I Belize in MAGIC! MITSUGIRLY revisits the Western Route. My Novel.

[ABQrobin]

I am so glad you had a great experience diving Roatan. Unfortunately, with the rain you didn't have the best. If it had been sunny, the colors would have popped more. And you would have seen more fish, too. I don't know why, but we never see as many fish when it has been raining a lot - happened to us on Cozumel last month when it rained every day. Yes, lots of fish, but not as much as you see when it is sunny. I guess they go deeper. Not sure.

Anyhow.... if you decide to go back to Roatan to dive, look at the sunnier months - March-July. Worst months for rain every day are Oct-Nov.

 

Congrats on the real diving... off a boat and down to a wall. I bet you are hooked now. Haha.

 

robin

[mitsugirly]

blue head wrasse

 

 

 

Then something caught my eye...What type of fish was this??? There was a school of them going by!

 

 

The amount of fish increased greatly. Like where were they all coming from all of a sudden?

 

VsRAdv0icjY

 

They just kept coming and coming...more and more. I was in crazy shock and couldn't get over how many were going by us.

MpO4HVlKimQ

 

Then there was this.....AMAZING! They were surrounding me! Right side, left side, above me, below me...I was encased in a bubble in the middle and they just went around me. It was the most amazing thing I think I have experienced in the water.

 

 

Please tell me what type of fish these were. I'm thinking some type of wrasse? They were the brightest blue and a lot of them had a neon green tail. Absolutely gorgeous fish with so many of them!

 

Now check this video out!!!

 

 

XwxTw4-sccE

[mitsugirly]

Now this is what I think of when I think of diving...lots and lots of fish!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Um wow!

 

 

 

 

 

It still gives me goosebumps thinking about me floating along with all of these fish.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

No my head was not sideways...I kept going back and forth on the wall and over, wall and over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FxNRySjV120

 

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Creole Wrasse.... they always travel in huge schools.

[mitsugirly]

Beautiful purple coral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heart triggers!

 

 

Yep, I'm out over that wall again....don't look down!

ItfreGayueU

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Hmm, what do you think was in this coral she was looking at?

 

 

 

 

We were in this really weird area that reminded me of a....gutter! There was sorta a sandy bottom in the middle you swim down and then rocks really high and coral along the side of it. Sorta like a mini-wall, but on both sides and we were in the middle. It was really cool.

 

Now I really struggled with this. I don't know why. I couldn't get down to where she was at. I could see an eel and I was probably about 8 or so feet higher than Andrea. I couldn't get my ears to pop and get down there. I was really struggling. I never have a problem. I never have to hold my nose and blow. I never have to tilt my head. I just swallow and it happens. I don't even realize it's happening. It just does it on its own. But this time it wouldn't. She hung out there for awhile and kept motioning me to come down for pics. I tried and tried. I was getting frustrated. Now I was experiencing what Sakari has had issues with (but doesn't seem to have these issues anymore) and it was crappy!

 

She started to leave the area and move on. I think she must have thought I was scared to come down closer to the eel. That was not the case at all. I wanted down there with all my being. I was determine NOT to leave until I got down there to get some good pictures.

 

I tried several times to hold my nose and blow....POP! FINALLY! I made it!

 

Can you see it? An eel.

 

 

 

ZpJ8yk_Ygko

[mitsugirly]

I think the struggle with getting my ears to pop, trying to get down there and stressing about it took a lot out of me. I looked around to try to find the hubby and didn't see him. I motioned "where's the hubby?" to Andrea and she pointed up. He must have went to the surface.

 

Honestly, I was getting tired. I had no idea how long we had been down there but it felt like hours. Each diving experience feels so much longer than it really is. I'm not sure why. But since the hubby was "up" I motioned her to go up. She looked at me. She shrugged her shoulders and motioned me to "come on". I shook my head no and motioned up again. She gave the "up" symbol and shrugged her shoulders like "ok, we are giving up and going up".

 

When I got to the surface she ask if I was ok. I told her I was just tired. She ask if I wanted to quit or go on. I looked at the hubby and he said "I'm done" and so I agreed. It was an amazing dive and I had seen so much and was completely satisfied with it. It was time to go.

