Another early morning... I thought this was supposed to be a vacation. Today we're going zip lining!!! Mom and I found a great excursion with 13 zip lines through the rainforest. For some reason we were unable to book it online and had to book it on the ship; this unfortunately costs a little more money. I rolled out of bed, shook my sisters awake and quickly got dressed for the day!
Note dads Christmas socks and ridiculous shoes. Men don't always understand the importance of shoes, Dad thought it would be a good idea to buy new "crocs" for the trip... Evidently breaking in new foam shoes isn't such a great idea when you're on vacation, especially when they're the only pair of sandals that you brought.
The first item at breakfast today was a huge pan scramble!! A 2 foot radius pan full of scrambled eggs and various veggies. Dad was so excited! "Whoa look at that pan, it's huge!! That blows my camping pan out of the water!"---Dad. Dads inner child has been very pleased with this trip.
We quickly ate breakfast and headed off the boat for the day! As we stepped out onto the pier, I could feel my shoulders burning the moment I stepped into the sun.
While we waited on the pier there was a band of locals playing some music. I have become obsessed with the island music, the sound of the steel drums is so invigorating; every time I hear it I can't help but start dancing!
The roads in Antigua are mostly one ways and the drivers are slightly insane. Along the way we saw a lot of stray dogs and their puppies on the road begging for food. My heart was breaking for the poor sweet animals. Also on the drive over to the zip lines we drove by a Mormon church! I was still exhausted from our late night yesterday so I fell asleep the last half of the drive.
The zip lines were incredible!! The staff was so fun (and flirty) they definitely were the entertainment on top of the adrenaline! We teased dad about his harness accentuating his chest (and nipples)!! One woman in our group was especially concerned why some people had chest straps and some didn't. Eventually she yelled across the room to the instructors asking why she didn't have a chest strap and other people did. The poor instructor was caught off guard and fairly embarrassed. He timidly explained to lady that the chest straps were for individuals who weighted a little more and needed more support to keep them from tipping backwards. As we walked from the staging shack to the first zip line the smell of the rainforest filled the air. It was hot, humid and smelled just like freshly picked flowers! Everything around us was a lush green, it was so beautiful! Between the zip lines we would "hike" through the forest, sometimes crossing suspension bridges. The rainforest was hot, humid and smelled just like freshly picked flowers! Everything was lush and green it was so beautiful.
M was up first and quickly tumbled backwards to get it over with. Then J stepped up to the edge; the guide told him he might not be heavy enough to make it to the bottom. When J finally got the courage to jump, the guide grabbed hold of the line and stopped him mid-air. M said the look on his face was priceless, pure panic and confusion! T was up next and she was absolutely terrified!! She squealed and giggled as she peaked over the edge, quickly she would back away and say she couldn't do it she was too scared! Mom Dad and I teased about pushing her when suddenly the guide "butt bumped" her off the platform! She screamed the entire way down but walked away smiling ear to ear; with a few tears running down her cheeks from the distress of being pushed. I quickly stepped off the platform with Mom not far behind me. Then came Dad, the guides had noticed us
teasing him by now and they had started to tease him themselves. Before Dad stepped off the platform the guide pulled a bunch of slack out of the line which gave him more free fall time before the pulley caught him. As he stepped off the edge his body rag-dolled till the pulley caught him. He let out a loud girlish screech the entire family erupted with laughter!! He claims it was the guide mocking him but we weren't convinced!
One of the zip lines was optional, you could ride the "broken" zip line or you could step off the platform for a 50ft free fall. M and I are seasoned "trust faller's" so we were so excited to see the rest of the families reaction to "controlled" falling.
teasing him by now and they had started to tease him themselves. Before Dad stepped off the platform the guide pulled a bunch of slack out of the line which gave him more free fall time before the pulley caught him. As he stepped off the edge his body rag-dolled till the pulley caught him. He let out a loud girlish screech the entire family erupted with laughter!! He claims it was the guide mocking him but we weren't convinced!
While we waited in line the guides from the previous zip line came up and joined in on teasing dad about his girlish scream. When I was up to go down the zip line the guide told Dad he should push me off the platform since I had been teasing him relentlessly the entire day. He simply said "okay" and shoved me off the platform, sending me twirling down the line screaming the entire way across.
A few times the zip instructors hopped on the zip line with me! They would spin me around and bounce the line up and down. It was so awesome!!
On the taxi ride home M and I sat front row and center to get the view of Antigua (since we both fell asleep on the way there. We chatted with driver about the culture in Antigua, and the 365 beaches around the island. The driver claimed he doesn't ever go to the beach because he can't swim!
