2:00 a.m.

That's when we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express this morning. We got up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, and left Vero at 6:00 a.m. After a side trip thanks to a wrong turn by me, we finally made it to South Haven Christian Church to pick up the rest of our C-I-Y gang at 8:30 a.m. We then headed up I-95 for our journey. We almost made it to mile marker 298...St. Augistine...when the church van gave up the ghost. Yes, we were 150 miles from Vero Beach and stranded with 28 of us in three vehicles that could hold 19 people at best. We shuttled folks to Palm Coast, ate at Cracker Barrell and Steak-N-Shake, and sat in a Bealles' parking lot for five hours before Kevin Aldhizer, who had driven up from Vero, pronounced the van officially dead and called for a couple more vehicles to come replace the now deceased church van. It was 6:30 p.m. by the time we drove past the van being loaded on a car hauler to be towed to a local Dodge dealership for an autopsy. With now five vehciles in our caravan, we headed to our first destination on the C-I-Y trip: Spartanburg. The rest of the trip was unremarkable, but I have to say that our students and sponsors exhibited the very best in Christian behavior and attitdue during this very looooooonnnnnnnnggggggg day. Satan doesn't want us at this conference, but we are coming anyway. Time to kick to satan tail!

I'll finish out my cruise journal sometime soon, but this week I will be at the C-I-Y Summer Conference.

Belize and Lobster Tail!

Day 4

Man, am I sleepy this morning.

Tendered to Belize City at about 8:30 a.m. to meet our tour guide, Lizzette (Liz), and driver Sosa, for an hour and a half bus ride across Belize to the Mayan Palaces of Cahal Pech (place of ticks).

The ride across the country, only 9 miles from the Guatemalan border, was interesting, narrow roads, poverty-stricken homes along with beautiful homes & lots of schools. We got a cashew nut/fruit...looked like a red apple having an "accident."

Liz regaled us with "unBelize-able" knowledge of the history & culture of her nation.

The ruins were so cool! We saw an archeological dig in progress on site.
Ballcourts, royal dwellings, Jabba's chair, climbing to the top of the tallest temple, Bastard Tree, "I could go on and on."

Stopped at Caeser's Place for a Belizean snack, and shopping, I got a Belize dollar in change.

Best excursion of the trip by far! It was so cool listening to and watching the reaction of all the students as we traipsed around the Mayan ruins at Cahal Pech. They truly enjoyed themselves. Way cool!

Got back in time for afternoon snack (it is a cruise after all, you are supposed to eat a lot), showered & got ready for DINNER!

Tonight’s dinner was: LOBSTER TAIL, shrimp, mashed potatoes the works. One lobster tail is just not enough on a cruise so I asked for another. Nelish brought me a whole second dinner plate: lobster tail, shrimp, mashed potatoes. I ate the lobster tail and shrimp. Dancing waiters. Got a picture of Edwin who served the tables next to our dancing in Renae’s face. Funny stuff! Crowd Macarena. Best dinner of the cruise. Yeah, baby!

More motion this evening (we just didn’t know that the tropical depression that would turn into “Alberto” was brewing just south of us). The show, "Stop the Rock" wasn't as good as the other night. Dancing under the stars got moved because of the weather - rain bands coming along throughout the evening, & the midnight buffet moved to the Windjammer. While not as spectacular as last night's, it was delicious, nonetheless.

Curfew was midnight. Don't forget to set you clock ahead one hour! Hope the noisy neighbors behave tonight. They did.

Cozumel and Midnight Buffet!

Day 3

I had a restless night thanks to the noisy crew around us. Still thumpin' at 2:00 a.m.

Breakfast omlet had shrimp in it. YUM! Had to hit the Windjammer early since the chorus is singing this morning.

Chorus judging: 8:45 a.m. – warm-ups; 9:15 a.m. - judging. The judge was great with the kids & very complimentary to Mr. Farrah, too. Wants the kids to be more expressive with their faces & body language, but raved about their enunciation & breathing. Was very impressed with our chorus…especially our two basses (Ian & Kevin - the judge said they sang as one voice).

We were docking in Cozumel while the students were singing. Lots of vibrato, ha! I was impressed that the students could stand up with all the shaking that was going on as we docked. I was glad that I was sitting down let me tell you!

Cozumel – our tour guide’s name was Ruben. Toured the oldest Mayan High Priest Temple in all of Mexico; climbed a 1,000 meter rock on a beach on the south side of the island; shopped in San Miguel. I bought a replica Mayan statue after haggling the vendor down to my price. I didn't budge, and he gave in. I probably still paid too much, lol!

Cozumel is still so devastated from Hurricane Wilma's 60-hour visit last year - not one life was lost on Cozumel during that storm. Good time touring & Ruben was funny! He did try to hook us in an eatery in San Miguel that was not a very cool move. I’m pretty sure that Paula will complain to Royal Caribbean about that.

Tiger Shrimp & strawberry bisque for dinner, baby! The My Fair Lady Dining Room is opulent, and Nilesh and Rodolpho continue to impress me. Rodolpho remembered what everyone drank from the night before and brought us our drinks without having to ask what we wanted. WOW! I can’t remember my name, and he can remember my diet coke!

