Carribbean Crusin' with the Gabrielsen's

We had such a great time with all the Gabrielsen siblings on our Caribbean cruise. We got to Puerto Rico on Saturday after a long red-eye flight through San Francisco and Washington DC. We were so excited to get on the boat. We had hoped to walk into town after we got settled but the boat was docked across the harbor so that wasn’t going to happen. Of course our first item of business after boarding the ship was eating lunch. We met up with Kay and Ken and Patty and Hal and also got free neck massages.
We sailed out of PR in the evening when everything was lit up and it was beautiful. San Juan has an old city wall that runs around much of the outside complete with not one but two forts/castles and it is beautiful to see at night from the water.
Sunday we were at sea all day sailing to Barbados. We had our own very nice little church meeting. Everyone shared their favorite scripture. It was a great start to our week of togetherness. Later, we of course got into all of the trivia games on board and played battle of the sexes. The legend of “Idaho Joan” was born with the cruise staff when the women beat the men. And then, a highlight of the week was when the Gabrielsen female members won in team trivia!

Monday we were in Barbados.
We walked into town and immediately ran into some missionaries. They were so happy to talk to us.We could just see Elder Morris doing his thing on the other side of the Caribbean. We then took a cab to a beautiful beach and hung out for the day. We had a guy take us out to see the turtles. They would swim right up to you and look you in the face or brush you as they swam by. Sometimes there would be 3 or 4 all around you (the guy was feeding them) and it was freaky (these turtles were BIG). We then rented a jet ski for a half hour and that was fun. We had no limits on where we could go and the thing was powerful. Lots of fun on Barbados.
That night was Halloween. There were tons of Puerto Ricans on the ship and they all brought elaborate costumes. The party was out on the deck under the stars and it was great fun. The cruise director had on a rabbit costume and MC’d it all but the real hit was the head chef who came out with his hat and apron on and got up on the partition and rocked it. Now this was a real French chef and he was a big dude. But man could he shake it!
Tuesday we were in St. Lucia.
We did a boat ride out of the port and over to the Pitons and the small town of Soufferie. We walked around town. Lots of people sitting on the sidewalk against the buildings selling bananas and plantains and other vegetables, or fresh fish out of a wheelbarrow.
On the way back we stopped at a beach and snorkeled a bit and then sailed back and got caught in a rainstorm. Man did it pour. We had a beautiful sunset that night on the "sail away" and a rainbow.
Wednesday we were in Antigua, the island of 365 beaches. We all went to one of the beaches, Dickenson Beach.
It was picture perfect and we had a great time.
A quick word on the food. It was fantastic and we all ate like gluttons.
It was fun dressing up and looking forward to dinner every night.





Thursday we were in St. Maarten.
We went to a beach that supposedly had good snorkeling but it was covered in seaweed that had washed up so the snorkeling wasn’t very good. We left and went to Orient Beach. What a spectacle.The beach was packed with people.
Most of the cruise ship tours go there because it is a very beautiful beach. But the real attraction is that half of it is a nude beach. Ok, entertaining but not in a good way. 95% of them on the nude beach are people you would never want to see that way. Old, saggy and overweight. There was one place to snorkel and you had to walk about 50 yards on to the nude beach side to get there. Not a pretty sight, but as I said, entertaining. That night there was a dance contest "Dancing with the Stripes" with crew members matched with other guests. The winner? The chef. He was hilarious. One of the dances they had to do was the chicken dance. He grabbed the mic and started singing lyrics in French. Who knew the Chicken dance had French lyrics ;)
Friday we were on St. Thomas. The women shopped till they dropped. Sister shopping is the best. Now we all own Larimar rings. Who knew that Larimar is only found in the Dominican Republic. Now I have a ring and earrings in honor of Taylor and his mission ;) While the girls shopped, the men went over to Megan’s Bay, one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world, according to National Geographic and others.
Saturday we were back in San Juan and we said goodbye to Kay and Ken, Patty and Hal and Pam and Roger. After waiting through a huge customs line, we were free to explore San Juan. John and Cindy and Tom and I had decided to stay another day in PR before returning home and I’m so glad we did. We rented a car and drove out to this nice resort John hooked us up through Captain Kirk aka Priceline. We got checked in and hung out there for a bit. We then drove up to the El Yunque rainforest in the mountains. Way cool. We hiked into a waterfall and the jungle sights and sounds were fantastic.
I especially loved all of the frogs later that night. That night we went to a fun place to eat. It was a collection of some 60 restaurants/bars/vendors all in row, but these were local places not touristy stuff. We had some delicious authentic Puerto Rican food. Tom had some beans and rice to go along with grilled chicken in Taylor's honor. They served the best vanilla and coconut flan. YUM> We all had big glasses of passion fruit juice. It was so good. The restaurant was set right on the beach and there was a beautiful sunset.
Sunday we drove back into Old San Juan and looked around. We had breakfast at the slowest place east of Havana. It was a cute french bistro with delicious food,
but by the time we finished breakfast, it was time to go. Then sadly, we bid farewell and endured the 11 hours of flights back home. Adios Puerto Rico! We can't wait for our next Gabrielsen get together.