I forgot to post this guy on my last blog. Right when we showed up to the plantation he was just chillin outside singing, and he never stopped! We just thought he was so good! And he was so happy, always smiling. Crazy Jamaicans

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Wow, Jamaica. What a different world. The people there are so happy. Maybe part of that is because 1 American dollar is 86 Jamaican dollars, so if you let them braid your hair for $40 they make $3440. Wow. Maybe that's only the people that know what attractions the cruisers visit because the rest of the city seemed very poor. They have a way of making money off Americans in a very sneaky way. As soon and Jonathan and I stepped off our tour bus they said, "Welcome to Jamaica! Here are some complimentary necklaces, beautiful, free for the ladies.." and then turned to Jonathan and said "We would greatly appreciate a contribution." As if we could take off the necklace and say "Oh no thanks, never mind." Also, when we went to Dunn's River Falls, which, let me just take a minute to explain that place.
Before we went on this cruise I was looking online at the shore excursions, and about 9 out of 10 in Jamaica included Dunn's River Falls, but in the fine print at the bottom of the page it said that pregnant women couldn't climb the falls. So, while we were on the ship we went to customer service and asked which excursions pregnant women could do and she said, "pretty much you can go shopping." Awesome. Then she went on to explain that I could go to Dunn's and climb the steps on the side and take pictures of Jonathan climbing the falls. Good enough for me. Once we get to the falls I had to separate from Jonathan because we learned you couldn't just jump in the falls, climb up them and be done; it was a whole production where they group you together and you hold hands with the person in front and behind you and they video tape your group all the way up and blah blah blah. By the way, you could purchase "your group" DVD at the end for the low price of $40. Haha. So there I am, wandering around alone, hauling our big ol' beach bag packed full of snacks, lol, and I have a great idea that I'll walk down the stairs and follow him every step of the way. Well, they should also mention that climbing the stairs is as physically exhausting as climbing the falls!! Geez, I was tired!! Anyway~ It's a beautiful place, I'm glad we went, and it ended up being Jonathan's favorite thing we did! :)
Back to the money.. At the falls there were tons of people that chose not to climb, standing on the stairs, like me. Then some random guy would come up and ask you if you wanted him to take a picture of the 2 (or whatever) of you and when you handed him YOUR OWN CAMERA he would take the picture and ask for a contribution. Really?? It's a snapshot on YOUR OWN CAMERA. I don't imagine those Jamaicans are very poor.
Lets get to the Pictures.
Here is our tour guide on the plantation doing the sugarcane demonstration

Jonathan chewing on the sugarcane

Dunn's River Falls

This was as close as I got (do you see us wearing our $5 complimentary necklaces??)

But at least Jonathan is having a great time!!


I don't know if I would ever like to go back to Jamaica, but it was BEAutiful, and a great experience!

Grand Cayman

Im back with more lovely pics of us!! I'm sure some of these pictures will look like doubles from 2 years ago, except with Jonathan's pretty face in each one! :)

Standing by our tour sign, someone offered to take a pic of us together. Since that doesn't happen often when it's just 2 of you, we gladly obliged :)

A sweet close up shot of a baby turtle, looking happy as a clam, haha.

Us with the 6 month old turtles

I think I remember that when it was a bus full of mormons we opted not to go to the Tortuga Rum Factory, but with just the 2 of us we had no other choice. So this is about all we got out of it.. A cute picture in front of the sign :)

Jonathan chillin with the devil

Yes, that's a huge stingray at my feet! AHHH

Unfortunately (for you guys), Jonathan and I took an under water camera to Stingray City, and took LOTS of great pictures holding them and kissing them and all that jazz, but I am too lazy to scan them onto the computer right now. So, next time we see you we will show you in person.

Day 2, Fun day at sea!

Jonathan and I layed out for about 4 hours and got just burnt enough to not wanna go in the sun or the hottub for the next 2 days, yay! :)

Out in the sun

After the sun

Getting ready for the formal dinner

Jonathan on deck after dinner

And there's me

See ya tomorrow on Grand Cayman!

Day 1, Saturday

We boarded the boat about 11am, got some lunch and went exploring.



There's really not too much to do on the 1st day. We watched us push off, which I don't think I've ever done before. We met our dinner crew of course, and here's a picture of all of us, even though it wasn't taken on the 1st night.

The couple on the left we both med students from New York, and the couple on the right we from Florida, she was on spring break.

Cruise, Cruise, Cruise

As all of my 5 readers know, we just got back from a wonderful vacation!! We cruised out of Miami to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We had a great time! I'm going to do this blog by day, with mostly pictures and captions. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :)
The first day we took an early flight to Miami, where we were greeted by one of Jonathan's long time friends, Stephanie. We hung out at her house with her and her kids for a couple hours and then when her husband Jeff came home and the babysitter arrived, we drive a little ways into the city of Miami for dinner. It's a beautiful city! Jeff said it's one of the cleanist cities in the nation, both because of upkeep and because the sea winds keep smog from collecting. We drove all around and saw all the sites! It was our own private tour.

The city

The boardwalk in the movie "There's Something About Mary"

Dinner with Stephanie and Jeff

So, with the city on the left side of this next picture, you drive down this long stretch of highway to get to South Beach. It is a different world down there. We were there on a Friday night and it was like being on the Las Vegas strip! People were everywhere!

Off the highway there were these little bridges that would take you to the islands on the left. This particular island is "Star Island" and has no public access. Supposedly we saw Hulk Hogan's house ;)

As I mentioned, at the end of the highway is South Beach, and this is what the beach looked like during the day!! Spring Break for sure!

What a place! After the tour we went back to our hotel room to rest up before the cruise. See ya tomorrow!