MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!

[mitsugirly]

I still couldn't believe it was over. It felt so quick. I felt like we had just went down and we were coming back up. On all of our other dives, it felt like we were down there for hours only to find out it would be like 45 minutes to an hour or so. This didn't feel like it normally did.

 

 

I ask how long we dove and was told 30 minutes. Really? That's it? That's the end of the dive? It's the shortest dive EVER! I was really disappointed. It was expensive (like all dives are) and I kinda felt like I didn't get my monies worth for such a short period of time and didn't even get to see everything! I checked my pictures times from the beginning to the end...and indeed, it was only 30 minutes.

 

I could tell when Sakari got back on the boat that she was upset about the entire thing...from getting in to having issues with her goggles, to being held, to possibly missing things. But I cheered her on and told her what a good job she did and "did you see that ____" and "wasn't that ____ so neat?" and so on. Before long she was smiling and feeling better about her dive. She did inform me during her struggles with her mask and we were ahead of her, she got to see a snowflake eel. Darnit...I missed that too! Dextroy told me "you need to get her a real mask for diving"...um, just because hers is pink, doesn't mean it's not a "real" dive mask. It was bought at our dive shop and suggested by her instructor. It didn't come from Walmart honey!

 

 

They did ask us if we wanted to go back to the ship or back to the beach (since they would be passing the ship on the way back). We had decided ahead of time that we would like to spend some time on the beach since it was so beautiful and we had plenty of time still left. I mean at that point, it wasn't even 1pm yet.

 

 

 

We arrived at the shop and was washing our equipment and trying to decide what to do. They were kind of going back and forth about the times they would return us to the ship. At one point they said 4:30pm and I told them that was too late and we had to be back on the ship by then. Another time they said something about 1:30pm. Well, that was only about another 30 minutes so...what good would that do? It seemed as though they only had 1 boat for transportation. Us getting back to the ship pretty much depended on their other snorkeling trips going out and coming back in.

 

 

The next group of snorkelers were signing in and getting ready to go out. We needed to make a decision quick. It was unanimous that we would just head back to the ship and not deal with "when" we'd be able to go back.

[mitsugirly]

We headed back down to get some drinks from the lady that couldn't make up her mind if the pop was $2 or $3 and I would take a few more pictures of this beautiful beach.

 

 

 

 

 

By the time they got all of the snorkelers gathered and situated on the boat it was now about 1:45pm and we were headed back to the ferry dock by the ship.

 

The hubby photo-bombing Kia and Michaela

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Walking back to the ship. I was so glad it was such a short walk. It was hot out and I was a little tired...even from only a 30 minute dive.

 

 

 

 

 

We did do a little shopping before heading back and found myself a tee shirt (that I try to get from every place we've been) and a magnet. I was sad that I couldn't find a dive magnet this time around.

 

It was now 2:33pm and we headed to the ship.

 

Here's our picture from the day (even though RC is VERY slow on getting pictures out daily. Every ship I have ever been on has their pictures out within hours but RC won't have the pictures done from that day until the following day. Weird).

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Another log in our books. This will make Sakari's 5th ocean dive. Now one thing they did say to me is not to date her paperwork, since she was actually only 9 years old. They said they would date it for April 17th, on her birthday, as the date she did the dive. They didn't want to get in trouble with PADI for letting her go with us.

 

However...notice the date they put on her paperwork...Also, notice they put she went down 15 feet on here (legally she can only go down to 12' if you are on the PADI Seal team certified until 10 years old and only 6' if you have no experience).

 

 

Then notice they also put that days date on her other book as well AND they put that she went down 25' on it! Of course they have 25' for all of us and we all know we were down at least 34-35' according to my gauges and I have the picture to prove it.

 

 

But hey, another for the books out of the way!

 

I'm just glad we'll never have to deal with this again. She's now 10 years old and I'll never have to search for a dive shop that will take her with us. She can legally go now on the DSD trips and down to 40'. No more searching for me! No more taking a company only because they will take her! I can actually find a company that everyone recommends and have a choice of things. I've waited for this day for the last 2 years and it's finally here! Woo hoo!

