St. George 2017 Side-by-Side Trip

February 20-24, 2017

We spent a few days in St. George riding our side-by-side with some friends. Sid and Adele, Mike and Karen, Ken and Jana were the others with us.

It was much colder than we expected. In the higher elevations where we were riding it was windy and freezing!  We wished we had brought heavier coats, but it was still a fun time!  There were some awesome views and we enjoyed the good company.

Tri corners area - Utah, Nevada and Arizona

Flowers at the temple

Dinosaur tracks

Sand Angel

2017 Puerto Rico, Bioluminescent Bay and Caribbean Cruise

Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Caribbean Cruise Trip

January 28-Feb 5, 2017

I've anticipated this trip for a long time!  Going to the Bioluminescent Bay in Vieques has been on my bucket list for many years. So finally we planned a cruise that would fit this little side excursion in ahead of time. We picked a moonless night so that the bio bay would be at its best, and much more planning had to be done to get over to the little island of Vieques, but we did it and it all worked out just great!

We left home Friday afternoon. We picked up Mom and Norm and headed for the airport. In Denver Mike and Leanna joined our little group and we reached Puerto Rico in the early hours of Saturday morning.  We rented cars and then headed out for breakfast at the Bistro Cafe . We all (minus Scott) thought the breakfast of omelets and french toast with fruit was delicious!

We continued on to Ceiba where we caught a little 9-min. hopper flight over to Vieques. I got to co-pilot our flight on the way over.

Once in Vieques, Victor picked us up with the rental van that we got to use for the day. We really grew to like Victor. He had such a cute way about him - tried to speak his broken English and had quite the sound effects when explaining things. He was very helpful.

We checked into the Good Vibe house and then found Julie and Gregg who had arrived a day earlier. We headed out for lunch at the bistro and had Mofongo. It was the dish several of us had heard we needed to try while in Puerto Rico. Scott and I didn't think it was that great. But they others seemed to really enjoy it. While there, Gregg drew some artwork on the wall and signed our names (as was the custom there).

Enjoying the hammock on the front porch of the Good Vibe House

Mofongo - do you like it?

Nice artwork, Gregg!

Then Victor had us follow him to his land that he farms because we told him we wanted to see it. He's such a nice guy. He has a banana farm, plantains, bees, and homing pigeons. He loved showing it all to us and explaining all about it. He's very hard-working and has turned the land into something that will make him a profit.

Victor helping Norm back up the steep hill

We left Victor on the farm and headed to Rompeolas Pier to do some snorkeling. It was a little windy, but we gave it a try. It was ok. I wasn't overly impressed with my snorkel mask. I had a steady but slow leak, and it hurt my forehead. I discovered I really enjoy snorkeling with a noodle or other flotation device so I can clear out my mask and rest while doing so. But I didn't have anything that day. But anyway, the snorkeling was ok. We were told there were turtles there, but we didn't see any.

You can see us snorkeling in the background

After leaving the Pier, we decided to head to a nearby beach to watch the sunset. The roads were pretty rickety, but we found the beach and enjoyed it for a total of about 20 seconds when I felt something biting me. It must have been "no-see-ums". We all raced back to the van and took off back to our house.

Scott, Mom and Norm went shopping for food for our breakfast the next morning. Scott ordered pizza for our dinner that night. Norm got rolls with cheese and mustard for us to snack on any time. Yum. :\

Then we headed out for the much-anticipated Bio Bay. We had a tour with Abe's Bio Bay Co. We met in a certain parking lot. We soon discovered we had a flat tire. Not surprising after the pot holes and rickety road that we had been over. But we left it and were soon paddling our kayaks on the Bio Bay. We went in pairs, and at first I didn't think it was going to be that great, but as we got farther out it got better and better. You could drag your hands in the water and it was like fairy dust or glitter. It was kind of a bluish-white color. It was quite magical. You could see fish darting out in front of the kayak by their little glow lines they made. So we got to explore the bay a little on our own, and it was fun seeing different ways to make the magical glow.  It wasn't as bright as the internet pictures, but he told us that is because those pictures are taken with special cameras and then photo-enhanced. I was not disappointed. It was pretty darn cool. (Sorry, none of our cameras could capture a picture).

We got back to the van and the men proceeded to try to fix it. The problem was getting the car jacked up high enough, but we soon had it figured out, tire changed, and back on the road.  We were kind of glad to be rid of that rental van the next day. It seemed like it might break down at any moment, and the car alarm would go off any time we unlocked it.

We can fix it, yes we can!

Sunday, January 29

We got up and got ready for church at 9:00. The little branch on Vieques was very near to our house. We went to Sacrament Meeting where they had the missionaries translate into headsets what was being said at the pulpit. I opted not to get the headsets, thinking it would be fun to see what Spanish I could understand. Big mistake. I couldn't understand much at all. After the meeting we got to meet Katie who is Brienna Smith's sister-in-law, and whom I had been texting to get information about Vieques. It was very fun to be at church there in a foreign place, but feel the same spirit.

