Block Leave Trip 2013

Well block leave is officially over and I've finally gotten around to uploading pictures and recapping our trip. The stars perfectly aligned when my brother's wedding date and the start of RC's block leave happened to fall within 2 days of each other. We were able to fly back in time to be there for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. It was a beautiful weekend. These two are surrounded by a lot of love! I'm so glad to have Brittany as part of the family and I love how happy she makes my brother. Aren't they a beautiful couple? :) 

Since we were coming back to the States for my brother's wedding we decided to extended our stay. When you're going to battle with jet lag you might as well stay a couple weeks. We decided to go on a 7 day cruise with Royal Caribbean. It was sort of like a second honeymoon for us. :) Our ship was the Freedom of the Seas and our ports were Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. 

Labadee, Haiti

Labadee is a private island off the coast of Haiti that Royal Caribbean owns. Do you get to truly experience Haiti? Definitely not, but it is tailored to absolutely be the most relaxing day. Beach chairs in the shade of palm trees, floating mats for the crystal clear waters, food catered on-site, and drinks galore. 

That night on the ship was also formal night. We didn't originally plan on going to the formal night (lack of room in suitcases for formal wear), but we managed to scrounge up some clothes that look appropriate enough and off we went. :) Handsome hubby + Amazing food = Great night.  

Falmouth, Jamaica
Our excursion in Jamaica was a private beach party about 40 minutes from port. Usually when you first get off the ship there's about a mile or two of just stores & shopping. Most ports do not have direct access to the beach. Hence our reason for purchasing a private beach party instead of taking a cab to try and find a local beach. We had a great time at the private beach. We got off the bus early enough to have the perfect set up- two chairs & an umbrella just a couple feet from the water. No one in front of us, just crystal clear water. We lounged. We read. We ate. We drank. We goofed off & did some handstands. All in all another great day.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

This was our last port where we got off the ship. We decided to be a little more adventurous and chose Royal Caribbean's Cheeseburger Reef Kayak & Snorkel excursion. It was a blast! We were the perfect kayaking team and won the spontaneous race that broke out with the other kayakers. The snorkeling part was made even better by the power snorkels that we were given. The self-propelled snorkels pulled us along and made it much easier to cover more ground. Around Cheeseburger Reef there were tons of fish. Since they were so used to people feeding them over the years the fish were never scared away. Not far from Cheeseburger Reef was the Wreck of the Cali. The legend goes that the Cali was taken closer to shore because it was starting to collect water. Apparently it was full of rice and as the ship collected water the rice expanded and the eventually exploded & sunk the ship. Who knows if the story is true, but the wreckage is located in fairly shadow waters so it was pretty easy to see.