we went on a cruise!

... and it was amazing, to say the very least. Here's a bit of evidence:

We spent the night in downtown Miami, where we went to Bayside Marketplace. My goal was to find a photobooth (because Bono says... ;) And we did! I don't have a scanner, so I can't show the pics to you... well I guess I could take a picture of them, but I'm feeling lazy. Oh well. We came across this tree and thought it looked like an Ent (Lord of the Rings).

Tuesday in Nassau was a chilly, windy day. Good thing we didn't plan to go to the beach that day. We did, however roam the town in the morning and in the afternoon we took a ferry to Paradise Island, where we explored Atlantis, a massive hotel/casino/beach/seaquarium. We spotted some huge manna rays, posh yachts (like the Casino Royal pictured below). We even saw a group of local school children dressed in uniform who were on a field trip at the Atlantis.

We spent our Wednesday at Half Moon Cay, and absolutely beautiful island. We jet skied (my first time to do it) and relaxed on the beach. They (Carnival) even had a barbecue lunch prepared for us right there on the island. It was fun eating the fresh pineapple and seeing roosters roam around. If we would have had our kids with us, we might not have come back home :)

Thursday we were in Grand Turk. A very interesting island that was devastated by Hurricane Ike. A cab driver told us that the entire island was covered in 3 ft of water and that all the roofs were destroyed. Every building we saw had a new roof. The town is virtually untouched by commercialism... a lady riding in the Taxi Van with us asked "Where is the downtown? Don't you have a WalMart or something??" I didn't say this, but I was thinking... you came on a Caribbean Cruise so you could go to WalMart?? Anyway, there are wild horses, donkeys, and pigs roaming the island. They get the run of the land, apparently. We spotted this little boat in a place called Cockburn Town: their "downtown shopping" experience. The downtown included 5 tiny little shops and a snack bar. It was our taste of native culture for the week.

Our last night at sea... here's to a great vacation! 

The day we disembarked we got to go to Miami Beach and explore the Art Deco District on South Beach. It was incredible. I loved the architecture of all the buildings. We saw the home of Versace and a hotel called Casablanca where some inside scenes of the movie were shot. Such a cool place.