Sunday, March 27, 2011

Zion in March













Recently, we were in St. George and I availed myself of a hike to Observation Point in Zions National Park. The weather was more spring-like, but made for some nice pics and a great experience. I was on the trail early, being probably the first. If anyone doubts the wisdom of the govt. going with the shuttle system in Zions, just go there a couple of weeks before the shuttles start. (yes, I am paying the US Govt a compliment for this insight.)

So, if anyone is missing the scenery, here you go. For those that would like to take a hike . . . let me know.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

E. Caribbean Cruise

Pat and I had a great time on our recent cruise during the first week of March. We spent a 7 day cruise with stops in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.



We cruised on the Carnival Dream, the company's newest and biggest ship. 4200 passengers; 1500 employees.


When we stopped at Nassau, Bahamas we were parked by this "tiny" little yacht owned by some prince out of Saudi Arabia. Nice to see you gasoline purchases are going to a good cause.



Here we are at the huge Atlantis Resort in Nassau.




Of course, there are always a lot of fun things to do on the ship!



The Atlantis Resort from our stateroom.



This is the view from our stateroom balcony.



In St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), we took a catamarran excursion to Buck Island for a snorkeling adventure. Pat with her sister Sandy and her husband, Jim.



The gals are snorkeling in the Caribbean not a swimming pool as it appears.



Strolling through St. Thomas.



The harbor was congested with cruise ships and very expensive yachts.



In St. Maarten (the Dutch side. The other side of the island is owned by the French.



Sue and Gary Hughes.



Our St. Maarten excursion took us snorkeling again and unto a beautiful beach. These beaches are as nice as we have seen, including Hawaii.



The bathing beauties waving.



I had to take a picture of this yacht which is much bigger than the picture appears. When we were coming up to it on our catamarran, Patty and her sister thought it was another cruise ship. According to our captain it is the largest yacht in the world, costing $1.2 billion. Equipped with its own inboard submarine. Owned by some Russian dude (where do you suppose that money came from?) and he only uses it to shuttle himself between St. Maarten and St. Barth (a distance of about 7 miles)



We had fantastic servers in the dining room from Bali (Ni and Goosey)