 

I noticed that there were boats everywhere I looked. There must be quite a few people out here diving and then there was also the school of black and yellow people fish that were there too. Popular place I guess.

 

So remember the noise I kept hearing above? It was boats going by and stopping. I knew I heard engines, but couldn't tell where they were at. The one thing that I noticed on this dive was they were not holding a dive flag to let boats know there were divers below. We have 2 instructors and not one had a flag. At one point, the hubby told me that he went up a little toward the surface (remember how I said he stays closer to the top because of his ears and comes down every so often) well he heard the noise as well and said all of a sudden he heard a boat coming his way and tried to get down more. He seen the boat go by beside him. He said it was scary. I can't even imagine. How do they know when we are coming up if there's no flag?

 

Andrea motioned our boat to come over to where we were at. They quickly arrived and the kids were waiting on us. It wasn't raining anymore, but sure was a dark and cloudy.

 

 

Sakari looked down at me floating in the water and ask if I had fun. Then she snapped a picture of me. LOOK AT THE MOMENT SHE SNAPPED WHAT I WAS DOING!!! SPITTING!!! What a capture!

 

 

 

Once on the boat, Sakari was going over her pictures and couldn't wait to show me her picture of the puffer fish. She screamed "we saw a puffer, we saw a puffer" before I could even make it on the boat.

 

 

 

 

I ask how Kendra was doing and she said much better. She said she actually sat on the ladder, after giving up, for about 15 minutes. Then she let out a huge burp (instead of vomit) and she felt 100x better and was wishing she could go down to scuba then. But...we were no where around. She told me later that she felt pressured to hurry and get used to the water and do her skills. She got frustrated when told to calm down. She didn't think we would wait on her. She wished we would have said we would stay there until she got use to it and felt better. She said her wet suit felt like it was choking her. (I have to agree with that...mine felt the same and felt like it was up too high on my neck. I had never felt one like that before). I think she also freaked out when she came back up to the surface because she did not inflate her bsc and she said she felt like she was being pulled under therefore increasing her anxiety. She just needed more time. I wish I would have known this. She told me I could have calmed her down. I did not know. Next time I will and I won't leave without her!

 

It was a 5 minute ride back to the dock. We all piled out of the boat. The water was nasty around there. Amazing how it's so crystal clear and blue right down from there and how disgusting it was in the bay area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

As we were walking down the dock, there was a guy that was holding up a barracuda. I guess that was his catch for the day.

 

 

And one of these...I believe a red snapper. I have never seen one before. Maybe they are a lot deeper than what we usually go.

 

 

And a lionfish...sniff sniff. I know they are getting really bad in the Caribbean and are not supposed to be there. Therefore, they are hunting them as much as they can to get rid of them because they really don't have any natural predators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

Kim ~ both your's & Sakari's pictures are amazing!!(y)What beauty lies under the water!

Congratulations to Sakari on her accomplishments, she's a very talented little girl & so brave too!

 

Did I read you're going on the Star to the Mexican Riviera? When is that please? I'm going on Star too but in June in the Med.

I think Bliss is doing a Mexican Riviera or 2 before the Panama Canal cruise I'm on in Nov. '18.

 

That was too bad Kendra couldn't dive with you & that the instructor kept hold of the kids, that couldn't have been fun for them!

Loving your novel as usual!

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[mitsugirly]

So I'm not sure what happened, but Brayden, me and the hubby all felt as though we were stung by something. We had a few red welts on our arms and legs. The hubby did not have a wet suit on. I had a shortie on, which exposed my arms, and Brayden had a shortie on as well. Sakari was the only one in a full suit with nothing exposed. Therefore, she didn't get stung. I have no idea what might have been floating in the water. It wasn't really painful, just stingy and itchy.

 

We were told to go get in a van that was parked up at the street. The truck that brought us here was going to be hauling all of the equipment and instructors back. I still can not believe these itty bitty girls are carrying all of those tanks up and equipment by themselves. They acted as if it was nothing. Those tanks probably weigh more than them! Here I can't even walk with them on.

