MITSUGIRLY decides to CONQUEST new ports-complete pictorial review

[mitsugirly]

I love this picture Ro was able to get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember hearing the sounds of them working on the barge and in the water. It got dark around that area and the banging and clanging sounds meant we were headed to the beach area and would be there soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Land macro at it's finest! UGH!

 

 

 

 

 

Almost at the end of the dive...and I manage to pull off this picture...a macro ON THE UNDERWATER SETTING!! Really? At the end of the dive? I NOW find the right setting!

 

 

 

Then all of a sudden I see this.....

 

 

[WeAllLove2Travel]

 

 

 

 

 

DSD (WHAT IS DSD?) , ages 10 and up, can go down 40 feet. :D

 

 

 

She's scared of big dogs. I have no idea why and she's never had a bad experience with them. Weird right? NOT AT ALL! IM PSYCHO ABOUT BIG DOGS! I HAVENT HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE EITHER. THEYRE JUST SO INTIMIDATING!

 

 

Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just so tired.

 

NO WORRIES AT ALL! WE ARE THE OPPOSITE OF YALL. WE WAKE UP EARLY BUT WE GO TO BED EARLY! I AM A CRANKY MESS AFTER ABOUT 8:30PM! LOL. SO IS MY DD!

 

 

Definitely family bonding time. We try to do as much with her so that she will have many memories when we are gone. I scrapbook every single cruise as well and she looks at the books often.

 

THATS SWEET!! SHE WILL TREASURE THIS TIME ALWAYS!!

 

What I was worried about will be at the end of the dive.

 

I READ ABOUT IT! I WAS ACTUALLY RELIEVED THAT IT WASNT SOMETHING AWFUL! ILL HAVE TO GOOGLE TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT IT IS THAT SHE RAN INTO AND THE RAMIFICATIONS BUT GLAD SHES OKAY! SHES SUCH A LITTLE TROOPER!

 

Haha, you should try scuba. Even those that can't swim well can scuba. My youngest son (Kolin) and his (now ex fiance) tried scuba with us back in November and she is NOT a good swimmer. I've had to rescue her a few times (she comes from a family that is terrified of water and none can swim, so she was never taught). She was able to do scuba with ease and had absolutely no problems at all.

 

FUNNY YOU SAY THAT! IM TAKING SNORKEL LESSONS THIS SUMMER FOR OUR NOVEMBER CRUISE! THE INSTRUCTOR WANTS ME TO TAKE DIVE LESSONS AS WELL BUT I AM NOT A STRONG SWIMMER. SHE SWEARS IT DOESNT MATTER. YOUR POST MAKES ME FEEL ALOT BETTER! SUPER EXCITED FOR THE ADVENTURE. IM ALWAYS UP TO TRYING SOMETHING NEW ON VACATION AS LONG AS ITS SAFE! [emoji51]

 

 

 

 

 

Well hello to your hubby, a fellow Ohioan! Glad you decided to stick around.

 

 

 

 

ME TOO! [emoji4]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[WeAllLove2Travel]

Sorry. I put all my questions and replies (in all caps) in the body of your message for ease of read but it's harder to see. Sorry [emoji51]

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

Ok, leaving you with another cliff hanger...nothing bad. Something different for us that I've never seen/experienced.

 

Sakari is demanding food...imagine that...she thinks I need feed her. Where is my cruise omelette guy when I need him? We are off to get breakfast and I'll return in about an hour. :)

[mitsugirly]

So all of a sudden we seen this...

 

 

I've never been under a pier like this. I have always stayed away from pier areas when snorkeling because they are just eery to me and I know things can hide under there, like barracuda...although not a bad thing and we've swam around barracuda's plenty of times and they are curious creatures, but still...it's just a weird "look".

 

 

 

 

 

I approached with caution...it was a little dark. I didn't see much under there, as far as fish, but there was some coral attached to the piers and some of the ocean floor.

 

 

 

I also knew that there were pictures posted of sea horses in this area by Hans. I had hoped to see something under here, since our instructor didn't find us a sea horse during the rest of the dive.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Doesn't this look like something out of a scary movie?

 

 

 

Our instructor went on down the pier and I kind of stuck to the area we went in at. I still felt a little weirded out by it.

 

 

 

Looking into the unknown...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

Will you be going on the Conquest? Or is there another ship that goes there? I would like to go back, but want a different ship.

 

 

We will be on the Disney Fantasy. They are doing a special cruising this summer that is a 10 night cruise stopping at those islands. I got a REALLY REALLY good rate.....Like I saved around $6000 on the going rate for the room I am in....so it was hard to pass up. Every so often I can score a good rate like this...but not often.

