Cruisin' 2013- Belize

The second port we docked in was Belize. I was pretty excited to get to visit, as I have heard it is the second best place for snorkeling in the world! So naturally, we all decided to check it out.

As we got off the Carnival Dream, we got onto another taxi boat to take us to our destination. It looked like a little neighborhood in the water, with the houses on stilts! They were all painted pastel colors too, I was pretty impressed ;) Come to find out, it was the snorkeling shop, a restaurant, and a gift shop. There was even a private beach!

On my way back from a trip to the restroom, I discovered this sign and it made me giggle. Apparently, it is customary to throw up jazz hands when you fall down in Belize ;)

Once we signed the waivers and got fitted for gear, we were on our way. It was another short ride in the boat to the reef. Once we got there and people were getting in the water, they were complaining how cold it was. COLD?! I didn't sign up for cold! I could do chilly at best :) I am a cold water wuss! I decided to suck it up and rather than just submerge myself slowly....I'd jump. Turns out there are people that are bigger wusses than I, because the water was like bath water. It was nice!

I had been snorkeling once before, however it didn't go as well as I expected it to. I'm not what you would call a "swimmer." I can tread water, and float, but for some reason when I'm in the water I lose pretty much all control of my motor skills. In swimming pools it's not too bad, because I can see the bottom. Even in the ocean it's not so bad if I can see the bottom. But the second it goes from "beautiful sea floor" to "black," I panic. We had life jackets this time though, so I was prepared ;)

Let's do this.....

Brandy and I floated right over the top of this guy. It was Brandy's first time snorkeling and she got a little nervous. She was trying to push her way to the top. What was she using for leverage to the top you ask? My head ;) This guy almost got to see more of me than he bargained for!

He has no idea who the hell Nemo was, and he'd really appreciate it if I took my shenanigans elsewhere.

In case you're wondering, this IS in fact my, "Please don't let this giant crab chew my face off" face. I think the guy to my right was hoping it would happen ;)

Crusin' 2013- Cozumel, Mexico

On February 2, Ryan and I left on a western Caribbean cruise with a group of our friends. There were 3 couples: Ryan and I, Ben and Nicole Walker, Ben and Katie Smith, and our other friend, Brandy. Our boat was the Carnival Dream, and we had been waiting for this for a whole year!

 Our first stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. We decided to go to a private beach called Passion Island and spend the day playing in the water and relaxing in the sand. However, in order to reach said destination, we took a speedboat that went by the name of "Aqua Twister." And twist it did! We got going pretty fast, and the driver tried his damned-est to give us whip lash. Well played, sir, well played ;)

View looking at the beach from in the water

And another...

 Once we got to Passion Island, which by the way is where the Corona commercials are filmed, we learned pretty early on that not a whole lot of relaxing would take place! (Oddly enough, there was not a Corona in sight! They only served Dos Equis.)

The Bens discussing with our waiter how they could possibly not serve Coronas. At least I hope at some point that was discussed ;)

 They had inflatable water toys to play on, and they were calling our names! However, we quickly found out that we were no match for them. And I also learned that when salt water gets in your eyes, it burns like a son of a gun!

Please enjoy the video footage of us attempting- and failing miserably- at being graceful and coordinated. Go easy on us, it's harder than it looks :)

Perhaps Ben Walker is the smartest of us all! He decided to hold the fort down on the beach instead of get in the water. I'm sure he got a good laugh at us all!

Where has the time gone?!

It has been over two months since my last entry. 2 months?! I'd like to say that "Chippie" had a mean streak and has had us tied up in the basement as his hostages, demanding booze and free cable...but that's just not feasible. We don't even have a basement :) I'm pretty behind on the times over here, so I'm going to do the best I can at playing catch up. You know what that means: Pictures and videos!

We'll start with Christmas 2012. It sure was one for the books! It was Dalys' first Christmas, and from the looks of it, she had herself a good ol' time :)