March 2017 – Page 3 – Just An East Coast Girl

At Sea…

Today we are sailing on the open seas! Heading from Port of Miami, Florida to our first Port of Call, Ochos Rios, Jamaica.

What to do at sea?

Good Morning! Coffee on the balcony anyone?

We started our day at the Great Outdoors cafe with a wonderful breakfast until it started to downpour. A few minutes later the sun came out and there was a rainbow.

Next stop the excursion desk to pick up a brochure and decide what excursion to take in Jamaica tomorrow.

The sun was shiny so we wanted to catch a few rays. It was so crazy windy that we were only able stay out a short while.

Back to the cafe for lunch.

We watched a sushi demonstration and David &Glenn volunteered for a little fun. ” Brad Pitt” and “Vin Diesel” had to catch an egg in their mouth. Success for the brothers and their prize…sushi. It was delicious!!

A game of Deal or No Deal…

A little onboard shopping … I didn’t end up getting the hat 😛

And a few games of shuffle board…

An afternoon snack ( warm peach crumble with hot vanilla sauce)

And a little more suntanning…

There’s just so much to do on SEA days!

And one of our favourite things to do every evening is dress for a fancy dinner and show! And to finish the evening…a little music in the atrium. It’s the PERFECT ending to the day.

Haha…Oh these little bitmojis are fun!

Goodnight from the middle of the ocean…sweet dreams

Cruising’

A cruising vacation! Ahh…

Heading out on the Norwegian Pearl this morning. This is our fifth cruise and the 4th time for us on this particular ship. It just feels like home ❤ The Norwegian Pearl just finished a 2 weeks refresh at dry dock in Miami. There are lots of new updated features and we are the first aboard to check it out. How exciting!!

Here is the itinerary…

And here are some pics…

We arrived bright and early at the Port of Miami and checked in and got our stateroom cards. We had to wait until 12:00 to embark. First stop the Great Outdoors for a bit of food. It was overcast and windy with intermittent rain, so the pools and furniture were tied down. After discovering a mechanical problem during rechecks and requiring a part, we were delayed in our sail away. We were scheduled for 4pm, the first ship to leave, BUT ended up being the last ship to finally leave port. Two Norwegian, Two Royal Caribbean, and a Disney Cruise ship all went ahead of us. There’s so much to do on a ship, and David finally had someone to play a game of chess as we watched the other ships leave port. Since it was rainy and not great for being outside to watch the sail away, we had a lovely dinner ( complete with LOTS of desserts), and enjoyed some great Classical music.

We ended our day being rocked asleep in our cozy refurbished stateroomBon Voyage!

And so it begins…

HELLO Mom & Dad

A couple days in Miami before our cruise means it’s opportunity to visit Mom & Dad Goode. They have been spending their winters in Cortez, Bradenton Beach area of Florida for the past few years.

We headed to the coast through the Everglades on the Tamiami highway. We saw lots of alligators and interesting birds but because we were short on time we didn’t stop for pictures. We decided to meet halfway on the west coast of Florida in a quaint little town called Matlacha (pronounced “mat-la-SHAY”)

Matlacha is one of five communities on Pine Island in the Cape Coral area. It is an “Old Florida” fishing village, home to many brightly colored art galleries, island boutiques, seafood restaurants, and traditional Floridian cottages. We ate at a wonderful spot the “Blue Dog” The shrimp tacos and key lime pie were delish! We spent the afternoon browsing the shops and catching up with Mom & Dad.