ESJ Towers Carolina

Dear Blog,

Today, we got up late. It is departure time for some people and embarkation time for others. As for us, we are staying put. We are here for another week having booked a back to back cruise (Southern and Western Caribbean) on Caribbean Princess. :)

This morning, it gave me time to reflect on my first week on board the Caribbean Princess. So far, it has been everything I dreamed of. Visits to exotic islands ...

... of the Spanish Virgin Islands that came highly recommended. Culebra is a magical little island. It is small and very hilly but full of little bays on all coasts, which make it a superb cruiser's stop. The main town of Dewey is a delight with many of its buildings colourfully painted and well maintained, while others are decayed a bit- our guess is it is on the rise as a tourist destination. We pulled up with our dinghy to the Dinghy Dock bar, a local favourite. We immediately met a long ...

... d gotten much more acclimated. Unfortunatly, the food leaves a LOT to be desired (cafeteria style slop basically), but thats a small price to pay for this experience! On Saturday we arrived in Puerto Rico and were cleared to get off the ship around 9:30. A bunch of kids I met and I got a taxi to the rainforest and hiked to some waterfalls and swam around which was really fun. When we returned we had the driver drop us off ...

... our plane taxied to the gate. We waited. I gathered my carry-on items and anxiously awaited release from my gas-filled aluminum tomb. Eventually, the pilot enlightened us on our plight. "The access code to open the doors to the terminal does not work. We are waiting for an engineer to override the code." We continued to wait. "The doors to the terminal are broken. Please disembark from the rear of the plane." We crossed 3 lanes of airplane ...

... hotel had all of the amenities you could need and then some. The recently remodeled decor was contemporary and the staff was very friendly. We ate at Yerba Buena that night at the recommendation of our guide book. The food and the service were exceptional, but a bit pricey. "Pricey" will be a reoccuring theme as we would come to realize. The next morning we rose at 4:45 for a Spelunking Adventure. We ...

... we were thrilled by the price. Our cab driver's name was Victor. He was in his late 20s, and also more informative than any of the organized tours. He got us to Fajardo and checked out the ferry departure times. He came back with news that the next ferry to Culebra didn't leave until 3pm. It was 12:30pm at the time. I should probably interject here that on the days the ship departs from a port, we students must be swiped in by 9pm, and ...

... has a lot of Spanish architecture and elements, which reminded me of some of the small towns in Italy. We are planning to go back to Viejo San Juan as soon as possible, to go to more museums and galleries and shops. Check out the photos that I put up so far (more will be coming today or tomorrow). As far as school news goes, I got a job as an English consultant and tutor at my school! I actually have to run to work now, so I'm off! Miss you all, Nicole

... near the end to rinse the buckets of sand off of me. The wind was blowing the sand all over us the whole time but it was still fun. We bypassed returning to the ship and threw our clothes on over our wet bathing suits and jumped in a cab to Old San Juan where we did a little shopping. We found a cute little Indian clothes store where each of the girls got something, I got a cute dress and a skirt. After some more shopping we headed back to the ship to shower and rinse all the ...

... the meat sauce. We stuck up a conversation with the couple at the next table and low and behold they were from Annapolis but in a hotel not on a boat. Small world. We learned that with the moon still bright and the swells still strong, a visit to the Bioluminescent Bays (Puerto Ferro and Puerto Mosquito) would not be well timed that evening. Disappointed once again, we realized we would need to revisit Vieques in the future. We moved Free Spirit around to Esperanza and ...

My first trip with my husband, Alan ... newlyweds with all the time in the world (in this case 1 week because of our crazy ass jobs). Got married the day before and overnighted close to the airport, flew to Puerto Rico in the early morning, clueless as to how to begin (sort of like a marriage .. you just go until you find your way I guess - hoping to never get lost).

Dropped off at the airport and hailed a ...