[CGBCruiser]

JEWEL OF THE SEAS

 

I have cruised with Royal Caribbean only once and it was back in the 90's (or it might have even been in 2000), on the Majesty of the Seas. So, basically I'm a "newbie" to Royal again I guess you could say. I've always wanted to try them again, but their prices are just so outrageous every time I've looked. I did some research (since we always cruise at Spring Break) and found that the Jewel, cruising out of Puerto Rico, was a price that I just couldn't pass up! FINALLY! I would get to try out Royal again. I booked and was super excited!!!!

 

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We'll start with the "formalities" and get that out of the way. (Mostly copied from all of my other reviews, because things don't seem to change too much) with any updates we might have added/adjusted.

 

PLEASE NOTE>>> My reviews are LONG...as in VERY LONG, with a lot of details, A LOT of pictures and this is the experience of my family on the cruise, sorta like a blog.

 

*So, if you are not into long reviews and want something short, sweet and to the point...this review is not for you.

 

*If you expect this review to be done quickly and you don't like to wait...this review is not for you.

 

*If you don't like personal details of our daily activities, this review is not for you.

 

*If you expect me to sugar coat everything, this review is not for you.

 

*If you think I tell you about something that wasn't appealing or I didn't really care for or seen happen and you consider me "complaining" or unhappy...this review is not for you.

 

I'm open, I'm honest, we have a good time no matter what, but I report everything I see. It doesn't make or break my cruise or experience and I always manage to have a great time no matter what.

 

It's sad I feel the need to say these things with my reviews now due to certain people who like to come on a be rude in the past.

 

However, if you like to laugh, get a chuckle every once in awhile, think of our family and some of the things we do that could be pictured on "the people of Walmart" and want details and pictures of places...you have come to the right place.

 

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ABOUT MY FAMILY AND WHO CRUISED THIS TIME:

 

This cruise was myself, my husband and Sakari (pronounced just like it's spelled Sa-Kar-ee, our now 9 year old daughter who will be turning 10 next week). This time, my 3 adult children would remain home (Kenny-31, Kendra-29 and Kolin-23).

 

Kendra, usually tries to cruise with us (pulling along my grandson B, sometimes her fiance, and the last cruise her daughter Kam). But she bought a house last year and they completely gutted it and made it "brand new" and they have been working diligently on trying to get it finished the week we were gone so that they could move in this month. Although it was a hard decision to make, she decided to sit this one out.

 

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My Cruising Experience:

 

As you can tell from my signature line, we mainly cruise with NCL and I have been trying to cruise the entire fleet but have been adventuring out over the last few years with Carnival.

 

In the 80's and 90's I also sailed with NCL and Royal Caribbean. So, this will actually be my 2nd RC cruise.

 

This will make my 21st cruise, my husband's 19th cruise and Sakari's 18th cruise...I think? After awhile, things are starting to run together.

 

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ORGANIZATION FOR THE REVIEWS:

 

People always ask how I organize for my reviews and it takes A LOT to put together a review like this. Once I decided to post how I personally organize for my reviews and if you are interested, it can be found HERE-1ST HALF and the 2ND HALF HERE.

 

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CAMERAS:

 

I am constantly questioned about what type of camera's I use for my reviews.

 

Several years ago I decided to purchase my first Olympus point-and-shoot camera (not by choice, but because I had one of my many "bloopers" with my Canon cameras). I have loved the Olympus since that purchase that we actually have quite a few of them.

 

This entire review was shot with my Olympus Tough TG2 & a few with the 620. I take my model 620 & 830 along with me for back up because you never know what might happen and I would be devastated if I was without a camera. Last Christmas, we also purchased Sakari her own camera (the 620 model) and she uses hers as well.

 

I'm a photography FREAK! Always have been. I do have a DSLR with tons of equipment, lens, and so on, but I find that I just don't want to lug it around with me on a cruise...and of course it's not waterproof.

