Ahhh... The Honeymoon!
A week and a half after the wedding, we left San Diego for our much awaited honeymoon in the Western Carribean. We started the trip by flying to Miami, then driving down the Seven Mile Bridge to visit Anne's old stomping grounds in Key West, Florida.
While in Key West, we had a bite to eat at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Cafe, stopped by the Southern-Most Point of the United States, and put down a pint and mixed drink at Sloppy Joes Bar.
Before we left Key West, Anne sweet-talked the guard at NS Sigsbee into letting us on base to see her old house. As you might be able to guess from the picture, it hadn't changed much in 16 years.
Next, we swung by Anne's elementary school to see if any of her old teachers were there, but we were surprised not to see any students. Luckily, it was a staff development day, so we were able to visit with the only teacher of Anne's that was still working. To Anne's surprise, her third grade teacher remembered her for constantly getting in trouble for talking to her friend Thomas.
After leaving the school, we started on our journey back to Miami where our 7 day Carnival Cruise awaited us. But, we couldn't avoid stopping to get a picture of Anne's favorite sign in Florida...
After our shor stop in Key West, we headed back up to Miami and boarded the Carnival Ship Triumph. After a full day at sea, we arrived at our first port, Cozumel.
We spent the first part of the day on a Bike/Snorkel tour to Chankanab. Our tour guide, Octavio, led us on a bike path along the coast of Cozumel, then set us up with snorkel gear and set us free to check out the tropical fish.
We also met up with another couple, Cindi and Todd, on the tour from California. After we returned to the ship, we all grabbed lunch and headed back out to walk the streets of Cozumel. After we had visited enough shops, bought enough tourist gear, and consumed enough alcohol, we caught a cab back to the ship and headed off to our next port.
Ah, next we moved on to the beautiful Grand Cayman Island. This world known site for tax free banking is twenty miles across at its widest point, and contains a grand total of 730 banks!
We enjoyed a beautiful snorkeling trip off the cost of Cayman, one of the few places in the world where Anne could legally hold a wild sea turtle. They've become pretty abundant there, since they're raised and released from the nearby Tortuga Sea Turtle Hatchery.
We then headed off for a guided tour of the Island. We stopped off at the Tortuga Rum Factory, saw a house made entirely of Conch Shells, and went to Hell! Yep, that's right, they sent us straight to Hell, Grand Cayman.