ROATAN: 9-6pm

I woke up at 6:30am today and checked the time. What is wrong with me waking up so early and not even needing the alarm. Kendra said she has been up every day at 7am without an alarm. We must be losing our minds or super excited.

I immediately checked the weather and it said sunny, then a shower, then more sun. I was hoping that it would be more sun than rain. But, I guess some is better than none since the entire week called for thunderstorms in each port prior to leaving for the cruise. Even though we have had some rain and cloudy days, I think we have been pretty lucky so far.

I sounded the mommy wake up call and everyone got dressed and we headed for breakfast. To my surprise, Kendra was already there...although she was not staying and just picking up breakfast for her and the kids and taking it back to the room while they all got ready.

Since I didn't feel like runny eggs today, I headed for the omelette line. To my surprise, there wasn't much of a line and it was quick and painless. I passed my plate along to the bacon police and told them "crispy please". They were generous with their 1 1/2 pieces of bacon they slapped on my plate with a smile.

I finished off my breakfast with my favorite "pastries"

It had been a rainy week for the Caribbean I guess. We pulled up and the water looked disgusting. I was really hoping it didn't look like this everywhere and we'd be able to see some beautiful crystal clear water.

I have never seen any water in the Caribbean look this bad.

Mahogany Bay

I was trying to focus on the lift ride taking people over to the beach area.

Here's the building we needed to make it to in order to get out of the cruise compound.

I'm pretty sure the sun was trying to come out for us.

The following video is an overview of the walk from the ship to the port and to the exit of the compound. Then it will show you the street you need to walk (which is uphill) to get to the taxi vendors outside the port. It's a bit of a haul, but I know that a lot of people want to know just how far of a walk it is. So, I figured I'd take a video from the ship to show you.

After breakfast I texted Kendra to devise a plan to meet and get off the ship. We had a little bit of time and she said "meet me in the casino" then she mentioned "deck 6" which was the deck she was staying on, then she said "elevators", then mentioned they were going to the "casino"...which isn't on deck 6 at all, but instead on deck 5. Confusion set in.

We gathered our things and headed to the casino. We found the kids and billy there...playing a game.

There was no Kendra. I waited and waited and I guess she was waiting for us on deck 6 by the elevators. LOL

We never did hear them announce that the ship was cleared and we could get off the ship. I'm not sure why they don't do announcements like NCL does when you can get off. Maybe they don't want a mob of people running for the exit? I'm not sure. I have just always been used to hearing them say we are cleared and can leave.

It was 9:20am and I said "Let's just go, it can't be taking this long". Then off we went.

We stopped for our port pictures.

Obviously Kendra was special today and they took a bunch of black and white photos of her family.

We would head out for the long haul to the taxi stand outside of the port. I knew the last time I had to do this it was a bit on the tiring side, but well worth it to get away and go do something outside of the port.

So what were we doing today? SCUBA DIVING! We have been trying to scuba dive at least one port per cruise since Sakari took an interest to this hobby a little over a year ago.

A little history: We went to St Lucia on a cruise and to the Pitons. It was absolutely AMAZING! The snorkeling was just out of this world. While we were there, Sakari watched several divers go in the water and they were below her. At that time, she instantly started begging to scuba dive. I told her she was too young, but she was very persistent.

After coming back home, I found that she could, in fact, learn to dive. I signed her up with the local dive shop and she started taking classes. She got certified as a PADI seal team member and she dives monthly doing various skills you have to complete. She loves it! Actually TONIGHT (Dec 1) is her very last class to complete her aquamissions. After this, she will do a check off and become a MASTER PADI SEAL! How exciting.

She will then be able to get her open water certificate, if she decides to do this, in 5 months. I'm still not sure what her plans are (or ours) as far as diving. It still makes me very nervous, but it's getting better I believe. I just don't know if I actually want to become certified (or her for that matter) because it scares me. I'm just being honest. Everyone keeps telling me to get certified and I'll do better and over come some of my fears/anxiety about diving. But to be perfectly honest, I just don't feel like I will ever want to do anything other than what I'm doing now...which is the limitations of the Discover Scuba Dive (down to 40') <---and I really don't care to go that far. I have 0% desire to do a night dive, or dive from a boat out in the ocean where it's deep, or cave dive or anything like that. The DSD is more my speed and desire. So, we will see.

So, back to the day. We were scuba diving. One thing I want to mention is that Sakari has been stung by fire coral on a beach day in Cozumel. She was also stung by fire coral scuba diving in Curacao. Since this last time, she has gotten a little nervous about diving. She's associating the fire coral stings with scuba diving and when we were in Aruba on a land vacation in August, she begged not to go diving. I was shocked. Then I learned that she was afraid of being stung. Well...don't get close to the fire coral and be more aware of your surroundings and going down too far and that won't happen.

