The end of October thru December 8th brought us to East and West Caribbean. Our ports of call were Half Moon Cay (HAL private island), Falmouth (Jamaica), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Georgetown (Cayman Islands), Key West (Florida), Grand Turk & Caicos, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Saint Thomas (US Virgin Islands), Saint-Martin/ Sint Maarten (French/Dutch owned), and our home port of Ft. Lauderdale (Florida). Erin and I bought a snorkel so we had lots of fun exploring the ocean's hidden treasures. I love discovering fish I've never seen before, and I even found a sunken canon! I hope to someday become scuba certified so I can continue my exploration of the sea, just like Ariel :)
As most of you know, it's long been on my bucket list to swim with dolphins. AND I GOT TO DO IT!!!!! I did some research to make sure we went to a reputable location, somewhere I felt treated the animals well and that our money would go to providing good care for them. I was on the ship when the infamous Black Fish movie came out and I've watched it about a dozen times since. I agree these animals should not be kept in captivity, but I'm very grateful I was able to swim with the dolphins. They had several areas for swimming and the park had sharks, birds, and other native animals. I felt the location was really large and nice, I never got the feeling that the animals were mistreated. After doing the Trainer For A Day program with the Chicago Aquarium, I've learned the difference of trainers that work with the animals to learn from them; studying them to help recover from the disastrous effects humans have had on their environment, verses trainers that brutally force the animals to perform tricks to draw in crowds. Eventually, I want to go into a career where I can put a stop to these vicious acts.
Erin came with me and we had a lot of fun playing with our young dolphin, Zeus.
At first, I really didn't like Key West. It seemed incredibly trashy to me, much like Las Vegas. It seemed geared towards Americans who wanted a cheap vacation to get smashed and get tattoos, just not my scene at all. However, once I explored further into the city (ALWAYS GET AWAY FROM THE TOURIST TRAPS), I found gorgeous art and really cool knick knack shops! I even went to the original Sloppy Joe's shop where I ate.....not a Sloppy Joe haha I ate one of the most amazing cheese quesadillas of my life!!!!
Half Moon Cay was probably my favorite beach. The sand was so soft and the water was stunning! Even when it was raining, you could stay in the water and it was perfect bliss!!!! I enjoyed playing football on the beach, various dance jams and gymnastic photo shoots, as well as just relaxing; listening to the waves or music and reading.
