A CRUISE!!

Also in January, we went on a big trip with our friends, the Van Orman's. We flew to New Orleans on Friday morning, left on a cruise on Sunday, and got off the cruise the following Sunday and flew home Monday. SO a total of 10 days! We had lots of fun!! First off....New Orleans!!!!

 the clouds were some of the coolest I've ever seen! I just wanted to jump in them

Friday night we got there before Van Orman's, so Brian and I walked the famous Bourbon Street (sketchy, crazy, bar & restaurant filled street). Its so skinny, cars can't go up it, its walking only and its PACKED! theres drunks everywhere. Its pretty funny. But, we found a delicious non-sketchy, authentic New Orlean's seafood restaurant - Oceana Grill. We shared some gator tail bites and the Red Fish oceana- red fish topped with craw fish cream sauce. Cajun Creole food - delicious!!

Next morning, we got up and headed to Cafe du Monde....the famous beignets and hot chocolate place. Apparently you can't go to NOLA without going there for beignets. The line is always insane. 

 

eating our messy beignets in the park. They were delicious and messy!!

We walked all over the French Quarter for the morning, enjoying the live music all over the streets, some actual breakfast and a cool little spot and watching street performers.
Then they went to a plantation tour and we went to the World War 2 museum. It was the highest rated tour in New Orleans and recommended by so many people we talked to, so we went and we LOVED it! It was awesome. Very well done museum. It shows all the perspectives and has so much detail. theres at least 20 short videos (2 min- 7 minutes in length) throughout the exhibits and we loved that. Then theres a 4D movie at the end written and narrated by Tom Hanks and that was the BEST part! I think all people learning about the war should see this video, it was great.

Then we met up for dinner (on Frenchmen Street) and another walk along Bourbon Street to show them. We listed to this one band for quite a while - 4 guys in their 60's doing covers. They were SOOO good! we danced and listened for a while then headed back to bed.

Sunday morning, was breakfast at the Ruby Slipper (GO there!! Its AMAZING!) Some walking and looking at things, then off to the boat!!! It was a chilly evening, waiting for the boat to take off.

Monday & Tuesday were sea days. They were spent sun-bathing/reading, doing water slides, eating, comedy shows, more eating, napping, chatting, playing games.




Tuesday was our formal night

Wednesday was our first port day to Roatan Bay, Honduras. We went to a tiny private island to relax and enjoy the amenities there. The guys went scuba diving there. I paddle boarded and went on the rope swing then did it more when the guys came back.

Thursday was Belize!! We did the Lamanai tour to see the Mayan Ruins. It was an hour van ride through the city (neat) and an hour boat ride up the river. Then they provided lunch. We were on a private tour with a company run by 4 brothers. One of the brothers was with us. His mom and wife made us lunch that morning. It was really cool being with a family owned company and having food they eat everyday. It was rice and beans, plantains, chicken and coleslaw. With the hottest habenero salsa we've all EVER tried!!! holy smokes. but it was freaking delicious.

 climbed to the top, of course!
The ruins were really cool. But possibly the coolest part were the howler monkeys. They howl and growl like dinosaurs! they're actually used in Jurassic Park. They were SO LOUD. 2 families were fighting over their "turf". They are very dominant creatures. They howl to scare the other monkeys hoping they will leave!

We learnt a lot about Belize, and really enjoyed their country! 

Off to Mexico!

Cozumel....

Warren and Averley rented scooters and toured the island. We wanted to do an adventure. We thought about going back to the cenotes on the mainland, but thought it would eat our time too much. Instead, we looked into going scuba diving or SNUBA. Brian convinced me to try scuba diving. 

Good thing he did, because I LOVED it!! We did the discovery dive, so they teach you on one "dive" that's about 5 feet deep ;), then gradually take you deeper, to about 15 feet. Then they took us on the boat to a reef. It was about 45 feet deep and its got the current like a conveyor belt, so you slowly get pushed along. We saw the coolest fish!! I thought I would hate scuba diving because I'd be terrified to be in deep ocean water but I loved it a lot. The best part for Brian, was that they counted this towards Scuba certification! 2 dives!! So he was pleased with that, and both Brian and Warren were bummed their dive in Roatan didn't count. Then we went for MEXICAN food, yay!! Guacamole, my FAVOURITE!!

Then we went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon till we had to get back on the boat.

One more sea day, which was FREEZING and ROUGH WATERS. It made my head very fuzzy and I wasn't enjoying this day at all. It was sad to end on a crappy day, leaving a bad taste for the cruise in our mouths, but we had a great time overall!

Back to New Orleans, with the coolest hotel ever! The brick, the courtyard....so neat!

We did a hop on/off tour bus ride together and got to see lots of the city. Its such a cool city, with so much history, personality and culture!! Really. I never understood when people said a city had a different feel, a city was a city to me. But New Orleans has a very rich and interesting personality. Its hard to describe, its just neat there! We saw Sandra Bullocks house, Peyton and Eli Manning's house, and some really cool architecture through the Garden District.

All in all, we had a fabulous time. Both Brian and I wouldn't rush to do another cruise, but it was neat to try it out. And we had lots of fun with our friends. A trip to remember!!