What can top a year full of adventures like ATVs, Cannabis tours, hugging alpacas, fetching eggs, taking a sea plane jaunt, and getting a tatoo?
Hitting the high seas on a cruise with Emily.
We made it our mission to relax, and relax we did. We both decided to go completely off the grid, so with no technology all week, we filled up our time with lounging in the shade, reading (I read three whole books!) and playing games.
BTdubs...if you haven't played Unstable Unicorns yet, go skedaddle to Amazon and order yourself a set. Way fun. Highly competitive. Perfect for us.
We played on the boat in between schnooze-fests.
Emily did a bit of i-flying.
We did a uber-cool virtual reality experience.
We went on the bumper cars.
And we joined an adult dodgeball tournament.
Yup. I did.
I was the oldest one of the 50-some people who were playing. This crowd was cut-throat and out for blood. You could just feel the tension and see people looking their competitors up and down as if they were finding their weaknesses. So natually, everyone was terrified of me and knew I would be the one to take down.
Ha.
Nope.
My selected role was to hide in the back, fetch the balls and roll they back to the others on my team. Ok. I was proud of my strategy and got ready to go.
Didn't end up like I thought. Sure, I ran for the back line as soon as the whistle blew while everyone else barreled to the center line to grab balls. I nervously bounced on my heels, waiting for balls to start coming my way. I was positive I would get bonked immediately.
But yo, I lasted. All the way to the end. I was one of only a few on my team left (Emily was one too -- shoutout Em!).
Before your mind is completely blown by this, I have to confess. As the game went on, I got braver and came closer to the center line AND I actually started throwing the ball trying to tag anyone I could. Oh yeah...so freaking badass! But it took me a hot minute to realize that nobody on the other team was trying to tag me out. Not even close. They smiled patronizingly when I threw a ball their way, and then got a running start to throw their ball -- at the person next to me.
So my strategy of "Flying-under-the-radar-like-the-winners-often-do-on-Survivor" actually worked! Huzzah!
Got through the first round. High tailed it out of the arena before the second one. I can take one round of huminiation but not two.
People actually came up to me later and told me that I had spirit during the game.
K. Great. Thanks. I guess.
That was badass for me because of the social implications of public spotlight. But there were other badass adventures that were even more cool that we did.
BAHAMAS
One was swimming with the pigs.
I had always heard that there is an island in the Bahamas where there are wild pigs and you can go to watch them. So when there was an excursion going there, well hot dang and hallelujah, we were going to go!
This was one of those thrilling adventures that ended up being even better than I imagined.
I thought we would see a few pigs walking around and wading in the water.
What it ended up being is an actual swim party with the pigs. We got in the water, swam around deep with them, and then hugged them close to us as we swam back to shore.
We were able to hold the piglets and snuggle up close with the mama pigs. All was well unless you touched their tail, in which case they would let out an ear piercing screech.
But they sure did love to have their bellys scratched.
Much fun. Highly recommend.
JAMAICA
Jamaica gave us another adventure of the "Tubing and Waterfall Hike" experience. The Tubing part was about what I expected...cold water, sitting in a tube, trying not to fall off, going down "rapids" and making an undignified dismount when the tour was done. Nice experience, but wouldn't feel the need to do it again.
But then we got to the waterfall hike part of the experience and that turned in a new, badass direction. We were brought to the bottom of this long, cascading high water flow beautiful waterfall, and over the next few hours, we wove back and forth, in and out of water, up and around boulders as we made our way up to the top.
We slid down slides.
There was one spot that Em and I stood backwards above a waterfall pool and Nestea-Plunged together into the green pool.
So pretty and definitely a "would recommend" adventure.
HAITI
My favorite port was Haiti. Granted, the cruise stays in its own section of the island which was constructed to be basically a Disneyworld version of a carribean island.
But Labadee was gorgeous -- big towering green mountiains flowing directly into the turquoise sea. There was every kind of beach chair, hammock, swing, and counches -- and we tried them all. I spent an hour or so just swinging in a hammock, staring at a palm tree. Paradise!
We did a snorkeling trip. Fun to just float around in the water, though truth be told, I see more sea life in Florida than I did here. Who cares, though!
Back on board, we continued with sampling everything the cruise offered. We made friends with the Art Auctioneer, we tried many, many mocktails, did a 100 minute hot stone massage, did an escape game, and played some pub trivia.
We even got a drink at the robot bar.
We found the dining room to be a disappointment. Well, I am the one that didn't like it. Royal Carribean does an amazing job being aware of food allergies and sensitivities, but our waiter took it to an extreme and made things super uncomfy for me. For example, he would bring a bread basket to the table and put it in between Emily and me. Then he would come back to take our order and reprimand me for having the bread basket in front of me. "No bread for you! Do not have that", he would say while grabbing it way and thrusting it at Emily.
One time, I ordered something and he said, "Well, that's not one of our best dishes. I really prefer the ___ instead. But you can't have that. Don't order it. It has BREAD".
Emily wasn't immune to his opinions either. She ordered calamari once, and he remarked, "Well ok. I'll bring it for you but it's not very good. Its chewy but if that's what you want....". What a salesman!!!!
We realized that they served the same food in the buffet, without all the weirdness and we could be nice and casual and play our board games while we gnoshed our way through all 8 courses. Bliss!
Royal Carribean did a great job trying to keep the ship healthy and germ-free. There were hygiene signs everywhere, hand sanitizer stations every few steps, and a hand washing station you had to use before going to the buffet ("Washie washie" they would tell you when you entered. Weird.) However, with people tightly packed in the elevators, theaters, and bars, there was no getting away from it. So I am sad to report that I now join the ranks of those who have had a little visitor called COVID.
But at least, it caught up with me right at the tail end of the cruise so it didn't get much in the way of the experience. And luckily, Em did not get it. And she was a wonderful nurse helping me get better after we got back home. Em, if your computer science / governmental analysis / techie degree does not pay out, ya might want to consider nursing school.
Love you so much sweet Emily -- thanks for taking this trip with your old mom!
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