Christmas in Miami and New Year's at sea

Declan is 6'3", he turns 15 in March.

Good Lord!

Soon there was an announcement that we would be arriving late once again because of the conditions the night before.

What the what? Is the Earth spinning too fast?

Actually I was wondering about that.
I sometimes hear "Ladies and gentlemen, we are delayed due to ATC. We'll be leaving shortly. blah blah blah"

Yeah. It's pretty much never an ATC issue.
The airline misfiled a flight plan. The co-pilot was stuck in traffic. Whatever.

So... conditions?
I wonder if those conditions were the other ships got there first and you have to wait your turn but they just don't want to say it.

They also said it may impact some shore excursions and you would be contacted if something changed.

Uh oh.

It wasn't long before a notice was brought to our cabin that our excursion was cancelled.

Crap!

And I realized we weren't alone


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Not to worry. Those are probably empty.

:rolleyes2


Beer is not booze?


See our Ladies of the Evening!!


Beautiful.
That has to be the nicest sawhorse I've ever seen!


That doesn't even look real! I've never seen a beach that rectangular.
Looks man made but (I presume?) it's not?

There were quite a few people there that day

I wonder why?


:rolleyes1

Then there was a gentleman who swam out past the buoys and decided to float around. Apparently that is not allowed as a lifeguard screamed for him to come inside the buoys for about five minutes. When that didn’t work he threatened to kick him off the beach if he didn’t come in all the way to the beach so they could have a chat. He finally did come to the beach and the lifeguard let him have it.

I wonder if he just didn't think it was directed at him.
Or maybe a language problem?
Or maybe he's just really stupid.

take your pick
 
My first question was going to be how tall is Declan. I saw that has been covered already. He's about my height now... but I think I was maybe 5'11" or so when I was his age. And he looks a lot taller in those pictures!

Anyway, looks like a fun trip. I like that you were able to work in the Heat game on the way out. I guess if you're in town on Christmas Day, you might as well find something fun you can do.
 
Good Lord!



What the what? Is the Earth spinning too fast?

Actually I was wondering about that.
I sometimes hear "Ladies and gentlemen, we are delayed due to ATC. We'll be leaving shortly. blah blah blah"

Yeah. It's pretty much never an ATC issue.
The airline misfiled a flight plan. The co-pilot was stuck in traffic. Whatever.

So... conditions?
I wonder if those conditions were the other ships got there first and you have to wait your turn but they just don't want to say it.

We were 90 minutes late so I don't think it was the other ships, they had most likely been there around 8 am as they left at 4. We did notices much more side to side movement on this cruise, maybe that causes slower speeds. We've had some heavy seas in the past but the motion has always been bow to stern.

That doesn't even look real! I've never seen a beach that rectangular.
Looks man made but (I presume?) it's not?

The beach was all natural as were most of the beach goers.



I wonder if he just didn't think it was directed at him.
Or maybe a language problem?
Or maybe he's just really stupid.

take your pick


We thought it may have been all three of those.
 
My first question was going to be how tall is Declan. I saw that has been covered already. He's about my height now... but I think I was maybe 5'11" or so when I was his age. And he looks a lot taller in those pictures!

Anyway, looks like a fun trip. I like that you were able to work in the Heat game on the way out. I guess if you're in town on Christmas Day, you might as well find something fun you can do.


We thought is was nice of them to arrange a game on Christmas day so we could take it in.
 
Declan is 6'3", he turns 15 in March.

Are colleges scouting him? Wonder what the food bill is.

Soon there was an announcement that we would be arriving late once again because of the conditions the night before. We never really noticed anything but apparently it was bad enough to slow us down.

Doesn't surprise me. Conditions were garbage between Christmas and New Years. Twenty knot winds with higher gusts. Most of the dive boats didn't go out all week and seas here were nuts. And that was on the coast, let alone out in the Caribbean.

Looks like a good day in St. Thomas.
 
Are colleges scouting him? Wonder what the food bill is.



Doesn't surprise me. Conditions were garbage between Christmas and New Years. Twenty knot winds with higher gusts. Most of the dive boats didn't go out all week and seas here were nuts. And that was on the coast, let alone out in the Caribbean.

Looks like a good day in St. Thomas.


No college scouts yet.

Seas seemed to be good during the day, apparently it was only a problem at night.
 

Dis Dad clubhouse?

And I realized we weren't alone

D'oh.

Eventually we started to climb up the mountain. You get some great views on the trip up and before starting back down they pull into an area that looks over Megan’s Bay.

Some stunning views from up there. I've always wanted to see the Virgin Islands. They look gorgeous.

Then there was a gentleman who swam out past the buoys and decided to float around. Apparently that is not allowed as a lifeguard screamed for him to come inside the buoys for about five minutes. When that didn’t work he threatened to kick him off the beach if he didn’t come in all the way to the beach so they could have a chat. He finally did come to the beach and the lifeguard let him have it.

Next time, listen to the lifeguard, Darcy.

We were leaving until later in the evening so we got to watch the other two ships move out past us. It doesn’t seem like there is much room but I guess they know what they are doing.

