Port of call
So originally I had planned to relax between major excursions in order to maintain the very comfy-like type of cruise we were going for, but Chris got too excited and we ended up booking excursions for all but the last island we stopped at.
I wandered here.
Found a beautiful painting that Chris helped me bargain for!
This island was soooooo much fun and we didn't even go in the water! Imagine that! We got into port really early in the day (like 6am - ok, early for us) and knew from experience the previous day in St. Thomas, that we would be leaving port around 8pm, but we had to be aboard by 5:30pm. So we had scheduled the excursion for a little later in the afternoon.
So relaxed, haven't zip-lined yet
That meant we got to watch the water, eat breakfast and relax on land for a bit before we went out for our adventure. It was nice. Chris found some wi-fi to make him happy, though it made him more upset than anything due to the speed or lack thereof and the fact that a cold soda cost twice what it would in FL he was not a happy guy.
See? Not happy husband - it was a rare moment on the cruise
We had just enough time to grab lunch before we hopped in a few taxis with our group. The "adventure" was zip-lining over the jungle pretty far inland on the island of Antigua. We got to see so much of the island! I loved it. The taxis weren't like in NY or even in DC, they were like upscale third world taxis. Of course, Chris and I having lived abroad when we were younger as missionaries for our church, we had a lot of fun on the ride.
After a long trip we finally made it to our destination. I was unsure when we chose the excursion how it was going to work out, but the fact that for the first time in three years there wasn't a possibility of pregnancy to keep me from doing what we wanted, made me go for something I am so glad I did, but wouldn't have attempted without some strong Chris encouragement. Zip-lining across the tops of the jungle trees sounds and looks really cool, unless you're the one who goes through the brief safety meeting and has to get all hooked up in a mass of gear. Of course, flying through the air at high speed with only a tree and a guy looking entirely too young to be helpful at the other end is a great way to gauge how brave you are.
this was at the very beginning - he was actually going really fast!
The safety meeting where we were all geared up would have been pretty boring except for the other military wife gearing up next to me. She was so funny. We apparently had similar senses of humor and got a good laugh out of watching both our husbands (hers a bit large, mine a bit skinny) gearing up. Beyond the obvious wifely humor and mother humor, there was the fantastic military wife/mother crack ups too. Like I said, not boring.
I was really having as much fun as it looks!
So we are BRAVE! I know because the tree I spoke of earlier comes really fast! The guy is entirely too young! Our hands were our best brakes to slow us down before we hit the football pad at the end of the zip-line. Sometimes we stopped too early (nerves sometimes gotcha) and had to pull ourselves to the small platform. Other times we stopped just in time, but almost flipped around funny (Chris). And by the end of the whole zip-line system of platforms, we stopped appropriately and didn't need either the pad, the tree, or the guy (who seemed to improve in years and experience as we moved from the earlier platforms to the latter ones! Maybe it was just me.)
so serious - how did I do?
The best part of the zip-lining was the view. I know, totally obvious, but looking down from that height with the warm wind whipping through your hair and around your body, it just added something amazing to the whole experience. It didn't feel so scary or intimidating by the end of the zip-lines and just so you know they got longer and steeper the further we went. By the end we were shouting silly things at each other as we crossed the valleys and gorges. It really was the other people who helped make the trip so fun. We would've had fun regardless, but good company while you hiked to the next platform or waited in line for your turn was invaluable. I sure felt like we got our money's worth.
so NOT serious - don't care what you think!
And then, we did the obstacle course. The course was kind of silly, but still fun. It reminded Chris of the improving working relationships course he had to do in training. I remembered a similar set of exercises in girls camp when I was a kid. Anyway, we skittered through tons of ropes, ladders, platforms, and different types of challenges with the help of our "other" to get to the end. I really enjoyed the hike at the end. Gave us that nice - wow, this could be considered exercise - feeling.
"Wow, I did that so well. Not so hard."
We had so much fun. They even talked Chris into getting the dvd with video and pix (we weren't allowed to take our cameras or phones). Thankfully, with the military discount they grudgingly gave Chris (he's very good at talking to people) we didn't spend too much. Just look at our pix!
"Soo glad I didn't run into you! Both feet on the ground - whew!"
We even got certificates of completion for doing so well. It was fun. Chris is such a goof sometimes, but oh, how I love my goof!
I took the few minutes after all the exercise to rest and take some pix of the all the pretty flowers. I'm a sucker for flowers. Then we took the same long ride back to the docks. By the time we got back on board we were ready to relax and eat the whole ship. I think this was the night that both of us ate the most! Lots of meat, veggies, fruit, and of course... dessert!
In the evening as with all the evenings on board, the night had lots of events. We chose to participate in the cruise's "Gender Showdown" with Myra and Jason. I never thought this activity could be as funny as it was. Some of the guests got so involved they actually de-volved in their participation. Women were hooting and hollering, running around and griping. Men were yelling and some were cussing, laughing their heads off and even booing in some cases. The best moment of the whole event was when a little old man (and I mean, I think I was taller than he was) scurried down from the balcony seats to let our male representative know the answer to a woman's cosmetics question. Oh, how funny it was when the host got to tell the very smug woman on stage that the little old man had stolen the point! Even I was thrilled to see him get it! We had so much fun doing it, the host decided to finish the game the next night!
Before we left however, we watched men, women, and children get into the music learning Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The girl teaching was one of the main show's dancers so it was hilarious to watch the regular folks try to keep up. The best was seeing how the younger kids picked up on it so quick they could've been in the original video that was decades older than they were. (Oh - how old I felt just writing that! I saw the original and all the back story to creating a living werewolf. Had no idea how long ago that was until just now!)
The rest of the night we wandered, ate at the snack places and generally just lounged. Every now and then at the end of our longer days (excursion days) we ended up in the adult's section in the hot tubs or lounging in a hammock, or just gabbing on a couch. The breeze was always so nice since the ship was always traveling, and the company couldn't have been better. Thus ended another day in the Caribbean for the Fosburg pair.
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