 

When I process my photo's, I do take it in to PS (I have to get my watermark on there somehow) and I have an "action" that resizes the picture for a more appropriate posting size, and sharpens for web and I put my stamp on it. Every once in awhile I'll get a really crappy picture that just needs something (like white balance) done to it and I really want to share it and I might white balance it. For the most part, I don't do much of anything...no one has time for all that with the thousands of pictures I take!

 

I take thousands of pictures on vacation and I do a lot of walking and snapping. Yes, I may get some outstanding photos and quality, but for every good picture I get, there may be 3 bad ones. You win some, you lose some. I've been known to stand in a spot and take 3-5 pictures of the same thing, using different settings on the camera, just to get what I'm looking for to share. That's just me.

 

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ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

 

I am a very open and honest person. Everyone has a different expectation and experience, but I report how I feel during mine. You may or may not agree with my thoughts or views, but that's the beauty of it...everyone is different and all thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

We are a fun loving and outgoing family that, for the most part, don't get upset about much and roll with the punches. We've had a lot of "bloopers" (especially when the kids come along=Kendra lol), but it is what it is and I have learned over the years that getting mad or upset doesn't solve the problem and only takes away from the fun, so I try not to dwell on bad things (although I will always report them...not to be a Debbie-Downer, but to show this is the experience I had and how it contributed to what was going on at the time) and I move on.

 

We are BEACH people. So, if you are the touristy type of person that likes historical stuff, seeing the sites, or likes to do the land tours, this review might not benefit you too much as far as the ports. If there's a beach, we will be there! I have to drag Sakari the Mermaid out of the water every place we go. So, to the beach it is for us.

 

Sakari decided in 2016 that she wanted to "be a scuba diver" and took classes and became a certified PADI Seal that year. In December of last year, she finished all the PADI classes and became a MASTER PADI SEAL!! I think she was one of the first at her scuba shop to complete the program. They made quite a big deal over it. Now, she is just going to class monthly and repeating the classes for the fun of it.

 

So, you will find us doing some scuba diving in reviews as well.

 

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LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHY I DO THE REVIEWS

 

My reviews are meant to be helpful to others looking for information. I'm a "picture" kinda girl and if I'm looking for information, give me a picture to help me understand and it will go 10x further in helping me with a decision. So many of you wonderful cruisers have helped me decide places to try out, shared your experiences with me, and even cruised with me....and this is my way of thanking you and continuing to help others the way they have helped me.

 

I'm keeping this "opening" a little shorter than normal. Most people around here know me and I hate to constantly repeat things...so if you want a more detailed "opening" statement, you are welcome to click on one of my other reviews (in my signature line) and it will give you more info on us.

 

With that said...I hope you enjoy the review.

 

Following!

[SenatorsFan]

More beautiful pictures, Kim! I had no idea there was a sculpture park in Grenada. Even if you didn't get to see all of them, it's still pretty impressive to see what was there. And it's nice to see Sakari smiling after your dive was done. :)

Heather

[ABQrobin]

I hope you do get certified, all 3 of you, at the same time. There is so much to learn, and it will help ease your nervousness.

[mitsugirly]

Kim, I am still loving your review, you pictures and your wonderful attitude - your sense of humor is fun, too.

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks so much and glad you are still enjoying the review.

 

 

Loving your detailed review. We went to Grenada for the first time on a cruise in December. We had planned to go to this beach but when we arrived, it was pouring. It stopped for an hour and then poured for another hour...and then repeated the cycle for most of the day. You have sold me on the beauty of the beach. Next visit to Grenada, we will be going to this beach. Thanks.

 

It was definitely a gorgeous beach! I would love to go back and spend the day there. I hope you get that opportunity in the future.

 

 

Following!

 

Thanks and I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

More beautiful pictures, Kim! I had no idea there was a sculpture park in Grenada. Even if you didn't get to see all of them, it's still pretty impressive to see what was there. And it's nice to see Sakari smiling after your dive was done.

