Cruise 2010-Virgin Islands-Day 6

Grand Turk, 7 miles long, 1.5 miles wide island with 3,700 people. I would go stir crazy. But it was another beautiful island with lots of beaches and sand and sun.

Because we got to Grand Turk at 1pm, we had the whole morning to lay out and do nothing.


The ship had a huge movie screen that we were able to watch many movies on. Every night we had "Movies Under the Stars" with blankets and pop corn. So much fun.


Rod's enjoying the sun on one of the decks of the ship.


Alex is watching the movie from the hot tub.

Another cheeseburger lunch for Alex.

At the pier on Grand Turk ready to go snuba diving.

It started raining when we got there, but it only lasted an hour or so. Then the sun was out again.

Alex is snuba diving. Snuba is different from Scuba because you don't carry the tank on your back, you have a 20 foot long hose attached to the regulator and the tank is on a blow up raft on top of the water. We found an old anchor.

me snuba diving. "7 days in paradise".

Alex is all thumbs up.

Family portrait.

Rod and Alex.

Rod at the bottom. Such clear water.

We had two groups snuba diving so we had to wait until the first group was done. While we waited we went snorkeling. Notice the beautiful color of the ocean behind Alex.

We love snuba.

Our family. Such happiness.

Alex at the beach.

After snuba, we came back to the Margarita beach. Rod and Alex went snorkeling (we found out later that just at the back of the ship, there were tiger sharks swimming all over. We also found out that there is a net that separates the beach from the ship.)

Margarita beach with thousands of beach chairs to lay on.

Grand Turk shopping area and beaches.

Sun deck, floor 16 of the ship.

One of the pool areas of the ship.

Tomorrow: Day at Sea

Cruise 2010-Virgin Islands-Day 5

St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands. What a beautiful island, indeed. Very different from the dry St. Maarten. This one is very tropical.

Plan is to go ride scooters.....No, no. Not on land, under water. Maybe I will have better luck riding scooters under water.


Our happy family ready to get on the water.

Alright, so the pictures are in the wrong order. Oh well.

After scootering under water we took a taxi to downtown and shopping.


First stop was lunch. Here Alex is trying to decide what he wants for lunch.


Beautiful alley from the main street.

Rod and Alex exploring the side alley stores. If I wanted to buy diamonds, St. Thomas is the place to do it in. We bought our traditional Christmas tree ornament and a painting of St. Thomas. No diamonds.

Us shopping on the main street.

Just look how beautiful the water is. Turquoise never looked so great.

Then onto under water scootering.

Rod and Alex waiting to go scootering.

Doesn't this look so much fun? Unfortunately for Rod and Alex, they got barfy. I had a great time. Such a different scooter experience under water than on land.

Alex looking at all the different fish.

This is where Rod gets barfy. He couldn't wait to get out of the water.

Family portrait.

Back on land and ready to board the ship again.

Alex on our room balcony enjoying room service and his ever-flowing cheeseburgers.

Another formal night. Isn't Alex so handsome. He definitely had the moves of 007.

Rod and I in formals.

Rod knew how to use his ship's credit card.

Mother and son. So tan.

Tomorrow: Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos

Cruise 2010-Virgin Islands-Day 4

Welcome to St. Maarten! One side of the island is Dutch and the other one is French. Good to know which language to use, right? So, we took off in the morning in search of a scooter rental place. Our neighbor ladies in Orem had told us that we HAVE to rent scooters and ride them around the island. So, we did. We found the nearby place....


At the St. Maarten pier, ready to explore the island.

Continuing with the scooter story. Did I forget to mention that I have NEVER been on a scooter ALONE? I thought, how bad could it be anyway? I can ride a bike. No sweat. WRONG!!! Why was this the optimal place to start learning how to ride a scooter? I don't know.

So, we rented two scooters. Rod and Alex were on one and I was on the other. When I sat down on the scooter ready to go, I didn't realize that when you turn the handle and give it some gas, the scooter goes by itself! WHAT!!??? The scooter went and I was left behind running after it and screaming to Rod some chosen words. Precious moment, for sure. Welcome to paradise.

But now, we need to pause to explore this picture and to find out all the things that are wrong with it:


-Helmet. Do you know what a 90-degree heat and 90 % humidity do to your hair? I was a matted mess after the ride.
-Droopy boobs. Yes, wearing a swimsuit with no support. Ready to go snorkeling if I survive this ride from hell. Realization: I need a boob job.
-Sweat under my boobs. I shook like a leaf the whole time I sat on that scooter and sweat was pouring out from every inch of my body, unfortunately gathering under my boobs. My back was just a huge sweat puddle.
-SMHP (St. Maarten Highway Patrol). I look like one, don't I with the aviator glasses.
-Smile. So fake. I was scared to death. You should have seen the huge row of cars and trucks that were following me in the rush hour traffic. Me-going 40 mph (my top speed), them-honking and swearing at this particular tourist.
-Purse. Who brings a purse to ride a scooter? Me, that's who.


Rod is just the most patient man I know. He encouraged me to ride faster because all the cars and trucks were inpatient behind him. Alex was so sweet to pat my head and cheek to find out if I was ok. Love my men.

I survived but didn't get to see the island because I was so nervous. What I saw was a bunch of trucks, sucked on a lot of exhaust and swore I would never do this again. Next time we will rent a car and go to the beach.

Then it was time to go snorkeling.


Alex and Rod. So handsome half-naked men.

The catamaran that took us to the Shipwreck Cove (misleading name. No wrecks and no fish)

Alex having fun on the Cat.

Our trusty French-speaking captain. Our ship is in the background.

Alex is ready to go snorkeling.

Alex in the beautiful turquoise waters of St. Maarten.

Alex and Rod popping out of the water.

The butt-crack in the rock was the place where we snorkeled.

Tomorrow: St. Thomas

Cruise 2010-Virgin Islands-Day 3

A day at sea can be a boring one but not in our case. The following was accomplished during the day:

-Slept in

-Didn't go to the gym

-Had a Zija business meeting

-Did the laundry

-Beauty appointment at the hair salon

-Formal dinner

We had a Zija business meeting for a couple of hours in the morning. It was a fun meeting where we got to know each other. Here's Rod and his partner Ken talking to the distributors.

At formal dinner, Alex dressed up in a tuxedo. So HANDSOME!!

Rod and I in formal wear

Rod and I

Tomorrow: St. Maarten