[mitsugirly]

The one thing I found interesting about this area with very little fish is that there was some very colorful coral on the bottom. Not much, but a few very brilliant colors.

 

 

I guess I instantly forgot that underwater macro setting on my camera.

 

 

Well this was interesting...I had to explore this thing

 

 

Is that some type of clam? Or just part of the coral? I have seen this once before (at Half Moon Cay I think it was) and have never seen it again.

 

 

 

This thing was beautiful! Very colorful and florescent looking.

 

 

 

 

 

[tlw440]

Great review, great pics. I know you're not happy with some of the pics but they are great. Don't look at them as bad pics but as great memories. I love reading your reviews keep up the good work, I can tell it is a labor of love.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't long before I notuced Sakari was up at the top of the water again...but this time with daddy. I went up to investigate and found that she was complaining about her leg again and it burning. She wanted to head back. We were right around the corner from the beach area and we all decided it was time to get her back and get some vinegar on her leg to stop the burning.

 

Once we made it to shore, the instructor told me that I could remove my tank and he would carry it back for me. Thank goodness because I'm not so sure I could have made it out carrying that thing.

 

Now remember, I REALLY had to pee. Like really. I don't remember having to go this bad since I was pregnant and got stopped in traffic for over an hour trying to go to the zoo here at home. I kept telling the hubby I had to go...he kept saying...then go! I told him I had my wet suit on and I needed to get it off LIKE NOW! I was struggling. I have never had so many issues getting "undressed" as I did then. I was doing a dance. I was almost in tears. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. My stomach seriously hurt! I yelled "pull! pull! help me out!" Finally I was free of the wet suit and I watered the fish. The funny thing is, right before this cruise, there was an article posted on a social media scuba diving page I'm on and it was titled "Do you pee in your wetsuit". I read all the comments and everyone was talking about "how" this worked and laughing about coming up to shore and watching people peel away their wetsuit and it being "wet" inside from peeing. Others stated they liked the warmth. Others said it was gross and that you should never ever do this and how unsanitary it is...especially if it's a rental. Of course those that stated they had NEVER peed in their wet suit was ridiculed and told that EVERYONE had done it at least once while diving and they were lying if they said they hadn't. It was kinda funny to read all the comments...but for some reason, that kept going over in my head. Over and over...and I was going to be one of those that could actually say "I haven't". LOL

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Yes...its a clam.

The pink and yellow things is are types of sponge, as is the orange thing.

[jenseib]

Your review is AWESOME! I will be searching for your other reviews when I finish this one! Just for clarification as I am always trying to learn as much as possible about efficient ways to travel: so you used your cc to purchase Carnival gift cards and paid for your cruise with them AND you used the points that you earned from the purchase of those gift cards to purchase more gift cards so they could be used as OBC. In the meantime, if you buy the cards at a grocery store you get fuel saver points on top of all of that?! I'm cruising Disney in January for the first time. I still have a balance to pay in a few months. What you're saying is I should find a local retailer (I think I've seen ppl on cc say Costco sells Disney gift cards) and buy gift cards for the remaining balance and pay for that balance with the gift cards I purchased then use the cc points I got to purchase additional gift cards and use as on board credits for the cruise PLUS I'd get fuel saver points from Costco for gas so I'm WINNING all the way around?! Is that what you're saying?! Hopefully so!! Super excited about your answer. Lol. Thanks!!!

 

 

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Disney doesn't have gift cards on Southwest's rewards site. I sail Disney several times and I do buy my gift cards at Kroger so I can get fuel points then I am getting free fuel and earning more points for free air. There are other places people like to get Disney cards, like Target using their REd Card and I believe Cosco and Sams offers a small discount.

But if you don't pay your card off then it really isn't any bonus.

 

 

I don't want to sound like a snob but we've sailed on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival and i don't think theres any comparison as far as quality in every way Royal Caribbean had it all over Carnival

 

 

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I see you are new here....not sure why you are posting about Royal Caribbean in this review. She's not talking about RCCL and she hasn't said anything negative about them.

[ABQrobin]

yes....

 

there are two types of divers..... the ones who pee in their wetsuit, and the ones who lie about it.

it is actually a scientific fact, diving makes you have to pee because it forces the water in your body to disperse.

[mitsugirly]

As we finished up in the water, Sakari was on the beach collecting some sea glass and shells. She found quite a bit of sea glass, but for some reason when I took this picture, I didn't have them all. They must be in one of my folders. Notice...she also collected some glass that wasn't quite rounded yet.

