Well campers,

It's been a little while, ok, a long while, since I posted anything for DA , but I've been real busy over the last 9-10 months, so...

Anyway, me and my daughter went and finally took our first, real, actual, as in no work, school, or anything else... Vacation ! ! !

We got tickets on the Carnival Miracle that went out on December 17th of 2006 for 8 days & 7 nights, to the Cayman Islands, Costa maya, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Belize City. This was something I should have done a long time ago, but better late than never. It was phenominal.

The service on board, if you have not been on a cruise, is top notch. The crew will happily get you anything you want, anytime, day or night. Oh, and room service is included onboard ship (tips are appreciated, though). As for the buffets, they are everything that has been romored. pretty much anything you want, from eggs cooked any of over thirty different ways, omelets made with anything you can ask for in them, from green peppers to shrimp, to pretty much anything else you can think of, along with a myriad of other selections, 24 hours a day, all 8 days. Everything from Pizza to steak to lo-cal salad, etc. And... lets not forget, the 24/7 Ice cream soft serve dispensers located throughout the Lido deck. Beware though, soda is $2.25 per can, and alcohol can run about $5 per beer, mixed drinks are more.

There are a ton of things to do on board, from art auctions, to fun activities on the Lido deck, to some really dumb ones, like the "Hairiest Old Guy" contest. That was not a joke. They actually had a contest about that, and, thankfully, I chose to miss that one. Bought the video of the cruise from the photo shop for $25, so if you wanna get really grossed out, i think it's on there...

There are also many, many other things to do onboard, from late night parties, pool contests, shows, casinos, the shopping concourse on decks 2 and 3, the gym on the forward sun deck, the pool, jacuzzi's, and the spa, oh, and the waterslide that comes down from the conning tower/main stack down three decks to the Lido deck pool area...

Actual meals onboard are something to be experienced, all by themselves. Dining is in the rear of the ship, on decks 2 and 3, and once again, order whatever you like, they'll be happy to get it for you (this comes with the ticket price of the ship also). There are two formal dinner nights while onboard, as well as live entertainment and interactive dancing and conga lines and other fun things that the crew do to entertain the guests while dinner is served, and afterwards. There is also, to top off the experience of dining on board, a world class buffet that the staff spends (so they say,and from the looks of it, must be so) over two days preparing, for a midnight buffet the likes of which is probably not seen by most people, with intricate ice carvings, and food prepared and made into such fantastic shapes and animals and many other things. You'll wonder how in the world they did it, then you'll wonder where they ever came up with the idea to do what they did...

But enough about the food onboard, I wound up gaining about 10-12 lbs, there are many, many other things that we did that are equally, if not more, fascinating...

Tuesday morning we pulled into Georgetown, in the Cayman Islands around 7:00am or so. First, we met the 'Mad Mad Pirates of the Carribean' and got shanghai'd in the Cayman Pirate Encounter , which was absolutely great, great fun! After boarding the pirate ship, yea, it's wood, and creaks a bit, complete with a Captain with an old rusty, real scimitar, which he waved around most of the time to get your attention. Anyway, we set sail (ok,sail n diesel) back toward the Carnival Miracle from the Georgetown dock just short of 8 bells, coming alongside her to deliver a few rousing cannon blasts to any would be slackers still thinking they'd sleep in late here in Tortuga , which is what Georgetown used to be called, back in the 16th and 17th centuries... ARRGH! , Not a chance! After scaring the crap outta a few people on board the Miracle , we headed off across the bay into the rising sun, and toward some more fun! The pirates put the kids to work, scrubbing the deck, with toothbrushes! , and afterward had them swear an oath to the ' Pirate Guild ' or something like that, then made them walk the plank! Of course, we all could just go the easy way, and jump from the upper deck, which was about 18-20 ft above water level, which I did. It was a really great thing to do for the morning, and I got a truckload of pictures and video, in addition to purchasing the professional HD video that the Carnival cameraman made... Back in Georgetown, we went shopping for a bit, got some lunch and some Carribean Rum Cake, and went to the Butterfly Farm [link] which my daughter wanted to do, and which I was glad that we did. It was something different, and very fascinating! The butterflies will come right up and land on you, and are not afraid of people in the least. Got some great pix and vids of this as well as a very informative tour by our guide while at the farm. After the farm ,we headed over to the beach at the Royal Palms, which was very relaxed and fun, and managed to build a sandcastle thing together, as well as spot 3 BIG iguanas, like about 6 or 7 ft long each. They run free down here, it's their natural environment. Got a few pix of those guys also. And that was our day in the Caymans.

