I'm Still Here!

Ready for Cave Tubing in Belize!

Hello loyal readers, it is I, back again, after quite a bit of time off.  Lets see, what have I been up to?  Well, my lovely wife Kimberly and I bought a house, no big deal, just you know, a HOUSE!

Oh and we went on a once in a lifetime Caribbean vacation with her family, THAT was fun, the only thing missing was my sons.

I started a new job, doing the same thing, just at a different yet-to-be-assigned desk.

So that is what I have been up to, more on the house at a later time, we don't own it yet, so I don't want to jinx anything, so let me tell you a story about my trip.

Who would have thought the most nerve-racking part of the entire trip would be one of the most memorable.  We planned a couple excursions on the cruise we took, one of which was a pleasant relaxing day in Roatan, Honduras at an amazing beach.  The description of which was that we would be bussed over to a beach, have our own designated lounge chairs, have shopping and snorkel equipment available, and then, when we were ready to return to the ship, there would be shuttles running every 30 minutes.  Sounds good right, nice and relaxing.....

Some of the fish we swam with

So it started as advertised, we took a nice bus ride over to an amazing beach.  Rented some gear, hit the water, and had the most amazing snorkeling I have ever experienced.  We saw thousands of fish as we swam along a barrier reef.  I was in awe of the beauty of the world beneath the water, it was breathtaking.

We returned to the beach, and I found my lounge chair in the shade, and got my relax on.  We had our own security guy, watching all our stuff, and making sure that the vendors left us alone if we didn't want to buy their wares.  One "vendor" was offering a boat trip for the group to go snorkel with dolphins, he even guaranteed that we would see dolphins, or we didn't have to pay him.  He said the trip would last about an hour, we had close to 2, so 6 people from our group headed out.

I made sure my lounge chair wasn't moving anywhere, there was a live band playing cover tunes in the distance, the women all went to visit the shops, and I drifted off to sleep, it was great.....

Huge Starfish, looks like Patrick!

Suddenly I woke to an announcement over the PA system saying "Attention, the final shuttle will be leaving in 15 minutes".  I decided it was a good time to pick up, joint the group, and head back to the ship.  One problem, the 6 people that left were nowhere to be found.

Panic immediately set in, and made itself as comfortable as I was in my chair.  The girls were there, and we stood wondering where the adventurers were.  Meanwhile, they were calling for the final passengers.  We were screwed in my opinion.  They held the shuttles as long as they could, but the time came that they had to let them go.  Still no sign of the group, and I was freaking out.  We had let the ones with all their stuff go back to the ship on the last shuttle.  We figured if we needed to get a cab it might be cheaper.

Just when I was about to hyperventilate, my wife told me that there was one more shuttle that was used to get the employees back to town, and that they would hold that one for us.  I was able to breathe a little as we waited, and waited, and waited.  Then the man who seemed to be in charge said "I'm sorry, but we have to leave in 10 minutes", queue my troubled breathing...

Somehow, the dolphin boat made it back, our group was literally running back, we piled on the employee bus and were on our way.

Now I am not saying we were breaking the law speed wise on our way back, because I never saw a speed limit sign, but the guy was driving the bus like he stole it.  We "slowed down" 3 or 4 times to let employees off so they could get home or to their other jobs, and I mean slowed down, not stopped.

Just when I was feeling better about our chances, we completely stopped.  There was an accident, and the barely 2 lane road was jammed, horns honking, people standing around.  No one outside our bus knew the urgency of the situation, and I couldn't breathe again.  Just then a guy jumped off our bus, ran up to the police car that just showed up, yelled at him, and made him get out of OUR way, he then stopped traffic and got our bus around the mess, and my breathing back on track, a little.

So we finally made it to the port, and we all flew off the bus and started hustling to the ship.  Now I am relaxing a little, but that would be short lived.  We had to walk through the Duty-Free shops to get to the ship, and wouldn't you know it, Kim and Keara decided that it was a great time to stop and shop!  My Brother-in-law and Niece decided they needed ice cream, and I decided that they were all NUTS!

I stood there for a second, and told my lovely wife Kim, that I would meet them in the room.  Yes I left my family there so I could board the ship!  I was hoping that my great display of urgency would wear off on others and they would follow suit, but they just let me go, they had things to shop for, ice cream to eat.  I just went back to my room, curled up shaking in the fetal position, and cried like a baby, it's what I do!

So there it is, much more dramatic than I can express in words, probably not as dramatic as I made it out to be, and very memorable.  Overall, much better than getting robbed in Jamaica!

Well, I better go pack, got a house to move into!  Woo-Hoo!

Peace,

Woody