Stop #1: Labadee, Haiti
Well, we finally reached our first port of call today: Labadee, Haiti. Royal Caribbean Cruises actually bought this piece of the island a few years ago to develop for themselves. A pretty darn cool boost to the local economy.
Kurt and I started off with a quick buffet breakfast before heading down to deck 1 to catch a Tender (basically a people ferry when there isn’t a dock for the ship). Our main adventure for the day was to be the Dragons Breath Zip Line later in the morning, so we basically just laid in some beach chairs and relaxed the morning away.
At 11:15 we met up with the rest of the family for a zipline. After a quick harness fitting and short zip trial run we climbed into the back of the Rovers to head up the mountain to the base station. What a view! It was gorgeous – two bays of gorgeous water, green trees and yellow beaches dotted with people, the hills of Haiti riding up from the shore, all complimented by the huge cruise ship sitting in the middle. And it is gigantic. Up until then we’d never had a clear exterior view of the thing. Seriously amazing.
Then the bad news arrived. The wind down at the landing platform and along the beach had picked up, so anyone over 200lbs wasn’t allowed to go. Despite my best HCG efforts I had gotten down (pre-cruise) to 208.5. I couldn’t go; nor could my brother Scott and family friend Dennis. We were pretty darn bummed. We did stay and watch the rest family take off. It looked like a lot of fun! I guess I won’t know – until next time :D.
Afterwards, those who did go said it was a pretty hard landing. You’d think the first sloped half would be your speed zone, but as they leveled off over the beach the wind pushed them faster and the final braking was pretty intense. It probably saved my camera from a tragic demise as I was set on taking it down with me.
After a lunch on the beach we laid out on the beach again until we caught a Tender back to the ship. A short nap later it was dinner time.
Dinner is incredible. Order up and stuff your face. The entrée’s aren’t huge so it’s pretty easy to have a few appetizers and desserts and things.
Okay. We’re pigs. Gluttonous pigs. And I’m loving it!
After dinner we caught the show in the theater. Tonights entertainment was the Original Drifters, a very popular quarter from the 1950′s and 60′s. It was fun and entertaining. To finish the night off I took Tyson around the ship for some night photo lessons. Be sure to check the photoblog!
Is that it? Is that your whole trip?! I know it says that that was your first stop, which would mean there were more, but where are they? It just stopped!