Key West, Florida

Oh me, Oh my! It sure was good to be back in the good ole USA. Granted we had a good time in our other ports of call, but as Dorothy soon learned, "There's no place like home" and we reveled in it.

Once again another beautiful sunrise. Never tire of those. Another Carnival ship was pulling in after we had already docked. The Coast Guard boat was going out to escort them in, complete with a gun on the bow.

Peggy and I enjoyed The Old Man without the sea. The reddish building is the former Custom House, now the Museum of Art and History

Row 1 ~ Tim, the best tour guide ever, showed us these sights from the Old Town Trolley. He pulled the trolley bell and right on cue, this little man ran out of the Key Lime shop carrying a pie in his hands. I almost got it ~ wonder if he would have let me keep it...or maybe it was one of those fake ones the Asians use in all their restaurants to let one know what the fare looks like. The Key West Hard Rock Cafe is uniquely different. Legend has it that this old three-story Victorian style house is still haunted by the ghost of its original owner, Robert Curry, who meanders along the corridors. Row 2 ~ Trinity Presbyterian Church is an African American Church Founded in 1892 by the London Missionary Society; established as a Wesleyan Methodist mission church to the Bahamian immigrants.  In 1931, the Presbyterian Church took it over when the London Society felt it was too expensive to send missionaries from London and the Bahamas. The Strand Theatre is now an interesting Walgreens. A nice B and B displaying the American flag, Florida state flag, and the Conch Republic flag so named for the time when Key West wanted to secede from the US. Row 3~ The Southernmost on the Beach Hotel. Next, the Southernmost House followed by the Southernmost Southernmost House. Are you getting the picture here? Sounds a bit like one-upmanship.

The girls in front of the famous Hemingway House wall. Legend has it that Hemingway stole the brick from the city and built the wall with his buddies from Sloppy Joe's Bar. The city found out and fined him a penny a brick. The house was surrounded by the wall so it wasn't easy to get a photo. One of the 6-toed cats that have the run of the entire estate, inside and out. A wedding took place in the outside garden while we were there.

Key West is the End of US 1 and the furthest South one can travel and still be in the USA. Polar Bear Ice Cream enjoyed by Willie and Polly. One of the ubiquitous roosters on the island. Polly heard them cock-a-doodle-doing whilst on the ship this morning

Some of the many establishments. "Daydream", a 3-D Matisse behind the former Customs House.

Back on the ship. Jane is one of the lovely dancers who put on the Vegas-style shows that we enjoyed. One evening I was sitting next to her boyfriend who is from Johannesburg. She is from Oxford, England and they live together on the ship. Oh to be young and full of ambition with no inhibitions again. Richard and I played Bingo. We had to form the letter T. Neither of us won = (. The final photo is of the young lady who was our Head Waitress most of the nights. Her name is Lurlek, from Thailand.The majority of the staff were from Croatia, Thailand, India, Belarus, very young, and hard-working. It was a delight getting to know them.

Saturday we played Hand and Foot all day. Carolyn and I called it a night by 9PM. We decided to leave the door open so as to be lulled to sleep on our last night by the sound of the wake gently flowing behind the ship. We both woke at 11 as the boat was starting to rock. Looking outside we realized there were whitecaps on both sides of the wake that were wider than the wake itself. The spray was rather heavy so we closed the door. We awoke again at 2 and then 4. At 4, we turned off the alarm clock, and stayed up. Thus ended our last night onboard.