 

 

We all went over and got into the van. We started to pull away and then they yelled for him to wait. They were thinking about waiting on others to return from diving. Oh boy...Me, Kendra and the hubs had to potty...like we can't wait for another boat to arrive and then people to come.

 

They told us that there was a restroom "over there" and we walked down the street to this restaurant looking area and ask where the restroom was. The man said "out of order, it's full and can't be used". Um....

 

Ok, we are going in the murky water and hoping for the best. We could not get our wet suits off quick enough. Meanwhile...hubby didn't have to worry about that and trotted into the water. We sat there and sat there and the hubby was laughing at us. I told him to not be so obvious and so he decided to act like he was just taking a picture of us. Good cover up!

 

 

Upon completion...of taking our pictures in the murky water of course, we headed back to the van. We would then find that our seats had been taken. Geesh. So we rearranged where we were sitting and grabbed our things.

 

On the way back to Bananarama, our driver was driving like they normally do...good and fast and normal. Not like a slug with no place to go. We wanted him to take us back to the port!

 

When we arrived, we started helping rinse the equipment and then Sakari was presented with a present. Her mermaid bag! It was recovered...thank goodness. There's nothing worse than having a sad mermaid for the rest of the cruise.

 

We had our books signed.

It said we went 30' down. Ok, I'll take it.

 

 

 

 

Sakari's dive book would be filled out and it said only 2 meters? Really only a little over 6'? Somehow I seriously doubt that (even though when we did see them, they were up toward the top) because of all the close up pictures that Sakari got of the coral and fish. There's no way she zoomed in and got that clear of a picture...right? At least I wouldn't think so. It also said they only went for 30 minutes. Only going by the time stamp on Sakari's pictures, she took her first picture and then last picture and it was a time frame of 28 minutes total. It's hard to tell how long they were down there before she took the first picture or how long after the last picture that they finished. So probably around 30 minutes is correct, if not a little longer.

 

 

 

So our dive: We started at 12:19pm (that's when we actually went down after skills and Kendra backing out of the dive) and I had taken a picture of my watch once we got down there. Kendra swore we were only down there about 1/2 hour or less and I told her no way. The last picture I took of the coral was at 1:10pm. So, that was 51 minutes. But that was the last picture I took and we were actually down there just a few minutes more discussing where's the hubby, going up, come on, going up. lol So it was a good dive for us. Plenty long enough.

 

Shortly after getting everything together, we headed to the bar where we would still find Billy and Kam where they were when we had left them. I immediately had to have my pop and ordered a Coke Light. My change:

 

 

 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention...they had a huge bag of fruit to take with us for after the dive was over. When we got back to the boat after our dive, the kids had ate everything but a couple of pieces of cantaloupe. I was starving and obviously they were too.

 

[mitsugirly]

A well written Novel with drama, comedy, achievements, and Cliff hangers!

Congratulations to Sakari on the Master Padi Seal and Specialists program achievements. She has taken excellent closeup pictures.

The Porcupine Puffer fish is a family first. How about she does a drawing of this and the Mermaid?

While the instructor was cautious, there are many more dives in her future. Sakari is happiest with goggles and her mono mermaid tail snorkelling.

For you and Hubs, with 2 instructors makes it very comfortable. Even to the wall, when a trigger fish distracted you and over the wall you went. The side of the wall had great pictures of coral and fish.

Your depth gauge had over 20 feet, did Andrea say how far down the wall you could go?

Well done to all.

 

Thanks so much for the compliments. I appreciate it and glad you are enjoying it.

 

 

It was so beautiful there in every direction we went.

 

 

Since we did the DSD, we are aloud to go down to 40' no matter where we dive.

 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad you had a great experience diving Roatan. Unfortunately, with the rain you didn't have the best. If it had been sunny, the colors would have popped more. And you would have seen more fish, too. I don't know why, but we never see as many fish when it has been raining a lot - happened to us on Cozumel last month when it rained every day. Yes, lots of fish, but not as much as you see when it is sunny. I guess they go deeper. Not sure.

Anyhow.... if you decide to go back to Roatan to dive, look at the sunnier months - March-July. Worst months for rain every day are Oct-Nov.

