1st time Carnival cruiser (DREAM) complete review & pictorial (from a NCL cruiser)

Since I'm a photo freak, it was time to instruct Sakari to go stand by every little "thing" I could find to get her picture. She was less than enthused about it at that point.

 

This alligator reminded me of some Walt Disney movie for some reason. I'm not sure why. Was it the alligator in Captain Hook? I can't figure it out.

 

 

It's definitely Tick-Tock that you're thinking of - looks just like him. :) I am loving this review, and your (adorable) munchkin's "less than enthusiastic" photo face cracks me up every time!!

[i am the crazy lady who hates the sun, that you patiently answered a zillion Nachi Cocum questions for. I've been waiting to hear about your trip!! :) ]

Kendra informs me that she ended up having to take Brayden back to the ship and he decided that he wanted to go to the kids club instead. By the time they were done with all of that, we were long gone and she had no clue how to get to LFK. So, they decided to just stay there in port and save themselves the $200+ they would have spent at LFK. Then she informs me with all of the drinks and food, they ended up spending $180 that day anyhow.

They were getting ready to leave and head to the shops for a little shopping before getting back on the ship and we would be on their tails shortly. We just had to find a way to drag Sakari back out of the water she had just gotten in to. Sigh

We pulled her hair, kicking and screaming all the way out of the water (just kidding) and headed back down the long walk to the ship. This time, it was up hill and man were my legs aching by this time. If only I had the energy Sakari has. She never wears out.

We did a little shopping and back to the ship we went. Then of course back to fighting for an elevator that would never come unless it was on the opposite side that we were standing on. Sigh Man this ship was packed. I have never cruised with so many people before in my life. Even when we sailed the Epic when she was brand new it never felt like it was this crowded.

So we headed back up to the room, did the usual shower thing, then headed to get a bite to eat. You have to remember, I really didn't like the food at LFK so I was starving by now.

Sakari loved her ice cream.

I had some pizza because I was just in one of those moods for pizza.

Kendra and family did their "usual" thing and took a nap. I debated on it forever but then once I showered and was refreshed, we were on the go again.

Sakari went to the kids club to see her "friends" and we headed to the casino for awhile like always. Yes, we had our phone with us so HA! You won't scold me this time around! We later hooked up with Kendra and the family and she told me that they had told her that Brayden needed picked up by 5pm and they would like for her to be there at 4:45pm. Well, I guess that she arrived at 5pm (or a few minutes early, but there was a line) and they scolded her for being late. Um, would you like for her to jump the line?? They told her that they were going to have to charge her a late fee and they charged her $8.75. Um ok...last time we were told, it was $6.75 for sitting and last time I checked (at least with NCL) they would only charge you by the "half hour". So, she should have actually been charged only $3.38. She later mentioned this to another Camp member the following day and they pulled up her record and said that by the time she got up to the desk for pick up that they have Brayden as being checked out by 5:05pm. So they told her that she should have only been charged for 1/2 hour and if it was them, they wouldn't have charged her at all. They had no idea why she had been charged $8.75 for only being late by basically 5 minutes according to their records. She suggested that Kendra go to _______ I can't remember the name she told me, and have it adjusted.

Brayden after his fun day at CC:

He was all smiles and they actually said he did a good job there that day. No tears (which wasn't the case when she dropped him off). I believe he was starting to feel better and you could tell he was slowly getting back to his normal rambunctious self.

Now NCL has their White Hot party...I have already told you about the awesome "Red" party from the other night. Last night I didn't have any pictures to share. I just remembered why. That night would be Carnivals "white" party; the Electric White Night. However, they had that at Caliente in the bar. Not exactly a place we would be able to take Sakari to dance the night away. Oh darn. I even had my white outfit with me. Oh well, I'll have to save it for NCL again.