 

 

We made it back to the truck and was putting everything into the back. I decided to head over to the pier and get some above water pictures.

 

 

This is the section we were under. Not so scary from up here right?

 

 

When someone is up here, and looking at the pier, you would just never think that it would look the way it does in my pictures. Just so eery under there.

 

 

It was now 12:33pm and we were in the truck and headed back to the "office".

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

Immediately Ro went and got Sakari some vinegar for her leg. She said she felt relief from the burning after that.

 

 

 

It does not look half as bad as the last time she was stung. The last time she had whelps. This was a little red and swollen, but not bad by any means. Maybe it was because so much time had passed and it had a chance to go down some?

 

 

I had made the comment that I wanted Ro to fill out our dive books. He said "oh yea, I can do that" and he took them with him to the "office". I also ask him if they have the "Bubblemakers" certificate like she received in St Thomas. He didn't really seem to know much about this and said he would have to check.

 

Meanwhile, I decided I would take more pictures of the place.

 

 

 

 

 

Loved this...I have seen many versions of it.

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Glad her sting wasn't too bad. I think every diver has touched fire coral at least once. Tell her she is official now.

[mitsugirly]

Inside the "office"

 

 

Remember me hearing the "splash of the bolder" sound when we first arrived here in the morning? Then Ro telling us the only pets they had there were some barracudas? Well, we found them.

 

 

He went off to get them some "food" and I took more pictures while we waited.

 

 

 

Also, when we returned, he filled the blue bucket up in this picture, to rinse everything off. He also filled a container up as well, which I didn't see him do.

 

 

After awhile, he said "if you want to rinse off in clean fresh water, it should be warm enough now". So I went over and started using the huge blue bucket, thinking that's what he was meaning. He started laughing at me and said "no, this container I just filled with water and sat in the sun. That's what you rinse off with" I think my face turned 3 shades of red and I, of course, played it off and said "Oh, I know, I'm just rinsing my camera's off"

 

 

 

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

mitsugirly ~ loving so many things about this review!!:D It's the Conquest which I'm going on in Oct., love the pictures, as always so beautiful, love those new watermarks, very creative! It's so great that you got to scuba as a family.

 

I think a land trip to Aruba is in order. ;)There's lots to see there, another dive over by the sunken warship, the rugged side of the island, beautiful beaches & of course you must find the turquoise lizard!

 

Are you considering the Escape for October or do you have something else in mind?

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[mitsugirly]

All of a sudden Sakari screamed with excitement and told me to "COME LOOK!!!"

 

She seen one of the biggest Lobsters I have ever seen. This thing was HUGE and the pictures don't do it justice. Like I have never seen one this big even in tanks where you eat. LOL

 

 

 

 

Also, several barracuda's came out to feed. These were humongous as well. Also some of the biggest I have ever seen before. I really wish you could tell from the pictures just how big they are.

 

 

 

Ro would give Sakari some "fish food" and she was feeding them. They were going after the food and she learned that if she threw it away from them, they would swim really fast down there and jump out of the water to get it making a really huge splash.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

Our limo for that day...

 

 

And all of our equipment

 

 

Sakari off taking pictures of the lizards...

 

 

...that she managed to catch again. This would be like the third time she managed to catch a lizard this cruise. I'm going to start calling her the lizard whisperer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Aww, look what I found!

 

 

You had to walk down the deck and over to one of the little huts hanging out in the water to get to the restrooms.

 

 

I found that the women's door would not shut and stay shut no matter what I did. There was a man standing outside of it, which I thought was weird, so I decided to try the men's restroom out. At least it shut and hey, I've been known to go in the men's restroom many times if I don't feel like waiting on the woman's or it's out of order. I'm not picky. I don't sit on the seat anyhow.

 

 

 

This was a very interesting place on down from the dive shop.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

That was one huge aloe plant!

 

 

 

Sakari was still hanging out with her friend when I returned.

 

 

Remember all the shells that Sakari liked that they had lined up along the deck? Well, she kept bringing them over to me and asking if she could have one. I told her that the ship would take it (many reports of this happening with Carnival lately and especially at Grand Turk). She begged and begged and eventually I gave in and she grabbed a fairly small one (about the size of her fist). I told her that if they took it from her at the ship when we got on, I was going to play dumb and act like I didn't know she had put it in there and she was not going to put up a fight about it. She agreed.

 

Then she brought over 2 small conch shells to pick from. She turned one of them over...it had a crab in it! Well, I guess that made the decision easy.