Snorkeling for the Blind

(February 2nd, 2023)

I don't even know what day of the week that was. When I'm on vacation I totally lose track of time and it's awesome. On cruises, I also lose track of the kids, but in Jamaica, we had service, so it was nice to text and see what they were up to. 

In the morning, we all went on a glass bottom boat tour. A glass bottom boat is way cool. It has windows in the bottom, but the windows are made out of magnifying material, so if the floor of the ocean is 30 feet down, it looks like it is only five feet away. Epic. Tyler doesn't like snorkeling because he can't see anything. And I don't love it because I don't enjoy salt water and the snorkel dries out my throat. So this was the best for both of us. 

The Captain and his second in command were funny and it was a great tour. They lined up everyone's phone on the glass so they could get video of the coral and fish. The guys even dove into the water and brought up some starfish so we could hold them. 

There were some funny moments. The Captain was telling us how we should watch out for the Jamaican piranhas, who like to eat 'white' meat, meaning us Caucasian folks. He walked right up to me and told me that I should not go swimming since I was the whitest one on the boat. (That's true for me in most places) Then he proceeded to toss white meat over the boat so we could see the fishes swarm it. It was really just bread, but it was pretty funny.

Also, the Captain kept calling his first mate, "My brother" but with his accent, Caroline couldn't understand. At the end of the tour she asked, "Who is Mike Britta?"

After the boat tour, it was beach time. The weather was so nice, so we decided to get some pictures. Star's daughter had told her not to get boring, regular beach photos, so she sent along some poses for her to try. We all ended up trying some out and it was such a fun photo shoot. Tyler and I got some pictures that I adore. And yes, you might see Jason in some.

Melody was a boss. She could even base us girls.

 We had a lot of fun and got some great group shots. Jason's 3D camera is epic. Can you find Tyler and I in the jumping picture?

In the afternoon, we went on the shopping trip. They only have it once a week. I'm not going to lie, it was a little disappointing. They take you on a bus to a group of sheds; about 40. Most of the stuff is the same in each little shop. I would not go again, but I was able to get some fun stuff for the girls. 

It is fun to find new places for Jason to hide in our pictures. :)

In the later afternoon, I think everyone was getting ready for the night snorkeling. Since Tyler and I weren't going, we were hanging out on the beach. It was a bit rainy, so the beach was empty. We stole Howard's umbrella cabana (Howard was a guy we met who always set up his stuff under the same covered area) and it was nice to hang out and stay dry.

We had the evening to ourselves. It was nice since I got some good reading in. (Yep, I am boring like that.) Here is the view from our balcony. Honestly, when I saw the big palm leaves moving, I expected a dinosaur to come out. (My love of Jurassic Park follows me) We took a couple photos together. (As we didn't have enough from this day.) I especially liked when Tyler picked up a potted plant so there would be more green in the picture. 

Dinner was just us. I guess you could say we had a visitor, but not one we expected. The cats are pretty bold. They don't mind if they are in the way or if their tail is on your table. It's probably because idiots keep feeding them. ;)

We finished the evening with a nice long walk down the beach. We probably went about 3 miles round trip. It was so relaxing with the lovely warm evening, and the moon shining. We also saw some fun things on our trip, like a groovy shark and laser lights in the water. I'm glad we did a little exploring.