Heather

 

Yea, I loved the sculptures in the water. So much that I would like to find other places that have them and dive there. They are just so neat!

 

I hope you do get certified, all 3 of you, at the same time. There is so much to learn, and it will help ease your nervousness.

 

Sakari's scuba class the other night consisted of talk about their upcoming class for the "Junior Certification" for those who just turned 10 recently, which of course is Sakari. They are planning on doing the certification for an all kids class for 4 weeks in July and then the check off at the local quarry the first week of August. I'm very nervous about it. I'm not sure that Sakari's mentally ready for this yet. I'm not sure I am either. :o

 

I know for sure that my hubby will probably never get certified because of his ears (no eardrum). We did find that using the mask with the ear covers (ironically it supposed to help you "clear" your ears easier, but in his case, he used it to protect and cover his ears instead) this time allowed him to go down to the 35' with no problems and no water in his ear. I don't really know just how far he would be able to go with those and Sakari's dive instructor said he wouldn't be able to get certified. So that's out of the question.

 

 

They did try to talk Kendra and I into doing the class with the kids. They said even though it was going to be a child only class, they'd let us do it with them and then we could be partners during check off. However, Brayden turns 10 toward the end of the month in July AND he's just so out of control at class that by the end of the class, which they made him go home on Monday, they said he's just not ready, mature enough or mentally prepared.

 

 

So, I guess that would leave just me. I just don't know. I'm not even sure I could pass the swim test to even do it. :(

[mitsugirly]

We decided to head to the buffet for some lunch, since we hadn't ate.

 

 

Everything was good like always.

 

I was craving a salad. Where is the shredded cheese at on these ships???

 

 

We all hung out at the pool and Sakari swam some more. She just can't get enough water time and I was enjoying the adult time.

 

 

 

 

We hung out until 5:30pm and then said our goodbyes and headed to the room to get a quick shower and dressed for the night.

 

The look I get when I tell her it's time to go.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

On our way back down to the room, we happened to be on the glass elevator facing the Atrium. Sakari noticed some face painting going on and she wanted her done.

 

She was the last in a long time to have hers done and she knew exactly what she wanted.

 

 

 

 

She loved it.

 

Then she was off to the kids club for some fun with munchkins her own size. Daddy and I had other plans and honestly, she really acted like she didn't want to go to the kids club. I don't think she was really enjoying it this time around. But, our plans didn't involve pint sized mini-me's so...she completely understood and said she'd go so we could go have some fun.

 

[mitsugirly]

Off to the adult-only Solarium we went. I couldn't believe that this entire cruise we hadn't made it back here to swim and tonight was going to be the night!

 

On our way...they were playing some old movies.

 

 

There wasn't anyone in the pool and the life guard was standing on the edge patrolling the....water with no one in it.

 

 

 

That water was COLD! Almost too cold for it to be comfortable. I also felt a little uneasy about being watched. The life guard did not take his eyes off us when we were in there. It felt weird.

 

 

We finally decided to try out the hot tub. The pool water was just too cold.

 

As we were getting in, two other ladies were getting out and they warned us that it was super hot and it was hard to stay in because of the very strong odor of chlorine.

 

 

They wasn't exaggerating either. The smell of chlorine was so strong that it started burning our eyes and nose. We tried to endure it for as long as we could...but it just wasn't working out well. It was time to go. The pool was cold the hot tub was hot and smelly. Whew. Not the experience we were hoping for, but I guess at least we could say we did it.

 

We headed back to the room to get out of the chlorine infested smelling clothes and headed to the casino.

 

[CGBCruiser]

Back up the stairs we went, which was even harder this time around since we were so stuffed, and then to our room.

 

It was extremely hot in there. There was a sign on the door saying that if you are not going to be in the room to conserve energy and keep the a/c off. So the minute we came back on it went!