This time around, once again, she said "I don't wanna scuba dive in the ocean" with the same excuse. Well, we were diving anyhow because it was already booked and paid for.

Originally I had plans to go see the sloths and then on to a beach for the day. I wanted to scuba dive in Costa Maya because that was the only port day that we didn't have any plans. Then Kendra booked and decided that she wanted to dive in Roatan.

To see our day scuba diving and what happens next, click the following link for my full review:

****Ok, before I go on with the review, I just have to share all the good things that happened today/tonight***

Sakari had her last scuba class to complete her PADI Seal aquamissions. SHE IS OFFICIALLY A MASTER PADI SEAL!!! I'm so proud of her. I honestly wonder if any of the other students have completed all of them before because the instructor didn't quite know what to do from here. He said he would have to ask the manager how she goes about getting her "master" PADI seal dive card to replace her current card.

They were also so very excited, knowing she was coming to her last class tonight, that they took her in the dive shop and had her pick out a "completion gift" from a list of things. She ended up picking out this dive necklace and it has a pewter shark on it.

We discussed her getting her junior dive certification next and there is going to be another boy in her class that will be ready for it around the same time Sakari is (March-April) and they said if they can get enough kids around that time that they would like to do a "kid" class instead of them mixed with the adults because it's such a long class.

So....we'll see in the future months what she wants to do.

He also mentioned just how good she is. She dives with confidence, ease, and just all around does a great job with her diving, safety and instruction. I'm so proud of her. She easily picked it up and did it with passion and heart and it just came easy to her.

NEXT UP....more good news. I have to share with my cruise friends....

I received this in the mail today from the gifted program Sakari submitted her portfolio to:

She did it! She scored the highest scores possible. They labeled her as gifted in art! I'm so proud of her. I would like to say that she has worked so hard for this but in reality, she hasn't at all. It just comes natural. It's just what she does.

She usually draws some really WEIRD stuff and sometimes very MORBID stuff and it worries me at times. However, according the the judges notes (above on the letter), there's actually a "word" for that type of drawing and I had no idea: drash! After I looked it up with examples...wow, yep, that's her totally. All the weird things in her head have a name...and it's a good thing.

I'm just on cloud 9 at the moment and she has already went to bed after a long day of school, a field trip and diving. I can't wait to share it with her when she gets up tomorrow.

One proud momma here!!!

We made it back to Mahogany Bay.

Thank goodness they are always aloud to pull all the way back into the port when they drop you off. I don't know how we would have managed to get Billy up and over that hill.

With it being such a nasty day out, we knew we didn't want to even go over to the beach for a little while. Not to mention Billy was still using the hubby as his personal crutch, although doing a little better with his ability to actually move his legs under his own will power now.

Us girls decided to do a little shopping. I was on a mission to find my scuba diver refrigerator magnet that I always collect when we dive in a port. I was very sad that they did not have one here. Boo!

And even in a big cruise port like this...you STILL can't put toilet paper in the toilets!!

Kam insisted on pulling the rolling luggage around everywhere we went from the airport, hotel, ship, and in port. At one point, I'm pretty sure it weighed more than she did but she tackled it better than what her daddy could at this point. Notice the hand on hip and to the side pose...this is HER pose!

We decided to head on back to the ship. I couldn't find what I was looking for anyhow and I just wanted a nice hot shower and dry clothes at this point. We walked toward the ship, but needed to stop and let Billy rest for a moment. We would play it off as if we were just listening to the music.

Now that's the kind of snowman I want!!!

After getting back on I ran for the hot shower....ahhh. Finally!

When we were all ready, we took Sakari to go eat with the other munchkins on the ship and we decided to eat in the MDR tonight. I'm trying to eat a little more there instead of the buffet all the time. I guess it just depends on my mood and if I want to dress up or not.

On the menu tonight....

We ordered our meals....and waited....and waited...and.....

...it took them 39 minutes just to bring our salads out AND they forgot the dressing. Yes, you read that right...39 minutes AFTER ordering it! This does not include the time we had been just sitting there waiting to order and get our drinks.

After flagging down our waiter...or someone's waiter, I'm not sure, they brought back our dressing and we could finally get a little something in our bellies.

The bread would come a half hour later...but no butter. Seriously? Once again I flagged down one of the waiters and I know for sure it wasn't ours. I really didn't care at that point.

Now I must mention that we pick any time dining for several reasons. One is that we never know when we are going to be hungry. I don't want to be forced to be hungry at a certain time every time. The other reason is, I really don't care to sit with strangers and our dinner time is a "family" time to me and we like to talk between ourselves and so on. I'm not saying we wouldn't eat with someone if I met someone onboard then we'd love to go have dinner with them. But to just sit down at a table full of people...no thanks. I remember those days back in the 80's and 90's when it was like that and we had some bad experiences with the table mates.