We changed clothes and headed back to the airport where we returned by hopper plane to Ceiba, picked up our rental cars we had left there, and headed to El Yunque Forest. We drove through the forest and parked and went on a nice hike to La Mina Falls and then drove to the Yokahu Tower. While hiking we got rained on pretty good, but it was still nice and warm. So fun to be in a warm climate!!

La Mina Falls

Girl shot at La Mina Falls

Mike hugging the "Big Tree"

Then we headed back towards our Cruise Ship Pier. We had a little bit of a run-around getting our rental cars returned. The office closest to the pier was closed when we got there, so we had to turn around and make our way through some heavy traffic back to their main office. They shuttled us to the airport, where we squished all eight of us and all our baggage into a van. It was a minor miracle. Finally we made it on board the Carnival Fascination where we would spend the next seven nights. We were impressed with our ocean-view rooms. They were quite roomy and had nice, although somewhat dirty, windows.  We enjoyed a good meal that night in the dining room, unpacked, and then endured the long safety drill.

Monday, January 30 - St. Thomas/St. John

We took a taxi over to the ferry which then took us over to St. John. Then we took another taxi to Cinnamon Bay. We were debating Trunk Bay, but a local guy said he liked Cinnamon Bay better for snorkeling, so that's where we went.  It was a little bit of a swim out to where the snorkeling was supposed to be good, and it turned out to be ok snorkeling. I'd give it a 6. Not near as good has Hawaii or the Philippines. But then, maybe we're spoiled. The beach was nice. We had to laugh a little at Norm later when we sent him out to snorkel with Julie and Gregg. After a while he asked why he was getting water in his mask. They pointed out that you had to put the mask over your nose, not on top of it.  Hee Hee.  We love him!

Then we reversed our way from taxi to ferry to taxi back to the cruise ship.  After another delicious meal, we watched a comedy show which was pretty good. Scott and I went to the room for a little nap and didn't wake up in time for the later "Welcome Aboard" show.

 Tuesday, January 31 - Day at Sea

It was fun to have a lazier morning and go to brunch in the dining room. We caught the end of the towel-folding demonstration in the Palace Theater. Our rooms always have a cute towel animal on our bed at the end of the day.

Nice try you two.

We enjoyed relaxing, reading, eating and card playing today.  For lunch we tried out the Mongolian Wok. I enjoyed mine more than the others.

The funniest moment of the day came when playing the Game is Mau. We were teaching Norm, who is a very good sport at a game that is nearly impossible for him to learn with the ever-mounting rules.  It was Julie's turn to make up a rule, and when she played her card and stood up and turned around, the look on Norm's face was priceless.  Mom was the winner at Mormon Bridge, or should have been, because nearly every round she had the Rook - even the forehead round.

This was our first formal dinner night. We got all dressed up fancy.

The entertainment that night was terrible (kind of raunchy) so we left after 10 minutes and went to the PG comedy instead. It was pretty good.

Wednesday, Februay 1st - Barbados

I really enjoyed Barbados. It was a little more up-scale, and very pretty. We got a taxi package for $25 each to see a bit of the island. My favorite thing happened first off. Our taxi driver drove through a resort where he held a banana out of the window and then stopped. Almost immediately some monkeys came and we were able to feed them out of our hands. It was way cool.

Lots of tables with stuff for sale everywhere you go

All the Caribbean sun really made Scott grow tall!

He took us to a couple of places with nice views for pictures and then we went to Hunte's Garden where we each paid $15 to spend an hour in the Garden of Eden (or so it seemed). It was incredibly beautiful!  Classical music was playing in the background. Mr. Hunte owns the place and keeps it maintained with only one other helper.

 

We also toured this beautiful church and then snorkeled on Carlisle Bay where we saw a turtle or two and then swam out to a shipwreck. There were a few fish there. Afterwards, my shoulder was burning for a long time. I figured I must have run into a jelly fish, so I visited the medical room on board ship and they suggested putting ice on it. That helped quite a bit. We enjoyed the Motown singing for the entertainment that night.

Carlisle Bay - snorkeled here

Back to the ship we go!

Thursday, February 2 - St. Lucia

Coming into St. Lucia

Today Arlette and Terry took us on a tour of St. Lucia.

Arlette and Joseph our tour guide and driver

I had prearranged this tour on the internet through "Real St. Lucia Tours". It cost $50 a piece plus entrance fees into the places we toured. I thought it well worth it.  Leanna wasn't feeling well this day, and we felt sorry for her as we wound around and up and down on roads that were riddled with potholes. But Arlette said that Terry had his PHD in driving (pot hole dodger).  So he did his best. We saw much of the island including Marigot Bay (where Dr. Doolittle was filmed), the Canaries, Soufriere, the majestic  Piton mountains, the Diamond Botanical Garden with the Diamond waterfall, the Tet Paul Nature Trail where we enjoyed a little hike with great views of the Pitons.