 

 

Um...On??? I couldn't get it to do anything. I went out to tell the front desk. He came to our room. He couldn't get it to work either. He said he would have to call maintenance. We opened up the windows and the door to try to get a little bit of air circulation going, but it didn't work too good. He later came back and said they were going to "reset" the a/c in our room (like kick a breaker or something is the way he explained it).

 

YIPPEE! It came on.....

 

 

....for about 5 minutes and off it went again. UGH!

 

Back to the front desk I went to let them know. He would once again call maintenance to reset it.

 

It came back on and shut back off and NEVER CAME ON AGAIN after that. Oh just great. By the time I went back to the front desk, he had already pulled out 3 fans and was getting prepared.

 

Now came the excuses...

"That's weird, we've never had a problem with the a/c before".

"That room has never had any issues" <--meaning what? Others do?

"Well at least you can open the windows all night for some air" Are you serious? I'm not leaving my windows open all night for bugs to fly in, pigeons to fly in and possibly mosquito's as well. I remember last time we were here all they reported was the West Nile virus going around and with the recent hurricane and dampness...I'm not chancing that! Then remember there was a restaurant/bar in the alley across from us. With the windows open, you could hear everything. With them closed, not so much.

 

...last but not least...(I'm still rolling my eyes at this one)...

 

"Your room ONLY is on an entirely different a/c system and not the same as the rest of the hotel. I'm not sure why. But the rest of the hotel a/c is working fine. It's just your room." SERIOUSLY? Why in the world would ONLY ONE room in the entire hotel of 3 floors be on a different a/c system? :eek:

 

Of course they said they were fully booked and couldn't offer me another room. He told me that the manager comes in at 7am and I should talk to him about it.

 

He provided us with 3 fans, 2 of which were on a timer of 60 minutes and you had to wind it up every 60 minutes...which means that after 1 hour of falling asleep, you wouldn't be getting any air from those 2.

 

This was not going to be a good night. A hard bed, the thought of bugs and no a/c. I headed off to take a cold shower to prepare myself for the night.

 

After the shower, time to try to relax...only how? There's NO T.V! Say what? The description online said tv. The room even said if there's a problem to call the front desk. Guess what? No phone either! It would be an early to bed night for us.

 

Sakari finished her drawing and I'm not sure at what point she headed to bed. I was too busy tossing and turning while rolling in my sweat. :(

 

Reminds me of a trip to Florence, Italy...staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was really hot in our room because it was 85 outside. Well, I went down to the front desk to complain and was told they don't turn the air conditioning on until after May 5th due to government regulations. They said they would bring us a "personal ventilation device." Yep...it was a fan. Miserable night!

[mitsugirly]

I have to say that we made a good choice of coming to the casino tonight. There wasn't many people there and we both did pretty good.

 

My go-to game on this cruise was Alice and there were 2 of them. I liked the one on the very end of that row. She treated me well right after sitting down. I cashed out and moved on.

 

 

I hadn't done well on the other Alice game, but figured either way, I'd try $10 in it and see what it did. Inserted my money and then...

 

 

Cashed out and moved on. Next up was a wolf game, Carnival Rio and Heidi's beer Haus games and did fairly decent on them...at least I walked away with a tad bit more than I put in them after some bonus rounds came up.

 

I decided to try another one of my go-to games to see how it did. Not huge wins, but decent enough to keep me playing for a long time.

 

I had to stop because it was time to pick Sakari up from the kids club. The hubs had decided to play the tables tonight and I told him to just stay and I'd go get her...then he could find me...somewhere on this big ship...once he was done. LOL

 

I picked up the munchkin and she said she was hungry. Oh yea, I forgot that we hadn't really ate dinner. So, off to the pizza place we went.

 

 

 

After eating, we headed down to deck 6 to check out our pictures and found the hubs talking to another couple. He told me he walked away winning $137 tonight. Cool!

 

Of course he was now hungry and back up to the Solarium we went for round 2 of pizza.

 

We headed back to the room and found a new towel animal that we had never seen before. Awesome....a bat.