When we were done with our gambling for the night, we started to head back to...anywhere but a place that caused us to lose money that night, there was a lot of music playing loud and people cheering in the atrium. The Fun Force Break Dancing crew was in the atrium dancing and having a contest with some people on board. I spotted Kendra and family with front row seats. They must have rejuvenated from all that rest they got after staring at green half balls all day. She informed me that tonight was the Mexican Fiesta and I informed her that tonight was the "Blue Night" for dancing on the deck. hehe

Her boyfriend wanted to head to the casino, my hubby followed and Kendra and I slipped out when they weren't looking and picked up the kids from CC and headed to the deck to see what was going on. The Blue party had started, but it just wasn't the same tonight. Not really hopping like usual and we didn't even dance this time around.

We went to the buffet area where we would find one heck of a waiting line to get to the Mexican food. Ahhh, that's where everyone was. So we waited and waited and waited. Geesh.

Everything was nicely decorated

I grabbed a little bit of everything I could pile on my plate and we headed to find a table. I have to say, I wasn't really impressed with their Mexican meal either. We nibbled here and there, but nothing to write home about for sure.

We decided to call it a night, phoned the boys on our "Carnival sponsored ship phones courtesy of our lovely Camp people" and told them we were headed back to the room for the night.

Forgot one other plate...

The kids playing a little bit in our room before having to go to bed.

Sakari had received a "new" friend for the night. I thought it was pretty appropriate since we held monkeys today. She was excited. She would get to keep this friend for the next few days.

I did some packing for tomorrow. I was not looking forward to tomorrow. It would be a short port day in Costa Maya (leaving at 2pm) and we were arriving at 7am YIKES!!! That meant no sleep basically since it was already after midnight. Yep, I was not looking forward to this at all. That meant I would probably get about a good 4 hours of sleep if I was lucky (getting up at 5am to get ready, breakfast, and in to port).

Ok, I'm beat and it's now 3am...geesh, my nights just keep getting later and later. I vow to sleep in tomorrow. I don't have anywhere to go and only studying to do. I will sleep in!!! (Trying to convince myself at this point since it has not turned out that way for the last 2 weeks since returning from my cruise).

Good night to all and I will see you tomorrow and hopefully (probably) will get started on our Nohoch Kay Costa Maya day. :)

Enjoy.

This is one of the best reviews ever!

Wow the "end" of the LFK pics (with the platform) were amazing. You and Gambee should team up together and be travel writers. :)

You should have gathered more information from Carnival cruisers before your trip - could have clued you in on the amenities and nuances of Carnival compared to NCL. Have not read to the end of your review yet, but keep wanting to talk back to your postings....

Seriously??? Unreal!!

Amazing job on this review! I, too, am a researcher and plan and plot every detail of our vacations! I'm so glad you brushed off the ridiculous comments!!

Room service?? Really?? Who cares! Those are people who cruise to sit on their balcony and order room service every day!! Good for them for knowing the ins and outs!! Like you we'd rather spend our time outside the room!!

Sorry had to vent! Looking forward to the rest of your review! It's like a good book I can't put down!!

Seriously??? Unreal!!

Where is the like button? LOL! I thought the same thing. Kim is an experienced cruiser and researches her cruises before going.

I sooooo appreciate the comparison between LFK and Maya Key, Since we are going on Dream in October but also planning to visit once more on Liberty we are probably going to flip a coin, lol. It is hard to decide! For me i am leaning towards Maya Key because of the snorkeling, the abundance of animals, the pool (i like to get in after getting out of the ocean), and the food. Do they offer kayaking for a fee?

5am wake up call. Are you serious? I just went to bed 5 minutes ago...or at least it seemed like that. I'm so glad we didn't have a day planned that would require some kind of extensive leg or arm muscles to be used because mine had been all used up from the previous few days. At this point I'm wishing that I had done what Kendra's family had done every day after port...nap! But it is what it is and I'm not about to miss a day in port.