Marigot Bay

Botanical Garden pics

Diamond Waterfall

Tet Paul Trail

So that's how a pineapple grows

We finished off with the warm Volcano Mud Bath where the sulfur springs and mud are supposed to add 10 years to our lives.

We look younger already

We got some blue laundry soap and Mike and Leanna bought lots of chocolate to remember that island by. It was a lot of driving, but I really enjoyed the day.

All dressed up for dinner

It was another formal night on board the ship. I should say that dinners are always an adventure. I enjoy tasting so many different things. I usually order at least two different appetizers and hope Scott gets something different so I can taste his too. Then a main course or two with more sharing going on and a dessert or two to sample. During the trip I tasted ox tongue and frog legs and ate lots and lots of seafood!  It's usually all so delicious! Many nights the waiters and waitresses do a little dance during dinner and get some participation from some of the diners. You can also hear them singing happy birthday at various times to various people. Their singing is usually a little off-key. It makes us smile. It's definitely a festive atmosphere!

Friday, February 3 - St. Kitts

St. Kitts

 Today we had no excursion planned. We enjoyed a little shopping. Scott really thought he should buy this shirt to wear to work, but the t-shirt cost $22, and it was more than he wanted to spend.

Relaxing on the Lido Deck

I bought a swimsuit cover dress (which turned out to be quite big). I also bought a brown necklace here. It was a nice relaxing day.  We tried to get Leanna and Mike to do some karaoke, but they couldn't come up with a song (sigh).

Saturday, February 4 - St. Maarten

We got up early and did the morning Stretch in the spa room and then did another workout for our abs before we hit breakfast. All very good.

This is a tiny island divided into two countries - Dutch and French. We had a tour with Bob (#1 tour on trip advisor). We took a 15-min walk to get to his pier, and his son Brett was our boat driver. I really enjoyed Brett. He was young and funny and easy to be around. He took us nearly all around the perimeter of the island on a very nice speed boat. He said there were 38 beaches on the island - all public. The ones on the french side permit nudity, so we saw a little of that. The smallest beach is only big enough for two people. When we drove by, sure enough, two people were on it. We saw some awesome yachts. He said they cost about a million dollars per foot. Once we got out in the Atlantic, it was very wavy! Pretty exciting going up and down giant waves.  We swam with turtles (I saw a total of 1) and went to a beautiful beach where we saw iguanas. Then lunch was on a different beach. We had to swim from the boat to shore every time we stopped. Lunch was very good. I got the mahi mahi fish. Yum.

We watched some planes land and take off.

We went snorkeling at another reef by Creole rock. I enjoyed that. He provided noodles. Yay! We saw planes land and take off at one of the world's top ten most dangerous airports. It was crazy how close the planes came to the beach! We were a little ways out on the boat. It was fun to watch.

Leanna and Mike caught some beautiful pictures of the sunset. I never saw the sunset. But I did catch a sunrise once.

It was our last dinner the Renee, Darlene, and Gerald. So much food! Such great company.

This guy did amazing magic tricks at our table!

Many enjoyable and tasty moments spent right here!

Here's a video of the crew singing their farewell song to us.

We enjoyed the juggling show after dinner (well, for what I could stay awake for) and then packed to come home.

Fun to have our rooms so close together!

Here's the cute gal that cleaned our rooms and made the towel creations.

Feb 5, Sunday

We left the ship about 9:30 and stood in long disembarkation lines. Then we were given the tip that we could go to a nearby hotel and pay them a small fee ($1-2 per bag) to store our bags. We did that, and then we went on a tour of the fort that is within walking distance. There was actually another fort we could have walked to as well, but it was a hot day, and we didn't feel much like it. We stopped at the Cristobal Park and I got a chicken empanada and Norm treated us to some gelato. Delicious. The pigeons really liked us. They landed on Scott, begging for more crumbs. Funny.

Old San Juan

We then caught a taxi to the airport and began the journey home, reaching Salt Lake about 10:00 and waited there for Mom and Norm who came in a couple of hours later on a different airline. Made it to bed around 1:00 in the morning.

Here is a pic of some of the momentos we bought while there.

It was all very fun!!!

Some observations:  Carnival had great food and we liked our ocean-view room. I was disappointed in the entertainment over all. There wasn't much by way of musical entertainment that interested me.  All tours are pretty good but not quite as good as they are advertised.  I wouldn't book a tour through the cruise line. Almost always you can pay a taxi driver just off the ship to take you on a cheaper tour of the island. It's good to know ahead of time some things you might want to see. The snorkeling everywhere was a little disappointing, but ok. The beaches really are beautiful! But most of them are hot and you need to get wet and/or have a nice umbrella for shade. It is warm warm warm everywhere. The views everywhere are great! The Caribbean really is a tropical paradise for the eyes, and it's so fun to leave the snow behind and get a change of scenery.