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MITSUGIRLYS EPIC CRUISE--2nd time around-1st from Port Canaveral


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Then our meal came. MINE WAS TO DIE FOR. So good and the sauce was so yummy!!!

 

But there really wasn't much of it at all. You see those small little potatoes it comes with? They were the size (roundness) of a finger. Like really? Seven shrimps=the main course. This is supposed to be a meal? I'm certainly glad we did decide to stop and eat at the buffet. If I hadn't had that salad, I would probably have to order a second dish of it and told them to use my second dinner coupon up. (Maaaannnnn, why didn't I think of that???)

 

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Now think about this...they charge $24.99 for this plate. I can't even imagine. That's JUST for the above plate. That didn't include the onion soup with the chunk of not-so-pleasing-to-the-eye bread in it, but was yummy. That was offered at an additional $3.99.

 

So the hubby's plate comes out...with a lid on it. They put it in front of him and open it...wallah, there's your meal. The plate was empty. The waiter laughed. He gots jokes. Then he turned around to his lovely assistant Vanna and presented a covered bowl. He would then scoop out various pieces of the pot and create this little eye-pleasing sculpture on his empty plate. I didn't know if I was supposed to applaud or not at that point. Um, "Can I buy a vowel?" was all I could think of.

 

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Hey wait, he has bigger potatoes. Not fair.

 

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Round 2 of the wine drinking commencement would take place and we were getting a little happy.

 

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I can not drink anything hot. That's probably one of the reasons I don't care for red wine. Well, wait...let's be honest, I don't care for red wine for the same reason I don't care for white wine...it's bitter. But red wine is even worse than the white (or rose).

 

So...I did what anyone would do...I ask for a glass of ice.

 

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That was all fine and dandy. No harm done. Everything was normal at our table....until I started pouring the ice into my wine glass. You would have thought I just committed a sin. The lady at the table over from us was giving me some looks that's for sure. So either I was totally out of line or was it someone on these boards on my cruise that was afraid to stop and say hi to me again? I'm going to go with the earlier part of that statement.

 

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DH was so happy to see this..he always asks for ice with his red wine. His family always made their own wine growing up and stored in in a cold cellar..so he always drank it cold and can't change this far into the game!

 

 

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Having never been to the Baths, I am SO happy you posted all of these pictures. It confirmed my initial thought of having absolutely no interest in going there!!! :p

 

 

Haha those were my exact thoughts. I am extra fluffy. So it's a definite nope!

 

 

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I'm sorry if this was already asked ... but do you remember who the CD is?

 

Pedro was. Man I have looked everyone for his picture. We had him on another cruise and he was great and we would talk to him all the time and spent some time with him out on deck one night. I have a picture of him dressed up in a clown costume that says "Vote for Pedro" but can't find it. He looks much much older now and we barely seen him this time around and didn't even know he was the CD until almost the end.

 

HI all!

 

Kim ~ you made me LOL! Yes, I am retired, coming up for 10 years in February. That was a poor choice of name but what was on my mind at the time!

 

Yes, we're both on the Oct 14 Escape cruise going to Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya & Cozumel. There's the sea day at the beginning & end plus at least 8 hours in each port. Check it out, I'd love to meet you ( & the family).

 

I'm following it up with 6 days on Conquest as I like to make the airfare count plus I do have the time.

 

I didn't get the behind the scenes perk on my 1st platinum cruise so will be looking to do that on Getaway in May.

 

Have a great weekend! I'll be turning 70 on Sunday & can't really believe I'm that old!

 

~ Jo ~

 

I figured you were by now, which is why I said that. :D

 

I really am considering this change of dates for the Escape. I'm sure the family would agree to that since they have been wanting to go back to Cozumel forever.

 

I have only done the behind the scenes perk once before. I just hate that you have to make reservations the day you get on the ship and we are always so busy doing other things and exploring that I usually forget. Then they want to have it so early in the morning on a sea day and I like to sleep in. :(

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! I hope you have a wonderful cake day and weekend my friend.

 

 

Pedro Serra
Quick with the trigger.

 

DH was so happy to see this..he always asks for ice with his red wine. His family always made their own wine growing up and stored in in a cold cellar..so he always drank it cold and can't change this far into the game!

 

I'm so glad I'm not alone. :D

 

 

Having never been to the Baths, I am SO happy you posted all of these pictures. It confirmed my initial thought of having absolutely no interest in going there!!

 

Aww man, I really hate that this is discouraging people from going there. While it's not for everyone, I do think it's very pretty there.

 

 

Haha those were my exact thoughts. I am extra fluffy. So it's a definite nope!

 

And...two down now.

 

 

Just the thought of having to worry about the family going up and down stairs, rocks, etc., .... for what?!!

