Welcome to the Jungle

We just finished our first Panama Canal cruise!

Gatun Lake, Panama

We disembarked the ship in Gatun Lake, Panama for an excursion and then joined the ship after it had gone through the Canal in Cristobal, Panama. After a nature walk we went on a boat ride. We saw lots of monkeys, birds, and even a sloth up close and personal.

Sleeping on the job!

We watched our ship going through the canal. And then went to an observatory to see it up close!

Roseau, Dominica

River tubbing in Dominica. After the tubbing we went to a waterfall and sampled lots of local fruits. I was almost sure we were going to get sick after seeing the sanitary conditions. We hadn't eaten all day though so we risked it. Sure enough, stomache ache all night.

Cruise in Review

We just finished our first cruise as the Holland America Port & Shopping Ambassadors- that's our new official title. Here's a few highlights...

HALLOWEEN MONSTER BASH
Costume supplies were clearly short in supply. If you can guess what we are you are ahead of about 99% of the people at the party.

Every good party needs a set of Salt and Pepper Shakers

and a towel animal.

Our friend Cole (in the middle) actually hand sewed that costume...he was the witch from the movie Hocus Pocus.

Fort De France, Martinique

Island highlight: Giant Trampoline.

Barbados

We had to work, but we were able to check out the beach for a few minutes. Two thumbs up for Barbados. haha

Sunset leaving Barbados

St Barths

We had the whole day off to explore and enjoy the island. We found a rock with a rope coming out of the water that we were able to climb up and jump off of.

French Baguette=.95 Euro=Lunch

BONAIRE

We were able to take a bus tour of the island through the ship. For many of the excursions we are able to be "Guest Escorts" because of the large # of wheelchairs...whatever works.

The island is known for all the flamingos and we got to see lots on our tour!

After the tour we quickly jumped in the water for a little snorkeling. Christian spent most of the time chasing a puffer fish and trying to get it to puff up.

Curacao

A cute little Dutch island just north of Venezuela.

Brrrr...It's cold up there

We are back cruising the open seas. We joined the Holland America M/S Maasdam in Halifax, Nova Scotia and we were very ill prepared for cold weather. For the first 3 days we literally layered on EVERYTHING we had before leaving the ship. The ship sailed down the coast stopping at a couple chilly ports and now we are back in sunny Fort Lauderdale where the ship will be based out of. Here's a couple highlights of the last week...

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA
We walked around the town to see the "Halifax Highlights" before boarding the ship.

The view from the Fort.

The weekly Farmer's Market. I think everyone that lived within 100 miles was there. It was jam packed with people selling everything from a 1/2 a cow to fresh apple cider.
The Public Gardens


NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

Random pretty church

Random taxidermy Moose

Trying on some mink thing that I think was actually supposed to go around my neck. haha

BAR HARBOR, MAINE

Sunset leaving Bar Harbor.

Here we go...again

Farewell Carnival Fun Ships! Our next call to duty is on the Holland America Maasdam. We'll be doing 14 and 28 day cruises all over the Caribbean, Central America, & Mexico...and shopping 'til we drop, of course! We report to the ship on Oct. 17h in Nova Scotia and then sail down to Ft. Lauderdale to kick off our first official run on the new ship! We'd love some company;)

Just a couple port highlights that that I'm most excited about include:
Costa Rica
Panama Canal
Guatemala
Honduras
St. Maarten
St. John
St. Lucia
St. Barts
Columbia
Aruba
Bonaire
Martinique
Cabo San Lucas
...And the list goes on and on. Tempting, isn't it???

Paartee

OK-maybe not exactly a party, but there was definitely some yummy food!

The View--We ate at One Pico in Santa Monica

Goodbye SF, Hello LA!! I just got into LA to visit my family, but I flew solo because the same day Christian had to fly to Fort Lauderdale for a work conference. For my mom's 30th Birthday ;) we went to Sunday brunch. Grandpa & Grandma McNay even made the trek for the birthday celebration.

