Valentine’s Day~ We Don’t Celebrate It At My House

Archive for the category “Valentine’s Day~ We Don’t Celebrate It At My House”

Well as you may know by now, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day at our house. We haven’t for several years.

Each year we like to take off to someplace warm for a few days and thaw out from the winter freeze.

This year we had an interruption in our plans. Dylan was nominated by her school to be in the All-State Chorus for 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Their big performance was, you guessed it, the long weekend over Valentines Day; a.k.a. our escape day.

That Valentine’s weekend she actually had to arrive for practice on a Thursday. Then, practice all day Friday with their final performance Saturday morning.

We were very proud and happy for her. Mom drove the kids up after school that day. I drove up and went in to watch them practice after work. I didn’t know what to expect.

What would you anticipate?

When I opened the doors of the First Baptist Church in Columbia, SC all I could think was Wow!

Wow! Some place special for a Chorus event.

What a huge church and what a spectacular choir loft! My whole church could fit in that choir loft I thought. I was impressed! What a cool site for this special gig for our kids!

And as I watched them practice I became equally impressed the Chorus Director. He coached. He taught. He was high energy yet patient. He spoke to the kids at their level and with some very bright ideas I thought. It turns out this was no simple choir director.

Henry Leck

Henry Leck is known world-wide for directing children’s choirs. (who knew?) He has his own children’s choirs in Indianapolis. His back ground and feats was quite lengthy and impressive! He was summed up in his introduction that day as a Rock Star in the field of children’s choirs.

And he had those kids on track!

I tried to get some on tape to remember but my worn out phone was overwhelmed. Needless to say, during the long day of practicing no child was bored or lacked focus and he brought things out of the kid’s voices they were unaware they had.

So here is the final presentation Saturday morning. Can you find little Dylan?

Hint, she’s in the second row.

In the center, 2nd row up, 5th in from the left.

In a chorus full of 174 talented young 4th, 5th and 6th graders from the state of South Carolina,

could you spot my favorite one?

Well she spotted me and my family.

And she somehow knew I had the camera up looking for her too.

Here is that picture close up….

See her now… with a big cheesy smile for her Dad

So it’s by no accident that I post one of my fav songs from the concert first, the last song in the event actually.

You see that morning, as I dropped little D off for her big day, I didn’t know how she was feeling so I offered some advice of just trying to be in the moment, enjoy it, and Have Fun!

Don’t be nervous or anxious (one child actually threw up during rehearsal on Friday). Just enjoy your day and have fun!

In this last song the kids were supposed to snap their fingers. I was kinda disappointed Dylan didn’t join in right away. So I motioned snapping my fingers from my seat in the audience. She saw me right away and just mimicked me and snapped away!

So if you don’t think you can find little D among all these youngsters, look for the one up there swinging her arms, snapping her fingers and swaying her hips and having a good time.

That’s my lil D!

Below is another one of my fav tunes, that actually had me tear up.

Mr. Leck was the one who chose all of the songs for the event and well-chosen they were! If you would like to see more go to my Youtube channel.

In the song below he introduces real well, especially in wake of the tragedy of the shootings in Florida that happened earlier that week….

Like I said, I didn’t know what to expect driving up for this weekend. I was their for support mainly. But the event really Wow’ed me.

Great job everyone!

It turns out this was the first time this event was held in this beautiful church with its wonderful acoustics. It was held in gymnasiums or auditoriums before. Also this was the 20th anniversary for the SC All-State Chorus. Mr. Leck directed the first one, the 10th one’ and now number 20. So I, or we all really lucked out.

Dare I say we, ‘Lecked out?’ 🙂

But our Valentine’s getaway did not end there!

Next we were off to the Great Wolf Lodge; a hotel and resort built for the amusement of kids.

Oh god!

Mom told me I could hang at the gym or the bar if I got too kidded out!

And there were lots of them!

It too was a spectacular place! It reminded me kinda like a cruise. There was a massive check in Saturday, and everyone is herded into certain areas than shuffled off to other areas for other events at various times of the day.

But if you had a child, they were all smiles!

We were walking down the hallway one morning and both our girls were smiling so much they were practically gliding.

It was well done in a Montana type wolf lodge theme…

The rooms were pretty cool too. I guess they might by Suites be definition, as the kids had their own room, designed to look like they were inside a tent..with a TV (!!)