 

To work off the calories you consume from the ship? :D

 

 

Yay... another Mitsugirly review!!

 

Well hello there E! Glad you could join me.

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All my pictures are ready to roll....let's get this review finished soon.

 

Friday: NASSAU. Sigh

 

So...we were SUPPOSED to go to the private island: Great Stirrup Cay. I will tell you this is one of the main reasons I booked this cruise (other than Sakari). I have been here once in the 80's (hehe)

 

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Oh my gosh my handwriting was so funky back in the 80's. I actually wrote in cursive back then. LOL

 

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The next time I would make it back to GSC would be 2012 on the Pearl with Kendra's first cruise since she was younger.

 

Man what a difference there was

 

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We tried to make it back in 2014 on the Sky and the port was cancelled due to high winds and it would be unsafe to go. We were so disappointed and we spent the day at sea.

 

So once again, we got the itching to go back and looked for a cruise that went there. We were in luck. The Epic was goin there and that's the ship that Sakari had been begging to go on since she was little and first seen it.

 

Well...they decided to continue with some renovations and the island was shut down to receive ships until it was completed. They invested $25 million in renovations and it was due to be completed right before our cruise. I was super excited.

 

They had added some new things since we were there last:

 

Zipline, Underwater Sculpture (Snorkeling), New Dining facility, and then the renovations continue into 2017 with additional things as well. The kids were wanting to do one of the swims with stingrays or dolphins or something (Courtney and Kolin have never done any before and neither has Brayden).

 

BUT.....NO.....once again, we would not make it there. THANKS MATTHEW you jerk of a hurricane. You just had to screw things up. This lovely hurricane category 5 decided it would create havoc on the Bahamas and word had it that this would now delay the renovations and they would not be open in time. Ugh

 

So we got word that we would be going to Nassau instead. Oh just lovely. Although we have managed to have a good time when we go there (Blue Lagoon, Melia, Sail & Snorkel excursion) it's still not one of the ports I really care for.

 

I had REALLY hoped that for this inconvenience, they would decide to allow us to stay a little longer in St Thomas 2 days prior. But, that didn't happen either.

 

I had to suck it up and make plans for Nassau instead.

 

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We had thought about going to Blue Lagoon again (Kolin absolutely loved that place), but I really wanted to go somewhere new. I had thought about trying Balmoral Island, and there were a lot of mixed reviews for the place, but I thought I would like it and it's some place new for me and a new place to review.

 

So since this was almost a last minute change for NCL, they decided NOT to make any of the excursions available to us to book (which you needed in order to get to Balmoral or Blue Lagoon). I even called NCL a few times and got the response that we would need to book once we are on the ship when they could see what might be available for us, since we weren't due at this port to begin with. We were to have 4 other ships with us there (I believe), or maybe it was 5 ships but one had stayed all night and would be leaving at 8am when we were coming in (or so they said).

 

Wee...lucky us. All the excursions could potentially be booked up and we get the left-overs IF there are any left-overs. I guess that's the name of the game. Then someone on our roll call said they opened up reservations, a few days ahead of time, but they must have immediately closed them back down because they were all gone by the time I looked that night.

 

In the end, since we were unable to book prior to cruising and know for sure 1) where we were going and 2) the price, the kids just decided that they didn't really want to spend that kind of money for this day. I think the Baths and Scuba broke the bank for them.

 

I immediately tried searching every place that I could for a day pass that was close by the port (walking distance). Every place I found and we would all agree that it would be a good place to go and spend the day, for a decent price...they ended up being completely booked up.

 

I finally just gave up and said..."We are going to walk to Junkanoo and that's final. It's free transportation (our feet) and the beach is free and that's that!"

 

So...Junkanoo it was.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I set the alarm for 6:30am that morning (even though we weren't "required" to be anywhere at any specific time, we still make the most of a port day).

 

My alarm goes off at 6:30am and immediately I panic. My left leg is bent in a position and I CAN'T MOVE IT! Like at all. It was like it was paralyzed. Did I sleep on it some weird way last night? Did I pull something and not know it? Was I dreaming? I had no idea but it was the weirdest thing. I had to use my hands to lift my leg and throw it over the side of the bed where I would sit for quite some time trying to straighten it. It wasn't numb, it didn't tingle, it didn't hurt. It just wouldn't bend. So weird! I've never had a contracture before, but I can tell you I never want one again.

 

It took awhile, but I finally got it straightened up and then I was like a baby taking their first steps as I got up and attempted to walk. I went very slowly to the bathroom and then everything was all better...like it never happened. I still don't know what caused it and it has never happened before or after that, and hopefully never will again.

