Caribbean Beauty - I thought about Carol at QuiltedFiberArt at every port!

 



Yep, I kept looking around and thinking, Carol would LOVE this view......oh Carol would LOVE these rocks...….Carol would LOVE this water!

We had no problems with air travel this time.  For a change!  Got to Miami when they said we would on a 737 no less.  Not a Max 8 or 9 however.  Miami was gorgeous!

The weather all through the Caribbean was perfect, not too hot, not blazing heat like they have in the summer months.  This is the perfect time to go.  No large crowds, but things are totally open and available. 

We boarded the Norwegian Bliss, a brand new HUGE ship.  4400 capacity passengers and 1500 crew.   But either they had a lot less than capacity passengers or they have designed this ship to spread people out, because we never stood in lines or was crowded like in some other ships.

That is the Bliss on the left.  The ship on the right is the Carnival ship we have been on several times.  BIG difference!

beautifully designed with a race track for go carts, a 3 story water slide, a 3 story out over the water water slide, a bowling alley, an arcade gallery and laser tag on the 21st floor.  Frank got sick on the race cars......just sayin'

















We caught up with our cruising friends Allan and Diane.   Laughed and loved every minute together!











We saw two Broadway shows (Jersey Boys and Havana)and the Fab Four Show.  Did you know the Jersey Boys was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons?  For some reason I didn't!

We kayaked in St Thomas, zip lined in Tortuga and segwayed in Blue Lagoon Nassau.  Well, Frank zip lined through 7 stations across the island, if I were meant to fly though the air I would have been born with wings.

Even the sunsets look like whales!

It is good to be home.  Tomorrow we get the dogs and all will be back to normal......except for a little sand in my suitcase!

Beachy Weekend

This weekend we are meeting some people for some R&R on the beaches in Alabama.  We are not really beach people, Frank is convinced he will get skin cancer.  We used to have a condo out of Pensacola's Navarre Beach, and we would spend a few weeks there each summer in spite of that.  Alabama's Orange Beach is reputed to be similar to that area.  He is still cancer free  so we are going to see if it will happen this time.  

One thing we WON'T be doing is riding amusement park rides!  Wow, some serious problems with injuries this week. 

One thing I liked about Navarre was the opportunity to hike inland trails as well as be on the beach.  We have spent a lot of time with the Swissy people and our dogs packing those trails for the weekend.

These clips are from Miami Beach.  The beaches there are really nice. 


We spent a lot of time in the Art Deco District feeling like we were walking back in time. 

Dogs are allowed on the beaches there, but nobody had any Bassets or Swissys! 

We have also played on beaches in Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas.  Some of the most beautiful beaches are on these islands.

I would daresay we have played on so many beautiful beaches in the Caribbean.  Bermuda was so hot all we wanted to do was stay in the indoor bars and drink fancy tropical liquids.

Carrie spent some time on the nude beaches of Europe.  Somehow, she didn't send me any of THOSE pictures!

Dogs Are Home, and All My Wash Is Done

Everything is good, except McGee keeps coughing up a bunch of phlegm all over my rug, the sofa, the floor.  We are running around trying to stick towels under his face when he starts coughing, which  annoys the devil out of him and he manages to avoid the towel about 50% of the time.

Did 3 loads of clothes, washed/folded/hung.

Went to grocery and got milk, yogurt, celery.......can't live in South Louisiana and not have celery!

So here are a few photos from the trip and we can get back to quilting stuff.

 Greater New Orleans Bridge on the Mississippi River.  this is where the Cruise Ships dock.




Our Ship, there were 4200 passengers this cruise.  639 were with the band NiklBeer out of Lafayette.  Amazing.  Private parties every night, concerts mid-ship, just amazing.

 Once you leave New Orleans you head down river and out the mouth to the Gulf of Mexico.  Frank calls on all the plants so he was entertaining  group of people pointing out the various companies and what they make.  This one is the Domino Sugar facility and I have no idea what the other one is.  they all look alike to me!  But you can see the bend in the river.

This is the Naval Yard where they have filmed episodes of NCIS: New Orleans!  Remember how good Scott Bacula looked on the show Quantum Leap many moons ago?

Sunset on the river is so beautiful.  the whole cruise we had the most perfect weather.   As it got dark, the Norwegian Dawn (upon which we have also sailed) passed us just before we reached the mouth of the Mississippi.





Sailing right into Key West!

Ernest Hemingway cooked eggs on  that little stove there in the corner!

The garden are beautiful, and full of 54 kitties with 6 toesies!  These polydactyl cats all are descendants of Snowball.  A cat named Jake had 28 toes.



The polydactls were thought to be lucky so they were found on many sailing ships.  Mousers, they were.

Here is the Travel Basset having tea with one of the Mitten Kittens.







Key West is  full of loose chickens.

And here is the Basset hobnobbing with Papa himself.  The Statue Garden in the center of the port area is full of notable personages who loved coming to Key West.

 We kayaked through the mangroves in Freeport, Bahamas.

 And ended up on the most beautiful beach.  The photo with frank is at the point where the fresh water river down the center of the island meets the ocean.




So many animals on the beach!

The beach is truly beautiful!

 Nassau!  Oh My!  Segways!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Segways!

 This is a LOOP type facility just off the shore.  It takes the oil
tankers and brings their cargo to the holding tanks on land via underwater piping. Those tall yellow things are the pipes that extend to the ships.

 Condomize?  No Problem, Mon.

 Frank ordered fish and chips and got piranha.  When he opened the container, I jumped back about 10 feet.  Man that thing was ugly!

These are conch shells.  I did eat fried conch.  It was certainly prettier than Frank's meal!

4 Cruise ships in port!  It sure is a beautiful  place though.








 Here is the Travel Basset riding the segway with his Bahamian buds.

We left, heading home.

New  Orleans in the dawn is truly beautiful.

When you want to sail again, just let me know!  We are heading out to sail the Panama Canal next!