The Adventure of a Lifetime...

I had the opportunity to sail the Caribbean a couple of weeks ago, with 350 LDS Singles from across Utah and other parts of the country.  To say I had a blast is an understatement! It was by far the most amazing, awesome, fun trip I have ever taken, and not because it was a "singles" cruise. No sirree, it was so fun because of the wonderful people from the places we visited that I got to meet, the new friends I gained, the beauty of the earth I got to not just see but experience and the way I was able to really check out of day-to-day life and just live in the moment. I lost track of what day it was, what time it was, and the cares and worries that awaited me back home were a distant dream it seemed. Truly therapeutic. Ahhhh.....
I was anxious before the trip because I had never traveled abroad like this before and I really hate certain aspects of traveling. It took me a couple of days to warm up to the environment, crowds and people I was going to be with for an entire week. Oh, and I woke up with the stomach flu in the middle of the first night, which made our first "Day at Sea" a not-so-fun one. Thankfully a couple of kind new friends gave me a blessing, which helped a great deal. I looked at the bright side: 1 out of 7 days sick isn't as bad as it could be :) I was up and at 'em by the next day, hallelujah!!
My favorite thing was meeting one new person who lived in the places we visited. I got to meet one new brother or sister in Heavenly Father's, and therefore my, family that I never would have gotten the chance to meet since they lived almost a world away.  In Cozumel it was the shopkeeper of a little store in the Mr. Sanchos Resort. He and his family procured black coral which they made into beautiful works of art, one being a turtle necklace that I bought from him.  He told us about the coral, about his family, his life.
In Costa Maya it was a shopkeeper who took our picture.  In Grand Cayman it was the bus taxi driver who took us back to the port, a sweet woman with a beautiful smile and accent.  In Roatan it was the cab driver, Marlo, a 26-year-old, honest-to-goodness-guy who wanted to show us around the Island he loves so much after waiting patiently for over an hour for our ziplining adventure to be done. What a gift, what a blessing to get to meet more of our brothers and sisters from around the world. It made me feel at home wherever I went.
I kicked several things off my Bucket List, including:

1. Take a Cruise Ha ha, that was an easy one!

2. Visit a foreign Country Three, count 'em! Mexico, Honduras, Cayman Islands

Welcome to Cozumel!

Rainy Costa Maya

3. Ziplining We went EXTREME Ziplining in Honduras. 9 Lines, pouring rain, rust splattering our clothes. We were drenched and dirty but oh so psyched. So much fun!!!

                                                    The After shot...strong ladies!                 Jeanette and I after our exhilarating ride

4. Solo Karaoke Unforgettable by Nat King Cole

5. Jaywalk in a foreign country Okay, I admit that this one went on the list the moment we did it here in Grand Cayman, but hey, another one bites the dust! ;)

6. Snorkel in a reef I don't have a picture of this one, but it sure was beautiful! It was an amazing feeling to become a part of the world that lives beneath the sea, if only for an hour.  I really felt like I was a part of it, with fish of all different shapes, sizes and colors surrounding me. Wow! Next on the list...scuba diving! Time to become certified!

Some other fun tidbits from the trip:

Getting stung by a jellyfish in Cozumel. Yes, it's true! It hurt like heck but didn't last for too long. This one wasn't the one that did it (ha ha) but I absolutely LOVED coming back to our room and a different towel masterpiece each night. These cruise people are amazing, huh? We loved our waiter and the man who cleaned our stateroom, Valentine and Paul, respectively. They became like members of our family, and we theirs.

Gluten-free food! The food really impressed me, and I was in Heaven because the ship made their desserts gluten-free. I would've been majorly depressed if I couldn't have partaken of the chocolate molten lava cake! The pancakes sure were interesting, more like crepes or 100 sheets of rice paper put together, and they were devilishly hard to cut through but they worked for me!

Theme nights! 80's night was just rad and Western Night was a barrel o' fun. Yeehaw!

                                                           Four DDI Girls: Jeanette, Cherice,                Cherice and I with new friends 
                                                                                                              Janae and I                                                  Elicia and Kim

Turtles! I discovered my favorite animal (yes, I know turtles are amphibians!) is a turtle, and I bought sooo many turtle things on this trip it was insane! There were more I wanted badly but held myself back and took pictures of some of them instead. If I'd taken pics of all of them, you'd probably have 100 pictures in front of you!

Some of my favorite pics

                                               Beautiful, green Roatan                            Waves on the side of the ship

                                                 My favorite place!                                     at night. Kind of looks like 

                                                                                                                             Northern Lights, huh?

New Friends!

                                                      Mindy, Annie, Corinne             Elicia, Lisa, Kim, Jeanette, Cherice and I

                                                             Jon, Cherice, Craig and I                    Buds Eric and Erik

Laugh out loud moments...

                                                   Lisa and I saw these and couldn't                      The shopkeeper who took this picture
                                                                  resist. We were going for the straight                     said "Say 'Tequila'!" Which is why  

                                                  faced look, but I couldn't do it and                            we have our mouths open like so.

                                                                       couldn't stop laughing. The tears                           It's become my new picture-taking

                                                                              would not stop flowing.                                            catch-phrase. "Tequila!"

This was an experience of a lifetime and I can't wait to do it again.  Yes, again! Next year there will be another cruise and for those of you LDS Singles out there reading this, if you want the hook-up for it, talk to me and we'll get you in on it come this fall. 

Most of all, I thank the Lord for this amazing experience and the new friends and memories I've made that will keep me smiling, laughing and joyful for the years to come. 

Adios amigos!

Robyn