Not exactly as planned, but we are here..

Set the alarm for 5 a.m. so we could get ready, shower, eat a quick breakfast and leave the house by 6 for a 7:45 flight. Alarm-not sure what happened but Cheryl woke up at 6:13 and we went into full panic mode: Tom showered but forgot to grab his watch or his phone.  Cheryl skipped the shower, but remembered her phone. Made it to the airport in record time (only hit two red lights, had the parking shuttle all to ourselves, had TSA pre-check for security) and made the flight.  Spent the next two hours coming down from the adrenaline rush.  

Once we landed in LA, got our rental car, headed down to Orange County and spent the day making three different visits to family and friends.  Got to Laguna Beach about 8pm and we are kapooped.  But happy to be safely here.

Yachts of the Rich (and purposely not-so-Famous)

The Post Cruise Depression is nearly gone and the reality of home cooking, home cleaning, home laundry and the dreaded home bills-to-be-paid is nearly complete.  I wanted to come back here to the travel blog and add a little information on something we encountered in Nassau while visiting.

This is the motor yacht Swan, previously named Lyana, that was at dock with us in Nassau.  We were on the sea side of our pier, and there was another cruise ship across from us, so we did not see her until we ventured off the ship, down the pier and around the corner.  For comparison, this is 60 meters long while the Ruby Princess is 290 meters long.  Pretty impressive, huh?  The Swan has four decks, a very impressive interior, boasting modern French decor, a spiral staircase, a top deck jacuzzi, indoor and outdoor dining tables for 12, an onboard 24 foot motor launch to get you from the boat to the shore, plus onboard skidoos and underwater seabobs. 

See here ( http://www.superyachttimes.com/editorial/0/article/id/9008 ) 

This ship is available for charter at the (ahem) reasonable price of  £360,000 per week. That is $562,536 at today's exchange rate.  Yes, per WEEK.

So, reeling from all that dazzle and shiny, glossy blue (not a fingerprint visible anywhere and we watched a crew member board but only after removing his deck shoes before setting foot on the boat) we headed on down the pier, around the next corner and saw THIS:

This is the 133 meter Al Mirqab, over twice as long and high as the Swan. It is owned by the former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister of Qatar.  It is not available for charter but it cost around $250 million to build in 2008 back when the economy was so bad.  It has TWO onboard motor boats (see pictures in link, especially the side shots that show the 'garage doors' that swing up and hide the motorboats.  And check out that side deck in the above picture that swings down and provides loungers, an umbrella and stairs down to the water, not to mention the rear deck play area.  Oh, let's don't forget the helicopter, also carried indoors in a garage, the indoor swimming pool and the full time staff of 55.  The 12 guest rooms each have their own private bathroom, the interior spiral staircase wall is made of hand cut crystal and the chandelier was created by Dale Chihuly (see this summer's post from Seattle).

Here are a few more pictures in this link

http://www.superyachts.com/motor-yacht-2102/al-mirqab-photos.htm

All this sort of makes me want to haul out the canoe so I can cruise down the Rio Grande. ☺️

Finally! Pictures!!

Yes, this means we made it home and the laundry and chores are waiting until tomorrow. In the meantime a few pictures...

Tom in the balcony room on the Ruby Princess

First lunch in the dining room

Ship decorated for Christmas

Our transport in St.Maarten

 Tootling down the road

Tom at Orient Beach

The chocolate making workshop

Grinding away..

Chocolate Martinis

Our Beachside resort location

Tom at the Tropicante

Tom in the mini suite.

Tom watching the football game.

Ship version of big s Rene TV for football game.

That's Cuba

Last Sea Day

We have completed the worst day of every cruise - the last day at sea.  The day itself was lovely and lazy.  Beautiful blue skies, about 74 degrees.  We again cruised along the coast of Cuba, and heard today of the changes in diplomatic relations with Cuba.  The island looked the same as it did on the way down, and the skyline of Havana was still there in the same place as before.

Today was filled with a couple of movies, lunch on the balcony, breakfast and dinner in the dining room, a snazzy production show and a winning round of slot pull with the other members of the online Roll Call.  Thanks to a pull by Nancy, we all slightly more than doubled our money!  Then it was time to pack our bags and set the alarm for 5:45 am. We have an early flight out of Fort Lauderdale and will be back in Albuquerque by mid-afternoon, so good night and I will post the trip pictures soon.

Mahahual

Mahahual is a sleepy little beach town at the port of Costa Maya, Mexico.  Close to the border of Belize, it has wonderful reef diving, beautiful Caribbean blue waters, great seafood, margaritas and beer.  We spent the day on the beach here at Tropicante, both of us got beach massages along with our food and drink.  And now we are back onboard and wondering if we have to wind back up for the evening or if we want to just stay relaxed and keep it low key.  Tomorrow is a sea day, so we haven't yet decided.....

Chocolate and Drinks

We both had terrific adventures in Cozumel today: Cheryl made her own chocolate, actually ground the cinnamon and roasted cacao beans and added sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and put it in a mold.  She also learned all about how the cacao pods are grown, fermented, roasted and processed from ancient Mayan times to today.  Then the class tried wine and chocolate pairings; 7 small glasses with white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chili chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, prickly pear chocolate and coffee bean chocolate.  THEN the class had chicken taquitos with mole sauce.  Mmmmm!

Tom went snorkeling on a catamaran, saw many interesting fish in the light blue waters.  After this they went to a beach break with unlimited beer and margaritas.  We know he had fun because when they got back he found he had left his new polo shirt somewhere back on the beach!  Or it may just have been an excuse to purchase two more cheap ball caps and another Hawaiian shirt once back in port.

As always, pictures to follow later when we have better internet connection.

Off the Coast of Cuba

I can see it from my deck....long, mountainous island.  We are heading to Cozumel, Mexico for our first port stop on this cruise tomorrow and are near the northwest tip of Cuba.  Today was a sea day; we are cruising southwest from Florida and are currently in the Gulf of Mexico with very slight seas, moderate breeze, water temperature 80.6, air temperature 74.8. I hear it snowed at home last night.

This morning was a trivia game, a lesson on origami boxes, an attempt at playing the steel drums (more practice needed Wednesday), a fish-n-chips pub lunch and a get together with the online group from Cruise Critic.  Tom is up on deck getting ready to watch the Broncos game by satellite. I will join him after posting this.   Tonight's activity list is football at 4, dinner at 7:30, Majority Rules gameshow at 8:15, Marriage Match game show at 9:00 and the illusionist/magician at 10:15.  Then we get to set our clocks back an hour for an extra bit of sleep before we arrive in Cozumel at 7am.