 

I headed out to the balcony and it was looking pretty cloudy out. I know the last time I checked the weather, prior to leaving home, it did say rain all day in Nassau, but we all know how that changes in an instant.

 

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When you see the lighthouse, you know you are almost there and just need to park.

 

 

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We headed up to breakfast a little after 7am and I decided since we are really not on a time schedule today, it would be a good idea to get in the omelette line.

 

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Do you notice the brown eggs? That's what they had for everything the entire cruise. This is the first time I have ever seen them before. When did this switch happen?

 

After eating, we headed back to the room where we decided to put our balcony to use while we waited on punctual Kendra and fam to eat.

 

We noticed another ship coming in. (There was a something of the Seas already there when we arrived, and we were second to arrive, even though the cruise tables said the next ship wasn't due to arrive until 10am and MSC was coming in directly after us).

 

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They ended up having to wait on us to parallel park this big old girl.

 

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Edited by mitsugirly
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Almost there...a few more inches...

 

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I don't know if everyone kept up with Matthew, but it did hit Nassau pretty hard too. I remember looking at the webcams and seeing the weather and also watching the reports after he was booted from the island. There were places that it was pretty tour up. I'm not really sure if the port got hit or not, but it was quite obvious there was some destruction there.

 

Take a look at this house. Garage roof is gone, partial areas of the main home roof is gone, dock fell into the water, roofs caved in, blocks down and thrown around, and walls fallen. There's no telling what else. But it was the one house that really caught my eye.

 

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Here comes the MSC ship

 

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I honestly had no idea what time we finally made it off the ship after waiting for the Kendra clan, but the MSC had already managed to drift into her parking spot, all wheel drive style, by the time we got off.

 

 

We were greeted by a dolphin. A dolphin that could do tricks, like stand on his tail fin and smile for a picture. I THINK THIS IS SOME TYPE OF SIGN!

 

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Since NCL were jerks this cruise and decided the passengers that didn't make it on the ship at a "normal" time during embarkation and took down the embarkation photo and ROBBED us of our picture that I always buy...I guess this would have to do.

 

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We would start the very long journey down the pier. I guess when you are not on the VIP list for Nassau and aren't supposed to be there, you get treated as 3rd class and get to park the furthest away.

 

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Hmpppfff, they look about the same size as us.

 

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♪ Just keep walking, just keep walking, ♫ hhmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm ♪ ♫

 

 

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How many of these do we have to endure?

 

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Well, we might as well do our Nassau pictures now because I can only imagine how busy it's going to become later.

 

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Out of the port we went and to the right.

 

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The road kind of curved out and around some buildings, but we knew we were headed the right way when we seen this:

 

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Once you go around that building and curve back around, Junkanoo is right down the street.

 

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It took us 15 minutes to get there.

 

When we arrived, there was hardly anyone there.

 

To the left.

 

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To the right:

 

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We decided where we wanted to sit and of course we were immediately approached by people wanting us to rent chairs and telling us their specials. We really didn't feel like drinking (although they do have some awesome deals for chairs and drinks all day long) and the hubby is the only one that decided to get a chair. I believe it was $10 and that included a free drink. Everyone else just threw their towels down on the sand and that's where they would be for the day.

 

The kids immediately headed to the water.

 

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She morphed into a mermaid instantly and I hadn't even realized that she got her tail out yet. She's quick.

 

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I had seen a few videos of snorkeling in this area and it looked pretty decent with some things to see that I hadn't seen before. So, I was determined to check this place out.

 

I headed to the water....OH EM GEE....it's was FREEZING cold. Wow. Such a big difference from St Thomas and Tortola. Sigh. Ok, I got this. I'm a fish. I eased myself in and told the Littles "let's go" and they followed.

 

We were immediately greeted by this in the distance:

 

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I noticed there were a lot of old engines thrown in the water and critters managed to claim their real estate in all of them. They also used these engines to tie a rope to, with a balloon/buoy of some sort, to float at the surface. I'm not sure what they signify since it had nothing to do with the buoys around the perimeter. Do anyone know?

 

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Sakari prefers to be on the bottom when snorkeling. I prefer the top with my snorkel. LOL She's always under me when I look for her.

 

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I spotted a few yellowtail Damsel fish (there were a lot in this area).

 

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Kim, I wish you had spent a little more time on our roll call. NCL did post Nassau excursions for Blue Lagoon and Balmoral about 10 days before we sailed. I posted it as soon as I saw it. I haunted the NCL site for excursions and changes.

 

The MSC Divina looks like the Epic because it was built as the sister ship to Epic but NCL cancelled the order and it was sold to MSC. I happened to catch the technical Q&A as I was walking Headliners one morning.

