Boo to the Halloween on the Highs Seas Crew Oct. 2016, Fantasy Trip Report

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Our head server came over tonight to cut up Claire’s meat. I think she was embarrassed.

 

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And then he fed her a bite! LOL.

 

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Another fancy salad for me.

 

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And I ordered my favorite…Shrimp, scallops and pasta. The pirate menu had recently changed but this was still on there. Unfortunately it was not as good as it has been in the past. I am not sure if it was just that particular plate or if they changed the recipe somewhat?

 

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Ferdi made some napkin hats for the kids.

 

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Luke was my buddy tonight since his parents were not there. Vicki sat by Jude and helped him, and I think Violet skipped dinner and was at the nursery. Luke basically doesn’t eat. His mom is a pediatrician and she has tried everything, but he just doesn’t eat much. So we found a few things he liked on this cruise and he would eat some of it….then we would just pick it up and shove some in his mouth when he wasn’t paying attention. LOL.

 

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He loved his hat.

 

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The photographer came around and took pictures of us.

 

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And of Geoff and the girls too.

 

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Notice that Abby is wearing the costume that Claire and Alexis wore last time we all cruised....this one was Alexis'. At first Gail couldn't find it when we were packing but I told her I still had mine if she needed it. On our first family cruise, Abby had worn one of Claire's old costumes.

 

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Then time for dessert….I can’t remember what this was.

 

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One of the girls got nothing.

 

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Abby and the boys headed off to the kids club half way through the meal. We wanted to get pirate shots, but we ended up doing it without Abby. It was better to let her play since she loved the clubs so much.

 

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Rob was using his prop…aka kids cup from dinner…in every pose he could think of.

 

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I think Gail got in another line to get some of her and Rob and Claire and I also got a few more too.

 

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Amanda took a couple of us as well.

 

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At dinner we had talked about the fireworks but didn’t want to fight the crowds. I told them that I was going to watch from my balcony as they are shot on that side of the ship. Technically you are not supposed to, but many people do it. I had the only room on the starboard side so several family members were going to come to my room to watch them.

 

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We stood out there and waited and waited and waited. Rob was doubting me now. Alexis and Abby both laid down and were practically falling asleep.

I kept telling them all to wait and pointed to the area to look for them…and I was right!

 

 

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We had a fantastic view of them and only had ourselves there to deal with. And the rooms on both sides of me were also out watching too. LOL.

 

Rob said in the future we needed to have at least one person be on this side of the ship as this was much better than dealing with the crowds.

 

All the kids were so tired…well except Claire who is a night owl, so everyone left.

 

 

Claire and I got ready for bed and watched a bit of TV. Tomorrow was another port day for us…St. Thomas…and this was the one I was looking most forward to.

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Oct. 26, 2017, Wednesday, Day 8

 

St. Thomas

 

Another early day for me.

 

Good morning St. Thomas!

 

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Over the years as I have read trip reports about different people cruising and the ports they visit……St. Thomas was always one I dreamed of visiting someday. Today was finally that day.

 

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I just love this blue water!

 

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It was a gorgeous sunny morning.

 

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We had our breakfast and I was a bad reporter and did not take pictures. We gathered at our meeting spot….again I believe it was at the Tube. A few times people had to run back to the room to grab this or that, but we had plenty of time. Our group today consisted of Claire and I, Geoff, Gail, Rob, Abby and Alexis, and Katie, Thad and Jude.

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Once everyone had been checked in we were led off the ship.

 

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And we just played follow the leader and walked and walked and walked.

 

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Geoff and I were talking and I told him that Mariah Carey was the Godmother to the Fantasy……we had seen Mariah Carey in the Macy’s parade last year….and then I went on to say that I can’t stand Mariah Carey. LOL. The people walking in front of us turned around and laughed…I said sorry and they said they agreed. Hahaha.

 

We were led to a pirate ship which was going to take us out snorkeling today.

 

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We got seated and it wasn’t long before we were heading out.

 

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This boat was pretty rocky and Gail started feeling sick instantly. I felt so bad for her. She is prone to seasickness but when taking meds she is usually ok on the big ship. We never thought what this little boat would do to her. She said “OH, I should have never come”….and I wished I could help her. I knew it was going to be along day, most spent on this boat or in the water.

 

She moved to where she could feel air better and I told her to take a second bonine since she only took one that morning. I asked one of the crew if they had ginger ale and they did not, but the gal (I no longer remember any of the crews name, but they were fabulous!), got Gail a bag of ice and told her to hold it on her neck. Gail said this helped immensely and though she wasn’t feel totally well, she could bear it.

 

We finally reached out snorkeling destination and were given quick instructions and then we jumped in.

 

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This was Geoff’s first snorkeling experience.

 

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At first I was slightly disappointed. There didn’t seem to be much to see, but they told us we may see turtles.

 

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And then we did!!!

 

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Just one guy, but I followed him around for a bit.

 

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And as you can see I kept snapping away.

 

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He came up for a breath of air….so cute.

 

 

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I missed his head going above….people kept getting in the way.

 

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And back down.

 

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This was great…but I could only take so many turtle pictures before it would become boring.

 

 

The girl from the crew had been pointing out where the turtle was going and now that we got our fill she told us to swim over to the reef….OK, I am a bit more excited now.

 

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Now I don’t know the technical names of fish and sea creatures…but I know we saw Dory fish (Tangs), parrot fish and sea urchins and cucumbers, tube things, fans, and coral and other fun stuff like that. Feel free to name things for me.

 

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I was very impressed with my camera down here. It was the first time I really got to try it out. I had used it last summer in Jamaica while snorkeling but the water was so rough that I had a lot of trouble that day and didn’t get anything good.

 

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Claire

 

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Some video that will make you sea sick.

 

 

At parts the reef was really close to the surface and I scratched my foot on that yellow coral…that hurt!

 

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Claire once again!

 

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We had the option to use flippers or not and Claire and I chose not to.

 

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Rob…who looks dead.

 

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It was cool to see a sand dollar.

 

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Continuing with more pictures.

 

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This was the most variety of creatures I had ever seen snorkeling.

 

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There were just so many colors…..orange, yellow, blue,red, purple, black…it was amazing!

 

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Taking a peek above water.

 

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Every so often I would have to look up to be sure Claire was around and that I wasn’t too far from the group. I got so lost what was going on underneath me it was hard to remember that I was there with family.

 

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One of the crew hollered that there was an octopus so I went in search of him…and found him. He was a fast moving guy though and hard to keep up with him.

 

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Every so often he would stop and blend in with his surroundings. It was just amazing. I kept trying to get pictures to see if I could capture him. I think some are failures while others I succeeded.

 

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Bottom left in the picture above.

 

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See how he has changed color in this next picture?

 

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I know in some of these pictures I posted he was blended in with the bottom but I can’t seem to see him now. I did though when I edited them and was just amazed at how well he could hide himself.

 

 

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And now he is in more open water and harder to hide.

 

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That was such a cool sighting.

 

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I think that is Claire.

 

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A snorkel selfie.

 

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Abby was using a noodle to help stay up. She did a lot of complaining. LOL. She liked what she saw but she said it was hard work. She had been practicing snorkeling all summer long in swimming pools and was actually very good at it, but out in the ocean it was slightly harder and you can’t take breaks.

 

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