 

Congrats on the real diving... off a boat and down to a wall. I bet you are hooked now. Haha.

 

robin

 

I'm so glad we had a good experience too (well, most of us...just not Kendra and she's regretting it now).

 

I was really hoping for some sun. The pictures turn out so much better then. I did compensate for it being dark under there and adjusted my camera to a lighter exposure or I assume the pictures would have turned out terrible. At least I was thinking ahead this time.

If I ever got a chance to go back to Roatan, I would not be upset if I got to go back to this exact place, but I would like to experience West Bay still.

 

 

Creole Wrasse.... they always travel in huge schools.

 

Thanks so much. I just knew it had to be a Wrasse. They were beautiful and so many.

 

Hi all!

 

Kim ~ both your's & Sakari's pictures are amazing!!What beauty lies under the water!

Congratulations to Sakari on her accomplishments, she's a very talented little girl & so brave too!

 

Did I read you're going on the Star to the Mexican Riviera? When is that please? I'm going on Star too but in June in the Med.

I think Bliss is doing a Mexican Riviera or 2 before the Panama Canal cruise I'm on in Nov. '18.

 

That was too bad Kendra couldn't dive with you & that the instructor kept hold of the kids, that couldn't have been fun for them!

Loving your novel as usual!

 

It is a very beautiful world under there. So amazing.

 

Thanks for the compliments. I appreciate it.

 

Yes, Star to Mexican Riviera. It's in March-April some time. I'm honestly not even sure of the dates yet. It's spring break I know that much. LOL

[mitsugirly]

We made it to the bar and like every other review...this is what happened...Sakari headed for the water and completely bypassed us.

 

 

 

Those waves were crazy high and ferocious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so sad that it looked like I was not going to get to snorkel here today. I keep missing this place when I come and never really get to see what it has to offer.

 

 

Look at all the seaweed. You can tell they have had some storms.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I started to head back up to the bar area. I see Billy at the bar with the guy in the picture. We had put our things down at a table. This guy hanging around the bar was staying right with Billy the entire time no matter where he moved to. I'm not sure what was up, but later I know I wouldn't like it.

 

 

 

As soon as I made it to the bar and ordered a pop, it started pouring down like never before. The guy at the bar started putting the blinds down all around the bar. I mentioned several times to keep one up or open because I was watching my daughter. He still put it down. I moved to stand in the corner where they met, he went and attached them together and I could no longer see out. Really? I was forced to stand out in the down pour to try to signal my daughter to come in out of the rain. She appeared to be in this tsunami and didn't even care. I was getting worried. I yelled, I signaled and finally she got the picture it was time to come out. I was standing there with so much water coming down my face that it was hard to open my eyes.

 

We ran under the bar...after finding our way to get in and hovered in wetness and cold. Burrrrr!

 

We decided to find a table and order something to eat. Only all of a sudden Billy couldn't even walk...or stand...or hardly talk. What the heck was wrong with him? He was fine one minute and not the next. What did this guy do to him? Did he slip something in his drink? We had no idea. He was no longer around. I still wonder if Billy can back with the same amount of money he went to Roatan with. He usually has a pretty big "wad" with him and he might have flashed it too much when paying for drinks. We'll never know I guess. We just know he wasn't functional.

 

The hubby had to help him walk to the table where he would eventually just put his head down for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

We placed our orders...

 

 

 

There was a gift shop right beside us. I would later go in and find a few items I wanted.

 

 

 

I plan on hanging them up over my lionfish tank.

 

 

 

 

[Brad1972]

 

Oh yes, I already have that. It came with my fisheye lens and stays on that all the time. Yes, I know what polarizers do (I'm a dslr girl too with a lot of equipment ;)). I guess I never thought of using one on this camera. Maybe I'm see if the ones I have here at home with fit it. Although I have to say I love when I turn on my Diorama feature on the Olympus because it really pops the picture and I like the effect it has on the pic. I wonder if I put an orange filter on the camera when scuba diving if it would help?

 

Diorama feature? I'll have to look for this on mine. i havent played with the new one yet and wife wont let me use hers' LOL. Only thing I remember changing when i took underwater pictures was I used the underwater preset scene already on the camera.

