After alot of work and many years of sacrificing - I finally graduated college! Graduation was fun - Monty and my parents were there so it made the day even more special than I could have imagined. Now that I do not have to write papers or study - I am not sure what to do with my free time ... we will see! :)
For graduation, Monty and I decided to take a cruise through the Caribbean, better known as paradise to me. We left early Saturday morning for San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan is beautiful, but we were so exhausted we did not see much of it. Just relaxed to the sound of the oceans breeze from our hotel. It was beautiful - and worth a trip back to explore.
Sunday we headed out to sea. The cruise would take us to one island each day for a week. I am amazed at how big cruise ships are - definetly the way to travel in convenience. Day 1 was St. Thomas. Beautiful island, but we did not explore it too much because we did not book our excursions early and they were all sold out of the good ones. We ended up just walking around shopping and relaxing with some beautiful scenery. We usually start off slow and then wear ourselves out by the end of the trip - so this is typical Edge.
Day 2 was Dominica, a beautiful island with tons of mountain terrain and beautiful rainforests. We took an island tour of the best of Dominica. A unique opportunity to experience island culture and roadways. We went through the botanical gardens, a beautiful hike in the rainforest to a hidden cove with 3 waterfalls and then to their fountain of youth emerald pools where Monty took a dip in the cold water for a swim with another waterfall.
Day 3 was Barbados, a little more civilized as far as the roadways go - they had stop signs :). In Barbados we took a bus ride out to the middle of no-where and started off for our hike and cave tour. What an amazing experience. We hiked through another rain forest and ended up at the base of the cave 150 feet below sea level. Helmet and light on head - we started exploring. It was so cool to see all the stuff hidden in caves - stalagtites, stalagmites hundreds of years old, lots of millipedes, cave crickets, the rare cave spider and the not so comforting to me - bats. There were different parts in the cave where we were practically on our knees crawling, or 5 ft deep in crystal clear water and even being lifted and scaling walls 5+ feet above. It was an awesome experience and one of my favorites for the tip.
Day 4 was St. Lucia - our honeymoon spot! We decided in St. Lucia to go horseback riding to the beach and through the ocean. We jump on Moonlight and Lesa and headed through a huge banana plantation to the beautiful St. Lucia beaches. St. Lucia has such amazing terrain - I love it there and could go back time and time again. We ended up at the beach and took two brothers into the ocean with no saddles for a little swim. That was so exciting - I never knew horses could swim! I guess I never really thought about it.
Day 5 was Antigua - my favorite island! They have 365 discovered beaches on this beautiful, and suprisingly pretty flat island from what I could tell. We jumped on a boat and headed to the middle of the ocean to a sandbar in the middle of no-where to swim and snorkel with the stingrays. It was almost like seeing kids run to the street when the ice cream truck music fills the air - the stingrays covered the ocean floor swimming in as they heard the boat pull up to the sandbar. They knew it was time to eat! The stingrays were surprisingly dosile, they just swam around us and allowed us to pet them, hold them and feed them. The guides said as long as we shuffled our feet to let them know we were there and avoided startling them - they will not get aggressive and sting with their barbs. We had so much fun - I am thinking when we get a pool I will make it saltwater and get a stingray for a pet :) or maybe not but I did love them.
Day 6 and our final island was St. Kitts, another beautiful place. We took a bus to a far end of the island where we would snorkel and kayak in the ocean. On the way to our destination the bus driver paused for a photo-op where the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea meet. It was breathtaking! The snorkeling was ok there - we did not see too much, but Monty as always spotted a baracuda and some pretty cool fish. The kayak was fun, but a little harder than usual because of the ocean tide. It took about 45 minutes to make it over to our destination where we had so much needed island fruit and water.
Outside of the wonderful excursions to such beautiful islands, we had a blast on the ship. The service was good, the shows were entertaining, the food was good and plenty of it, we met lots of new friends and were lucky to have a table we only shared with 2 other people and they were a lot of fun. Veronica and Renjit live up in D.C. and I am certain we will keep in touch and see them again in our travels.
We hope you enjoy some of our favorite pics!
