24 | January | 2015 | Between my littles and me

28th Dec – Ship was docked at Keywest, Florida. We woke up early, stuffed ourself with yummilicious breakfast and stepped out to explore Keywest. We decided to take bath every night and dress up for dinner. It worked better as more time could be saved in the morning and after all day activities we went to bed fresh and clean. At Keywest, we have pre-booked shore excursions. What we found out later was that the onsite price was lesser than internet price. But it’s our purely a choice as booking in advance definitely gives a peace of mind especially at unknown places.

We first braved jet ski. M and LHB decided to take a ski at last minute and it was quite an experience. Adi asked me to go fast but the moment I tried to accelerate she asked me to slow down. LHB slept minutes after we started and M had a very tough time to ride the ski with a sleeping baby. We managed to reach first stop and return in one hour which was usually done by others in 7 minutes. There was a total of 5 stops. But we didn’t regret as there is only so much you can do with kids. I was glad that we all came back in one piece. M was not happy at all. He doesn’t like adventurous sports.

We then returned to the ship, ate lunch and got ready for the next adventure. Snorkeling it was. We were taken to the middle of sea in a sail boat. It was an hour long journey and I already felt like puking, sailing in open sea. M gave up the idea of snorkeling. Adi wore wet suits and all gears but gave up at last minute and yours truly was the only one to get into water. It was a pathetic experience. I was in water for exactly 3.5 minutes holding on to the rope all the time inspite of wearing life jacket, noodles and dipped my head in water to see the coral reef for less than one minute. Most of the time was spent in fighting with no so high waves and came up to the boat. The rest of the people spent around one hour in water and were going ohh and aah about all that they saw under sea. I was happy that I tried though it took another few hours for me to come out of the sea sickness. M was telling “idhu dhaan sondha selavil sooniyam” (rough translation – digging hole for yourself in your own hard earned money). My experience is that one should not have fear for water, should be comfortable in deep water and should be good with breathing techniques to enjoy snorkeling. It definitely needs moderate swimming experience even though they don’t have it as a pre-requisite. Atleast for deep water snorkeling. This is my experience.

We came back to the ship around 4pm, ate lightly and spent rest of the evening in jacuzzi and pool. LHB made some friends in jacuzzi and was the centre of attraction. Adi spent some of her time in kids club where she got to do scavenger hunt and play some games.

29th Dec – At sea. There were many activities planned in ship for today. Pool volleyball, M’s team played till semi finals. It was a game between qualified guests team vs captain’s team where the head of all departments played. Adi spent half day at kid’s club. Then, there was art auction, broadway style show in theater, fitness session, zumba class, ballroom dancing and many more. I heard that some cruise even have water park at top deck. You may check that while booking your cruise. We saw a giant water slide in disney cruise that was docked next to our ship in Bahamas.