 

 

Here's what the room looks like with the bunk pulled down from the ceiling. I found it weird that the ladder went on the corner and we kept running into it all the time. But, with a sofa there, where else could it go right?

 

 

 

 

[warb]

A Palm Tree & 3 Loungers waiting for 3 lucky Cruisers. Great Photos, as always. Thanks !!!

[ABQrobin]

I think you would really benefit from doing the online course written part of the certification, just to LEARN more about what you are doing and why. It will also help you with your daughter in that regard. I wouldn't do the classroom/pool part with the kids. You really benefit from being in the pool with other adults and learning from them. Kids are totally different in how they learn, so the class structure will be different.

She will have to do the exact same bookwork written part of the certification as you... keep that in mind. There is no difference in what is taught or covered in the classes, a certification is a certification. Once she gets her Junior cert, she can upgrade it when she turns 15, I think. That is what my kid did. Until then there are restrictions on depth and stuff, but that doesn't mean anyone will follow it. It is up to YOU to make sure she doesn't break the rules. The big issue, which I am not sure the instructor has brought up to you is how scuba diving may affect her physically...such as how does it affect bone growth, ear pressures, etc. The restriction on depth for her age has to do with this...and there just isn't a lot of studies done to know for sure, and they aren't really going to experiment on kids.

 

Having been through all of this with my child, who got certified at 12, I can say that we tried to follow the rules very closely but DMs tend to want big tips so they want to give you the best dive, even if it means breaking rules. As I said, it is up to you to make sure to follow the rules and not overdo the dives. Our kid got exhausted after 2 dives per day for a few days back to back on a dive trip, to the point of being a raving, screaming maniac. After a few years, things settled down and we were able to enjoy our trip without the exhaustion issue.

 

I don't mean to lecture you, just want you to understand what will be going on. If she gets certified, and wants to dive, are you going to pay a DM to dive with her every dive or are you going to get certified? Things to consider.

 

robin

[mitsugirly]

I had already turned in my homework last night, so this was a "free" night for me.

 

Since it was a sea day tomorrow, I took my alarm off and planned on sleeping in for once.

 

Sakari decided to work on her drawing for the night.

 

 

I decided to check in with the kids. Kendra informed me that it was snowing again. Aha aha aha...I mean, "I'm so sorry to hear that, whew...man it's hot here."

 

She ask me when we would be returning home and I let her know that we'd be home some time on Wednesday evening. She knew we were spending a few days after the cruise in Puerto Rico, but wasn't sure when we were flying back. (I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the review or not, but we went into business with them at the end of last year...yea I know, just what we need...another company to take up our time, and since we were out of town, that left her there to run it, without any days off. LOL She's not used to that and usually comes and goes as she likes. Oops! Well, I guess you'll be working half the week next week too).

 

Then I would check in with Kolin to see if Loki and the fish were still alive. He told me that everything looked good and that Mango (our Lionfish) hadn't tried to eat Sandy (our diamondback Goby) yet. So, that was good news.

I figured since you all know everything about me, I'd share my passion for the ocean that I have at home. You see...my love for marine animals extend beyond the ocean and since I'm stuck in the middle of Ohio and not by an ocean...this will have to tie me over.

Here's Mango...although she's grown a bit since this. She will follow us around and instantly notices when we walk in the room. She likes to be hand fed.

 

Lo44AeEHedg

This is Sandy and I bet you can figure out why we named her that...she's always busy.

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Here's my beautiful bubble tip anemone.

 

 

It was so small when I first got it. I feed it a lot of oysters and shrimp. It has grown into a monster and it's not even fully extended in this picture.

 

This is what it looked like when I first got it last year in October. Just a baby.