 

Looking at your pictures when you were at Bananarama the water was pretty rough that day. Is was nearly glass smooth when we were there. I'd post some pictures but I have my pictures on Photobucket and they no longer allow 3rd party linking unless you upgrade to their $400 a year package. Forget that!!! and the ads are killer, Its like playing whackamole when I go to my photobucket page. constant ads poping up. I put my GOOD pictures mostly from my Nikon DSLR camera on Flickr.

But heres a direct link to my Roatan pictures from back in April of 2016. Pictures from west bay start at page 5. These were all taken with the Olympus TG-4. Next pages have pictures from snorkeling right off the beach just south of Bananarama resort.

http://s3.photobucket.com/user/bhugo4x4/library/April%202016%20Carnival%20Cruise%20on%20Splendor/Cruise%20Day%205?sort=3&page=5.

 

I need to find a different photo host website for my usual pictures that I can post in forums like cruise critic. Who do you use? Smugmug?

[ILCruzr]

Now I understand. Robin knows best! :D

 

 

 

 

LMAO!

 

 

This is the lens adapter that allows you to put filters and other lenses on.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080DIYZW...4JOB29CH&psc=0

It comes with a lens cap too. then if you want to use filters like a circular polarizer you can put 40.5 mm filters on. we just got this for ours.

https://www.amazon.com/Vivitar-3-Pie...2HT7MS5GVRQXY0

polarizer filters cut reflections and glare and deepen the blue color in skies. kinda makes colors truer and brighter. I use it all the time when shooting outside landscape scenes. then just take the filter off for underwater shots.

 

Oh yes, I already have that. It came with my fisheye lens and stays on that all the time. Yes, I know what polarizers do (I'm a dslr girl too with a lot of equipment ;)). I guess I never thought of using one on this camera. Maybe I'm see if the ones I have here at home with fit it. Although I have to say I love when I turn on my Diorama feature on the Olympus because it really pops the picture and I like the effect it has on the pic. I wonder if I put an orange filter on the camera when scuba diving if it would help?

 

 

 

 

Right. I almost just want a repeat of this cruise just to go back!

 

 

 

Thanks and thanks!

 

 

 

Thanks and glad you like the pics. I did do pretty good overcoming my fear.

 

Thanks and we do have a lot to celebrate!

 

 

 

Well hello there and I wish we would have met!

 

Yes, the friendship rocks could have been from us...or two other ladies were also doing them on this cruise (which is where I got my idea from). I wish we would have found more.

 

 

Back in the day (1980's) when I cruised, we actually used to dock at Playa Del Carmen. So I have been there before. The ship used to stay there all day and we didn't have to be back on the ship until midnight. Those were the days! I can only imagine how much it has changed now. I would love to do a land vacation in Cancun and take the ferry over there and go to the Xcaret. It's definitely on my to-do list. But coming by cruise ship, I just feel there wouldn't be enough time there. So, I'm holding off.

 

 

I have checked out the ocean deluxe rooms in the past, but honestly, I'm not sure we would get too much use out of them. We are shower people, so a tub isn't needed. Coming back from the beach Sakari and I are usually the only ones that get in the shower because the hubby spends most of his time on the beach. But we are super quick with the shower. Maybe some day I'll try it out.

 

 

Have a great time on the Harmony. It looks amazing. Kendra has been begging me to try Royal. We haven't sailed RC since the 90's and it was so different back then.

 

 

Is Bliss doing a Mexican Riviera? I didn't know that or I would have booked it instead of the Star again next year to Mexican Riviera out of CA. Hmmm

 

We absolutely love the Epic. It's not for everyone. She's definitely a different type of ship and one of a kind. She just holds a special place in my heart (hubby's first cruise ever).

 

 

 

 

 

It's a very popular place so I imagine that it could become pretty crowded. But, it is a pretty big place though, both at the beach and at the pool area. Yes, we also add a tip to the price depending on how the driver was.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the congrats and for enjoying the scuba pics! Much appreciated.

 

 

If hubby gives the go ahead...DO IT! You'll love the TG cameras. They are amazing.

