Cruisin' in Paradise

We just got back from the most amazing vacation!! The cruise was so much fun! It was a late graduation present to me. Here is a picture of Dustin and I with the ship in the background.

We stopped at four different places...Samana, Tortola (or Tortuga according to Dustin), St. Thomas and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. All stops were so much fun!!! For any of you that we talked to before the cruise, you know well that the whale watching excursion in Samana was our most anticipated shore excursion. Below is a picture of me anxiously awaiting our boat ride out to the whales.

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to capture what really went on in that little wooden boat...in fact, we don't even have a picture of the boat because we were so distracted. Whale watching quickly turned into barf fest 2008. I was the first one to go...I blame it on the baby :)

Dustin was lucky enough to watch me throw up all over myself, so as soon as I had a garbage bag in hand and the little boat hand guy rubbing my back, Dustin leaned out the window and threw up all over his arm. From there it was a chain reaction...I think about 10 of the 30 people on the boat lost it. It was the roughest boat ride I have EVER been on...and I was sicker than I have EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE. It was not a good experience, but it is funny to look back on now. After we finally got the captain to turn the boat around, they spotted whales. So, most people in the boat saw whales, saw it wave its fin and splash. However, Dustin and I were still to busy barfing, so we missed it all.

Above is a picture of us and my parents in Tortolla...great belly shot of the baby! Boy, he is poking out! We went on a tour of the city and ended up at a beatiful beach. It was a great day, and we stayed on land the ENTIRE day!!

At St. Thomas, Dustin and I decided to venture out on our own. We did a little shopping in town and then went to the beach to relax. Below is a picture of me in the city by a neat little fountain.

The beach was amazing. It is called Magan's Bay and it is one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.

Our last day at port was spent at the Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. We LOVED it!! We snorkled for a few hours, chilled on the beach, swam, ate, and shopped. How much better can it get!! The first time we were snorkeling, I looked down and saw this HUGE long white and black fish that was skinny and as long as me. I started screaming under water and swam to Dustin. Later, after describing the fish to my dad, he said it was probably a baracuda... SCARY!!! So, we swam with a baracuda. Dustin also saw three sting rays after I pooped out and we saw tons of pretty fish. Dustin also picked up some kind of bug that bit him all over...he is still itching!!

Overall, the trip was so wonderful. Unfortunately, neither Dustin or myself are very good photographers, so all pictures are kind of boring and posed...we didn't get much happening in action. This last picutre is us dressed up for dinner the last night on the ship. The ship was so amazing and we loved every minute of it!!