From Paradise to Snow....Reality Stinks Sometimes!

Just two of the many amazing, beautiful, and WARM ports and beaches we had the pleasure of spending time at last week on our vacation. (Don't look too closely as I'm pretty sure this beach shot if from Happy Bay in St. Martin and there were total nude sunbathers at the far end of the beach!! By the end of the day, the beach was covered with them--good thing we took a shot of the beach before it got crowded!) Anyway, for my birthday week, Paul and I spent 10 glorious days in the Caribbean, 7 of them sailing on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas.

But before you get too jealous, here is how the first 3 days began in San Juan:

Yes, he really is bracing against the wind and rain!

This is us completely drenched sightseeing in Old San Juan at El Morro, a Spanish fort built in the 1500's to protect the harbor.

This was our only stop at the beach in San Juan (we had hoped to spend all of Friday there, but alas, Mother Nature had other ideas!). We only stopped by long enough to see it and wish we were laying in the warm sun instead of standing soaking wet in the pouring rain. Notice the rain drops on the lense?

We decided to make the most of it anyway and enjoyed our tour of old San Juan before heading out for our night kayaking excursion to the bio luminescent bay. It was amazing and so fun!

Saturday was still rainy, so we decided to skip any more sightseeing, sleep in a little, and head over to the port early. We got on the ship with no problem a little after 1, even though all our info gave our boarding time at 5:30 p.m. and everyone told us the port wouldn't even be open until 2! Our ship was amazing! We loved it! We've never sailed on Royal Caribbean before, and we were really pleased with it and are sure to sail with them again. Our cabin was tiny, as usual, but the beds were so comfortable! That's really the only thing that matters as you are never in your room except to sleep and change! Here are a few highlights of the super fun things we did during the week:

Exploring The Baths in Virgin Gorda (the huge boulder formations in the first 2 pictures below) before enjoying some amazing snorkeling at Devil's Bay. Yes, it did rain on Sunday off and on, but that was the last we saw of it!


Hiking the hidden trail to Happy Bay from Friar's Bay in St. Martin. Happy Bay was supposedly a quiet, beautiful, little known beach with good snorkeling and swimming. I guess it was little known to everyone but the nudists and a few brave souls like us! Happy birthday to me! Not quite the "present" I was hoping for! We made the best of it, swimming and snorkeling far from everyone else, and laying on the beach in a spot that had some greenery blocking most of them!


Golfing in Antigua!! Super hot, but really fun! You'll have to imagine the photo as I realize it is still in the camera that Paul has in Florida at the moment!

Zip lining in St. Lucia!! Can you believe we did it? Two people that are afraid of heights? It was soooo much fun, and yes, Kim, there is screaming video footage!!

Driving our little speed boat all over the shoreline of Grenada before making 2 different stops to snorkel and swim at beautiful beaches there.

And last, but not least, our wonderful dining room waiters for the week and my hilarious and memorable birthday dinner which included our waiter giving away my birthday cake and singing to the lady at the table next to us! Funny story which I will share with anyone who asks. I figure this post is long enough as it is!

So, as you can see, it was a wonderful week in paradise which always makes the return back to reality so difficult, especially when it is cold and snowy! But it is always worth it!!! Already looking forward to next year! Who wants to join us? It will be the year of the 40th birthday and our 20th anniversary, so it better be a good one! Everyone should start saving now so we can all go and party together!