Exchanging Snow for Sun

Taking a trip (one of our favorite things to do) seemed like an appropriate celebration for completing grad school--both of us needed a vacation after all the work (and encouragement given) last fall, and what better way to spend a miserably cold and snowy week in February than to spend it somewhere warm and sunny? Thus, the Graduation Celebration Caribbean Cruise.

This was my first cruise, and I hope it will be the first of many. We did all the things we love to do while traveling: eating (have you been on a cruise lately?), sleeping (somehow we slept for 12 hours one night. I won't tell you what time we went to bed...), and lounging in beach chairs reading (Jason is now on the fourth Potter book, and I finally got a chance to read this, which has been sitting on my bookshelf for at least two (maybe three?) years). Heavenly.

What we do best

Our ship--"Navigator of the Seas"--together with another at the port of call

We did get off the boat at our two ports of call. First was George Town on Grand Cayman, where the water was bluer than I thought possible. We ventured away from the cruise boat spots and took a bus to Cemetery Beach, where we did some fun snorkeling and basked on the beach.

The blue waters of Grand Cayman

Second was Cozumel, where we decided to be a little more adventurous and did a dune-buggy trip around the island. We did some more snorkeling, ate some good Mexican food, and got to see some amazing views on our trip...and Jason got to drive the stick-shift dune buggy through downtown. He was a pro.

Mexican serenade in Cozumel

On the dune buggy

Para-surfers on Cozumel

We got home this afternoon and have spent the last few hours shaking the sand out of our shoes and trying to remember to put a coat on before we go outside. Oh, and going to the grocery store, so that when the next storm hits (tomorrow?), we can face it with more than two carrots and a carton of eggs to our names.