Cruising the Caribbean

Dave and I just recently got back from a trip of a lifetime! We took a 7-day cruise out of Puerto Rico and visited 5 islands in the Caribbean - St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. It was our first cruise and we loved it! The one downside to a cruise though is that you don't get enough time on each island. But we tried to maximize our time as much as we could (YOLO!).

We flew in to Puerto Rico first and spent a few days there before boarding the cruise ship. We stayed at the El Conquistador which I highly recommend if you go to Puerto Rico (thanks to the recommendation from my brother and sister-in-law). The first excursion we did was kayaking in the Bioluminescent Bay at night, which was amazing! This bay is filled with micro-organisms that glow when there is movement. The fluorescent glow from these microorganisms was magical! Even our paddles would glow in the water. It was pretty cool. Our second excursion we did was exploring the El Yunque Rainforest. It was the most beautiful rainforest I have ever seen. It kind of reminded me of Kauai. While we were there, we had a downpour which was so fun to experience since we were in, you know, a legit rainforest! The last thing we did was visit the San Felipe fort in Old San Juan on our way to the cruise ship. We didn't get to go through the fort but we drove by and took a picture at least! Old San Juan is a pretty cool historical town to explore if you have time to walk around. We wish we weren't so rushed but we were happy with what we got to see. Other things we did were relax at the resort's private island called Palomino Island and spent a few hours at the resort's water park. Overall, our Puerto Rico experience was one for the books. I would definitely go back there in the future!

DAY 1

Once we boarded the ship, the first island we stopped at was St. Maarten. We went to Maho Beach which is famous for being so close to the airport. It was so crazy to watch plane after plane land or take off right above our heads! We literally got blown away at one point... it was comparable to a sandstorm. No joke. Then we walked over to Mullet Bay which was a beautiful beach with white sand and clear, turquoise water. We were in heaven just relaxing there the rest of the day.

DAY 2

St. Kitts was the second island we cruised to. I'm not going to lie, this island doesn't have too much to offer. The beaches were dirty and the water wasn't that great. We took a scenic drive to Reggae Beach and on the way we stopped at a point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea on either side of the mountain. It was pretty cool to see.

DAY 3

Our third stop was Antigua. This was one of my favorite islands! The beaches are amazing and the water is that perfect, clear Caribbean water. We took an excursion to swim and snorkel with the stingrays which was fun. I can't believe how slimy and smooth these stingrays were! And I didn't realize how big they are in size! We loved it. Just in case you are wondering, stingrays don't actually sting you unless you step on them. We then went to an amazing white sand beach after and swam in the water for hours, which was heavenly.

DAY 4

St. Lucia was also one of our favorite islands. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful this island is. We took a boat to snorkel at the famous Pitons which are large, pointy mountains the island is known for. We loved seeing the colorful fish (although I wish there was more!) and taking pictures of the scenery.

DAY 5

Our last stop was Barbados. This island has some awesome beaches. We stayed at this beautiful beach all day and swam in the water. A perfect way to end our island hopping.

After returning back to Puerto Rico, we planned ahead to meet up with some of our best friends who live in New York City, Scott and Kylee, at Luquillo Beach. We had to meet at a halfway point since we were in San Juan and they were staying at the El Conquistador in Fajardo. We had fun catching up with them and going jetskiing! Coincidentally, we had some rain and wind when we first started jetskiing but luckily it stopped. Let's just say we got some air on our jetskiis with those big waves! Then we had lunch before Dave and I headed to the airport. We at our favorite Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo which is a plantain dish and is really good with chicken or shrimp.

It was nice being in vacation mode for 10 days, but it is nice to be back in reality again. Although, I am already daydreaming about our next vacation. I'm thinking Thailand or Greece, what do you think?