We had lunch in our favorite spot out on the front deck, Dad and J picked us a table right in the burning hot sun!! It was about +30C out with beautiful clear skies. M, Dad and I tried to tough it out in the sun but quickly started overheating so joined the rest of the family in the shade. Ice waters and lots of ice cream helped make the intense sunshine a little more bearable.
Dad and J went to hangout together while Mom T, M and I went back into Antigua to look around the market for a bit. The vendors were the same as any other market, following you around trying to sell their "one of a kind" souvenirs. One particular store we stopped in had some pretty nice bathing suits but they were extremely expensive. Mom looked at a price of the "Toms" shoes and was shocked when she saw the price of $300. She accidentally read the XCD dollar instead of the USD dollar. Still they were $95 USD and that's just ridiculous! One of the specialty stores had some nice leather sandals so we got some for Dad since he foolishly didn't bring any. The market place was different then other market we had been to, one building housed 4/5 vendors. From the outside it just looked like one store but when you walked in it was a long hallway filled with souvenirs. As you walked through the respective vendor would follow you until you left their section of the store, then they would turn back and wait for the next person to enter the maze.
When we finally made it out of the vendor maze we decided to walk around the old Harbor and look at the ship wreck yard. As we crossed the bridge M and T immediately noticed a large bar/store with a big sign that said "Free Wifi". Since they were having withdrawals from their cellphones Mom and I obliged and we went to the bar. "Free wifi" was slightly misleading, what it should have said was "Free wifi with purchase". They give you an individualized code for the wifi after you order something. As M looked at the menu for something to buy I noticed the people sitting near us had just asked for a code. When the waitress came back with their individual codes I read over the woman's shoulder and quickly typed the code in M's phone. Unfortunately since our phone connected first the code wouldn't work on the woman's phone. Luckily she had made an order so they promptly got her a new code when she complained. The girls sent out messages to boyfriends and family and got the responses from the previous day. The news back home: it was -35 in Canada!! Everyone was pretty tired by now so we went back to the ship.
Panoramic Pictures are not very flattering (Sorry T)
We had lunch in our favorite spot out on the front deck, Dad and J picked us a table right in the burning hot sun!! It was about +30C out with beautiful clear skies. M, Dad and I tried to tough it out in the sun but quickly started overheating so joined the rest of the family in the shade. Ice waters and lots of ice cream helped make the intense sunshine a little more bearable.
Dad and J went to hangout together while Mom T, M and I went back into Antigua to look around the market for a bit. The vendors were the same as any other market, following you around trying to sell their "one of a kind" souvenirs. One particular store we stopped in had some pretty nice bathing suits but they were extremely expensive. Mom looked at a price of the "Toms" shoes and was shocked when she saw the price of $300. She accidentally read the XCD dollar instead of the USD dollar. Still they were $95 USD and that's just ridiculous! One of the specialty stores had some nice leather sandals so we got some for Dad since he foolishly didn't bring any. The market place was different then other market we had been to, one building housed 4/5 vendors. From the outside it just looked like one store but when you walked in it was a long hallway filled with souvenirs. As you walked through the respective vendor would follow you until you left their section of the store, then they would turn back and wait for the next person to enter the maze.
When we finally made it out of the vendor maze we decided to walk around the old Harbor and look at the ship wreck yard. As we crossed the bridge M and T immediately noticed a large bar/store with a big sign that said "Free Wifi". Since they were having withdrawals from their cellphones Mom and I obliged and we went to the bar. "Free wifi" was slightly misleading, what it should have said was "Free wifi with purchase". They give you an individualized code for the wifi after you order something. As M looked at the menu for something to buy I noticed the people sitting near us had just asked for a code. When the waitress came back with their individual codes I read over the woman's shoulder and quickly typed the code in M's phone. Unfortunately since our phone connected first the code wouldn't work on the woman's phone. Luckily she had made an order so they promptly got her a new code when she complained. The girls sent out messages to boyfriends and family and got the responses from the previous day. The news back home: it was -35 in Canada!! Everyone was pretty tired by now so we went back to the ship.
Panoramic Pictures are not very flattering (Sorry T)
M and I got our bathing suits on and quickly jumped in the pool to cool off. When some sun chairs opened up we laid in the sun attempting to take some good pictures.