 

 

YES absolutely that's a porcupine puffer! They are SO ADORABLE and have such a great personality.

 

 

 

 

I want one so bad. They are just so cute and every time I go to the fish store, they have just sold one or they have one that's too big for what I'm wanting to start out with. I have heard (and seen videos) of them coming to the surface and spitting water at you during feeding. I can't wait to get one!

 

I had a cowfish back in the 90's and he was the cutest little thing with his horns. Back then I didn't realize just how poisonous they were. Someone told me that if you piss them off and they release their toxins, it could wipe out an entire tank! I might have to pass on getting another.

 

 

Glad you are enjoying the pics.

 

 

 

 

Thanks and thanks Heather! Glad you are enjoying them!

 

 

 

The tub has a shower in deluxe ocean view FYI

 

The bliss is doing Mexico after our cruise thru next December before she heads to Miami.... then back to Alaska In summer. She was built for Alaska.

[jedi bobs]

I don't know if you have seen it yet, or have one, but at my Wal-Mart I saw a Snuggie that was like a mermaid, and thought of your daughter, do you have one for her?

 

I am loving the review, thank you for all the time you put into making these reviews.

[Sheal]

Hi Kim,

 

I'm another fan who loves hearing about your escapades even though I have never done NCL or carnival. We have the vista in April so I jumped over here from the RCL/Celebrity boards.

 

With respect to the itchy, stingy red spots, you probably ran into some sea lice which I believe are like tiny no see um jellyfish. I have been stung twice now this year, in April at Klein Bonaire and then against three weeks ago in Barbados. It was really bad this past time, like 3 dozen times just in the time it took me to jump off the front of the snorkel boat and the swim to the back to get my 24 year old daughter who started to have an anxiety attack. Yuck. I could handle it in Bonaire (maybe 12 spots) in an hour of snorkeling but no way was I subjecting myself to that just to see the shipwreck in Barbados. And no turtles, they had moved out to see after the hurricane and had not returned. Boo hoo!

 

Sheal

[ABQrobin]

Yeah, the red itchy spots.. could be sea lice, which are usually found near the surface or on the surface. Divers don't usually get them, mostly people who snorkel get them. I bet all the rain had something to do with it. Try Benadryl spray. I have never gotten them but I do hear about it sometimes, mostly with snorkelers as I said. Not just in Roatan, but can happen anywhere in Caribbean.

 

My DH is looking at the Olympus HG-5 for xmas. He is tired of his huge Dslr camera and gear, doesn't enjoy it as much as before. Looking to downsize. I showed him your photos yesterday....are you using an underwater housing with it or not? I know it says it is safe down to 50' or something like that. He plans to get the housing. Do you have any Pros or Cons with using it underwater?

 

robin

[starfish the second]

subscribing love ur reviews

[deladane]

SO excited that I just stumbled upon your review and can't wait to get caught up!! I wanted to thank you for your recommendations about the TG-4 and the added fisheye lens. I decided to buy the TG-5 when it came out over the summer and I splurged for the fisheye lens too so I could get the best possible photos when I was in French Polynesia, and it was sooo worth it!! I am nearly finished posting my review, and then I will come back over here to start reading yours :D Thanks for posting!

[tugtraveller]

Subscribing. Kim, I loooooooooove reading your reviews, and your photos are amazing. Thank you so much for all the work you do to share them with us. I have learned so much from them. Your Sakari is one amazing kid, and I love watching her grow up. A big congrats to her (& you) on her 2 big accomplishments this Fall in art & scuba - what a great combination. I LOVE the way you are helping her make her dreams a reality. Great work Momma, and Poppa Bear too!!

 

--- Rene

[mitsugirly]

Diorama feature? I'll have to look for this on mine. i havent played with the new one yet and wife wont let me use hers' LOL. Only thing I remember changing when i took underwater pictures was I used the underwater preset scene already on the camera.

 

Looking at your pictures when you were at Bananarama the water was pretty rough that day. Is was nearly glass smooth when we were there. I'd post some pictures but I have my pictures on Photobucket and they no longer allow 3rd party linking unless you upgrade to their $400 a year package. Forget that!!! and the ads are killer, Its like playing whackamole when I go to my photobucket page. constant ads poping up. I put my GOOD pictures mostly from my Nikon DSLR camera on Flickr.