Wednesday morning we pulled into Cozumel, Mexico (on the Yucatan peninsula) and took a hydro-foil to Playa del Carmen, to go swimming with the dolphins! (yes, real dolphins, like Flipper) the one that we swam with, there were four of us, was named Ronnie. He was born in captivity, from a female that was pregnant at the time of her rescue, but has since been released, the staff there says. The experience of swimming with a mammal from a species that is smarter than some of us (depending on the person) is a once in a lifetime event that anybody who ever does this will remember for the rest of their lives, and, therefor is worth every penny of the $159.00 per person that they charged for the rescue operation sanctioned by Greenpeace that runs this facility. The people that work there do this kind of thing because they believe it it, and it's their calling, not for the money (they mentioned that they get paid about $150/wk). They're primarily marine biologists that work here and rescue stranded and hurt dolphins. My daughter was awestruck, as was I, from the experience. Have literally over 300 photos of this alone as well as simultaneous video that I shot at the same time, then handed to the lady who was there with us to shoot pictures of us together. Also, I bought the photos that the staff shot. All of them are absolutely beautiful... After we got back we went into Cozumel and did a little tourist shoppping at the 'International Diamond Exchange', picked up a few coffee mugs, magnets and things.

Thursday morning we pulled into Belize City, in Belize (central america), for a full day of cave diving and driving like maniacs through the streets of central america (hey, Raul, the guide, told us to drive like that and not let anybody into our little convoy. He says I am 'Mui Loco' and I drive like a Mexican. I guess that's a good thing) to the cave out in the wilderness somewhere in the central american jungle, where we went 'Cave Diving' in some very, very cold water , like 45 degrees! Yea, yea, I know, but this is the tropics, central america! More phenominal photos and video from this one, and, afterward we were treated to a true mexican buffet on the beach, back in Belize City. That pretty much took up the whole day, and the pictures that I took in the caves and on the beach will say much more than I can here in this journal. Also, bear in mind that after our day trips, there's also much fun to be had back on board ship, with live shows, shopping, swimming pools, jacuzzi's, etc...

Friday morning we pulled into Costa Maya, in Mexico. For this port of call, we didn't really have a specific plan of what we wanted to do here, so we just kinda winged it! As it waas, we went snorkeling in the barrier reef (not doing so well with the bleaching and the pollution. See current environmental headlines), also went kayaking as well as getting another real genuine mexican lunch, and going swimming at the bar in the plaza. Yup. The plaza at Costa maya has a Bar (duh!), but to get to it, you gotta get wet, through the pool of about 3ft of water. Hey, it was great fun for the whole day, got some more pix and video and generally enjoyed the entire day, just hanging around and doing whatever we wanted... Oh, and more souveniers.

Saturday we were at sea, and just went kinda nuts on board ship, went to a few shows. My daughter went to the teen club, which plays serious mosh music. The place is called "Frankenstein's" and is decorated like a hi-tech mad scientist's lair, complete with two story creepy castle up against one wall. Yea, got pix of this too. This was also the evening when they have the final art auction and I bought a few pieces for the house that appealed to me, then managed to meander with some friends that we had made, down to the midnight buffet display that the staff and chefs had worked on for two days. The showing is at midnight, and the eating is at 12:45am, and is pretty much gone by 2:30am or so. The display runs about 120ft long and 3 tables wide (about 8-10ft), but, with 2800 passengers on board, it doesn't take too long to clean the buffet out. Oh, and if you miss this buffet, there's still the 24/7 buffet up on the Lido deck anyway!

Sunday... time to dis-embark (rats!), but a really, really wonderful vacation! And we will do this run again to the Western Carribean... But other things loom near...

I will post more pix of this, and of the things that we saw and some of the really great shots when I get a chance. There will also be more photos as we are going to cruise the Baja peninsula in July, and visit a few people while we're out that way, and drop in of a few different cities on the west coast...

If you're reading this, thank you. thank you for reading and getting to the end of this journal entry. I would appreciate any comments you might have.