Our Cruise

Finally, I have a minute to sit down and tell you about our trip! We went on a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. It is a beautiful ship and is their 2nd largest. We spent the 2nd day on CocoCay, which is a private island in the Bahamas. We got to snorkel around some great reefs and ate a wonderful lunch cooked for us on the island. The water there is so clear and calm. (I don't have those pictures back yet since we used the disposable camera on that island.)

We spent the next day at sea and then arrived in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands for our 4th day. We had been told that we had to visit Magen's Bay which is always on the top 10 list for best beaches. When we first pulled up, it looked a little unimpressive because the locals haven't allowed tourism to take over. So it's not fancy. But the water and sand are beautiful. And it's surrounded by huge hills on 3 sides, which makes for incredibly still and perfectly clear water.

My favorite part of the ocean was being able to float on my back, which was a sight to see since my belly stuck out of the water! The next day we stopped at St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles which is half owned by the Dutch and half by the French. We docked on the dutch side which was really beautiful. The stores were all brightly colored and had so much character. We took a taxi to Dawn Beach on the dutch side first to go snorkeling. It was so pretty!

After that, we knew we had to check out Orient Bay on the french side which is a highly-talked about beach for two obvious reasons. 1.) It's beautiful. 2.) It has a completely nude area.

So we arrive and immediately see topless women sprinkled amongst the swimsuit wearing vacationers. We decide that it's just a topless beach, no big deal. Until we walk a little further and stumble unknowingly onto a confident young fella who is sprawled out on a beach chair facing towards the "clothed" section of the beach. Even Gil was shocked...

We notice that we have crossed over a shallow row of rocks and there is a sign that announces the beginning of the nude beach. Ummm... the completely naked man kinda ruined the surprise, thank you very much. Wish we could have taken pics of the nudes but it was not allowed and where in the world do you get those pictures developed??? There was, in particular, one very well-endowed older man who was propped up on the wall close to this sign and I sincerely wish that you all could get a glimpse of what he was packing. It was as amazing as it was disgusting.

And sorry to disappoint, but we both kept our suits on! By the way, in case you ever find yourself on a nude beach, notice the interesting way people sit on there beach chairs or on the sand. It's quite unusual.

Speaking of unusual, we at one point needed to use the restroom once we went back into the dutch side to the capital which is Phillipsburg. If we'd still been at the beach, I would have taken care of business in the water as usual. Judge me all you want, it's a lot easier than getting out! Point of the story is that Aaron and I quickly noticed that both men and women were coming out of the same restroom. We realized that 2 of the stalls were marked women and 1 was men.

The last 2 days were at sea and we had a great time. We played mini golf, watched several great musicals the cruise put on, saw an incredible ice-skating performance, ate a TON of food, swam in the pool, saw a magician and a comedian, etc. The entertainment on board was the best and it was included!

At dinner, we were assigned seats at a table for 6 with two other young couples. We all got along really well and I enjoyed getting to know them all. Two were from Arizona and had just gotten married and the other 2 from Florida were engaged. The food was amazing and we'd order 2-3 appetizers a piece, at least 1 entree, and usually several desserts. We had wonderful soups, fruit, lobster, steak, shrimp, etc. which is what I blame for my 5 pounds gained!

This is Aaron on the flow-rider which is a simulated wave machine for surfing. Of course, I had to sit this out! But it looked like a ton of fun. I was hoping he'd have a major wipe out but he eventually just veered over to the side and got stuck, so he stood up and walked off. Boring!!!

Here's me at one of the 3 pools on board enjoying an ice cream. WHY did I gain weight? Hmmm...

Just enjoying some pool time. Don't mind the squinty face I'm making, it was bright and I had misplaced my sunglasses. Also, ignore the flat-tummied girl next to me. I feel like she planted herself right next to me, even posing just the same, to make herself look better! How rude!