Okay…. I swear this is the last post about my cruise since I fear I’m bordering on making you all jealous.  Heck, I’m even jealous of me since I wish I were back there right now sitting in the warm sun.  heh

Day 5 on the cruise was another big day, this time we made port in Aruba.  Felix and I had booked an excursion in Aruba and we found ourselves the youngest people on the bus… by 20 years.  It was pretty funny.

We hopped on the bus and the first stop we made was along the coast (the windy, non-beachy side).

With your back to the coast, this is the view.  Very arid with few trees and lots and lots of rocks.

After we got on the bus, we drove for another 10 minutes and arrived at what used to be the natural land bridge.

My blue pants-suit with a back cut out detail.  It’s made of a really light weight linen and has a wonderful lining, feels like a dream even if it isn’t the most flattering thing on me.

This is the natural land bridge which had given way a few years ago.  It’s really really huge and this pic doesn’t do it any justice.

Next stop was the Aruba Ostrich farm.  (Totally a tourist destination but we had fun anyhow.)

These were Emus, which have 3 toes and are shorter.  Ostrich have 2 toes.  (The things I learnt.)

Mr. Ostrich with the Mrs. in the background.  (The gents are black and the gals are grey.)

Such tiny heads… they make me giggle every time I see them.

My what big eyes (& pretty lashes) you have….

Ostrich getting angry with our guide.  heh

The best part was feeding them.  They were ALL about the food.  The gal on the far left couldn’t contain herself and was spilling all over.

These are by far the happiest pigs I have ever seen!  They look so peaceful and warm lying in the sun.  Being a tourist farm, none of these animals will be eaten or anything bad.  So these pigs are just there for fun.  :)  I dearly wanted to go in their pen and give them some back scritches….

The next stop was going to a random rock formation (granite to be precise).  It was pretty high up and Felix and I couldn’t wait to get down again.

We went for a mini walk around the rock and found some (lots of) lizards.

I don’t think it’s come up before, but I love lizards!  Growing up with bad allergies, lizards were the pets I was allowed to have…. and I’ve had at least 10 in my youth.

Spotted this guy in the trees overhead.

After the tour of the island, Felix and I went back to the ship, changed into our bathing suits and headed to a snorkeling beach with my mom, sister, and brother in law.

The image above is us post-snorkeling.  Suffice it to say the water was amazing, just like a post card.  I’d share more… but ya know…. I’m in my swim suit.  :)

I saw lots of crabs, anemones, a water snake, lots of fish (some that got creepy close and wouldn’t leave me alone), and 2 squid (or squids?).  The squid and the water snake were the coolest things I saw, by far.  Oh and I spotted a ‘live’ sand dollar!

We had to be back on the ship by 5pm so we made our way back after spending about 2 or 2.5 hours on the beach.  I didn’t do a bit of lazing around on the sand.  Instead I spend the whole time on my belly in the water peering at all of the life on the reef.  It was by far my favorite activity of the trip.  If I lived somewhere warm with a beach, I feel like I’d be there 24/7.

Later that night, this was my dinner outfit.  Another store bought dress, but it fit perfectly and has cute litte origami cranes all over it.  The color is navy and a light taupe and I paired it with red patent leather wedges.

Day 6 and day 7 were both sea days as we made our way back to Ft. Lauderdale.  :(

I feel like these two days blur together as Felix and I did the same things on each day: Breakfast-Sun bathing-Cocktails-Dinner.

My version of sun-bathing involves sitting in the shade while knitting.

….with a Margarita.

Day 6, being a day at sea, was a fancy dinner night.

This is my sister Katie with her husband Dan:

It wasn’t until I saw this photo that I realized Katie and Dan had color coordinated!  They look so great together, no?!

My mom and dad:

Felix and myself:

I don’t know what Felix is doing, but it’s great!

I thought it would be nice to take an outfit photo of my nautical dress while actually on a ship.

But it was so windy outside that my hair was nearly flat when I got back inside.  :|  Ahh well, at least it was the end of the evening.

Day 7:

Felix and I were sun bathing on the upper deck when it started to get too sunny for my pale, delicate skin.  So we went in search of shade which we found below on deck 7.

Felix-lounging.

While we were on this lower deck, we were passing by some island (Haiti perhaps??) and we kept seeing schools of flying fish.  It was sooo neat!  They looked like little bugs, but then they’d wiggle and dive back into the water.

Conclusion:

While we had a great time on the excursions (for the most part) and loved visiting with our family for multiple days at a time… I’m not certain if or when I’d do another cruise.  (Although the Alaskan one sounds pretty neat.)  Lazing around and eating rich food is great for a day or two.  But after that I’m ready to move on and DO something.

I feel much more adventurous when I travel & explore new places so the cruise felt a bit restricting in that sense.  So while I could see going on another one in the future, it would have to have my family once again because that’s what kept things fun and fresh when we were on board the ship.  Sans family… I wouldn’t go.

I’m fine relaxing (at cafes or in a hotel room) but I can’t do that for days on end.  I need to get out and see things, go places, and explore.  Suffice it to say I had fun while off the boat, but after a few days on the boat, it got to be a bit much.

In either case, I’m glad we went and experienced it.  :)  Now I just have to get myself to a gym, asap.  heh

Last but not least Felix is the photographer for nearly every image I have here!  I didn’t see the sense in me bring another camera along, so I just let him do his thing.  Felix has his version of events, day by day on his own blog.  So if you’d like to see more or read in more detail about things, his site Avoision is the place to go.

In: Miscellaneous

Tags: Cruise vacation