Eventually the sun started to go down so we picked up and moved sun chairs trying to chase the sunshine. After jumping from chair to chair we finally found a spot that would be in the sun until it went over the horizon. We were exhausted from zip lining all day, so we both ended up passing out in the chairs. As I peeled myself off the sun chairs entire body was covered in stripes from my skin pressing against the cracks of the chair. The wind began to pick up so we hopped in the hot tub to warm up for a bit. We picked the hot tub with the least amount of people in it. In the hot tub with us was a very loud, very full of life Spanish family. One of the women had a very obnoxious cackle laugh. They took up most of the pool and weren't afraid of touching us or putting their arm around us, the odd thing was they wouldn't talk to us! At one point a particularly creepy man put his arm around me and took a selfie with M and I in the background. Suddenly the whole family launched across the hot tub to be in the picture with him. It was extremely awkward as they were basically sitting on top of us. Luckily we noticed Mom and Dad looking around, we waved our arms and called out to them but they didn't hear us. Since we had a Spanish family sitting on top of us we decided to get out and walk up to see Mom and Dad. We stood along the railing watching the as we cast off from the port, the sun was setting changing the color of the skies.
Since we had some time to kill before supper M and I decided it was a good time to go rock climbing! We went downstairs to change into dry clothes and get J while T and Mom went to the medical center. T has had a rough time with seasickness this trip, luckily the medical center has an endless supply of medication to help you cope with the motion sickness.
The rock climbing was harder then I expected it to be! They put me on the hardest course since J and M are younger then I am. M ended up beating me to the top, J made it to the middle bell and quickly called it quits!
While we ate supper there was a lovely orchestra playing Christmas carols, then all the waiters joined on the stairs and sang us a song in Italian; both performances were beautiful!
While we ate Dad brought up that they changed the "Tuesday" placard in the elevators. Up until this point we had just got on an elevator and thought "oh this is the Tuesday elevator" as if they had an elevator for every day of the week or something. We all had a good laugh at our obliviousness
After supper we went to play a game where they would play a song and you had to yell out who sang it to get a prize. The cruise director brought out a beautiful blue bracelet and my eyes immediately widened with desire. I love bracelets lately and this would be the perfect souvenir from my trip. He looked directly at me and said "whoa did you see that!! Her eyes lit up and she was like, oh I want that!" The woman beside me yelled "well then give it to me" over and over thinking he was referring to her. He threw out some key chains for the next few songs, seemingly stalling the give away of the bracelet. Then Barbie girl came on and I screamed out "AQUA!!". The director smiled at me and walked over to hand me the bracelet! Turns out I should have waited because the next big price was a beautiful diamond necklace.
Meanwhile across the boat T won a beautiful necklace and earring set in a raffle for guessing "how many karats in the diamond". She had entered the contest earlier in the day but forgot about it, when she couldn't get a spot at the song game she decided to stop by the store and see who had won. Just as she walked into the store the announcer asked if there was anyone there from the 3rd deck and then said her name and room number! She had gotten there just in time, 5 minutes later and they would have drawn a different name.
After we stashed our prizes in our rooms Dad and J took off to watch "Warcraft" in the cinema. Mom, M and I watched the "shore excursion" show while T rested. We eventually got bored and decided to go upstairs to see the moon shining on the ocean. The wind was blowing so hard that it made my hair stand straight up, and Mom had to tuck in her shirt so she didn't flash everyone. We walked along the deck breathing in the fresh ocean air when we noticed that there was no one in the basketball court. Mom is a huge basketball fan so we went in to shoot a few baskets and played a quick game of "bump". I am terrible at basketball but surprisingly I still made it to the last round but lost in the end to M.
That night they were having "the love and marriage game" which was essentially the newlywed game. Dad was a big jerk and didn't come to the show.. probably because I kept teasing him saying that I was going to nominate him and Mom. Part of me is kind of happy he didn't come because some of those questions aren't things that you want to know about your parents. Lots of couples were nominated so they had a contest to determine who would get the "honor" of coming up. For the contest the couple had to pretend that they were "Jane and Tarzan", the woman had to call out looking for her man while he came rushing to rescue her. The first guy ripped off his shirt off and lifted his wife up, it was hilarious and made everyone burst out laughing. All the other auditions were lack luster, probably because the men weren't to keen on airing their dirty laundry.
Once everyone was on stage they took the women backstage and asked the husbands some questions. Men are hilarious, they will say the most outrageous things to embarrass their wives. Everyone was dying laughing as the men casually answered the "R" rated questions.
Probably the funniest blunder was when the announcer asked the couples the craziest places they had "made whoopee". The Newly-Wed woman answered with "in a hotel staircase", when her husband came out and was asked the same question he quickly answered that they'd done it on the balcony in their room.. Mom my sisters and I couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard. The poor woman immediately covered her face, she was mortified!
Then bedtime. We were exhausted.