 

 

 

Here she is during feeding. They will grab the food and pull it into their mouth and close up like a big bubble. She's so pretty. When I first got her, I didn't know if she would make it. They are hard to keep sometimes. They are very picky about their surroundings and believe it or not, they move around until they find a spot they like. They detach their "feet", or the base of them, and then puff up and swim to another area. She moved several times over the first 2 weeks before deciding on the spot she stays in now. Sometimes they will "commit suicide" as we reefers like to call it. They'll attach themselves to a wave maker (which is a pump with a propeller that goes in rhythm to what you set for it, which duplicates the ocean waves going back and forth in the tank) and it will chop them in half. She tried in the beginning and I just turned them off until she left that area. She's my pride and joy.

 

AExIXJyWTY4

Here's a video of my overall tank. I have several GPS (Green Star Polyps), Kenya Trees, 2 feather dusters, a couple of hairy mushrooms, toadstools, some regular red and green mushrooms, some candy cane corals, pulsating xenia, frogspawn, war coral, Palythoa Polyp coral, and Anthelia in this tank. I plan on adding more down the road but with all these vacations...it's hard to keep up. LOL

Z_G-ygpx_es

[jenseib]

This is for you. Thank you.

 

Harry

 

100_6313 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

 

Glad you figured it out. It's pretty easy once you know how.

[jenseib]

Another great day! Love seeing all the life under the sea!

 

I love your home tanks too. Amazing!

[Sailor_Sally]

St. Croix also has underwater statues .

[NemoCrownie]

Your aquarium is amazing!

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

[Destaw71835]

Your home aquarium is quite impressive!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mitsugirly]

Reminds me of a trip to Florence, Italy...staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was really hot in our room because it was 85 outside. Well, I went down to the front desk to complain and was told they don't turn the air conditioning on until after May 5th due to government regulations. They said they would bring us a "personal ventilation device." Yep...it was a fan. Miserable night!

 

I did notice how hot it was in our room when we first entered. However, I know they are trying to conserve energy there and they had notes on the door that if you weren't going to be in your room to turn the a/c off until you return. I knew we were going out exploring, so I never thought much of it until that night. That was one long and hot night! (and we had 3 personal ventilation devices ;p)

 

 

A Palm Tree & 3 Loungers waiting for 3 lucky Cruisers. Great Photos, as always. Thanks !!!

 

Thank you and isn't it just beautiful there?!

 

I think you would really benefit from doing the online course written part of the certification, just to LEARN more about what you are doing and why. It will also help you with your daughter in that regard. I wouldn't do the classroom/pool part with the kids. You really benefit from being in the pool with other adults and learning from them. Kids are totally different in how they learn, so the class structure will be different.

She will have to do the exact same bookwork written part of the certification as you... keep that in mind. There is no difference in what is taught or covered in the classes, a certification is a certification. Once she gets her Junior cert, she can upgrade it when she turns 15, I think. That is what my kid did. Until then there are restrictions on depth and stuff, but that doesn't mean anyone will follow it. It is up to YOU to make sure she doesn't break the rules. The big issue, which I am not sure the instructor has brought up to you is how scuba diving may affect her physically...such as how does it affect bone growth, ear pressures, etc. The restriction on depth for her age has to do with this...and there just isn't a lot of studies done to know for sure, and they aren't really going to experiment on kids.

 

Having been through all of this with my child, who got certified at 12, I can say that we tried to follow the rules very closely but DMs tend to want big tips so they want to give you the best dive, even if it means breaking rules. As I said, it is up to you to make sure to follow the rules and not overdo the dives. Our kid got exhausted after 2 dives per day for a few days back to back on a dive trip, to the point of being a raving, screaming maniac. After a few years, things settled down and we were able to enjoy our trip without the exhaustion issue.

 

I don't mean to lecture you, just want you to understand what will be going on. If she gets certified, and wants to dive, are you going to pay a DM to dive with her every dive or are you going to get certified? Things to consider.

 

robin

 

Good point about not doing the classroom with the kids. I guess I didn't think about that. But they seemed to think it was a good idea. I think it was because they wanted me to partner up with Sakari and be able to do our check off's together. They kept saying "you don't want her going down there with a stranger do you?"