We were really unsure of where to go for this port. It was one of the last ports that I really "researched". We had been to Maya Chan already and the service and place is fabulous! However, we didn't care for the brownish water and tons of sea grass there. But oh how I miss their guacamole. It has been the best guacamole I have EVER ate in my life. Nothing has compared to it since then. We have went to Almaplena last December and the place was absolutely gorgeous! We loved the entire day there. I didn't really care for certain parts of the food there, but that was my fault. I didn't pick from the menu and left it up to them. The entrees were excellent and I could have just lived off of those the rest of the day with no problem.

So now, it was time to pick a different place because, well, I like a variety. I had read a lot about the Malecon and the places to go to up and down it. Many people had said that Nohoch Kay was the place to go because of it's location at the end, no vendors allowed there (and would be shooed off quickly if they came), the excellent service provided by the staff and the wonderful owner. I did realize that according to its location, I probably wasn't going to get that crystal blue clear water like I had experienced at Almaplena and it would probably be more like Maya Chan. So, I was prepared for that and just prepared to relax that day (yea right, when have any of you ever known me to "relax"...I'm a go, go, go type of person and I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes). I did find a video of a couple that had rented some bikes and rode up and down the Malecon and the place looked nice and reminded me of many many years ago some of the beach places I have been to when I was in my 20's. So, I figured it would be a nice place to go to in order to pass the day by, which was going to seem extremely short. 7am-2pm was our port day.

The price was $40 for this AI and we paid a $10 deposit with the remaining balance due at the time we arrive.

Our day started with the normal run to the breakfast buffet and of course my newly discovered omelet station eggs. Since I had ate extremely late (the Mexican buffet) the night before, of course I woke up extremely hungry. So I had an omelet, some french toast and went for a visit to the bacon police...who gave me uncooked bacon that squealed at me when I touched them. Ewww. I had to go up for a second visit while they glared at me as if they had just seen me. Who me? That wasn't me. That was my twin sister. It was still completely dark out. Wow, this is the first time this has happened to me. My body knew I wasn't suppose to be up yet and so did the sun. It just felt really weird eating breakfast and starring out at the darkness.

Once we were done with breakfast, here comes Kendra and her family just getting up...of course. So predictable at this point. Brayden was back to being his chipper self (and I'm being nice when I use the words chipper). I do have to tell you that one night we had went to a show and he was in so much pain and laying down during the entire show. A man sitting behind us was asking about him and seen the blisters (he had refused to wear a shirt at that point). He told Kendra about how well Noxzema worked on sunburns. She had told him that she had tried aloe and had went to the store and purchased some sunburn stuff, but nothing was working. He assured her that the Noxzema was the best thing and not only would it pull out the burn and make him feel better, it would heal it up really quick too. He told her that he had an entire tub of if back at his room and if they wanted to, they could follow him back to the room and he would give it to them. Well my daughters bf did just that and put it on him and now he was miraculously healed. Seriously, it worked that quick...over night just about. Kudos to this unknown man who came to the rescue. I will be bringing some Noxzema with me on future cruises and keep some at home although we usually don't burn to often.

So I rushed Kendra and family with their eating and it was now after 7am. I was sitting here thinking this was ok because we had been up since 5am and sitting here at the dock for quite some time and they still hadn't cleared customs...or so I thought. I did not hear not one announcement that morning saying "welcome to Costa Maya...you can all pile out now". I thought this was weird. So about 7:30 we decided started looking over the rails of the ship and we did see people walking down the pier. Not many, but some. It was starting to lighten up a little as the sun was coming up. So we decided to make our way down to see if we could get off.

Yes, as a matter of fact we could. I'm still confused about why there was no announcement...maybe because everyone was (and should have been) STILL SLEEPING because it was dark??? hehe

The sun was starting to come up and it was getting brighter outside.

We went ahead and got off the ship and started the LONG walk down the pier to Costa Maya.

There wasn't a lot of people out and about. I wondered if people had just decided to skip this port since we were there so early and not going to be there long.