Final Days

We went on a morning bike ride to Bucks in Woodside for breakfast. I don't usually like to travel more than 12 steps for breakfast, let alone 25 miles. However, when you're on the back seat of a tandem bike suddenly 25 miles of hills isn't so bad. Plus, I had plenty of time and energy to take lots of pictures from the back seat! Thanks Christian:)

Take 2- Another Game, Another Ball

We started off with awesome seats (courtesy of Mike & Mary---Thanks Guys!), but since we just had a small and quiet group of 9 we kept sneaking down until we were sitting right behind the Giant's Owner.

Greg, Madeleine, Aubrey, Bret, Christian, Steph, Heather & Ryan!

While the guy in front of me was trying to get a full grip on the ball...I may have knocked it out of his hands...yikes.

Greg's Home Run Booty Dance

Keep Your Eye on the Ball!

Last minute Bret found out that his Dad didn't sell his season tickets for last night's Giants v. Cubs game. The game had already started, but we jumped in the car and drove to the City anyway. As we pulled out of the driveway Chris got home, we still had an extra ticket (Bret's wife Aubrey had to work), so he joined us. The Giants chocked at the top of the 9th, causing the Giants to play out the inning, but Chris caught a foul ball in the bottom of the 9th...well worth it:)

Bret, Christian, Steph, and Chris

Definitely the highlight of the evening!

Really? An orange & black sports coat too? Nothing like being able to go straight from work.

Ciao Carnival!

Reporting from Freeport, Bahamas. Today is our last day on the cruise ship. Our ship was rerouted due to engine problems and we've had to deal with 3000 very angry guests that are in the Bahamas today instead of Jamaica. The guests got so unruly that 6 police officers have been stationed at Guest Services because fights broke out and they've been yelling at the poor guest service people.

If you happen to be shopping for diamonds in the Caribbean and you are wondering if you're getting the real thing...just look for this sign. Shop 'til you drop. hahah.

Business Lunch

Our good friend Landon, from Del Sol, picked us up while we were in Miami for a very important Merchant/Port Shopping Guide meeting...and a little wake-skating (like wake boarding, but with nothing holding your feet).

Christian trying to find another reason to go visit his knee Dr.

Holding on for dear life.

Landon cruising by all the Miami Beach mansions.

Flipping with Flipper

We went swimming with the Dolphins in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! I still can't believe how smart the dolphins are! Truly unbelievable!

Adventure Eye

We went snorkeling with not only real snorkeling goggles, but "Adventure Eye" goggles--fully equipped with a built in digital camera and video camera. The video portion has all the fish, but I still haven't been able to watch all of it because it made me nauseous...think Blaire Witch Project under water.

Christian's "Tickle Stick" (as seen above) got this lobster to come out of his hole.

The picture really doesn't do it justice...it was enormous.

A huge sunken barge we found. It was full of big fish and so large that we could swim all around inside it.

Our friend good friend Eric that just went home!

Save the reef...and yourself.

Christian got a little too cozy with the coral this week. While snorkeling he rubbed up on some fire coral and it left its mark. I asked if he wanted me to get any medicine. He said all he needed was back rub and ice cream. He settled for the ice cream.

Monkeying Around

One of the store managers in Cozumel started a animal sanctuary on the side to save and rehabilitate injured and abused animals. She gave us the deluxe tour. We got to go in the cages, play with, and feed all the animals.

She actually pulled the banana out of my purse as soon as we walked up.

Annie is a kwatee from the Raccoon family.

She just kept jumping from person to person sniffing around.

As soon as we put a banana on the ground they came out to play. The devoured the food in about a minute!

Snorkeling Adventure

We decided to go snorkeling on our own, but we had no equipment. All we were able to muster up was some snorkels and swimming goggles. We found a ship wreck off shore that was full of HUGE fish and enormous lobster! So fun, but without flippers and an hour of snorkeling I barely made it back to shore.

The high tech equipment--you'd be surprised how hard it is to keep water out of your nose without a real mask.

The "Tickle Stick" Christian used to get the big fishies out of their caves.

Taking a break in Cozumel last week.