Costa Maya was a beach day! we caught a bus to Mayahual beach and spent several hours soaking in the beautiful water and relaxing under a grass palapa with some Corona! What a life! someone has to do it!!! and I’m thankful it’s us!
Belize
Day 4: Belize City – off the ship via tender for 15 minute ride across the turquoise waters where the ubiquitous diamond and jewelry shops awaited us. With Sid and June, we went through the gauntlet of hustlers and ended up taking an hour long horse and buggy ride through the streets of the city. For $20 we spent an hour with Ryan, our driver and guide, riding around the fairly shabby little town, but encountering people with big smiles and waves. He fed us lots of information about the town: it’s below sea level and they are reclaiming land; there is no public school system – all schools are parochial; independence was gained from the British on 9/10/1981 (formerly named British Honduras) while remaining a member of the commonwealth.
Zipping’n’dipping in Roatan, Honduras
We arrived at Coxen Hole port at 9 a.m. and quickly disembarked to check in with the South Shore Tours for our zip’n’dip adventure. Eleven of us were in the van that drove up into the hills in the western part of the island which is 35 miles long and 4 miles wide, and 36 miles from the mainland. We were kitted out with our harnesses, helmets and gloves and given explicit safety instructions. It was fantastic! There were 13 lines with the longest being 1000 feet. We were disengaged at each platform and reattached to the next line The infra structure looked very solid and was attractively built. After the zip lining, we were taken to West Bay beach with beautiful crystal clear turquoise water. After our dip we were taken back to the ship.
We had no sooner arrived at the beach than Sid and June showed up! We just couldn’t get away from them!!!!!
The port itself looked to be fairly new, and is very attractive with bougenvilla cascading over the balconies.
Tampa – March 24, 2012
The gang congregated pre-cruise along with Wanda and Bob for dinner at Outback in Tampa.
The fun started on Friday
June & Sid arrived from the UK on Thursday evening; Betty, Marilyn & Dave on Friday
; Moira & ray on Saturday ……..
A day in Winter Park, FL
A good day! I got my long awaited iPhone!!!
The drive between Tampa and Winter Park was not pleasant, with stop and go traffic for about 30 miles by Orlando, but we wanted to go and see the Winter Park Arts Festival where Lorraine and Gene were taking part. There were 250 or so artists and many food vendors; even though a high-end show, I was not overly impressed. Most of the artwork was very suited to Florida and just more over the top than I like.
Anyway, the best was to come. After the show, the four of us went to the Winter Park Fish Company for dinner. A terrific little place with deliciously fresh fish, blue moon beer on draft, and a great atmosphere! The drive home was better!
Another hot one today, at the fitness centre catching up on wifi and in a/c.
I just found out about Rebecca
I’ve been working on uploading our pictures from Viet Nam and my mind wandered to Rebecca and Dade, the couple we met a year ago in Puerto Montt, and who inspired me to start this blog. I have her blog bookmarked and thought I’d check in to see what trips they’ve been on, and was surprised to see none listed from Jan ’11 (when we met) until Dec ’11. I clicked on it and saw Katmandu and was thinking to myself – you lucky devils – when I found, reading it, that Dade was obviously alone and he was there on a mission – to spread Rebecca’s ashes! They mentioned that she’d had a bout with melanoma, and was carefully protecting herself from the sun, but ….
So I googled Rebecca Garrison-Sokoloff and found her obituary. She died November 13, 2011 – 34 years old! my God! I also found her facebook page and discovered this picture (which we’ve never seen before)
taken by either Dade or Rebecca from their balcony – coincidentally a deck or two above ours.
Here’s a picture of Rebecca, drinking a pisco sour (we both had one or two!) taken in the restaurant in Puerto Varas (lifted from her blog)
Log Cabin in the woods – Rangeley, Maine
Does this look like a tranquil paradise? We have this cabin for the week, but I had to come home to Belfast for meetings and commitments while Dennis and Lucy are being joined by our friend, Jeff, and returning home on Saturday.
Good times with the little ones
Our time here in WA is drawing nigh and tomorrow we will be up, up and away back to New England. We’ve had lots of cuddles, kisses and slobbers! And best of all saw Greyson crawl for the first time on 12/6 – now here’s no stopping him!
Babysitting the Little ones in WA
We arrived at 8pm (11 EST) and after a quick debrief, Kat and Ian left to go to their 3 night/2 day event. We’ve had busy days visiting the library, local playground, and Ikea.