I can tell you that people did get off the ship when it was still completely dark outside and I know this because of the pictures we would later see that day that the ship photographer took of them getting off...they were completely DARK!

We started walking and looked back and of course Kendra and family were so far behind us with Brayden even further. That boy does not like to walk (if you haven't guessed by now). He will drag and drag and even sit down at any given point just to try to get you to carry him.

We made it to the port with Kendra and them no where in site. Then all of a sudden here comes the "train" people mover that runs up and down from the port to the ship...and out comes Kendra and family. I screamed "cheaters!" but was happy to see they had made it. I really didn't want another day like yesterday where they were left behind.

All of my other visits to Costa Maya had a "welcome" crew with dancers dressed up and dancing to the music. Not today (or at least not while we were passing by). Yes, it was too early for them too!

As always, Kendra takes every opportunity for a picture with the live "props"

Again, I have to say this is one of the best reviews I have ever read! Thanks - the jumping pics of Sakari are fantastic! I also have a feeling I would hate the food as well so I appreciate your candid review!

We are on the Dream in October as well - might have to experience that snorkeling at Maya Key.....

Costa Maya's port is nice. I could probably spend a day there (if I was one of those cruisers that didn't like to get out and see the area and what it's really like). I know a lot of people have ask me in the past if there was much to do there. They have a pool, they have TONS of shops, they have a man made beach in the middle of the port, they have a swim up bar, they have dolphin swims there (which won't even come close to swimming with them at Chankanaab in Cozumel) and some palapa's along a sandy area (that doesn't go off into the ocean) that you can rest at and just stared at your ship while in port. They have a tower that you can climb and get awesome pictures from up there of the port and the ship. So yea, one that is trying to save some money and not go outside the port could do so with no problem. (Those of you wanting to see more of the port can find pictures of it in my Costa Maya links in my signature line). I really didn't take too many pictures this time here. Been there, done that many times and it still always looks the same.

The only pictures I was interested in were that of the "props" with the kids.

Of course when Brayden seen this "head" he immediately went running by Sakari and tried to crawl up in its mouth. I swear I don't know this kid most of the time. I had to get him out and tell him to turn around so that I could see his face.

Kendra just HAD to have a picture in one of these stools. She said that her bf's dad always has had something to say about these stools and really liked them. So, she was getting him a picture of it.

Brayden wanted in on the fun

Sakari had to follow suit...

The faces everyone was making was completley cracking me up.

You always have to have that one picture of your ship sitting in port between the buildings and by the pool. It's a must and this day would be no exception.

I wasn't sure if I had ever took a picture of the "sandy beach" area around the pool. So it was time for a quick shot of that.

Now we had been told by email that we were to exit the port and go to where the taxi stands are. Do not tell anyone that you are going to Nohoch Kay as you come out and walk to the taxi stand. Well I know from our last time we were here we were required to walk out of the port and WAY down the road to where the Hard Rock Cafe use to be to catch the regular taxis to Almaplena. It's quite the haul, but it was nice out and it wasn't going to be bad this time around. When we went to Maya Chan, we walked right outside the port and our bus was sitting there waiting to take us. This time, I wasn't really sure where I was going.

There were people there asking you where you wanted to go and we decided to tell them and see if they would take us there. They said yes. We purchased "passes" from them and they charged us $3 for the adults and $2 each for the kids. Now I had not read anywhere on here that they had a reduced rate for the kids. So I was kinda shocked to find this out.

We all got in the van and we were on our way.

I was trying to get a few shots of things as we passed them. I had never noticed this boat landscape sitting in the middle section of the road on my previous visits.

This is as you are pulling off the port road and onto the main road.

A few houses along the way...more vibrant colors.

When the driver turned off the road and headed toward the malecon, I could see the lighthouse. I knew we were getting close because (since I do so much research prior to my trips) I had "walked" along this road many times trying to determine just "where" along this road I could locate Nohoch Kay....using google earth. I had seen this lighthouse with each "walk" along the street and knew it was at the opposite end of Nohoch.

