Cruising from NYC

We went on a cruise!! We sailed on the Carnival Splendor to the Eastern Caribbean from New York City. Not only was it a close port to sail from, the timing over Memorial Day meant that for an 8 night cruise we only had to take 4 days vacation from work. Bonus!

So on Saturday morning we got up early, headed to the train station and took the 2.5 hour ride down to Penn Station. A quick taxi ride (rather too quick, actually) to the cruise terminal and it was time to check in. We arrived around 11, and they weren't letting people through security yet but we didn't have to wait long to get screened and get boarding zone 2. Check in was next and this was probably the most problematic part of the whole cruise, due to me not having an American passport and the computer system being partially broken. Anyway, after having 4 people trying to check me in it finally worked, we got our sign & sail cards (your room key and how you pay for everything) and waited to get on the boat.

I think it was around 12.30 when we headed on board and went straight to get lunch (avoiding all the yummy desserts and things and getting a salad) and did some exploring while it was still kind of empty. We were able to put our carry on bags in the room after lunch and have a tour of the spa. We were all the way down on the 1st level (the lowest level for guest cabins) and near the back of the ship. It worked out great through. Being low we never really felt much motion even when it was a little rough.

The main lobby and atrium. The ship was quite pink!

The Carnival "Whale Tail" in the rain.

Matt getting the feel of one of the spa treatments. It lowered you down to float in warm water. Not sure it was very relaxing though!

Eventually we got to the muster drill, where they show you where your lifeboats are and how to put on a life jacket. It was packed and people were unable to shut up so it took a while, but at least it wasn't hot. In fact it was pretty chilly and raining all day. Not what you want to enjoy the Manhattan skyline from the boat. We ended up leaving about an hour late, but that meant we missed the worst downpour.

To give you an idea of the wind... here's Matt posing by the Statue of Liberty...

And here's me...

.... looks like my hair is trying to do the arm in the air pose! It was still great to enjoy the skyline and because of the weather it meant hardly anyone was outside so we didn't have to fight for photo space.

Manhattan from the Hudson - I like the dark clouds.

Looking back at downtown from the harbour

They had maps on the tv's showing where you were. That's a lot of "Dumping Grounds" and the well confined zone of "Chemical Wastes" is quite disturbing?!

We did some more sailing after we got out of the harbour and enjoyed dinner, where we shared a table with 4 other people who were great. Food was good and plentiful. They had a regular menu that was the same every day and a daily menu. We almost exclusively ate from the daily menu, including the "didja ever" dishes like alligator bites, escargot, frogs legs and shark and langoustine rolls. Yum!

After dinner (while enjoying the two bottles of wine we brought aboard and the free bottle of champagne as a booking bonus) we watched (and one of us participated in) karaoke. This was followed by the adult comedy show. The comedy was probably the best entertainment of the cruise and the first guy, was brilliant.

After a long day it was to the room for my first time sleeping at sea. I took a seas sickness tablet just in case but I didn't have any problems. I didn't take a picture of the room but it was surprisingly spacious and I'm glad we paid more for an oceanview. It was nice to see out and know when it was daytime!

Time for two days at sea to get down to the Caribbean. More to come!

Here we are in front of One World Trade Center.

Myrtle Beach Day 2

Sunday started with some beach time for me and Matt. We headed to Myrtle Beach state park, just south of the main hotel/free beach area. First stop was a walk along the nature trail, which delivered in it's nature promise! Various birds, lizards, both legless and ones like this fellow. This one was huge although I know it's hard to tell from the picture

Red Headed Skink

Unfortunately most of the animals we encountered were pesky mosquitoes, so it was kind of a sprint nature trail as they were very hungry apparently. The trail came out a little way down the beach and we had this lovely view:

Myrtle Beach State Park

Watch out little bird

We hung out on the beach for a while. The water was pretty chilly, we only went in up to our knees! I was satisfied sitting on the beach and watching the pelicans and other birds fly by while Matt strolled the beach looking for shells and other things.

Jellyfish!

There were lots of washed up jellyfish along the beach and I was always told not to touch them even if they are dead but Matt didn't follow my advice. He was fine though! After a stroll along the beach we picked up Matt's parents and headed back south to spend the afternoon at Brookgreen Gardens. It's a huge garden area filled with various sculptures from American artists, started by the couple whose house we visited the day before.

The gardens were nice and some of the sculptures were quite lovely. We did a sculpture tour which was a little more detail than I needed to know but I enjoyed the gardens and all the Spanish moss on the trees. Very southern! 

Spanish moss

Golden sculpture

Huge (close to full size I imagine) Don Quixote sculpture

The gardens also had a zoo type area with a big bird atrium you could walk through, alligators, eagles, owls amongst others. I think I was most fascinated by the giant, slightly evil looking local squirrels though. Don't they look mean?!

Giant mean squirrel

We were flying out that evening so after a quick game of mini golf on one of the what seemed like hundreds of mini golf places (I kept up the Martin family name by winning of course) we headed to the airport and back to Albany after a fun weekend.

Hello from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

Myrtle Beach Day 1

A few weeks ago, ok a month, we went down to Myrtle Beach South Carolina for the weekend to meet up with Matt's parents. We arrived on Friday evening, had a delicious dinner and prepared for a busy weekend.

Saturday started with a bike ride. I'd never ridden the bikes where you have to peddle backwards to brake but after a while of my hands searching for brake levers I finally figured it out. It was a nice few mile ride to Huntington State Park and an Atalya house at the beach.

The ride included going across a kind of causeway with lots of wildlife to see. I think this was my first wild gator!

Please don't eat me - s/he was close to the shore

Great Blue Heron (I think)

 The old (this is all relative, it was built in the 30s) was interesting, especially seeing where the animals were kept. The lady of the house was a famous sculptor and did lots of animals. We couldn't stay long as we had to ride back to get the bikes back by a set time.

At Atalya House. we couldn't walk up to the top deck :-(

After the bikes were returned it was off to Georgetown (south of Myrtle Beach) for a boat ride out past a lighthouse to an island. Keeping to the animal theme of the day we saw 3 bald eagles... my first wild bald eagles too! The picture isn't the best but you can tell what they are.

A pair of bald eagles

We got to walk along the beach and look for shells. I was not so good at this task apparently but Matt found lots, including this one that still had a whelk living inside. The guide said it was pretty rare to find one still alive there. But this wasn't even the best find...

A live whelk - a big one too!

He found a huge horse conch shell!! The guide said it was the best shell anyone had ever found there. We also got a few over smaller whelk shells that now reside in a rather large bowl on our dining table. He also found a sea urchin but unfortunately that little one had a nasty accident on the way home and didn't make it. It was pretty though!

Horse conch and sea urchin. See the legs for scale.

Dinner was at a seafood place recommended by the people running the boat between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. Matt and I shared a steampot for two. I didn't take a picture right away but here was dinner...

Dinner

Oysters, clams, shrimp and crab legs. And no, it wasn't filled out with potatoes and corn... I don't even know how many oysters were there. We didn't quite finish it but it was pretty delicious.

After dinner we headed to the main downtown area of Myrtle Beach. It's basically a strip of hotels, bars and restaurants by the beach. VERY touristy but we joined the crowds and rode the sky wheel. I'm not the biggest fan of heights but it was fine after the first go around. It was dark out so we got to see all the lights but I imagine the views of the coast and ocean are much nicer in the light.

The Sky Wheel

After a long and busy day it was back to the hotel for some sleep.

Biking picture. Safety first!