Before Tom and I were even married, we decided that we would go on a fun vacation as each of us graduated.
I am pleased to announce that THOMAS SCHMIDT has GRADUATED from USU with a bachelors in Management of Information Systems. YAY!
We decided a Caribbean cruise would be a fantastic way to celebrate and live up to our fun vacation deal.
Jan 1, 2012 - Jan 8, 2012
Welcome to the Norwegian Star!
I have never been on a cruise before but it didn't take me too long to realize that I loved everything about cruising!
From fantastic weather and relaxing ...
...a night on the town...
...dancing and playing cards to the Melodic Trio (and yes, I have a not-so-secret love for these 3 and their magical musical abilities)...
...fantastic nightly entertainment...
... to all you can eat CHOCOLATE buffets!
Let me just reiterate this again ... I loved everything about cruising!
First stop: Roatan Honduras- SCUBA DIVING!
Tom's parents paid for us to get scuba certified for Christmas! I was not so sure I would like scuba diving much as I am not always the most adventurous person... but Tom really wanted to go -
so we were certified.
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| I can't tell you how cool it was to look up and see this. It literally is breathtaking down there! |
These pictures can only give you a tiny glimpse of just how fantastic scuba diving is - but let me say this: I have never in my WHOLE life done anything as fun as scuba diving. It was the most amazing thing and I am glad we were both certified so young - we have our whole life ahead of us for more amazing scuba trips.
Honestly, this is a must-do everyone.
Go. Get. Certified.
You will never regret it!
2nd Stop: Belize City, Belize - "LDS" Tours
We were super excited to go tour some ruins through an LDS tour we found online. But when we got there we quickly realized that there was nothing LDS about our tour. We still had a great time, but have no idea where we got the LDS part :)
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| The boat ride to and from Lamanai, there were no roads leading to these ruins |
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| The Gang - my brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Jenn |
Next stop: Costa Maya, Mexico
Tom and Mark went scuba diving (Jenn couldn't go diving because she is PREGNANT! YAY!) while Jenn and I left for a beach get-a-way with an open bar! (That's right - we got all the virgin pina coladas and daiquiris a girl could ever want!)
Scuba
While the girls enjoyed their drinks the men went diving. The cruise taxied us out to an awesome dive shop right on a white sand beach in Costa Maya (see above). We had a really friendly Mexican scuba master(bald guy with the beard on the left of the pic above) who was our guide. To start out, I told him jokingly that all I wanted to see was a turtle and I would be satisfied with the dive. The first dive we did not see any, but we did see spectacular coral formations, like the one below! In between our dives I bugged our instructor once more, telling him we needed to see a turtle and to make it happen. Sure enough, about half way through the dive the instructor suddenly turned around and pointed. A turtle! Mark had already seen it and was busy snapping photos! There really aren't many words to say how amazing scuba diving is!
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| This coral picture above and the coral and lobster pictures below almost do scuba justice! Awesome pictures Mark (had to show em off) |
The beach getaway was beautiful! We had a great and very relaxing day! (Jenn and I also loved seeing all the reasons why we don't drink! )
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| I joined in Congo dancing with a bunch of drunk people - and I may be the only one who remembers :) |
Tom and I went on (surprise!) one last dive while we were in Cozumel - and we were glad to find a place that let Mark and Jenn snorkel above us so we could all stick together. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from Cozumel:
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| Love you Jenn! :) I just have to laugh every time I see this picture! |
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| We don't know how, but our dive master suddenly started digging in the sand, and out popped a sand dollar! |
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| Angel Fish |
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| Yes - we saw a pregnant seahorse! It almost made up for the fact that I missed seeing the turtle... |
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| Yes folks - this is a fish! |
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I am so jealous! You can always find sand dollars just by digging...we used to do it in Puerto Rico even where it wasn't very deep with our toes! I think I need to get scuba certified NOW!
ReplyDeleteyou guys are awesome! I'm SO jealous. Congrats to Tom for graduating!
ReplyDeleteHow did I not see half of these pics? Fun times for you!
ReplyDeleteHow neat!!!! You really are convincing us to become scuba certified(: Loved all the pictures!
ReplyDeleteAmazing!! Cruises are the best. So glad you had such a good time. You totally deserved it. By the way, every time I see you or a picture of you I just love your dark hair more and more. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm seriously jealous. Those scuba and cruise pictures are awesome. The vis is amazing to say the least.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you'll ever truly recover from taking a cruise. Beth and I still talk about our first one 12 years ago! Glad you guys had such a fantastic time.