The magic & comedy of Levent was super. "Scissors Girl," 8 track, and view finder! Yeah, if you want to know more, you’ll just have to ask me.

Seas were rough during the evening, I was glad for motion sickness pills. (Little did I know that a tropical depression was forming south of us…more on that parenthetically later).

THE MIDNIGHT BUFFET! SPECTACULAR TO VIEW, AND DELICIOUS TO EAT!

Okay, so we stayed up extra late & we have to meet to go on our excursion in Belize at 7:30 a.m.! At least the noisy neighbors were quiet tonight.

Cruisin' Day 2

Day 2

Slept very well, even with the Midnight Delights in my belly…a key lime tart (okay several of them), chocolate covered bananas, and a shrimp wrap in a green tortilla. Good snack after checking on our students and making sure they were in their staterooms (and taping the doors to make sure that they stay in).

Breakfast at Windjammers was delightful. A buffet with way too much good food.

Disembarked for a morning of sight-seeing/shopping in Key West with Peggy, Llibby, & Shannon after we docked. Weiner hat was funny. I sent that picture to Elliott from my cell phone. We shopped a lot, since Libby and Shannon had bought the $20 shopping coupon books on board the ship. We walked all over the shopping district. We probably should have rented a golf cart for the four of us. We walked all the way to the Southern most point in the U.S., then back towards the ship where we saw Ernest Hemmingway's house among the highlights.

Peggy napped in the cabin, I ate lunch at Windjammers, and watched the most amazing feat ever...the ship turned on a dime when leaving Key West's dock. Got a laugh from the "newbie" loosening ropes & climbing down the ladder the wrong way.

Formal Dinner - had a lobster bisque and roast duck. Yum! Our waiters are wonderful...remembered what we drink without asking.

SUNSET WAS FABULOUS! I have pictures. Just gorgeous. Check out the pictures on our flickr site.

The show was "From the Screen to the Stage." Great singers & dancers.

Everyone in their rooms on time! YAY!

Cruisin' Day 1 Journal

Day 1

“Enchantment of the Seas” - What a beautiful ship!
The stateroom is small, but adequate. Who wants to spend much waking time in the stateroom when you can explore 11 decks of opulence on board the ship?

Dinner was amazing, Crusted Atlantic Cod...the waiters were great, one is from India – Nilesh; the assistant waiter (Rodolpho) is from the Phillipines.

Windjammer Café buffet, baby! Food is excellent and in abundance. I know that I will gain weight on this trip, but as the Cruise Director Carley said, “you dieted last week, you can diet again next week, but this week you are on a cruise, baby!”

The all--day drink deal is the only way to go. For $6 per day for adults, $4 per day for students, you can enjoy all the soda and juice you desire. You even get a souvenir cup with lid. What a sweet deal. I know I drink at least $6 of soda a day, especially at the ship’s prices!

The ship is beautiful. Check out the pictures Ian took of the Centrum area of the ship. You can see from decks 2 through 10, it is complete with a white grand piano, lots of seating, and is the nerve center for guests. The guests relations office is on deck 6 along with the shops, and the Schooner Lounge, Spotlight Lounge, Conference Room and loads of staterooms. Deck five has the Boleros Lounge, the Casino (big whoop), and the balcony section of the My Fair Lady Dining Room as well as the Orphium Theatre (the balcony is on deck 6). Deck four houses the main section of the Dining Room and lots of staterooms including the one Emily is in with two other girls. Peggy and I are on Deck 3 as is Ian. Deck 9 will be the most popular deck with the students: the pools and hot tubs are there, as well as the Windjammer Café.

I cannot tell that we are moving unless I am on a deck and watching us move on the water. Standing on the outside deck at level five gives you a beautiful shot of the ocean. Standing on deck five during the muster drill was like being a sardine in a life jacket though. Talk about sweltering!

Commedian Phil Palisoul made me laugh so much my old knee injury flared up! He was truly funny, if not a little risqué at times.

Have I mentioned that the ship is beautiful?

Cruisin' With My Baby

Cruisin' With My Baby
Originally uploaded by blountman.

We are back and looking over pictures while re-living the past five fabulous days! I promise more detailed postings concerning the cruise in the days to come, and lots more pictures from the trip to be posted on flickr. Suffice it to say for now, that it was wonderful beyond words. The water at Cozumel is the most beautiful I have ever seen, and the trip to Belize was amazing. Climbing around in Mayan ruins with a bunch of enthusiatic teenagers...it just doesn't get any better than that. Unless of course, you start talking about the dinners from heaven on board each night. Everything from Roast Duck to Lobster Tail. Oh yeah, baby, can you say "gained weight"?

Anyway, more is on the way, I know you are waiting with baited breath.

Cruisin'

Well, we leave this morning for our cruise. We are going with the Vero Beach High School Chorus on a competition cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas heading for Cozummel and Belize. I promise to do a detailed blog or two about it when we return. Thanks in advance for the prayers and well wishes.