10th Anniversary Trip Journal: January 9-10 St. Thomas and Antigua

January 9^th
After a terribly restless night of sleep, we were up bright and early for our day in port. We wanted to get some breakfast before we were out to the gangway to meet up with our excursion group. We were done pretty quickly (I had jam stuffed french toast and as delicious as it sounds, it just didn’t do it for me… there does seem to be an endless supply of pineapple on board this ship so I think I’ll turn a little yellow lol). Headed back to the room to grab out towels that the ship provides. Then made our way down to the gangway. We were pretty early so we just kind of mosied around. When we were all present, there were about 20 from our ship. 2 other cruise ships had pulled in behind us (the Carnival Victory which we sailed on when we came to the Caribbean 5 years ago and the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas). The rest of our group was made up of passengers on the latter. 

We headed to another small dock to board the Silent Lady, a pirate ship schooner. As soon as we were on board we knew we were in for a good time. Seriously, the crew was super funny! There were 4 of them and this one guy Ben, it was his first day. He got a month long internship! How crazy and cool is that? To get credit for school to come down to St. Thomas and hang out on a pirate boat all day?! I sent a postcard to Bri telling her that she should do something like that. We left the dock and went over to Buccaneer Bay which is a marine and fowl sanctuary. You can snorkel and swim around but you can’t actually go on the island itself. We got our gear and in the past I’ve been a giant chicken when it comes to snorkeling and as soon as I get too close to coral or something I get all unbalanced and such. This time, I was the first one in the water and although I blew up my life vest a lot (according to Robert) I did great.

 It was relaxing and we saw at least 6 sea turtles! We watched two of them as they came up for air too. It was amazing how different their coloring is when under water as opposed to above water… green and brownish then when they come up they’re a beautiful golden green and amber color. I got to hold an urchin. It kind of latched on to my hand with it’s little suckers. The snorkeling guide, Mary, said that the water was freezing but it felt so nice and warm! Which just leads me to wonder how fantastic it is during the summer months! There were a lot of people in the cove but it wasn’t overwhelming at all. We snorkeled for about an hour. They were mixing “painkillers” on board which is rum, pineapple juice and orange juice I think. By the way people were singing and stumbling they must’ve been pretty strong. It’s kind of funny to watch. They were also great about handing out ice water and such. We kept drinking it up and Rob only had a few diet cokes since we definitely didn’t want to get dehydrated!

We sailed (with the sails up and everything) to fantastic music over to Water Island and Honeymoon Beach. It was amazing how clear and beautiful the water is. Our ship, the Silent Lady, dropped anchor and we were invited to either wait for a ride to the beach on the little zodiac or jump off and swim. Guess what we did? That’s right. Off the side. There was a lunch set out of ribs, chicken, green salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and rolls. Our crew brought ice chests of coke, diet coke, sprites, coors lights and water for us to drink. It was nice not having to pay for them or turn in tickets like we did on one of our excursions 5 years ago. While the food wasn’t as fancy as the ship, it sure was delicious! We enjoyed every little bite. The only thing that could’ve possibly made the lunch any better was if there was cake haha. 

After we ate we just swam around on the beach. I sat in the sand (which I never do because it grosses me out) and dug my feet in and made a sand sea turtle. There were a couple of kids playing on the beach with another group and it made me miss mine. Rob saw me looking at them and told me to stop before I burst into tears lol. There was also this random dog that was on the beach. Some people were playing with him. We met and talked to a bunch of cool people. A lot of Canadians cruising. There was one guy that was in the Canadian Air Force and was traveling with his family on Royal Caribbean for the 8^th time. I guess there’s and ice rink and a rock wall! We’re definitely on that cruise line next! 


When it was time to head back to the Silent Lady, our captain, Dave blew a conch shell. Rob and I swam back out to the boat and enjoyed a ride back to the dock. We bought a t-shirt for Klaus and did some shopping at the port. A few souvenirs for the kids and then we mailed some postcards and headed back to the ship. We both got some color today even though we put on SPF 50. We just need to keep applying! We’re going to a comedy show tonight before dinner since we weren’t able to get a reservation before 8:45. Now we’ll have eaten at all different time frames so we’ll hopefully get through dinner before 10! Tomorrow is Antigua and we’re zip lining!

January 10^th

Up early because we had to be on the gangway at 8:15. There were 10 or maybe 12 from our group. Our taxi driver was cool, he told us about the differences in dialects between the islands. We listened to a ton of different types of music, from island reggae to celine dion. Rob and I sat in the front, we were able to talk to him a lot. The rest of our group seemed a little bourgie.

We arrived at Antigua Rainforest Zipline and there were two other groups there, one from a ship called AIDA we think it was out of Denmark. They had a German translator, made us think of Klaus. We were harnessed up, seriously felt incredibly safe considering the number of people that checked on our safety clips and such. Since my belt hung low I had a chest harness as well. We had helmets and gloves, you put your strong hand behind you on the lower cable and that acted as your brake. 

The first zip line was a little intense because it is. But after that, we breezed. Seriously. I didn’t even hesitate! Rob went first each time. I was nervous on the first one but then I saw they had a camera so I smiled my terror away haha. 12 lines in all including the 5^th line called the screamer… it’s 325 feet off the ground and 300 feet in the air. No one was screaming and this is the one that they take video so I busted a little chee-hoo. It was incredible good fun. Rangers at the beginning and end of each line to hook and unhook you. Great lengths for your safety, some of the stations are just platforms in the trees. Most of them were listening to music on their phones.

There came a point where you can either zip across a section or “jump”. It’s called the leap of faith and you step off a platform to a 32 foot drop. There was no question that I’d do it but that initial step was definitely second thought. A motor kicks in right a way but still that first 1.5 seconds you’re falling. Then we used a rope to help climb up to the next platform.

We came to a treehouse and were showed how to move our guide cable and clip and unclip ourselves from one station to the next. From there it was on to the challenge course which was a series of bridges and suspension lines. It was definitely challenging. You know that fear of falling and then the sense of accomplishment when you look back and see where you’ve been. Some were harder than others but we took them all! After heading back, we walked around down town and finally headed back to the ship. 
Getting changed and cleaned up we went out to the foyer to watch the dancing. Every night there are couples dancing and it’s fun to watch them. We grabbed a drink from the coffee shop and headed to the theatre to watch the variety show. There was the boogie woogie piano guy again and then a super funny comedian. We were laughing like crazy. We watched Bridesmaids and didn’t hit the sack until almost midnight.