We stopped along the way to drop several passengers off here and there.

We were some of the last to be dropped off. We had arrived at Nohoch Kay. Everytime this place was mentioned, I recall seeing this picture.

We walked around the corner and this was the "scene":

We checked in with the staff and were told to go find a seat where we wanted. We headed across the walkway and to a palapa along the beach area.

Looking back at the restaurant:

It was just a little building with some chairs and tables and a little bigger area for dining under the thatched roof area with a sandy floor. I didn't think it was anything special, but this was just my opinion.

There was a bar to the left and in the back was the place where they made all of the food.

The restrooms were located behind the place where they were cooking. This was painted on the door.

The place to wash your hands outside and on the side of the restrooms, where water would flow out of a conch sea shell for rinsing:

Taking a look down the malecon

I have to say, this really wasn't my idea of paradise, or really anything special. I know a lot of people like to come here and it was highly recommended, but I had wished that I would have done a little more research on what to expect.

I know there are a lot of cruisers out there that enjoy an AI where they just sit and relax, have someone wait on them by bringing them drinks and food all day while they SIT AND RELAX. Good food, good friends right? Well anyone that knows me and have read any of my reviews know that I'm not that person. I like to go somewhere that you can be active, explore, see the beautiful water, snorkel if possible, and be surounded by the "beauty" of the landscaping and plush tropical palms. This was NOT that place by far. This is just a sit all day and have people serve you type of place. If that's your thing, you have found your place I suppose.

So we found our spot, right in front of the water. As you can tell, Sakari is already racing to get her shoes off and head to the water before anyone else. It's only about 8am and she's rearing to go already. The kid never stops...and you think I'm bad.

The waitress immediately came up to us and gave us a list of "drinks" and ask what we would like. Um, I um, gasp, don't know...I mean like it's 8am in the morning and you are offering us alcohol already. Something just didn't seem right about this picture. LOL I know it comes with the package but geesh it's early to start drinking. I ended up ordering a Coke Light, which comes out in a can with a straw. They ask if we wanted to order something to eat. Gasp again, I had completely not took this all in to consideration when I had breakfast this morning. Darn. I should have just waited. I was far from being hungry or even wanting something to munch on. YIKES. Something told me I would not get my moneys worth today and I was kinda regretting booking this place at this point.

There was a sailboat in front of us. Sakari climbed up on it and was watching the sail whip back and forth in the wind. She would grab her face every time it hit her face and she would giggle with laughter. A guy came over and said hello (I took this to be the owner) and he looked at Sakari and looked at me and gave me that "get her off of there" look...well glare. I immediately knew that glare, I do it myself. I mean she wasn't hurting anything. She was just standing there and watching the sail go back and forth. But, I told her to get down right away and she was upset.

He really didn't say much other than to ask if they had taken our drinks and I had told him yes and he walked away.

A view of the beach, the sail boats were pretty, but not much to see and not really that breath taking "view" I like.

Sakari was ready to head out to the water of course. It was time to explore for her.

The water was what I had expected, full of sea grass, areas of just sand, and the brownish color due to the sea grass. But I already knew this, so it didn't bother me, but yet I found myself wishing I would have booked another place like Almaplena. I mean after all, it was our last port and our last "Caribbean" day. It's always nice to go out with a bang.

It took me awhile to get use to the water...it's still EARLY and today didn't seem quite as warm to me as the previous days. It was a little windy and in fact, it was the perfect "lounging" day, but I'm not a lounger.

Kendra thought it was a little cold out and she put on her thick zebra print fuzzy pj pants and ended up curling up in a ball after grabbing my Carnival ship towels and fell asleep. Her boyfriend was nursing a headache (or should I say hangover) from the casino the night before.

