Discovery 2013 and Beyond: Changes in latitude, changes in attitude....

....to borrow a lyric from Jimmy Buffett. What a great trip to Florida and the cruise!

It has taken us a few days to find good internet access, hence the delays in posting. Hope you are still checking in with us!!

Prior to setting sail with our Gallagher Lake gang on February 10th, we were able to spend a couple of days in Ft. Lauderdale and enjoyed many of the sights including trips on the water taxi. Fort Lauderdale is sometimes known as the Venice of America because of its extensive network of canals which approximate 266 kilometers. Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built during the Second World War.

Mike Janice & Ron on water taxi

Mike, Darryl & Ron

Maureen, Linda and Janice

Dining at sunset on the beach at Fort Lauderdale

Our cruise on the Ruby Princess included Princess Cays , St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk in the beautiful blue seas of the Caribbean.

After the "muster drill" the ship came alive with its sail away party. What a blast and a great start to the week.

Mo and Ron "horsing" around gagnam style

Paul & Linda mustering it up

The first day was at Princess's private beach in the Bahamas. Fabulous day in the sun and ocean!

Linda & Lili enjoying the cabana on Princess Cay

Lili, Maureen & Linda

Our next port was St. Maarten. With an area of only 37 square miles, it is the smallest land mass in the world to be owned by two government; the Dutch and the French, who have shared the island for over 350 years. The Dutch side of the island is more commercial and prosperous than the French side.

To tour the island, we hired a private driver, Fitzroy,to show us the sights. Stopping to pick up one dollar beers at the market, taking us to his secret stops to look at sea urchins and the Iguana farm, to his relatives' restaurant for lunch, to his favorite hideaway beaches, plus the tourist stops at Orient Beach (clothing optional - which begs the question, why do those that shouldn't take off their clothes do, and those that should - don't!), Maho beach where aircraft's nearly land on top of you was also great to see; however, we missed the large jets coming in to land.

The gang on the french side of St. Maarten

Fitsroy - our tour guide for the day on St. Maarten

Orient Beach

Fred with sea urchin

Iguana farm on St. Maarten

Maho Beach

Enjoying our $1.00 beer

Maho Beach - Warning sign

St Thomas USVI was the port for shopping on Valentine's day and then back on the ship to enjoy an afternoon around the pool.

St. Thomas

Grand Turk turned out to be one of our favourites. Grand Turk is the capital island of the Turks and Caicos. It is here that Christopher Colombus first made landfall on his initial voyage to the new world in 1492. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth also discovered the islands when his capsule landed within two miles of the Grand Turk.

After some rough seas cancelled our initial snorkeling trip we were able to hire another boat to take the 10 of us out. Amazing fish amongst the reef. He was also a member of the local SPCA and told us the sad stories of the island's stray dogs; I think we wanted to bring some home with us:( The day finished with stops at his favourite beach hut bar and then at Margaritaville.

Snorkeling charter

Beautiful clear waters for snorkeling

Grand Turk Beach Bar where the rum flows freely

The balcony rooms were great and on a couple of occasions we saw pods of whales. Seas were relatively quiet until the night before returning,

One of two formal nights

Beverages flowed freely many hours of the day and happy hours took place in each couples balcony prior to dinner or as we sailed away.Fun times spent sunning on the pool decks, listening to 'Signature', comedians, magician and enjoying the nightly shows (some good and some ?)

Champagne reception

Ron, Mike Paul and Fred

Wine tasting

As our head waiter, Alfonso, put it: we were dining not just eating and our waiter, Renaldo, saying, 'You're gooood!" will give us memories and fodder for years to come to share with the group at Gallagher each summer!

The Porterhouse

Desserts were a must

After saying our good byes to most of the gang, we were very happy to continue our journey with Fred and Lili onto the Florida Keys. Our first night was at the Speakeasy Hotel on Duval Street and the Rum Runner Bar on the front porch. Our new Gallagher summer drink will be the Pusser's Painkiller!

Speakeasy B&B and Rumrunner Bar - Key West

Rumrunner Bar - Speakeasy B&B

We were fortunate to have an afternoon visit with Linda's cousin Veronica who lives there and showed us around Mallory square and the water front. Unfortunately the cold wind drove us away before the sunset. The evening and following day provided much entertainment as we strolled along Duval street. The butterfly museum was a great stop.

the fist Margaritaville - Key West

The next 2 days were spent at a beautiful boutique hotel, Azure del mar, in Key Largo.
A sunset cruise to a bird sanctuary and then we wrapped up our adventure with a airboat ride through the Florida Everglades. A definite 'must do' when in the Everglades