So normally we have Sakari with us when eating at the MDR. We usually get a booth or a table for 4. Well, since we had decided to drop her off with the kids to eat, this left us vulnerable for one of those tables for two but 2" from the tables on each side of you with other people there. You might as well be sitting at their table. The people to our left were engaged in a deep friendly conversation with the table beside them and the people to the right were...um...not sociable and turned their noses up to everything from the food, desert, wine, our attempt at friendly chit chat and so on. We did butt in on the conversation to the left a few times and after their talking buddies left, they started talking to us. Very nice and friendly couple...but...they were at the end of their meal so they weren't there much longer. The specialty drink guy came around offering, for a price of course, their drink of the night. Well, since the couple was not very friendly, even after our attempts to smile and say hello, the hubby just couldn't resist a snide remark when they thought about buying the drink. His comment "You should get one. You know you want one. It might loosen you up a little and talk." Oops. Did he just imply that they were unsociable? Yes, yes he did. Did they get the hint? Who knows, they still didn't smile or talk the rest of the time they were there. I learned my lesson...always take Sakari with us to the MDR and we will not have to be seated at a table for two between a row of tables only a few inches apart.

So finally our main dish came out. I don't even know how long it took before it came but I do know that it was YUMMY TO THE TUMMY!! So I ordered the ribs. I really don't care for red meat, but I do like ribs.

Now I'm not sure what type of ribs these are, but it tasted exactly like eating a roast. There was nothing about it that tasted like ribs. I wasn't complaining though because it was GREAT! The mashed potatoes was good, and the green beans...I have no clue what they put in them or how they cooked them but they were AWESOME! Not like your normal green beans.

I was highly satisfied with this meal.

Time for desert now.

I just knew I had to have the cheesecake of course. I like plain cheesecake, so no strawberry topping for me.

I also ordered this buttered popcorn something or other. It sounded so good but after it arrived, it really didn't appeal to me. Hey, at least I can say I tried it.

After finishing our VERY LONG dinner, we headed to the casino for 2 hours and donated some money.

We picked up Sakari from the kids club and she immediately needed her ice cream fix. She had made me a bracelet and we discovered that 2 of her kids club counselors were actually from Ohio. How cool. That meant that this entire cruise there would be counselors that could actually pronounce Sakari's name. Oh the excitement. Usually she is called "Zacari" as in Zach. She answers to it. She knows it's her. The only time it's an issue is if there is really a Zachary in her class and I think that has only happened once.

We headed to Pixels to check out our pictures from the day and had them deposit them into our folder for the future.

I knew that they were having the 80's deck party tonight. I couldn't wait. I LOVE the 80's music and so does Kendra. Sakari was complaining that she was tired and didn't want to go to the party. I begged, she refused. I begged some more and put more enthusiasm in my voice about how fun it was going to be, she refused. I begged one last time with a pouty crybaby face...she still refused. Then it was her turn to beg... "Please let me go back to the room and go to bed. I'm tired. I promise I will go straight to the room and not answer the door and just watch t.v. and draw until I fall asleep." Sigh. I never let her out of my sight but she has been going a little more this cruise: getting ice cream or food and coming back and so on. But all the way to the room? Like 2 flights down? On the elevator? "Whadda ya think daddy?"

We agreed. I handed her the room key card and watched her walk across the deck, to the elevator and get on the elevator. I stared at daddy and he stared at me and said "you wanna go after her or what?" I decided to let her be a big girl. She's growing up. She's a very good kid and I know that she would not do anything out of line and do exactly what she said she was going to do.

The party started. I started texting Kendra...where are you??? It's time to get our party on!! She said she was tired and had been sleeping. And Billy? She said he hadn't woke up yet. WHAT?!? My first response was "Is he even breathing???". I guess he was. She kept saying how we were going to be in port tomorrow at 7am and had to get up early. She wasn't sure that she wanted to come dancing because it was so late. Wait, who's the old person here? If I can do it you can do it! Well, I did it and she didn't! Loser!

So the music started playing and I started wiggling in my seat. Then when the staff came out and started throwing the huge Styrofoam glow sticks that rotate lights back and forth and streamers went off and glow necklaces and glow bracelets....everyone ran to the deck and the party had officially started!

Then within about 5 minutes after they threw out the first batch of glow stuff...I felt someone tugging at me. Guess who?

She said she went to the room, turned the t.v on and boom...she seen me and daddy on the t.v. dancing and she seen them throw out the lights and streamers and she ran back because she didn't know it was "THAT" type of party. LOL

We danced the night away. It was a a lot of fun. It started at 10:30pm as the 80's party and then turned into a glow party at 11pm and ended at 12 midnight.

THEN we could all finally go back to the room and get ready to head to bed for a few hours.

But first a weird drawing from Sakari.