I finally got use to the water and on goes the goggles. Even though it was sea grass, you are usually going to find "something" in there. Lots of critters live in the sea grass and I was about to find them.

The first thing I noticed was a conch. I picked it up to see if anything was in there and there was.

I yelled for Sakari who had went back up to our spot to get a drink and I brought it over to her to show her. Since she is so interested in animals, I like to give her every opportunity to learn about them. No it wasn't the first time she had ever seen one, we had just seen some the day before as LFK and other various places, but I still show her and she loves the excitement of it. All I wanted to do was take a picture of her holding it...

Along comes the same guy again yelling "You need to put that back in the water!" Um ok...do you think I'm going to stow it in my pocket and run? Really? I'm taking a picture. I probably had one of those "looks" on my face by then and I calmed my voice and said "I'm just showing it to my daughter and taking a picture. I have no intention on keeping it and had planned on returning it to the water once I'm done...but thank you."

So I immediately returned it to the water like a scolded puppy with my tail between my legs and Sakari and I decided to go snorkeling.

This is MOST of what you will see:

We did find a few big crabs, but man are the fast and I was not able to get a picture before they scurried off.

This place (the ocean) was not like any other place I have been too. There was tons of sea grass everywhere, but it was super shallow...like most places you couldn't snorkel where the sea grass was because it wouldn't have even covered your ankles shallow.

But there are some sandy areas here and there and we snorkeled those areas and found some fish. The edges of the sandy area would be shallow enough for Sakari to stand up in when she needed to take a break and then it would slop back down a bit. It was kind of the perfect area for her to snorkel in without her puddle jumper. I stayed close to her but she was doing an excellent job combining the swimming, snorkeling, and resting along the sides when needed. I was really proud of her. We went way out...I mean way out. We seen a few fish here and there, but nothing to really keep "me" too occupied. She was delighted every time she found a fish and would follow it until it would get fed up with her and race off.

Tons of neon fish

Like all of the other places we had been to this cruise, there were tons of these little guys again...

I kept finding some of these, I have no idea what they are. They didn't seem to have anything live in them and thought maybe it's just some type of soft coral or plant? It was very soft and squishy and had a unique form to it.

Sorry the pictures came out a little blurry, I didn't have it on macro at the time.

This was the under side of it

If anyone knows what it is, please let me know. I would like to add to my knowledge base.

At this point, we were about this far out...and I'm standing on one of the many "mounds" there.

Sakari was headed back to the "camp". As you can tell in the picture, the dark areas were the sea grass and you could just walk at about foot deep water. The lighter blue area was maybe about 3-4 foot deep in "some" places.

Back at the camp, Brayden was playing with the sand toys we had brought along and Sakari joined in.

I went down and got some water and showed them how to mix it with the sand and make some of the sand figures

This would become their new "project" for awhile. They would run back and forth from the water to the beach camp and make sand animals.

The staff would continue to stop by every half hour or so to see if we wanted more drinks or some food. I finally decided to order a drink just to try to attempt to get my moneys worth.

After several trips back and forth from the bar people and getting drinks, I decided to go ahead and order some food. They gave me a menu and I ordered a plate of chicken nachos. I had also ask them if they had guacamole and they said they would bring me out some of that as well.

This was the guacamole plate they brought out to me. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I figured it would be a plate of nachos and some gaucamole to dip it in. It was lacking the nachos.

As always...NOT Maya Chans gaucamole at all! Sigh.

My plate came out with the chicken platter.

Mmmm yummy, would you look at those pickles? LOLOLOL Brayden was convinced they were pickles and I hear the normal phrase coming from Sakari "I like pickles" meaning she wanted one. I explained to her that they were NOT pickles and that they were very hot. Brayden convinced her otherwise, but he was not the one that was willing to "eat" the pickle. She picked one up and I told her they are very hot Sakari, you are not going to like them and Brayden kept telling her to try it, it was a pickle. Well, mother always knows best and some day she'll learn that Brayden is not the one to listen to. She ate it, her eyes watered up and right when I knew she was about to bolt out a blood chilling scream, I shook my head and told her "Don't you dare! I tried to tell you they weren't pickles and they were hot." She quickly spit it out and grabbed my Coke Light I had ordered for her.

