Saturday after the marathon I set pretty good expectations with my parents about my potential mental and physical state.\u00a0 So, when I was able to only deal with about 20 mins of hanging out in the afternoon, going to dinner and eating an embarrassing portion, and then one game of cards after, they were pleasantly surprised instead of upset about it.<\/p>\n
The next day, embarkation day was kind of rough.\u00a0 Let me tell you the tale of pain of having to stand for 30 minutes for a boat drill the day after a marathon.\u00a0 It’s probably about as painful as the last 10k of the race, but you don’t get a medal at the end.\u00a0 Though, there is beer.\u00a0 So, sort of the same?\u00a0 By the afternoon, I felt like this…<\/p>\n
…cranky, tired, and not really wanting to play reindeer games with anyone but having to accommodate my parents by actually going to fancy dinner and with a little bit of QT when all I wanted to do was to be horizontal somewhere.<\/p>\n However, after a lengthy sleep and the next day of mainly laying on deck and reading my book, I felt better.<\/p>\n Actually taking the time to get to the gym Wednesday to spin out my legs and stretch and roll made me feel like a whole new person.\u00a0 I didn’t plan on doing any structured workouts, but next time, I would try to do that sooner if just to improve my mood and stiffness.<\/p>\n Food highlights: We clean up OK:<\/strong><\/p>\n One reason I love cruises is that we actually get a chance to wear clothes that are not a) spandex b) pajamas or c) tees and jeans.\u00a0 I have to record these moments.<\/p>\n Night 1:<\/p>\n Night 2 (formal night):<\/p>\n Night 4:<\/p>\n Night 6 (formal night 2):<\/p>\n Adult Bevvie Action:<\/strong><\/p>\n I had some post race beers on Saturday, but it was more of a “caaaaaalories” thing and relaxing a little than a “get drunk” thing.<\/p>\n My parents have been on a million cruises, and one of their perks was free drinks from 4:30-8 every day.\u00a0 They let us in on it some of the time.\u00a0 Considering the prices, it was very nice (drinks were generally 7 bucks or more). So, we saw this a lot…<\/p>\n One of my favorite drinks on cruise ships is Crown on the rocks.\u00a0 Generally, its reasonably priced, and bartenders are usually pretty impressed with a girl ordering it, so I get hefty pours.<\/p>\n I always try to get a local beer if I can (even if it’s the equivalent of Budweiser, because most countries make MUCH BETTER mass market beer).\u00a0 In Jamaica, you get a Red Stripe.\u00a0 In Grand Cayman, you get a White Tip Lager.\u00a0 In Cozumel, when you are at an all-inclusive… you get whatever they’re pouring you (I think Dos Equis).<\/p>\n I enjoyed my bevvies responsibly until the second to last day (with the all-inclusive package).\u00a0 I started the fun by forgetting to eat lunch.\u00a0 Priorities were 1. snorkeling 2. booze… and then everything else fell off.\u00a0 Then, we had more beers with our new friends Mary and Chris, and then somehow I ended up in my red formal dress at fancy dinner… and then the night gets a little hazy.\u00a0 I crashed out early and didn’t injure anything this time so life is good.<\/p>\n Birthday Shenanigans:<\/strong><\/p>\n I spent most of my birthday in a bathing suit, reading, napping, and swimming.\u00a0 No complaints.\u00a0 Happy Quix is happy.\u00a0 However, the night before was… interesting.<\/p>\n We headed up to the lounge\/dance area and spent an interesting and exciting night people watching.\u00a0 We got a seat in the back, which made it a little hard to see the people on the dance floor, but easy to see out the window to the pool.<\/p>\n At the pool, a drunk, greyhaired lady with one of those swimsuit coverup with an airbrushed bikini on it, was trying to get into the water.\u00a0 It was closed, and security was there escorting her out.\u00a0 She was NOT having it, and threw her sandal in the water.\u00a0 They fished it out and she threw the other one in.\u00a0 As they fished that one out, they had to lift the net up, and she went for a dive to get in… and she fell.\u00a0 She was ok, but she was a little subdued after that and decided to leave.<\/p>\n Shortly after that, a party of drunk girls showed up to the table next to us.\u00a0 The tables had some ambient lighting on them, and the one next to us was broken.\u00a0 It didn’t have a lampshade or bulb in it, which is actually why we didn’t sit there, even though it was a better seat.\u00a0 One of the girls decided to stick her finger in the socket, and… as you would guess, it had electricity going to it.\u00a0 She was yelling and shaking until someone pulled her away… and it sounded like her finger got cracked pretty good.\u00a0 It smelled all to burned flesh and they had to bring the lights up to take care of her for a few minutes, but I was pretty amazed how “the show went on” rather quickly.\u00a0 The people up front probably didn’t know what happened.<\/p>\n I toasted my birthday at midnight being that perfect age where I don’t go sticking my fingers in light sockets OR harassing security guards at pools while drinking.\u00a0 The sweet spot.<\/p>\n Falmouth, Jamaica:<\/strong><\/p>\n Apparently, the thing to do in Jamaica is to see the falls.\u00a0 However, with Zliten just recovering from his bear fight and subsequent broken leg, and the travel time necessary, we decided to find the closest beach the cruise would take us to and just do that.