Jeremy and I started our tradition of a cruise by ourselves every 5 years on our anniversary. And so this past month we took a cruise to Key West and Nassau, Bahamas. It was so much fun to just go and be with just Jeremy 24/7! (Every couple needs that time for just them!) I was super excited as the trip got closer but also very worried about how I would be without my little man! But, surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed my "mommy free" week. I missed him A LOT but I was so glad to just be with Jeremy. Apparently he was going to miss us too...
Since we booked a 5 day cruise, we were able to qualify for a free hotel stay which worked perfectly because we had to fly in the day before the cruise. So we left for Jacksonville, FL early Sunday morning. After a long day of flying (we decided that Southwest was not exactly the airline we would choose to fly again) we finally landed in Jacksonville. We checked into our hotel and were ready for dinner. Side note: When Jer was on his mission he loved to eat at Zaxby's and they are all over in Florida, and lucky for me (: there was one within walking distance from our hotel. (I don't necessarily think its that great). I have this issue with strange bugs and rodents that exist in the south so walking around at dusk I was skiddish. We saw lizards and the skin of something on the side of the road. I still think it was an armadillo but Jer thinks it was a cotton mouth (aka: extremely deadly snake). I'll stick with the armadillo idea thank you! Luckily no roaches came out while we were on our walk... So we ate and headed back to the hotel and just relaxed after a long day of traveling and noticed on the news they were tracking a tropical storm, potential to become a hurricane, that was going to go right on our path of the cruise. I was a little nervous just because I didn't want to come all this way to not be able to go to where we planned and what cruise is fun in the rain? You go on a tropical vacation to bask in the sun! So I really just wanted good weather. Jer called the cruise line but they weren't worried about it so we slept a little easier that night.
We got to the port right around 12:00 and got on the ship well before 1:00. We were surprised at how short the process was. One thing that we learned was pack a swim suit in your carry on so if your luggage takes until 6 or later to get to your room, you will still be able to swim or lay out... so we just wandered and explored the ship.
So, we found our cabin and we walked in and this is what I found...
My sweet hubby had it decorated and it was a surprise to me...and to him! They weren't supposed to decorate it until the day of our anniversary. But it was actually nice that they messed up because then we could have it decorated the whole week and it was a surprise to Jeremy too. But it was a very sweet surprise!
We loved our cabin! The first cruise we went on we had an interior room so we opted for an ocean view room this time and that is the way to go! The window was a lot bigger than we thought it would be and it was nice to be able to see out when we were in there.
Our dinner table was pretty fun. All of the couples were around our age. It was a little funny though as we were introducing ourselves one couple said they had just gotten married that saturday and then two more of the couples said they did too! So there were 3 newlyweds, one couple that weren't married yet and then Jer and me... celebrating our 5 year anniversary! We felt like the old married couple! But all of the photographers kept calling us newlyweds so I guess that makes up for it. (:
Our first stop was Key West Florida. We went snorkeling when we took our trip to Hawaii a couple years ago and we loved it so we decided to do that in Key West.
The reef we snorkeled around is the 3rd largest reef in the world so there was quite a lot of life on it... including lots of jelly fish. Once I heard that and then saw them from the ship I was a little nervous (yes, I'm a sissy). Jer's brother, Jed, let us borrow his waterproof camera (thanks Fred!) so we were able to take pics of what we saw and some video of a little turtle that we found.
These fish were so friendly. They weren't skiddish at all. And they were loud. We could hear them nibbling on the coral and rocks.
And just before this picture was taken Jer was stung on his arm by a jellyfish!
There was a storm headed our way, as you can see in the pics and luckily it waited until we were back on land and didn't last very long.
After snorkeling we wandered around Key West finding our traditional treasures and such. We came across a replica of a shark they caught off of Key West's shores. I'm really glad that I saw that AFTER we were in the water...
We woke up early to watch the sunrise the next day and it was so beautiful! A great way to start our 5th anniversary!
We had a lot of fun in Nassau but we are definitely going to have to return. We did enjoy ourselves but we didn't feel like we got the experience the Bahamas as we had imagined we would. We went the the Atlantis resort, and the Dolphin Encounter. The resort was fun, huge and exciting.
This is a view of the resort. It is 171 acres... it could easily take a good week to fully enjoy it!
We went down one water slide that took you through their shark tank so that was pretty cool. They also have an aquarium there that we briefly walked through at the end of the day. They have an 11' manta ray! It was huge!
The dolphins were very fun to be around and touch and, yes, even kiss! We learned a lot about them and thoroughly enjoyed being in the water. The dolphin we swam with was named Palmer. She was only 3 years old and super active and cute.
The day was nearly over by this point so we wandered over to the beach for just a few minutes but not very long then headed back to the dock. By this time all the shops had pretty much closed and this place is not really a place I wanted to be in at night... we hit the end of the street where the straw market was and it was pretty much over so all the stands were covered with tarps. That made me a little nervous. I felt like I was going to go in this sea of tarps and disappear!
Jer likes to collect street signs or license plates from the places we visit (not real ones of course but the touristy ones, like in Hawaii he got one that said "I got Lei'd") So, this lady was really adamant about us buying something and was trying to sell us little trinkets (I don't do trinkets). So Jer said he really wanted to find a license plate or street sign. So, the lady reaches, without looking, behind the tarp and pulls out a license plate! Not a fake one, this one is the real thing!!! Is that even legal? I dunno if it is but Jer bought it anyway! We just thought it was funny that she actually had one. So we headed back to the ship exhausted from the non-stop day!
The ship was a welcome sight after the long, adventurous day!
I love watching the sunset on the ocean. You just feel like you are on the edge of the world!
Hopefully I really don't have to wait another 5 years for a cruise! We had too much fun! But it was the perfect way to celebrate my life with my sweet husband!