 

Patti

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I spotted a sea urchin and went down to retrieve it.

 

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I ask Sakari if she wanted to hold it. Her response "Nah, I've held plenty of them before" Well alrighty then miss I've done it all and it's getting old and I would rather find something new to hold.

 

Brayden volunteered and then I totally screwed up the picture.

 

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A quick picture at the beach would show that it was starting to get busy.

 

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They had some pretty nice sized Palometos here.

 

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I believe the rope on this one is a little too short. LOL

 

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There was a family of striped grunts hanging out under here and there was also a Lionfish, but he wasn't coming out enough for me to get a good picture. You can see his fins poking out.

 

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Sometimes it's just all fun and games

 

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Beaugregory Damselfish

 

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Back to the beach I went and the hubby was relaxing and playing a game of video cards. lol

 

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The kids decided to build a sand castle.

 

 

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I see another ship coming in the distance. Things are about to get a little more crowded. Just great.

 

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Man it looked like a massive ship. What the heck is it? It would get closer and closer and I yell "ESCAPE! THAT'S THE ESCAPE!!!" Everyone on the beach was snapping pictures of her in all her glory. This is the newest NCL ship.

 

She holds 166 more passengers than the Epic and is 8,727 gross tons more as well. She was massive.

 

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Remember how I've been saying that after this cruise I just feel like I would enjoy smaller ships more due to not being as crowded? Well here I am wiggling my headed back and forth and saying "Yep, that's the Escape. Yep, I have her booked next year. Yep, I'll be on that beauty" and claiming her like I was something else. (Oops, just staring at her beauty made me completely forget saying I wasn't going on bigger ships anymore).

 

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I was so busy taking pictures of the Escape as she rolled by and Kendra goes "mom, do you see who's out in the water?" (We take every opportunity to make fun of Billy if he goes any where near the water).

 

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Do you notice how he's busy looking down? He's looking for fish. He's making sure that he doesn't see any fish around him. All of a sudden he would come running out of the water AND FALL! In front of everyone. We couldn't help but laugh and I was so busy laughing (because I knew it was from seeing a fish) that I forgot to get a picture.

 

He knew exactly what we were laughing about too.

 

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Ok, back to the Escape. She was now turning and was going to back into her spot...right beside the Epic. From our standpoint, she looked as if she took up the entire area.

 

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Ok, enough of that for now. Back to the kids and covering up the evidence that there was a mermaid on the loose.

 

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Kolin always thinks he's funny when he gives sissy a pair of tata's.

 

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A sand bath will wash your tan off.

 

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More and more people were coming in and it was getting a little crowded. They were putting chairs up all around us and remember we only had 1 chair and the rest had towels down. Well you all know how I like to be in the front row so that I can see the Littles if I'm just sitting on the beach. Well, we decided to all move up closer so that they wouldn't put any chairs in front of us and block the view.

 

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See how we are situated? The hubby sticking out, I was beside him, Courtney, Kendra and Billy along the back and moved back just a little, then Kolin and the kids were along the other side and the middle so that they could "play".

 

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Kendra and I would later decide to go out and snorkel. Well, the only reason why I told you about the positioning above is that when we returned, a couple had come along and laid their blanket down right in that middle spot. Uhhhhh, really? Like they were basically right in the middle of us (their heads and upper body) and it was just plain weird. I couldn't even walk to my towel and spot without almost stepping over them and ....of course dripping ice cold water on them. Oh well....

 

 

 

I noticed another ship coming in...Carnival.

 

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It would be the Valor.

 

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Edited by mitsugirly
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Braydens turn to get buried.

 

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So like I said, we decided to walk down to almost the end of the beach and snorkel back toward the other direction. We did this because this was the direction the water/wind/flow was going and it would be easier.

 

When we got down to the end, there was more evidence of the hurricane there.

 

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Kolin and Courtney came running up and said they were also going to go snorkeling with us.

 

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The only issue was that Kolin didn't have a mask. Well, I take that back. The other issue is that, once again, Courtney is not a very good swimmer and the minute that she finds out that the water is over her head in a lot of places, she decides not to go.

 

I have to tell you that this place must be considered the goggle graveyard. I found more goggles here than ever before. I'm not sure what the deal was. So, I went down, got a pair of goggles and gave them to Kolin. "Ok, you're set to go now" hehe

 

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However...these were just the eye goggles (like Sakari's Speedo's) and he would get tired of holding his breath and end up giving up after awhile...instead of just getting the goggles from Courtney and using them.

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Kendra is really good at spotting things that I don't see. My eyesight is not the greatest I'll admit.

 

She spotted a puffer fish.

 

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More of these barracudas. I seen more this day than I think I have in an entire cruise snorkeling.

 

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