barbados we next headed to St. Lucia. This island was beautiful!!! We took a tour to some mud caves where we got to rub mud from a volcano all over our bodies and bath in a natural springs. Pretty nasty stuff but our skin felt amazing afterwards.

This is a view of the Pitons (the mountains.)

Washing the mud off in the natural springs...stinken HOT water!

Then came St. Kitts. This was one of our favorite islands. It was a little more remote and just as gorgeous. We snorkeled and swam and then had a taxi driver take us to several of the old cathedrals on the island to take pictures. Oh how I love old cathedrals!
I took advantage of not being pregnant and rocked a 2 piece. Don't judge!

Our last stop was on gorgeous St. Martin. This was the most beautiful of the islands we thought. The sand was powder white and water was crystal clear. We rented an ATV on this island and drove all over. We found a beautiful beach and snorkeled and hung out. We also had our first nude encounter of the trip. Now we were not at a nude beach so I'm not sure why this lady was topless...but this is how it went down. I wanted a picture by the water before we left so I asked Jon to snap one. He took one and then a lady from behind said, "do you want me to take one of both of you". Jon said yes, and since she was behind him and he hadn't turned around he didn't notice that she was topless. Since I was standing facing this lady I saw what was about to happen. But couldn't do anything since she could see me. So I smiled and said "great"...while thinking "holy crap" Then Jon saw what I was holy crapping about and his face turned bright red. And it stayed bright red thru the picture (2nd pic down) ...so enjoy that! :)

yep, totally awkward. No there was no way around looking directly at her huge bossism. Thanks lady...we will never forget you:)

Super fun trip...we will definitely visit the Virgin Islands again!