Back From the Islands

Wow, has it been eight days already?  Talk about time flying when you're having fun...  We made it back early on Wednesday afternoon from the sunshine and breeze of the islands, to the drizzle and chill of Nashville.  But even though the weather sucked, it was nice to be home.

Long story short--I had an absolute blast, as expected.  Also, we ran into Hurricane Tomas in our travels, and our itinerary got changed in mid-stream.  So no, we never made it to St. Lucia.  And even though we actually made it into the harbor in St. Kitts, it was so windy and choppy that the captain gave up on docking the ship after a couple of failed attempts.  So we didn't go there, officially, either, although we got tantalizingly close.  Instead we high-tailed it back north, out of the hurricane's path, and spent the last two days of the cruise at Grand Turk and Nassau.  (Never been to the Turks & Caicos before, been to the Bahamas several times).  It was kind of a bummer at first, but we still had a lot of fun.

Once we got finally got back to the house, we realized how exhausted we were.  We dragged all the luggage in, played with the puglets, and ordered some pizza.  Then everyone spent the rest of the afternoon dozing...  And even though I had a four-hour nap, I'm still pretty tired.  I got more exercise and pushed myself much further in the past week than I thought I could.  It was good for me, but man, it took it's toll.  I didn't 'overdo it' so much as I just stretched the envelope as far as what I had the strength to do.  But that was a good thing--I feel 1000% better now than I did when I left.  Almost back to 'normal'.  All that fresh fruit, exercise, sunshine, and tropical breeze is not only good for the soul, but pretty damn good for the body, too!

Anyhow, I'll write up a more detailed post later, probably starting on it Thursday (pray for more rain, reclickers--that'll keep me indoors!), with a bunch more pictures.  But in the meantime, here's a little taste for you. (Clicky for full-sized goodness)

Sunrise at sea, as seen from my balcony

St. Maarten, first thing in the morning

Our ship, the Carnival Miracle, and the Holland America Eurodam, sharing a dock in Grand Turk.  Frankly, I'm surprised that this picture turned out so well because I was two orders of magnitude beyond f*cked up when I snapped this photo.

More soon...

Mikey