Come sail away...

Last week we went on vacation! In celebration of our anniversary and paying off our student loans recently, we decided to get away and explore for a week. We went on a cruise, and had a great time together, here are some pictures!

The first day, we stopped in St. Thomas and took a taxi to a local beach. We snorkeled off the the beach and were able to see some pretty cool fish.  The water was so clear and as warm as bath water.  I seriously floated around and played in the water for hours like a little kid.

 

On day number two, we stopped in Dominica, which was Ryan's favorite island. We hiked with a small group to a waterfall that was about 300 ft tall and swam in the pool at the bottom. It was gorgeous, and I loved seeing all of the different flowers and plants.  Once we reached the waterfall, we had to climb down to the pool at the bottom where Ryan then climbed up the other side and jumped off into the pool.  I was perfectly content watching the action from the water, but what I cool experience.

 

That night we had one of our formal nights. It was fun to be out all day in the jungle, and then clean up and head to a nice dinner. And I also enjoy any opportunity to see Ryan in a handsome suit :)

 

On day three we went to Barbados.  We took a taxi to the Malibu rum factory for a tour and relaxed on their beach all day.  I think we were the only visitors actually interested in the tour, but I am a manufacturing nerd, and couldn’t resist.  Being the nerd that I am, I thought it was photo worthy that we had to wear hard hats for safety, but my flip-flops were perfectly fine?

 

 

  
Day four we stopped in St. Lucia. We took an hour or so car ride around the island to get to a volcano!  It seemed that every place we stopped along the way had a fantastic view. I loved seeing all the mountains mixed with the beaches. Once we reached the volcano, we dove right in to the mud-baths. Apparently the mud from the volcano contains a lot of sulfur (which smells great…), and is good for your skin.  My skin did feel smoother, but I was also finding mud everywhere the rest of the day!  But I can now say I’ve had an official volcano sulfur mud bath.

 

 

I think I am up to day five now, with was in St. Kitts.  Honestly, I had never heard of this island before we booked the cruise, so I was very curious.  We decided to take it easy and took a self-guided tour of downtown Basseterre.  All of the islands have so much culture from being “owned” by so many different European counties throughout history.  Anyway, it was fun to explore a little, but it was very hot and the pool on the boat was calling our name…

Day six, our last day on the boat, we rented a jeep and drove around the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin.  The island is half French and half Dutch, so we wanted to see both sides.  We visited several beaches, walked through a large market, snorkeled, and discovered an old French fort.

And this, sadly, brings me to our final day of vacation.  After we left the boat, our flight home didn’t leave for a while…so we did some more exploring!  Our cruise started and ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is a really cool place!  One of my favorites of the whole trip actually.  There was a ton of Spanish architecture, and the town of San Juan is so colorful.  And, we visited another fort!  The fort is huge, and pretty much encircles all of San Juan.  This was a very educational day, and we were definitely worn out and ready to be home by the end of it!

If you made it all the way to the bottom of this, thank you for reading!  We had a great time, and had so much fun just the two of us :)