\u00a0 This beach was Red Stripe beach.<\/p>\n When we got there around noon, it was truly just that – a little beach with a snack stand and waiters, a lifeguard, and massage services.\u00a0 The water was rough, it was cloudy and a little stormy, the swimming area roped off was very small, and there was ZIP to see in the water.\u00a0 We gave open water swimming a go and ended up spending 30 seconds to get 500m down and spent another 15 minutes getting back to where we started.\u00a0 I gave up and walked some of it.<\/p>\n However, you’re in Jamaica, on a beach.\u00a0 You enjoy being in\/around the ocean, drink a red stripe, eat jerked chicken, and realize that your life is not so bad at all.<\/p>\n Grand Cayman:<\/strong><\/p>\n We had an early, early 6am wakeup call so we could eat breakfast and be ready for an 8am dive excursion.\u00a0 We chose Grand Cayman instead of Cozumel for diving this time because it offered a one tank shore dive, which we’ve never done in the ocean before.\u00a0 It was really cheap, considering, and after researching, we figured we could get a second tank and go off on our own after.<\/p>\n Getting equalized sometime is a huge noob moment for me because it can take me a while, and diving from shore means plenty of time to get adjusted and chillin’ while everyone else gets acclimated.<\/p>\n And…. happy birthday to meeeee (well, a few days late, but), I finally got to see a turtle.\u00a0 He played with us for a while.\u00a0 I think we all would have continued to chase him down and play paparazzi, but the divemaster kept us on course.<\/p>\n We also got to see a trumpet fishie and play with some angel fish but… turtle!<\/p>\n Zliten didn’t want to risk injuring his leg again (dive gear is like 60-70 extra lbs, and it was a decent walk from loading it up to shore), and our day was already made, so we called it.\u00a0 We bought shirts, and headed to tourist trap central (Margaritaville) to get a drink and a snack.<\/p>\n It was a blast, but definitely a one-time thing.\u00a0 Grand Cayman had dollar amounts on the menu, which looked like pricey but typical… until they mentioned the fact that they also had to be translated to GC dollars.\u00a0 As I mentioned before, two local beers, 1 margarita, and chips and salsa cost 50 bucks.<\/p>\n However, they had a waterslide, and it was early enough not to be clogged up with drunk people, so I made liberal use of it before we left.<\/p>\n Cozumel:<\/strong><\/p>\n While I had no idea how I could top seeing a turtle in GC, I think the best day of vacation was here in Cozumel.<\/p>\n We went to an all-inclusive resort called Playa Mia.\u00a0 All you can eat, drink, lounge, snorkel (well, with your own gear or rent it), play on the inflatable water slides… we were most looking forward to this day.<\/p>\n Of all these things, for us, snorkeling is priority number one, so we got there, got geared and sunscreened up, and headed into the water for the vaaaaast majority of the day.<\/p>\n First, we found this pot that were protected by the blue fishies.\u00a0 The seargent majors wanted to party but the other ones kept nipping them away. We saw a purple spot, which meant breeding area, Zliten said, so it made sense.<\/p>\n We found these awesome red starfish all over.\u00a0 After a while, someone yelled at us for picking them up, but I promise we were careful.\u00a0 We made sure to hold them delicately, and swim them back down instead of dropping them.<\/p>\n The biggest spotted eagle ray we’ve ever seen visited us in less than 20 feet of water!\u00a0 He probably had a bigger wingspan than I do, and was 10 feet tip to tail.\u00a0 I’m really glad I do sprints in the pool because otherwise I would have never been able to catch this guy, and calm down enough to get pictures that actually were focused.\u00a0 We followed him around like that for about 5 minutes, and then had to take a rest.\u00a0 They swim fast!<\/p>\n I found the most chill yellow spotted stingray in very shallow water.\u00a0 Zliten and our buddy Chris were still gearing up and getting in.\u00a0 I kept tabs on him for about 10 mins waiting for them.\u00a0 He was either very mellow, or was scared of me and didn’t want to move too much.<\/p>\n Also in very shallow water, I found a brown spotted eel.\u00a0 Usually these guys hide well, and you can only see them poke out of nooks and crannies, but he was just hanging out for everyone to see.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure the people hanging out and having drinks in the ocean around here probably would have freaked out about seeing an eel right below them, but I was excited!<\/p>\n Sergent majors are my favorite, and I think they know it too, because this school led me around when I went back in by myself after Zliten and Chris had enough.\u00a0 They got right up next to my camera.\u00a0 It was super fun!<\/p>\n The rest of the day was for priority 2: drinks.\u00a0 Since we only had about 1 hour left, and ship drinks were expensive, I put back quite a few dos equis!\u00a0 We had a great time drying out and chatting with Chris and Mary, and all of a sudden, it was last call for the bus, I forgot to eat, and we had to leave paradise.\u00a0 Sad.<\/p>\n![\"cruise01\"](\"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/cruise01.jpg\")
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