Lesson learned I hope. Mommy would not stear you wrong. Well, unless it was actually something I wanted you to try. Then I might. wink wink

The gaucamole was "ok" the chicken nachos was "ok" but it wouldn't be anything that I would want to order again or rave about that day.

Kendra woke up due to my laughing at Sakari and her pickle and decided she would order something to eat as well. They did not have a very big breakfast since I was on her tail about hurrying up so that we could get off the ship.

She ended up ordering a burrito of some sort. I think it was a chicken burrito. She did not care for it at all. She said it tasted "weird" was her reply.

When they came back out, they of course ask about more drinks...I ordered more.

Now one thing I KNOW I read about prior to going was that they did not allow the peddlers there at the beach and that the owner and staff would shoo them away. This was NOT the case that day. There were several "salesmen" in the area and I'm calling them a salesmen being nice, because they didn't hassel you like most. They would walk up and flash their items and you could shake your head and they would walk away. However, they would do this over and over all day long. Not once did I see anyone shoo them away. They even came up to me while I was placing an order with one of the staff and she just looked at them.

I took at picture of one of the guys that came around very often just to show everyone here that they were in fact there. He had just left our "camp" and was walking around the sailboat directly in front of us. I didn't want to make it noticeable to him that I was taking his picture so I waited until he turned that way.

As you can tell, there were some dark clouds rolling in. It started to sprinkle a bit. I was under the big palapa, but Kendra and them got a little wet because their umbrella that had been placed by "I have no clue" wasn't covering them all the way. It just appeared after we set up camp. So Kendra was having a fit...yes, she melts, or is it floats? I can't remember at this point. As soon as the gripe started, it ended and the rain drops were gone. No biggie. It lasted "maybe" 5 minutes at most and the sun was back out again in full force.

Looking back at Nohoch from our camp:

Getting to Nohoch is about a 5 drive and you could see our "Sparkle-bedazzled" ship sitting in port.

Brayden and Sakari playing by the water

Sakari and I decided to go back out to snorkel one last time. I wanted to go a little more to the right and futher out to see if was anything more to be seen. We walked along the sea grass taking each step very slowly...just in case. Then we made it out to an area that was a round hole opening of sand. It was maybe about 5 feet deep and we swam out over it.

GASP...Sakari was hoovering right over this (which was blending in with a rock)

I quickly grabbed her and put her over to the sea grass area and told her to look under the water. She could see it. I explained to her that it was very dangerous and could sting her and hurt her. I think she listened this time (maybe because Brayden wasn't around to convince her that it was a toy and try to catch it). These Lion Fish really are showing up more and more and at this point I had seen enough of them and in the back of my mind it was starting to worry me that I was running across so many.

We got out of that area and decided to head over toward a different area. Then what do we come across?

More danger

There wer 2 of these little guys swimming around. Now these were LITTLE guys. Smaller than the one that was hanging out at LFK. I know it looks big in the picture, but I was zoomed in. They were maybe about a little bigger than my hand. But my thought was if there were a few babies around here, there must be a momma somewhere. Time to move on.

At this point I had figured I had enough of snorkeling for the day. My husband noticed that we were pretty far out but yet standing up. He just had to have a picture. LOL Out he came and told me he was going out really far and he wanted me to take his picture.

I took this as I was walking back to the beach

His caption...I can walk on water I'm that amazing.

Darn water spot...

One more conch shell was found on my walk back toward the beach. I quickly picked it up, took a picture and hoped that no one had seen me do it. I didn't want to be scolded again.

By the time I returned to the camp, Kendra ask me if I had seen Brayden and he was lost...but she didn't seem to concerned, which of course concerned me.

