We have some great neighbors

I had arranged to have by brother and one of my nephews come down and shovel my driveway and sidewalk while we were on vacation. It had snowed about 7 inches here in Rosemount last Sunday and when my brother came to shovel the driveway it had already been cleaned off!

I wasn't expecting that!! Whoever did it, I would really like to thank them!

I'll have to do some investigating on this...

Waiting at Miami International Airport

The end of vacation always ends waiting at the airport.

We got up late yesterday. Yesterday afternoon Z and I lounged by the pool. We did a little packing and then we went and played some Bingo. Z and I won at Bingo and won $130. Cliff won the $5000 Bingo jackpot. Above, the photo shows Cliff with his winnings!!!

Z has a bad cold. Z tried to make it through dinner but her cold was hitting her hard. She was just miserable.

We took advantage of Independent Debarkation by choosing to carry our own bags off. We zipped on through Customs. The Customs agent commented that he really liked our new passports with the computer chip. All he had to do was zip it through the reader and we were on our way! Slick!

Cozumel Mexico

Today we went to Cozumel, Mexico. Zoaunne was a "shopping monster". She was buying t-shirts and all sorts of trinkets. Zena and I only bought some shot glasses and a couple of baskets.

George Town, Grand Cayman

Nestled in the calm, turquoise waters of the western Caribbean, lies the peaceful British Overseas Territory known as the Cayman Islands. Consisting of three islands just 480 miles south of Miami, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman remain our little piece of paradise. Blessed with sun-kissed beaches and waters teaming with fish flecked with gold, the Cayman Islands offers some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world.

There are four things that you can do in Grand Cayman.

Some people might say that seeing the Turtle Farm is one of them, but I disagree. The turtle farm isn't that special.

OK, here are the four things:

1. You can visit Seven Mile Beach ... which is really only 5 miles long.
2. You can pet the sting rays at Sting Ray City. I hear that the number of people petting the sting rays have really dropped since the Crocodile Hunter got killed by a sting ray. Zoey and Cliff went to pet stingrays.
3. You can go to Hell. Z and I went on a tour and the Town of Hell was on the stops. Z and I took some photos of the hellish landscape then bought some post cards to mail from the post office there in Hell. The bottom photo is of Zena in front of the hellish landscape.
4. The last thing you can do in the Cayman Island is open an offshore bank account.

Grand Cayman now has more than 259 licensed banks, only a handful are full-service retail banks providing customer banking services as visitors know it.

Z and I hung out with John and Anne (from New York). We did the tour of the island including Hell, and the Turtle Farm.

Ochos Rios Jamica

Today our ship landed in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We first shopped at Island Village. We bought hand made bracelets and t-shirts. Cliff got a 20-minute back massage for $20. He said that it really helped his back.

Those women with me are are some "Hot Jamaican Mamas" who would pose for photos for tips.

We then went to what is now called the Taj Mahal. It's a small shopping area were there are a lot of Jewelry stores and local knickknack stores. I recognized it as being the place where Z and I bought Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee the last time we were in Jamaica. We found a store and bought three pounds. Zena negotiated them down from $75 for three pounds down to $55. I had also bought a Cuban Cigar to smoke (our tradition) the last night of the cruise.

We then wandered about and were price shopping for watches. We wondered into Diamonds International. We sat down at the counter and had them show me some watches. I had picked out a Citizen Chronograph watch with two alarms. It listed at the store for $490. We negotiated them down to $210.

All the while we were in the watch store, Cliff and Zoey were trying to radio us because they had a taxi waiting for us. Zoey had found us and said that Cliff had a taxi held to see the falls. Cliff and Zoey wanted to see the Dunns River Falls. I hadn't finished paying for my purchase and the sales manager started to show Z some rings.

We hopped into the cab and they took us to the "Back Entrance" of the Falls. Cliff and Zoey wanted to take some photos, so they proceeded up a hill and deposited $2 into a rusty can and proceeded through the fence to take photos. Z and I decided to stay back at the cab. Local vendors came up to our cab and pressed their faces into the window peering in at us -- then they opened the door and started to climb in to show us their wares. They offered Zena some necklaces. She bought one.

We went back to our ship to relax.

First couple days at sea

Today we visited Labadee, a small island off Haiti. To our surprise, it was quite beautiful and not full of people harassing you to buy something. The beach areas were very pretty. It took very little time to walk from one side of the island to the other. Tonight we were the last people out of the dining room as we were having so much fun with our waiter. Now, "shelling the prawn" has a whole new meaning. Ask us later...

More later...

Today was a day at sea.

Today was a day at sea. We met some people from New York and Scotland. They are our evening dining companions. We are having a great time getting to know them.

We used the hot tub, watched movies, explored the shops on board, Zoaunne was a judge in a Belly Flop contest that Cliff competed in. He took 2nd Place -- should have been first as the belly flop was the best, yet his early performance lacked a little splash.

Zoaunne won on the cover-all bingo. The prize for that game was an upgrade to a suite with an outdoor balcony on the top floor. It turned out to be a tie, so they did a tie breaker. The tie breaker included calling another ball and whoever had it on their winning card was the ultimate winner. That person won the upgrade -- not Zoaunne -- and all Zoey got was a consolation prize -- a 50¢ key tag!!! Shameful! She should have gotten something much better that THAT!