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