Amazing how they can maneuver those huge ships.
 


Pictures or it didn't.... oh, shoot. DISboards would probably frown on that.

I'm sure Declan didn't mind too much.

:crazy2: If people on the beaches look anything like people I deal with on a daily basis, the more clothing the better.
 
Looks like a great trip! And very cool that it was at Christmas time. I've often thought about going down south for the holidays. As much as I would like to do a cruise, I just can't convince DW to go (she's a "I don't want to be stuck on a boat getting seasick and miserable" type person). From what I've been told, the cruise ships really are very stable and more like a hotel. I'll have to keep working on it. Oh well, maybe one day...
 
Looks like a great trip! And very cool that it was at Christmas time. I've often thought about going down south for the holidays. As much as I would like to do a cruise, I just can't convince DW to go (she's a "I don't want to be stuck on a boat getting seasick and miserable" type person). From what I've been told, the cruise ships really are very stable and more like a hotel. I'll have to keep working on it. Oh well, maybe one day...


We had a great time. This is the second time we have gone south for Christmas. The first time was 2010 when we flew to WDW on Christmas Day and stayed the 28th. WE then drove to Fort Lauderdale and took our first cruise. Being in Miami for Christmas was very different than being home.

You can feel some movement on the ships and we have a couple of friends who seem to notice it more than others. You do see a lot of people wearing the sea sickness patch so that must help.
 
Stop number 3 – San Juan.



This is the stop I was looking forward to the most. I love exploring history and Old San Juan was certainly full of that.


We were arriving on time today but we weren’t in a huge rush because we planned to tour on our own. I spent some time on the balcony as we were heading into port and there was no other ships there at this time. It was a pretty quiet sail in.


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Except for the small airport that was across from our berth.


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It was fairly busy early in the morning. Just as we pulled alongside the dock, a plane flew directly over us and banked for a quick landing.


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Followed shortly by this ship and plane.


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Breakfast was once again on the Lido deck and shortly after we were cleared so we headed to Deck 0 to check out San Juan. We had decided that we wanted to walk to the forts and tour those on our own so off we went. Just before finding the hill up to the entrance of San Cristobel, we came across a square decorated for Christmas. In the center of the square was a statue of Christopher Columbus and in each corner they had these scenes:


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Just past the square you find the edge of the fort and the street up to the entrance. I believe if you stay along the bottom you will find the visitors center and you can access the fort there as well. Either way you will need to climb.


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Looking back down you can see the Whale Tail in the picture so you can see you are not that far from where the ships dock at all.


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Both forts are very cool and very big. The main square of both forts have many static displays explaining the history as well as how things worked in the forts. For instance, San Cristobal kept all its water stored under the fort itself and there were large well heads in the fort. For this reason they didn’t allow livestock in the fort in order to protect their water supply. This is what that well heads looked like.


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Also, like most forts there are dungeons. The one we were able to access was down a very long tunnel and had drawings on the wall. Supposedly they were done by a captain that was kept there while awaiting execution.


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There are also a few more modern touches at this for; things like observation posts and a command center added by the USA in WW2.


You can see the outside of the observation post in this photo.


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This is the entrance to the command center. It leads down to a tunnel and what is now the visitor center and gift shop.


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There are many spectacular views from many spots in these forts.


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Back later with more.
 
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Well, for some.



One stop in the Caribbean I want to hit is Puerto Rico. Great pics.


I would go back, would loved to have had more time to look around but someone was getting tired of walking.
 
Some more shots from San Cristobal


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After spending a couple of hours checking out San Cristobal we decided to head for Castillo San Felipe del Morro. It’s not a far walk but it is still slightly up hill. You stay along the wall and there are houses and small shops between the street and the water.


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The Carmelo Anthony Basketball court.


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The Cemetery Maria Magdalena de Pazzis, just outside the fort.


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Del Morro looks small and it is the smaller of the two but looks are deceiving. This is what you see as you approach the gate.


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This is actually the top of the fort and there are 6 levels in total.


There was a long line waiting to get in but we were able to by-pass the line by showing the receipt from the other fort.


This fort had a similar setup with the main square holding most of the historical information and the gift shop.


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This was also where you found the main way down to the next level.


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We probably spent about an hour or so looking around and like the other fort, they have done a fantastic job restoring it.


This was the kitchen area and the ovens.


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This gives you an idea as to the size, this was one of the mid levels.


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Declan in a sentry box


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The view looking back towards town.


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As we were about to leave, we were milling about in the square and there was a huge, and I mean huge, bang that came from the entrance area. Everyone stopped and I think look to see what had just blown up. After a few seconds a man pushing a 3-wheel stroller emerged from the tunnel holding the blown tire over his head showing everyone that we weren’t under attack. It was kind of funny after seeing him but I’m certain everyone's first thought was OMG!


We decided to head back towards the port and walked through Old San Juan. I hope to get back here sometime to check this area out so more. There seemed to be some museums, some nice little restaurants, and of course shopping. We did check out Marshalls and paid a visit to Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store.


Here is some of the artwork we came saw on our walk back.


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All the time I have right now, more coming soon.
 
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