Pictures: Cruise | Turtles | Manatees | BigCats
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Our trip this year started off in mid-December with a seven day cruise around the Southern Caribbean islands on Celebrity's newest and largest ship the Constellation.
The cruise was for seven nights, with five port of calls:
Departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico - Casa De Campo, Dominican Rep
- Roseau, Dominica
- Bridgetown, Barbados
- St. Johns, Antigua
- Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
- Return to San Juan, Puerto Rico
We planned as active as possible shore excursions. We kayaked in four stops and decided to try snuba on our last stop (Antigua). Our favorite experience was on one of our favorite islands, Barbados. It started with a contrived kayak along the coast, the water and beach was amazing (this was Chris' favorite), it concluded with a swim with sea turtles. Coaxing the turtles to hang out with us using fish bits, we had three or four turtles swimming around us (mostly under us). This was my first trial run with my underwater case for my camera so I ended up with many empty shots and turtle butt shots, however a few came out decent.
Dominica was another favorite island. We did some kayaking down a mild river to the coast with a company called "
Wacky Rollers". The landscape was beautiful and the were extremely gracious and fun!
Antigua was one of my favorite islands. There we kayaked with Antigua Paddles through the mangroves among small islands and reefs. As in Dominica, it was clear that they loved their island and what it had to offer and wanted to share it as well as try to protect it (often times a conflict).
The cruise ship had food 24x7. In spite of the much boosting we heard regarding the high quality of cruise food, in particular Celebrity's, we were not very impressed. There was definitely a lot of food, all the time, but the quality was mediocre. We did have a few exceptional things (like lobster night!), but in general it was so-so. The entertainment was clearly geared towards an older crowd. Chris' favorite I think was the room service. My favorite was the room, in particular the balcony. Our room was surprisingly large and had a perfectly placed balcony. Unknowingly I had picked a well placed room (in the middle of the ship, not too high up) when making the reservations. There were only a couple nights that we could significantly feel the movement. The service staff was beyond excellent and we were definitely spoiled.
After our cruise we remained in Puerto Rico for four more days. We were both pleasantly surprised at the beauty, friendliness and activities available there, and would eventually like to go back and spend more time there. Map
After checking into our smelly and old room at the Radisson in the tourist area of Corondo (in San Juan), we ventured the local city and found it friendly with many restaurants and stores within walking distance, not to mention the awesome beach!
On the next day we woke up painfully early to meet up with Aventuras for a canyoning tour we had found online signed up for. Unfortunately I did not bring a disposable camera so I have no pictures, but trust us it was incredibly beautiful, amazing and way fun! Check out their site for pictures and details. It was a large group, but there were several very experienced and fun guides, so it ran very smoothly. Turns out the fun-loving leader of Aventuras is also an avid rock climber (with a love of big walls apparently). We were able to talk a bit about various climbing areas, including Yosemite. True to the general graciousness we had seen by locals in Puerto Rico and the coolness of climbers (and perhaps a bit of subtle suggesting on my part), Rossano offered to take us climbing at his local crag the following day. Chris and I were thrilled!! He set us up with some gear from his shop and off we went with Rossano and Eda to check out the local rock and routes that they had put up. No guidebooks are available for these crags yet, I think they are still working on the typical climber issues that most areas have faced with governments, etc. The routes were splendid! Reminded me very much of Thailand climbing. We had not climbed in a couple months and jumped quickly from warming up on an 8 to a 10c/d (...10hard...) so we burned out fast. It was one of our favorite days of our holiday though...Rossano and Eda were great fun to talk with and hang out with (...literally!). After the rock beat us and the sun was setting, we all went to a very tasty local restaurant. All the restaurants we went to in our hotel area had been fairly good.
We hope to see Rossano and Eda again, either here in CA or back in Puerto Rico.
The following day was supposed to be a casual day with a night bioluminescence kayaking tour. During the day we went to old San Juan and enjoyed walking around looking at stuff. We ended up not doing the kayak tour...I think we both had such a good time between canyoning and climbing and we suspected the kayak tour might be a little cheesy and didn't want to ruin our joy.
We were super thankful to be leaving the Radisson the following morning but sad to leave Puerto Rico. We only had two negative things: our icky hotel room (which was btw overpriced), and the super scary taxi drivers. Having ridden taxies in many states and countries, I think Puerto Rico has consistently the scariest taxi drivers.
Our last leg of our vacation was a short side trip to Tampa Florida, on the way home sort of, to swim with manatees in Crystal River. This is something I had been told about on my Palau trip in 2001 and after researching, desperately wanted to do. Last year it didn't happen, so I was very happy when it worked out this year. Chris was a little hesitant about all the fuss over huge ugly "sea cows" and the idea of swimming with them, but he lovingly humored my vacation request. After it was over, Chris was as thrilled over the manatee experience as I was!
We went with Bird's Underwater in Crystal River, an excellent company, whose manatee awareness and respect really impressed us. Check out the pictures I took! The beta on the manatee, besides using Bird's Underwater, is to do the early morning tour, it means being there at 6:15am, which meant we woke up at 4am, and perhaps a colder trip, but well worth it.
We had some time in Tampa to kill so we decided to go look at some kitties after seeing a flyer in the hotel for the Big Cat Rescue. Chris and I are both anti-'looking at caged animals' but this was a non-profit rescue. The place is amazing: we were both sad and happy to see the cats there. Their circumstances and histories were sad and often cruel, but the life they have now is healthy and outdoors, well cared after for the rest of their lives. It is a great learning experience as well as an opportunity to see some beautiful cats.
-sigh-
Then we came home, going from sunny humid warm weather to cold and raining...
What's next?
Africa in Feb for me.
Chris and I have not decided where we are going next December..