I started looking around and found him...

B marks the spot.

Sakari wanted in on the fun.

Oh great, now we have 2 lost children. I guess we'll just have to leave without them.

They quickly jumped up after that statment.

My child no longer looked like a Caribbean beauty, she was pale and white.

We decided to order some more food since I really wasn't satisfied with the last round of food.

I ordered a chicken taco and some chicken quesadillas.

The chicken taco was "ok"...better than the chicken nachos, but a little bland. I'm not sure if it was the soft taco shell or what, but at this point I was hungry and I ate it.

The quesadillas came and they were amazing. I did find something I liked, it just took awhile to find it.

Sakari also liked them and so I ordered her a plate and she gobbled them right up.

I noticed as I took this picture of her eating, there were some canoes in the background. I have no idea where they came from and hadn't noticed them before. I don't know if they were anything that we could use, but I assumed so. But I wondered HOW could one use these? The water was not deep enough to begin with. Most places it only covered your feet and the small areas that it was sandy and deep led to...nowhere.

Now that I look back at a previous picture of the fishing boats sitting in the water and the ship at the dock, they are in that picture. Maybe someone just moved them closer to us.

So shortly after noticing the canoes and we were busy eating our new found delicious chicken quesadillas, we watched a guy walk out and grab a canoe, get in it and start to paddle. He made it about 5' out from the shore line and hit the sea grass. He kept trying to paddle and didn't move. He finally climbed out of the canoe and you could tell it took him a little off guard when he stepped out into such a shallow area.

He pulled the canoe off the sea grass and back in to the water and tried a different direction. Still the same thing but he kept paddling and paddling and going no where. It was kind of hilarious to watch him. It kept us occupied for a good half hour or so. He made it no where. I have to say he had more patience than me. I would have stopped at the first "run aground" area and gave up. But he kept trying and never succeeding. But hey, entertainment is entertainment right? I was glad he kept trying. I was getting kick out of it.

So I think we had done everything there was to do here, which wasn't much to begin with and decided we might as well leave. It was getting to be late...using that term loosely because it wasn't "late" at all...but since we were pulling out of the port at 2pm...it was considered late I guess.

We gathered our things up and headed toward the Nohoch building and told them we would like to leave now. We settled our bill at the bar counter. They said they would call the cab. We sat down at the first set of tables while others continued to walk up and jump in every cab that pulled up. Um ok. Yes, some were cars and 6 of us wouldn't have fit in them, but enough cabs pulled up that we could have taken 2 of them and pulled out together. A bigger cab pulled up and people walking up to the building at that time headed straight for the cab and got in. Um ok again. At this point I was getting a little perturbed because the guy was just standing there and saying every time it happened that "you'll get the next one." Really? There was another couple that came right after us that was also waiting and they ended up getting mad and saying they would just walk down the road and catch their own "darn" cab and took off walking along the building. Now I felt bad because these people were a lot older and didn't seem to be able to "walk" fast or far.

Finally another mini van came and of course others tried to grab it and he quickly walked us over and said this is their cab and we piled in a little frustrated at this point.

By the time we made it to the end of this block, the elderly people were standing at the corner...just standing, looking like they had no idea what to do or where to go. I personally thought it was a bad choice, but that's what they decided to do.

We headed back to the port with a short 5 minute drive and they let us off right where we had been picked up.

We did a little bit of shopping and headed to the pier where we decided Kendra and family wasn't going to pull another fast one over on us...we got on the "people mover" tram and off we went. It saved our legs the walk, not that we wore ourselves out that day or anything.

Everyone must have decided to come back at the same time because there were lines formed outside waiting to get back on the ship. We came to the first line and they told us there was another line we could go to on down and we did. Kendra stayed in the first line and was on the ship and to her room before we ever made it out of our LONG-NOT-MOVING-LINE in the sun. It was HOT and we were getting cranky just standing there.