Pura Vida: Cruising...

July 20th, my friend Jessica and I set sail on the Carnival Dream from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Due to Carnival's recent cruise records, a small prayer was sent out that we would not encounter any mechanical malfunctions, or stranded ships. We had seven days of sun, sand, tanning, and relaxing awaiting us. The weather was great, the entertainment was endless, and we left with beautiful, Caribbean tans. Four ports of call were on the schedule:

Cozumel, Mexico - At our first port of call we booked an excursion that took us to a Mayan Civilization, and then to a beach resort for a couple hours of snacks and sun.

Waiting for our guide, Jose to gather the rest of our group.
Our new friend took this picture, along with the next. He was very proud of himself for knowing how to use the camera.

Isla Roatan, Honduras - Our second port of call was on an island off the coast of Honduras. We planned a day at the beach. I found my new, favorite kind of chair lift, one that takes you to a beach rather than the top of a snowed covered mountain. We rode our "flying" chair to the beach, hopped off, grabbed our floatie mats and were escorted to our lounge chairs. The rest of the day was spent, floating in the beautiful water, and soaking up the sun. Perfect.

Riding our "flying" chair to the beach.

We asked a lady to take our picture. She was a Mother of girls our age, and decided to give us our own personal photo shoot. You can see the rest of our pictures in the photo album, here.

Belize - Snorkeling and a small, private island awaited us. Our boat picked us up directly from the ship, along with many other people. A short boat ride took us to the reef, we were handed our snorkeling gear, and we jumped in. Clear water filled with many pretty fish. After our snorkeling, I helped an older lady back on the boat, nothing life-saving, just offering a little help. After some rum punch, my little bit of help turned into her claiming I saved her life. Jessica and I were entertained by this woman, watching her embrace the adventure, consuming as much free rum punch as possible, and dancing with every college guy she could find.

Jessica enjoying a cup of coffee on our room's balcony.

Costa Maya, Mexico. Our final port of call. We did not plan anything at this stop, just a bit of shopping at the port, then returning to the ship to enjoy some sun time with fewer people onboard.