But heres a direct link to my Roatan pictures from back in April of 2016. Pictures from west bay start at page 5. These were all taken with the Olympus TG-4. Next pages have pictures from snorkeling right off the beach just south of Bananarama resort.

http://s3.photobucket.com/user/bhugo4x4/library/April%202016%20Carnival%20Cruise%20on%20Splendor/Cruise%20Day%205?sort=3&page=5.

 

I need to find a different photo host website for my usual pictures that I can post in forums like cruise critic. Who do you use? Smugmug?

 

The diorama feature is one of the "Art" features. It replicates a tilt shift picture or "little" picture.

 

 

Yea photobucket really screwed people out of their pictures. The only time I hosted anything on there is if I was just answering someone's question on here with a picture to show what I was talking about. So, I never put anything that I wanted to keep on there. $400 is just ridiculous.

 

 

I have been using smugmug for years and love it. I have the pro account and only pay $60/year. So worth it for all the photos I host for my reviews. It's pretty much set up for photographers to use for their clients as well. You can set up folders with passwords that only the client can get into to see. It's a pretty good host and I have been happy with them.

 

 

I'll check out your pictures. Thanks for the link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tub has a shower in deluxe ocean view FYI

 

The bliss is doing Mexico after our cruise thru next December before she heads to Miami.... then back to Alaska In summer. She was built for Alaska.

 

I was so lost in your post because of the quote, but hopefully I picked out what you posted.

 

 

The Bliss is one that I haven't been on yet. Maybe I'll check it out.

 

 

 

I don't know if you have seen it yet, or have one, but at my Wal-Mart I saw a Snuggie that was like a mermaid, and thought of your daughter, do you have one for her?

 

I am loving the review, thank you for all the time you put into making these reviews.

 

She has a bunch of the mermaid blankets and sleeping bags. For some reason, she doesn't use them much.

 

 

Thanks for the comments and glad you are enjoying the review.

 

 

Hi Kim,

 

I'm another fan who loves hearing about your escapades even though I have never done NCL or carnival. We have the vista in April so I jumped over here from the RCL/Celebrity boards.

 

With respect to the itchy, stingy red spots, you probably ran into some sea lice which I believe are like tiny no see um jellyfish. I have been stung twice now this year, in April at Klein Bonaire and then against three weeks ago in Barbados. It was really bad this past time, like 3 dozen times just in the time it took me to jump off the front of the snorkel boat and the swim to the back to get my 24 year old daughter who started to have an anxiety attack. Yuck. I could handle it in Bonaire (maybe 12 spots) in an hour of snorkeling but no way was I subjecting myself to that just to see the shipwreck in Barbados. And no turtles, they had moved out to see after the hurricane and had not returned. Boo hoo!

 

Hi there and welcome!

 

 

Yea, I'm thinking maybe sea lice as well or some parts of jelly fish or even some stingers from the fire coral had maybe been floating in the water from all the storms/rain and uproar of the sea. Who knows. The stinging and welps didn't last too long thank goodness and quickly went away.

 

 

So sad to hear the turtles in Barbados have gone away. Hopefully they'll be back soon. They were the highlight of our trip there.

 

 

Yeah, the red itchy spots.. could be sea lice, which are usually found near the surface or on the surface. Divers don't usually get them, mostly people who snorkel get them. I bet all the rain had something to do with it. Try Benadryl spray. I have never gotten them but I do hear about it sometimes, mostly with snorkelers as I said. Not just in Roatan, but can happen anywhere in Caribbean.

 

My DH is looking at the Olympus HG-5 for xmas. He is tired of his huge Dslr camera and gear, doesn't enjoy it as much as before. Looking to downsize. I showed him your photos yesterday....are you using an underwater housing with it or not? I know it says it is safe down to 50' or something like that. He plans to get the housing. Do you have any Pros or Cons with using it underwater?

 

I can tell you when I felt my "sting" underwater I was about 20' down and looked at my arm and wondered what was on it. I didn't see anything and thought it was weird. The stinging and redness/whelps were gone within an hour or so and didn't hurt anymore. Thank goodness.