 

I have a lot of decisions to make over the next 2 months. Once I'm done with this review, I'm going to check into it more. I do know that if she gets certified right now, when we are on vacation, she'll just be doing the DSD with us when we do it and nothing more until she gets a little older and then we'll see. Honestly the only reason I want to do it is to skip the whole classroom thing that takes up so much time each time with do the DSD. (And of course to get better at it and not be as nervous).

 

 

Another great day! Love seeing all the life under the sea!

 

I love your home tanks too. Amazing!

 

Thanks! I love my tanks but they are a lot of work.

 

St. Croix also has underwater statues .

 

Ahhhh shiznit! I'm checking them out too! I was thinking that I read maybe Cancun and Nassau. Cancun has some amazing sculptures that I would LOVE to see.

 

 

I would also love to go back to Grenada and try this again (with a different vendor) and make sure they know we want to see them all)

 

 

Your aquarium is amazing!

 

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Thank you...and that's just one of them.

 

 

 

 

Your home aquarium is quite impressive!

 

 

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Thanks! That's only one of them. lol

[mitsugirly]

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Grenada was a beautiful place. Grand Anse Beach was absolutely stunning and definitely the type of place I would go to hang out at! Hopefully we'll get back there one day.

 

The diving was definitely different than anything we have experienced before. But I knew that going in. Very little fish and coral in the area, but that's not what I went for so I wasn't disappointed in that aspect.

 

I was very pleased with what I saw there, but was a little disappointed that we didn't see it all. I was very disappointed in the time frame we got for diving. 30 minutes was just ridiculous for that kind of money! If they would have showed us everything and not been so rushed, it would have been worth it.

 

I did feel VERY rushed during the process. We had 2 instructors with us and since Adrien was taking care of Kia and Michaela and Dextroy was busy dealing with Sakari, that left me and the hubby to try to figure out on our own what to look for. I felt that we were a little too "split up" as far as distances. Adrien was so far ahead of us that I feel like we were missing things. Maybe Kia can confirm if they were able to see anything that I might have missed.

 

For the time we had diving, I felt like we could have just went around another time and seen it again (and maybe anything we missed) since we had the hang of this finally. OR slowed down some and had more time at the ones we did see. I don't know. It just wasn't as I had expected. I like to take my time and actually LOOK at things and take pictures. Not just pass over it quickly and keep going. You miss a lot that way. I also had all these plans in my head to take pictures of each other WITH the statues. Cute poses and so on. I was disappointed that didn't happen as well because we were so rushed and I couldn't keep up let alone have time for that. :(

 

I'm hoping there will be a next time in the future to repeat this and do it right!

 

But, if you have ever thought of trying out scuba and want to do a DSD, this is definitely a good place to start. Fairly shallow water, beautiful sculptures, very interesting place and the water was easy to swim in with not much of a current (at least when we went). We did not have to fight a current at all here (like we have in past dives). I felt it was an excellent place for a beginner to dive. I know a lot of people come here to snorkel, but I'm not so sure you would really get to see some of the things that we did (especially like the mermaid) because they were so small...or even things that we didn't see, like the heads. I can't imagine being able to see them too great if you were snorkeling and the pictures...well, I can't imagine getting great pictures from that depth either if you're at the top. But that's just my opinion.

[Megan_Strick]

 

 

 

 

I looked up and everyone was gone! Wait...where did they go???

 

 

I thought we were circling them and getting better close up pictures. I thought I could get some pictures of us with them. What the heck. It felt so rushed! The entire trip felt rushed.

 

There was some type of bench over here. I'm not sure what it was for. I had seen divers go over and take a picture sitting on it before. I guess I wasn't going to get any pictures like I wanted.

 

 

I caught a glimpse of Kia and Michaela off in the distance and instead of going around the circle sculpture, they went straight. I hurried to get caught up.

 

A few fish to keep me company.

 

 

 

 

These remind me of the Walking Dead

[mitsugirly]

These remind me of the Walking Dead

 

 

Haha. Kinda sorta creepy right? But really cool.