Miss me?

So... I'm finally catching up a bit after my lovely 11 nite cruise of the Southern Caribbean! Sorry for the extended delay, but you know how it goes... take 2 weeks off and return to 4 weeks worth of work! OH... but it was so worth it! I'll give you a little taste of the caribbean blue water, white sand, and blazing sunshine that we encountered in our travels over the next week or so... We're just now getting an opportunity to go thru the 500 or so photo's we took on our trip and I'll put some of the better ones up on here...

Here was our first stop... Lovely St. Maarten!



I can't speak for the town, but we took a wonderful catamaran ride during which we spotted a Mother hump back whale and her calf! Awesome... and once in a lifetime... the 2 floated on the surface of the clear blue for 10 minutes while we circled around and got a really good closeup look... we then beached at Tintamare Island - a nature preserve - for some snorkling - sun bathing - and swimming... it's a lovely unspoiled island with high mineral content sand that is used in spa treatments... OH.. and did I mention "clothing optional"... yup... only one question remains after this lovely outing... Why is it that the people that should never appear naked in public are the only ones that actually do? YIKES!!

Later....

Take me back....

To St. Kitts

Vacation state of mind....

So it's getting really hard to concentrate here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... getting SO close to vacay now I can taste that salty sea air.. or maybe I just went a little nuts with the saline solution when I put the contact lenses in this morning! Either way, the countdown has begun...

I've been doing alot of research here.. on cruises.. cruising.. and the various islands we'll be visiting.. only problem is.. during my vacation investigations I've come across several 'deals' that well... ya' just can't pass up... namely..

BERMUDA!!! I was able to find a cruise that leaves Boston.. yes... that's right BOSTON... The Norwegian Majesty... it does a roundtrip Boston - 7 nights - with 4 days docked in lovely St. George Bermuda... an inside cabin for 2... 1400 bucks! People.. that's $200 a night!! You can't get a freakin hotel room in Bermuda for that... never mind that you not only have an ocean view (if you go up on deck).. your IN THE FREAKIN' OCEAN!!! The view doesn't get any better than that... OH... and did I mention... they FEED you too! And very very well I might add... so... nope.. no extra cost for food... ok.. so your bar bill will be extra (but there's ways around that!) but $200 a night for a room and food for 2 people!! OH... and did I further mention... NO AIRFARE!!! That's right... drive on in to Boston.. park for $12/day and hop on board... Don't ya' just love a bargain!! I know I do.... that's why I booked us for the October sailing!!

Man.. I'm starting to sound like a travel agent here... but hey... when I find a bargain I like to pass it along... and for 7 nights in Bermuda at $100 per night per person WITH room and board... it doesn't get any better than that! At least now too when we take that long sad flight back from Puerto Rico at the end of this vacation - it may not be so sad... it'll be one vacation down and another one coming up to look forward to... I may just have to do this all the time... make sure I've always got a vacation in the hopper... hey.. everyone needs something to look forward to now don't they... :)

Later

Nature drive

It was a regular nature drive on the way home tonite on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... spotted first was a huge hawk - soaring and swooping over rt 10 in Easthampton.. followed by a coyote - skating on the ice on the beaver pond on Rt 9 (in view of the Quabbin tower)... then lastly a herd of at least 20 deer in the farmers field on 9 in Ware... and of course... I haven't been traveling with the camera for the past couple of days... lighten your load and lose out I guess.... typical...

Later....

Might as well...

More freakin' snow!! I might as well rename this blog "9 2 Bay with 9 2 10 INCHES" Oh.. but I still do have my eye on the prize! My cruise... woohoo! I did find a really cool bulletin board... dedicated to the 'web savvy people' that will be on our exact boat at the exact same time... it really is amazing what you can find out here in internet land if you look long and hard enough.. It's been really nice getting to know some of my fellow sailors before we board ship! Even better there are enough of us on there to get a free party out of Royal Caribbean... if you get 25 people to sign up they give you a little "Meet & Mingle" party... pretty cool... so now it's just a waiting game people...

yup... just a waiting game.... *sigh... ayup....

Later...