Kirkpatricks Gone Cruisin '09

Finally, cruise pictures! Garin and I got to go on a cruise a few weeks ago. After we started thinking about Garin's busy training schedule for the next half a year or so, we figure this might be the only opportunity we got to take a vacation. So, after keeping an eye on the cruise prices we found a VERY good deal and jumped on it. So on Monday April 20th, we got up at 4AM hopped in the car and headed down to Tampa.

Garin was excited to find that the ship had a slide that met his high slide standards. He was like a kid all over again :) The kids all thought he was the coolest because he made a really big splash!

Our first day was spent at sea. I spent most of the day going to "talks" to get some freebies and laying out by the slide. Garin spend most of the day sliding, hanging out by the pool, and going to the gym. Then our second day we dropped anchor in the bay next to Grand Cayman island. We decided to not go with an excursion offered by the cruise but rather one I found online for a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkel a reef. So after an hour of going back and forth with the boat shop I found online we FINALLY got in a van and drove off to a marina to board a large boat to head out to the Stingray Bay. Those black blobs are the stingrays...we had a water camera where we got some closer pictures of us holding and touching the rays! Oh man, it was so cool. If you ever make it out to the Caymans, I totally recommend that you go on this trip. Garin and I had a blast. Our stay at Grand Cayman was pretty short so as soon as we got back from seeing the stingrays, we pretty much had to board the boat. So I'm not real sure what the rest of the island had to offer :(

After a night at sea the next morning we woke up ported at Cozumel, Mexico. Yes, we were in Mexico...and thankfully were not struck with the Swine Flu. We found out that the week after our cruise, the cruise didn't dock at Cozumel...I would have been sooo mad!!! But anyway, our plan for the day WAS for Garin to go scuba diving while I just chilled out, however, Garin realized that he left his dive cards at home :( So we had to go with plan B.


A guy on the street in front of a resort near the dock offered to give us a Jeep for our use all day if we went in and listened to their sales pitch. It was hot as all get out and we need some AC so we figured "what the heck?". Garin artfully dodged the pressure sales tactics and by lunch time we had our Jeep and were on our way. Since the Mexican food here in Milton, FL is crap, we decided to try to find some GOOD authentic Mexican food. We stopped at a little restaurant outside of the city that looked "okay." Boy were we right, it sure was good...and cheap!! And thankfully we didn't get sick from it either...what a bonus!!! Gotta love the places that don't even have English on the menu!
We really enjoyed Cozumel. We went Cancun before on our honeymoon and I thought it would be much the same since they were so close together. However, they really were nothing alike...especially when you get out of the tourist area and see the open land. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL. Garin and I brought our own snorkel gear so we drove to a spot where a local told us there was good snorkeling...it really wasn't that great, but it was fun nonetheless. The island isn't that big so we were able to drive around most of it and we have already found the hotel we want to stay in on our next visit ;)

The Jeep

The "beach" on the backside of the island...there were some really cool rock formations along with some beautiful sandy areas as well.

The beach where we stopped to snorkel.

After our fun on Cozumel we headed back to the boat for some good food and then enjoyed our next day at sea as we made our way back to Tampa. Below are some more fun pictures :)

Preparing for evacuation.

Formal night. And this is actually on the back of the ship with the sun setting...not one of those cheesy backdrops they have all over the boat.

Towel art.

Heading out to see the stingrays.

What a fun trip!!