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

Sunrise as we pull into Freeport ~ The red ship in the third photo appears to be floating above the horizon as shown in the fourth photo as well

More of the sunrise ~ The ship's location on the televised map. The red circle is Freeport. It's amazing what I had to endure to get some sunrise photos. Carolyn and I were having breakfast al fresco on our balcony as we were wont to do. As I enjoyed my Frosted Flakes, I realized the beautiful sunrise begged to have its photo taken. I carefully placed the cereal bowl on my chair, maneuvered over the makeshift table, and took a few photos. After carefully stretching my long legs one by one back over the lounge chair (the table), the next thing I knew upon sitting down, Kerplop!, I was in my cereal bowl. What a rude awakening that was. Fortunately, the hair dryer came in handy drying off my pants. Can you imagine the sound if I had landed in a bowl of Rice Krispies? Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Our first stop (after a 45 minute squished bus ride to the actual tour bus that was in Lucaya)  was the Garden of the Groves (Wallace and Georgette Groves,  the founders of Freeport/Lucaya).

Common Moorhen ~ Green Heron ~ Great Blue Heron

The chapel built of native stone is a replica of Freeport's first church built by Wallace Groves. This one was built in 1973 in honor of the Groves. Destroyed by hurricanes in 2004, it has undergone a recent renovation. ~ Sherrea, our garden guide ~ The Labyrinth is a replica of the first Christian labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, France. The Labyrinth walk is representative of Life's journeys and experiences.

Purple flower is Thunbergia, followed by Plumeria, and Hibiscus

Back on the ship, we're ready to enjoy one of the Vegas-style shows ~ Our favorite towel figure, the Monkey. Each night we were excited to see what towel figure would greet us when we returned to our stateroom.

Nassau, Bahamas

Land Ahoy!

Enjoying the view of Atlantis from the veranda
(Don't you agree that Carolyn looks like a model in these photos?)

Relaxing while waiting for our tour guide...Peggy and I make friends with Senor Frog

Our first stop on the tour of the island

With 65 steps, the 102 foot staircase symbolizes Queen Victoria's reign of the island. The stairs were carved out of solid limestone by slaves in the late 18th century, between 1793 and 1794. It is reported that they were forced to cut through rocks with axes and other sharp hand tools. It was the steepest set of stairs I've been on in a long time.

Cool, pastel homes and their yachts across the waterway from the Atlantis. Royal Poinciana with Bougainvillea

Sights around the outside and the inside of the very pricey Hotel Atlantis

Joe, our wonderful guide, outside of the Restaurant where we sampled Conch meat and various Bahaman delicacies. Our cruise boat on the left and two Royal Carribean ships. Carolyn enjoying the cool, refreshing, water on Junkanoo Beach. Back onboard the ship, sunset from the Lido Deck.

Carnival Cruise .. Fun for All All for Fun

Sneed and I were invited to join our friends on a cruise. Unfortunately, he ran out of vacation but said I could go if I'd like. So I jumped at the chance. Later when I was telling Taylor and Rob about it, Rob said, "You're the last person I'd have thought would be going on a cruise." I looked at him quizzically as he explained, "You don't eat, you don't drink, and you can't go out in the sun." Well, all he said was true, but in spite of that, I had a fantastic time...when surrounded by good friends, how can one not?

First photos on board on Carolyn's and my aft veranda

Our twin beds and the very compact bathroom unit

Looking towards the aft and the Carnival signature whale tail

L>R Beth & Richard, Willie & Polly, Peggy & Derrell, Carolyn & Anne

The Girls and the Guys

Peggy and Derrell dancing to "Unchained Melody", their song

Carolyn, next to Peggy, playing the card game Hand & Foot that she learned yesterday

Christmas Art

What creativity!

Miracle on Morton Street

Olsin, a small Santa, in a big chair ~ Dylin and Aedin passed out flyers inviting the crowds to the performance of "A Christmas Carol" being performed at the Queen Theatre ~ Dylin and Olsin studiously writing letters to Santa

The Queen Theatre Victorian Singers sing the National Anthem and later engage the audience in a sing-along

The covered wagon we rode on to view historic Downtown Richmond. Dylin had a bird's eye view sitting next to the driver.

This is a very cunning adaption of "A Christmas Carol". Listen for the references to Scrooge not donating to the Queen Theatre = )

We did it!

Taylor and I decorated the tree tonight - Oops! No angel 'cept the one sitting in front of the tree