Been Cruisin, Key West, Cozumel And Belize City

Last week the Blushing Bride and the Old Salt went cruising on the Royal Carribean Enchantment of the Seas. We departed from Ft Lauderdale on a rainy day for five days of fun and relaxation.




Before you do much of anything on a cruise, there is the mandatory life boat drill. These are our cabin life jackets waiting for us to spring into action.















As we left Port Everglades, I got a photo of the United States Coast Guard in action. They escorted us out of port and appeared to be maintaining a watch on the port entrance.




My Blushing Bride as always is ready for adventure. She is a seafaring gal. Here she is on our stateroom lanai checking our departure.




Enchantment of the Seas, moored alongside in Key West, FL. As you can see she overpowers the neighborhood when in town.




This is a peek into Key West from the ship. The red building is the old US Customs House. It's now a museum.




This is some of the artwork outside the museum. The suitcases at the base of the statues are about four feet tall.




Part of the old US Navy Base. I didn't get a chance to see who is running it now.




The entrance to the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. The place to see and learn about the treasure along Florida's coast and those who have hunted it.




This is Ft Zachary Taylor, an active military fort from 1859 through 1947. It is now a Florida State Park.




The next stop was Cozumel, Mexico. Another alongside the pier. On this trip we only had to tender once in at Belize City, Belize.

















I like this shot alongside the water in the Cozumel shopping area. It was very pretty but the sun in both Key west and Cozumel was very hot.

















We were accompanied on the trip by our Ryan and Jenn. Actually, they planned the trip and we went along with them. We had a great time with them.




This is Mike and Nina, they were also traveling with Ryan and Jenn. As you may have guessed the last two pictures were taken in McDonalds in downtown Cozumel.




The final proof. The Blushing Bride and the Old Salt with Ronald McDonald in Cozumel. I went for the bathroom, but I gotta admit my love for McDonalds has been pretty much a lifelong affair.




Here is an interesting sculpture found along the waterfront. Cozumel is very much a diving destination for those who scuba or snorkel.




This is a local working the pier for some cash. He appeared to be completely covered with some type of silver paint. He stood vey still like a statue and only spoke or moved whenever someone was in range to be startled. As you can see he did startle the young lady passing him. He had a can at his feet labeled tips.

















In Belize, we went cave tubing. A group of tubers connect together and with a guide they float through two caves while riding truck tubes. The pictures are a little fuzzy. I tried a new underwater digital camera, a VuPoint DC-WPC-ST531T-VP 5MP, but the shutter lag was really poor. It was impossible to hold the camera steady with the shutter lag so long. I can't recommend that camera. I returned it, felt bad cause I had hoped to use it for kayaking.





It was dark in the cave so everyone was issued little headlamps so they could see. You can see the lights and the line in this photo.




This shot shows the top of the cave. Periodically they would point out a bat tucked up into the ceiling of the cave, such as the one shown here.




This is a shot of the cave exit.

















A photo of some of the trip survivors.




The Blushing Bride and the Old Salt finished the trip in great spirits. This trip was really worth the money, although some folks on the trip admitted to being uncomfortable with the dark plus any unknowns in the water.





Formal Night on the cruise for the Old Salt and his Blushing Bride

"Fair Winds And Following Seas" To The Last Survivor HMS Hood

Royal Navy Lt. Ted Briggs, retired, the last survivor of the World War II sinking of British battle cruiser HMS Hood, has died at the age of 85.

Briggs was one of only three seamen among the 1,418-strong crew to survive an attack by the German battleship Bismarck on May 24, 1941. A salvo from the Bismarck hit the Hood during the Battle of the Denmark Strait and the magazine exploded, tearing the ship in half. It sank within three minutes.

Briggs, an 18-year-old signalman, later described how he had been sucked under by the sinking ship before being propelled to the surface, where he saw HMS Hood disappearing below the waves.

"I turned and swam as best I could in water 4 inches thick with oil and managed to get on one of the small rafts she carried, of which there were a large number floating around," he wrote in an account posted on the HMS Hood Association's Web site. "When I turned again she had gone and there was a fire on the water where her bows had been."

Briggs said he saw two other survivors, Midshipman William Dundas and Able Seaman Bob Tilburn, on rafts nearby. "There was not another soul to be seen," he wrote.

The trio were picked up by a British destroyer three hours later.

In 2001, the wreckage of the Hood was found, almost 10,000 feet below the ocean's surface between Greenland and Iceland. Briggs helped lay a plaque on the underwater wreckage, which was designated an official war grave by the British government.

