Vacation Cruise part 4: Costa Maya & Florida

BY SKEETER

 It remains cold on and off here in my GEORGIA GARDENS so we shall continue flashing back to the warmer days of our early winter vacation. We always take Carnival Cruise lines as we enjoy the "Fun Ships" in their fleet plus, the price is always right!

 Each evening while we are out to dinner, the crew pulls back our bed covers and we find a cute towel animal, chocolates and the next days schedule of events.  

 For us animal lovers, it is always fun to see what we will have next. A challenge at times to figure out what the critters may be. No doubt, this is a frog. 

 Our favorite on this cruise had to be the monkey! He had on the beads from our Mardi Gras party in the atrium and was hanging from above the vanity! How stinking cute. 

 This little piggy was so kicked back.

 The bunny peeking from behind the pillow was adorable.

 No worries this ray will sting.

 And a cute elephant.

 Our last night, the towels became a Heart!

 This ship, being the "Dream" has a huge TV on the Lido deck above a pool. On this day, they were broadcasting a football game. Hey, after all it was the play offs so to be expected for football fans Saturday and Sunday. In the evening they had a movie playing with popcorn a popping. In the morning, they were playing fun shows such as "Happy Days" The "Honeymooners" etc. There was always something playing on the TV but we did not have time to watch as we were too busy doing other fun things or relaxing with a Ocean View...

 On the last day of Excursions, we found the Lido Deck had been taken over with critters!

 A gorilla was sitting next to a Mommy and her baby seal.

 A dog to the left and I am not sure about the others. What do you think? 

 I believe this is the family section as I see little ones.

 I love the way the little gorilla has a baby sibling!

 Whales or Sharks? Or maybe Whale-Sharks!

 Shrimp! As you can see it was a rainy day and thank goodness we did not have an excursion planned.

 We were docked at the Costa Maya, Mexico port. There is a shopping area at the port so we checked it out when the rain let up. We were captivated at this artist painting with nothing more then his fingers! I would have purchased one but we have too much "stuff" as is so I backed away.

 A lot of shops at the ports are pretty much Rip Off prices but this shop was priced to sell! It was so colorful making us want to purchase something.

 I loved these Flamingos but did not purchase one. The only thing I purchase while on trips these days is Magnets for my Magnet Boards! The Saint loves this idea and helps me pick out the small magnets. But we do enjoy looking at all the neat fun things in other countries.

 We ended up at the Barmacy.

We had a snack and a couple of drinks then the winds started to howl and the rains fell. So we ran back to the ship with about 1,000 other people and yes, we were all soaking wet! But everyone of us were laughing as we ran. We were lucky as we came across Fun Friendly, Easy going people with all of our excursions. Our partners in crime came across a few "crazies" but they made for good stories once we all met up for dinner each evening.  

Sadly, the last of our beautiful ocean sunsets was upon us. Amazing how quickly 7 days passes when on a cruise.

The "Dream" sailed out of Port Canaveral, Florida. Our group of 6 friends decided we would stay an extra night in Florida as we did not want our vacation to end. We could see the NASA Space Center from the ship. One Couple took a tour of NASA. Another Couple went to the beach and ended up going to a Time-Share Seminar as they are interested. They ended up with $50 for their time! Yes, it started out a nasty looking day but did clear up later on.

 The Saint and I took off to Jetty Park for some Geocaching! We had no idea what to expect with this park but wow, it was Awesome! Click HERE to learn more.

 This bird was near the Cache spot to greet us.

 He/She was actually looking for handouts from fisherman! While there, we ran into the woman which had placed the Cache! She was fishing and we chatted with her for a bit then moved on to find more treasures.

 The Beach was beautiful and pretty much all ours!

 The sun was warm but no humidity and perfect to this gal.

The Saint found a few Sea Shells for me.

 We also found a couple Caches near our hotel.

 Manatee Sanctuary Park was a beautiful park. Click HERE to learn more.

  The works of Art within the park were really neat.

We were sadden to have a final glimpse of our ship from the park, without us aboard. Sigh... Several different ships sail from Port Canaveral.

 After our Geocaching was over, we decided to check out Cocoa Beach. We spotted a sign which said Pier and followed it.

 We found a really neat Pier on the Beach. Click HERE for more.

 We grabbed a hot dog and enjoyed some entertainment of Volley Ball and a Bi-Plane passing over head.

 The local Humane Society was having a "Take your dog to the Beach" Event so we enjoyed all the fur babies as well. The Santa Hat was a reminder that even though we had on shorts, Christmas was just around the corner for us!

 The Beach was so clean and beautiful and no crowds! Our kind of day at the beach. This was our first visit to this area and we both agreed that we could live there as it did not seem like too much of a touristy place. Maybe our friends will get that Time Share and share with us.  

As we drove back to Georgia, we had a beautiful sunset ending our wonderful vacation! The sky in front was full of pinks and purples and tapered off to the left then opened back up to a bright Red-Orange!

The sky looked as though it was on fire! Yes, bare trees, we are no longer in the Tropics. Sigh...

Farewell my friends (partners in crime) until the next cruise! Yes, you can dress up but you cannot take the Crazy out of Friends on the Fun Ship!

 

I hope this series of Posting have entertained or at least warmed you up a bit. Little did I know during this vacation that I would be returning to one of the coldest winter's ever, In the Garden... 

 

**Special Thanks to "S" for letting me post some of your photos!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden