(Slightly less so) Cheapo dad's trip report on Independence of the Seas

[harryfat1]

Finally made it to the top

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Good luck trying to do a frontal assault on this place with all the canons pointing outward and the attacker trying to climb a steep hill

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

Careful on the edge as there are no railings

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Don't stand too close to the edge

 

 

 

Forgot to do the miniatures on the camera setting. Tried to do this on the cell phone picture afterward. Doens't look very good.

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

You like Canons? We got those...

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Glad they have a sign here, no?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lbjen]

Wow, so much of that fortress is still in great shape!

 

I wish Celebrity would sail out of Galveston. I think they should have sent a Celebrity ship here for short sailings instead of another RC ship.

[harryfat1]

Wow, so much of that fortress is still in great shape!

 

I wish Celebrity would sail out of Galveston. I think they should have sent a Celebrity ship here for short sailings instead of another RC ship.

 

But does any Texas sailing come this far to the Eastern Caribbean? I thought most of the Texas sailing are on the western route?

[harryfat1]

Is it just me or this is one place you don't want to visit if you are drunk? Seems like everywhere you turn, you can just fall off

 

 

 

All the drivers are hanging out and chilling while the tourists are up at the fortress

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

One word of note, if you think you know what you are doing in driving up these steep narrow roads, be sure to read the instructions and sound your car horns at EVERY blind corner. There was a group of tourist getting a rental car and she was just in the car with windows closed and chatting with friends instead of reading the signs that says to use horn on these blind corners.

 

As result, she almost smacked into us when we were leaving and she was coming up. Then she had to sweat it out by narrowly scrapping by the stone walls on the road to move on. So if you want to drive to the fortress on your own, be sure to roll down the window and listen for car horns on the blind corners. This is not the same as going to your local 7/11 to get some water.

 

 

 

An example of a dead corner that if you have another car coming, you can't see them unless they honk

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After the fort stop, time for the Batik. You can see their info at the YouTube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JamesEM]

Before moving to SC, we lived in the Washington, DC area and Celebrity used to sail out of Baltimore in the Fall for 10 and 11 day cruises which we booked each year. Once RCL purchased Celebrity it was all down hill from there, that is when we started to cruise with Holland and Princess.

[Canadian1]

A little sunshine for you. Greetings from Costa Maya

[harryfat1]

Before moving to SC, we lived in the Washington, DC area and Celebrity used to sail out of Baltimore in the Fall for 10 and 11 day cruises which we booked each year. Once RCL purchased Celebrity it was all down hill from there, that is when we started to cruise with Holland and Princess.

 

I like the services of HAL but their ships are a bit too small for my liking.

[harryfat1]

A little sunshine for you. Greetings from Costa Maya [ATTACH]414351[/ATTACH]

 

Very nice. Thanks for posting while on vacation.

 

I like Costa Maya pier in that you can take an unobstructed picture from far away but it is a long way back to the ship after a whole day at the port. When we were there, they free trolley was only working in taking you to the cruise terminal but you are on your own to walk back.

[harryfat1]

So speaking of rocks, one of the more impressive rock place people should visit is Monument Valley in Utah. The surrounding should look familiar as it's been in many western movies.

 

As it's technically on Indian land, you have to pay to enter the area as well as requiring a native guide to take you to see some of the sights.

 

The overall picture from the View above. Look at the road below and the cars on it. That gives you a perspective on the size of the monument rocks

 

 

They have hotels on the premise, each with a balcony view to see the monument but too pricey for cheapo dad

 

 

The tour uses the open air truck. Expect a pretty bumpy ride on the trail

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

If you do go, do the early morning tour as it's much cooler than the afternoon tour when the sun starts to heat up the ground

 

 

 

 

Even out here in middle of nowhere, there is an opportunity to visit the uncle in prison (aka shopping)

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So since this is a famous movie photographic spot, they charge $$ for get the horse and the man at the spot. Of course I wasn't going to pay for it...

 

Just Google John Ford man on horse to see what it supposed to look like

 

 

But someone else did...

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So he is supposed to be here at the edge on a horse

 

 

Further on down the tour

 

 

 

We get to check out some of these huts

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

More chance to visit the uncle in prison (aka more shopping inside one of these huts as they transformed it into a gift shop)

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

This next stop is interesting as you see the hole in the rock. See the sun shine through the opening of the rock onto the wall? And the sheer size of the place is pretty awesome

 

 

 

 

Now you can see the large hole above you

 

 

Note the sand on the floor as the tour guide plays a native song at the area

 

 

Different view

 

[harryfat1]

 

The tour guide said the idea was to clear one's mind and look up at the circle above so we all had to be on our backs