Briggs used to say 'I was not a hero, I was a survivor,'"

Briggs retired on 2 February 1973 with the rank of lieutenant. In the year he retired, at the Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

HMS Hood, sunk in battle on May 24, 1941 by the KMS Bismark

Sky Bean

The youngest grand boy was over this morning. He is almost seven months old and is getting up on his hands and knees. He is very interested in anything going on around him. Since he is the youngest of three boys there is always something going on around.


He can low crawl all over or roll into where he can't crawl. The on your knee crawl seems to be a bit of a problem. If you look at the pictures you can detect he has moved but he it seems he can only go backwards. But that does not stop him from trying.

My prediction is he will walk early. He does not want to be left out and his older brothers are doing stuff, regardless of what it is, he wants to do.

A great recipe for early participation.

Crappo, The Hornworm

A few weeks ago we found another hornworm trashing the tomato plants. They are somewhat of a multi-fisted eater, if there is such a thing. Kinda like me with barbequed pork and french fries.

Anyhow it was decided that this particular hornworm would be placed in a old pickle jar and transported for some of the grandboys to view; kind of a nature thing you know. All of the other hornworms suffered some sort of instantaneous demise.

Originally the hornworm was placed in an old pickle jar with a large handful of tomato plant stalks with many leaves. By the next morning the stalks were bare and the hornworm was on the bottom of a doo-doo filled jar.

Well Nana cleaned out the jar and was getting ready to refill it with some more tomato plant chow. While cleaning the jar, she had left the hornworm, now named Crappo, on the entry-way sidewalk. By the time the jar was cleaned, Crappo was gone, but was located in a few minutes busily burrowing into the dirt next to the sidewalk.

Here was a clue, so a few handfuls of dirt were placed in the bottom of the jar. By the next morning Crappo was buried in the dirt. His outer layer turned a dark brown and no more action was forthcoming for a few (no one kept track) weeks.



Crappo manged to get about 99.9% out of the pupae sheath but that's where he gave up the ghost. Though Crappo's story did not end well the grandboys now have captured some hornworms of their own. Hopefully they will fare better with theirs, named ChewBacca and Master Yoda.

New Rule, Not B-Out Me

My blushing bride and I went to see The Mummy, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor this weekend. It is your basic Brenden Fraser adventure flick, sorta, kinda like "George Of The Jungle" does Indiana Jones. However, a hot bag of lightly salted and buttered popcorn with a large diet soda can turn many movies (even some chick flicks) into an afternoon of bliss. We liked it.

After returning home, blushing bride was telling the four year old grandson in North Carolina how good the movie was when he told her that in the future, we were not allowed to go B-Out (without) him. It seems that he was highly disappointed his grandparents went B-Out him.

This Is What Happens When Your Mother Is An English Major

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The English Major's Son

Practices for Hamlet in the bathtub.



"That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once..."

Posted by DadaMama at 08:24 PM in Superbaby | Permalink

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The Old Salt is going to have to work real hard with this lad.

Heres A Thought

Unfortunately, you do indeed appear to have no discernible leadership qualities. Furthermore, you seem to be overly cautious, timid and lacking in self confidence. A career in the military may not be for you. Have you thought about the Air Force?

Another Adventure At Blue Springs

These are pictures taken by my daughters and blushing bride while on an adventure a couple of weeks ago at Blue Springs.


In the foreground are three of the grandboys. In the background is the jump pier. Each of them jumped off the pier into the water with their Aunt Jacqui. They all thought it was exciting and a little bit scary



As usual you will find my blushing bride with the babies. They and the Nana are resting in the shade, it was another very hot day.



Here is Baby Sky with his sun hat on. He likes to wear hats and have his picture taken. He likes to make adults smile.



Ise looks like he is having a great time as he comes out of the water. The day was hot, but the water in Blue Springs is not.



Gus also appears to be having fun. He has his swimming goggles on so he can see better underwater.



I will leave it up to you to decide whether you think baby Dee is having a good time or not.



This is Will as he arrives at the park. He always looks a little anxious but he went off the pier with the rest of them, scary or not.



More of Nana in the shade. Nana doesn't care if it is hot outside but she's not much for cold water.



Here we have Jac in the water with Will and Ise.



Baby Dee modeling her hat.



Baby Dee in her "At Rest" position. She likes to sleep with the edge of the baby blanket over her face.



This is a great picture of Mom and Son having fun at Blue Springs.



Another picture of some of the boys and Jac in the water.



Some kids really are camera hogs. He is a natural, just point a camera in his direction and he's on.



There is at least one indication in this picture that there is a difference between the air temperature and the water temperature. Look at Ise's face.



I told you Will often looks concerned. But I assure you he had a great time.



This is proof that Baby Sky was there with his mom. I guess she was just camera shy that day.