 

 

I haven't heard anyone mention the HG-5. I'll have to look that up. I bought my Olympus (and actually started out with the bulky Canon D50) back shortly after we starting cruising "full time" because I didn't want to carry around my DSLR and all the lens and equipment back then. Plus I couldn't take underwater pictures with it and hated the way the disposable underwater camera pictures turned out. Now, I'm so satisfied with how my Olympus pictures turn out, both on land and under water, that I don't even bother to bring my DSLR. I will probably never bring it again unless we do an Alaskan cruise. Then I'll want to be able to use my 300 zoom lens and will require more accurate zoom pics. But until then...Olympus point and shoot for me it is. :D

 

No, no underwater housing needed at all. The only con's I have with using this camera is the zoom function. It just doesn't take good pictures or videos using it. It's much easier to take the picture then crop it later. The only other thing that I truly hate is that when you turn on the camera, no matter what setting you put it on, it wants to automatically turn the flash on. I don't like to use the flash...like hardly ever. So each time I have to go in and manually turn it off. Then repeat next time I turn it on. I wish there was a function that would permanently turn it off unless you manually turned it on. Maybe there is and I just haven't looked. LOL

 

subscribing love ur reviews

 

Thanks so much

 

SO excited that I just stumbled upon your review and can't wait to get caught up!! I wanted to thank you for your recommendations about the TG-4 and the added fisheye lens. I decided to buy the TG-5 when it came out over the summer and I splurged for the fisheye lens too so I could get the best possible photos when I was in French Polynesia, and it was sooo worth it!! I am nearly finished posting my review, and then I will come back over here to start reading yours Thanks for posting!

 

Thanks for coming and enjoying and happy to hear you purchased the TG and also the fisheye. Leave a link of your review. I'd love to see your pics.

 

 

Subscribing. Kim, I loooooooooove reading your reviews, and your photos are amazing. Thank you so much for all the work you do to share them with us. I have learned so much from them. Your Sakari is one amazing kid, and I love watching her grow up. A big congrats to her (& you) on her 2 big accomplishments this Fall in art & scuba - what a great combination. I LOVE the way you are helping her make her dreams a reality. Great work Momma, and Poppa Bear too!!

 

Thanks so much and glad you are loving the review. I appreciate it. Thanks for the congrats.

[ILCruzr]

Originally posted by ILCruzr

The tub has a shower in deluxe ocean view FYI

 

The bliss is doing Mexico after our cruise thru next December before she heads to Miami.... then back to Alaska In summer. She was built for Alaska.

I was so lost in your post because of the quote, but hopefully I picked out what you posted.

 

 

The Bliss is one that I haven't been on yet. Maybe I'll check it out.

 

 

Sorry-Kim, I did it on my phone and it was hard to reply....but the Bliss is their brand new ship they are launching in May or June next year. It will be in Alaska until our cruise-Sept. 30 and then it is going down the coast for a short 5 dayer (Which is what I am doing with my family and I am trying their studio rooms), and then will do mexican rivieria for like 2 1/2 months until it repos to Miami for caribbean.....

 

 

It looks amazing!! We booked it right when sailings openend and there was nothign posted about it yet-so its been exciting getting little tidbits about it thru the months. Like the racetrack and the waterworksish type waterpark..plus it will have Jersey Boys as the musical. I can't wait to try NCL....I am looking forward to seeing what their line has to offer.

 

 

Also, if you get the chance, you should try regal princess. That was a great ship with AMAZING food :).

[SMSACE6]

Hello Mitsugirly! Loving your review as always. I count on you and Jamman54 and other great cruise reviewers to keep me occupied and cruise dreaming, until I can cruise again. Not likely that I will ever snorkel, but still wish I had started that earlier on, and think that it might have cured my fear of "what lurks below the waves"!. I do love the ocean though, and love to see your photos and Sakari's. I have known from the beginning when you showed her drawings that she is gifted. So glad that she is going to tweak her talent/s . I applaud also her accomplishment with the diving:)

 

Thanks so much for posting another wonderful review.