Fri, Apr 2 dawns unseasonably cool and cloudy in Columbia MD. This is an absolutely perfect day to leave town on a 10 day Caribbean cruise. Melissa, Levi, Kyle and Kevin catch a 7:30 AM cab to BWI for mid morning flight to Tampa. The flight is uneventful. Levi manages to spot our cruise ship from the airplane! We take short cab ride from Tampa airport to the cruise ship terminal. It takes about 45 minutes to get through check in procedure (and boy are we hungry now since we had nothing to eat on the plane!!). Once on Horizon (around 2PM, I guess) we do a minimum amount of unpacking before heading to restaurant (up two decks) for lunch.
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It was a little bit windy on the way out of Tampa | Bridge (forgot name) in Tampa |
Sat, Apr 3 : We are at sea today. We swim in the saltwater pool and saltwater Jacuzzi, walk around the ship, window shop, play ping pong, have drinks, and just enjoy being on the Gulf of Mexico. Almost every evening, we watch a stage show (magic, musical, etc.) at 7PM before having dinner at 8:30.
Sun, Apr 4: We wake up at anchor in the Caymen Islands. This port (Georgetown) is the only one where we will have to take a tender (a 50 person lifeboat) to shore. We get to shore around 10 AM only to discover that we missed the bus that was to take us swimming with the stingrays. As it turns out, the ship's shore excursion director messed up and caused us to leave the ship later than we should have. An employee of the shore excursion company gets us on another bus out to the boat we need to take. We take the 50 person boat out (about 30 minutes) to a sandbar, drop the anchor, and hop out to wade in the waist deep blue water of the Caribbean! We are surrounded by stingrays and wow, are they friendly! They swim right through our legs and flap themselves against our stomachs. They are so incredibly soft on their underside. The guide shows us how to hold them and even where to kiss them (the stingrays don't exactly have lips)! We feed the stingrays cut squid by holding half of the squid in our fist. The stingray then glides over your submerged fist and sucks the squid right out of your hand! Please keep your thumbs inside your fist! Being in the water with the stingrays is a wonderful experience. We catch a cab back towards Georgetown and spend a few hours sun tanning, eating lunch, and snorkeling on a beach before returning to the tender. We had a few minutes to shop before boarding the tender, but nearly every store in Georgetown was closed on Sunday.
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On boat to visit the Stingrays | Levi is READY! |
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Kyle and Kevin (and 50 of our friends) in the water with the Stingrays | On "7 Mile Beach" Grand Caymen Islands |
On "7 Mile Beach" Grand Caymen Islands
Mon, Apr 5: Sea day.
First Formal Dinner
Tues, Apr 6: We arrive in Port Limon, Costa Rica. Today's shore excursion is a canal boat nature tour. We board a bus for a 30 minute ride to the canals. The canal boats are very long and narrow and seat about 40 people. There are many of these boats on the canal at the same time. Some of the guides even manage to operate their boats at a safe speed. Our guide (Dino) points out many monkeys, cows, bulls, birds, trees, flowers, etc. during the hour long ride. We saw a 6 foot crocodile sun tanning on some small branches. Once back on shore, we enjoy a fruit snack and Coke (from a glass bottle! when was last time you saw a glass Coke bottle?). Soon, we are back on the bus for Port Limon. We drive for what seems like forever through a banana plantation over some of the bumpiest dirt roads known to man. Eventually, we arrive back in Port Limon.
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Our "Horizon" (on the right) is dwarfed by the "Coral Princess" | On the dock in Limon, Costa Rica |
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Levi intently studies the canal for signs of life | A local paddles by in his dugout canoe |
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A crocodile suns himself on some branches | A bird |
Weds, Apr 7: Today's port of call is Colon, Panama. We board a bus headed for the Gatun Lock on the Panama Canal. We enjoy watching a large cargo ship and three sailboats go through the canal. It is amazing how quickly the water rises/falls in one of the very large (110 ft wide by 1000 feet long) locks. After leaving the Panama Canal area, we take the bus to the ancient town of Portobello where we tour ancient forts and the Black Christ Church.
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3 sailboats share the lock with a large cargo ship | same boats just a few minutes later |
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Kyle | A cargo ship waits to enter the lock |
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A diablo rojo ("red devil") bus ... taken only by locals | Black Christ Church, Portobello |
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Steet Musicians, Portobello | in front of ancient fort ruins |
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town of Portobello | local neighborhood |
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Levi's new friend | Kevin's new friends | Kyle's new friend |
Thurs, Apr 8: Sea day.
Fri, Apr 9: We arrive in Roatan, Honduras. We take a taxi to Half Moon Bay where we spend most of the day snorkeling and lounging under the amazing lush trees. We eat lunch at a nice open air restaurant overlooking the cove. Roatan was one of our favorite ports of call.
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taxi driver, Roatan, Honduras | Half Moon Bay |
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Levi and his swim fins | Kyle (Does he look like he's having fun?) |
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Levi's big toe is officially wet | Kevin might be in a different country but he always manages to find his way to the bar |
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"Horizon" in Roatan, Honduras | "Horizon" |
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the water of Roatan | the pier in Roatan |
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Levi and Rowdy | Can you believe how Melissa "behaves" at dinner? |
Sat, Apr 10: Today we are in Cozumel, Mexico. The agenda today includes a visit to a park where we use clear acrylic kayaks to explore the beautiful waters. After the kayaks, we go snorkeling again. The fish, coral, and sponges are really stunning. We return to Cozumel and have a few hours of free time to shop and enjoy way too many margaritas at Carlo's and Charlie's.
Sun, Apr 11: Sea day. We enjoy our last day of suntanning around the pool. In mid-afternoon, we run into some rain and wind. Everyone heads belowdecks. The timing could not have been better since we have to pack our bags today (and leave them in the corridor by mid night). This is the first bit of bad weather during the entire cruise. One of the crew told us that last week's weather was miserable causing many guests to get seasick.
Mon, Apr 12: We are back in Tampa. It is raining and cool (temps in low 60s). We leave the ship around 10 AM, get our luggage, clear customs, and catch a cab to airport. Our 2:40PM flight to BWI is delayed about an hour due to thunderstorms in FL. We finally get home around 7PM where (big surprise) it is rainy and unseasonably cool. This was an absolutely perfect day to end a Caribbean cruise.