They have their own TV… I have mine!

Then, daily they had regular kid activities planned, mostly out in the lobby with the animated log cabin and a cast of characters and animals that would capture a kid’s imagination with an amusing story. Like the storytime I took Skye to that night.

She busted her way upfront and was completely engulfed in the robotics.

Skylar in the blue, front and center, waiting for the robot boy to talk again

They also have a pretty good indoor water park there!

That is the wave pool above. You can also make out some water-coasters too.

Yes, the resort may be for kids but the water Tornado was pretty exciting too as you glided half way up the walls in the down flowing currents.

swirling up the side of the Tornado

It was pretty exciting as you swirled around the sides, like riding in a giant toilet.

But the genius part of the Great Wolf Lodge was the Magi and Shadow Quest games that turned the hotel into an enormous treasure hunt activity.

Trust me, there were lots more kids in these hallways than this.

You’ll buy, er, chose a magic wand, top it with extra powers as you find and capture certain magical runes. Then set off on a quest to battle Charlock, the evil dragon, once you have accumulated all the mystical powers needed. You immerse yourself in Vellara, a realm of enchantment, as you befriend the Treetop Pixies, to give them their magical powers back then return special gems to Ursa Major (in order) to restore that bear back to the constellations.

Well, Ursa is when we ran out of time.

We completed about 14 such quests to get to help Ursa, becoming Master Magi(s) status along the way.

You get to decide how much time you want to spend with Magi-Quest, depending on how many quests you undertake at a time. Play can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, er, all evening, as you go for more and more mystical Runes with the aid of your magi-wand and deciphering the clues on where to find these powers. You can always take a break and come back later.

Using their acquired powers to defeat the dragon

Now these clues for each now Rune (level) were hidden or riddled on three different floors. You usually had to find 5-7 items (treasure hunt) in order to acquire the new power, or Rune. One crystal would be at one side of the hotel, the next crystal on the other side of the hotel, then upstairs to the other side for a painting and then across to the other….

It truly captured (dozens of) kid’s imaginations as they raced through the halls (with their parents) to find the next secret.

They would play, tirelessly, for hours at a time. There seemed to be no end to it.

Their imaginations would be captured any given part of the day and energies worn down to zero.. so they could sleep well through the night.

Genius!

making the Red Crystals glow with her Magi Wand. It actually needed to glow Green.. “the crystal glows green if you’ve found all that you need. IF it glows Red you can not proceed.“

Add to it the instructions asked you not to use the elevator in the middle of the resort but the stairwells on the sides (ahhhh!!!)

What a workout!

You had a list of clues on where to find all the crystals or amulets or paintings BUT not all information was given (like the Pixie Crystal above). Somethings you had to figure out for yourself!

Or ask the kid that was a step ahead of you what they did.

To defeat the dragon you needed a Powerful Shield, the Frozen Arrow, and the Freezing Spell; three items not easy to come by!

figuring out how to awaken and defeat the Dragon

“The order of the Symbols is critical here.

Down the Forgotten Hallway you will find them.

Within a Great Painting these symbols appear.

You will be better served to mind them.”

But what they didn’t tell you is you had to offer these symbols in a certain order at the opening of the Dragon’s gate, plus one symbol not mentioned, to proceed just to wake him up to battle; otherwise he never knew you were there.

Genius!

Like I said, a great place to be a kid.

As for me, MY special delight was….. are you sitting down…..

DUNKIN DONUTS!!!

delivered right to your door in the morning for a breakfast!

This must be what heaven is like!

3D Breakfast…Donuts Delivered to my Door in the morning

So that is where we spent this year’s Valentines Day vacay.

Wonderful singing, fancy hotel rooms, over-chlorinated pools, magical story times, magical quests, and Dunkin Donuts delivered right to my door.

I think this beats Jamaica.

Photo Op ~ yes the kids were all smiles!

Have a great week knuckleheads!

I’ll try to do better next time!

Today only comes around once in a life time. Make it AMAZING!

Posted in Valentine's Day~ We Don't Celebrate It At My House and tagged Accentuate the positives, another Ruin yet?, don't mess with Mr. Inbetween, Dunkin donuts, great wolf lodge, Henry Leck, master magi, sc all state chorus, take the elevator this time, teach me?, valetines day, Who has been eating my poorege?, who has been sleeping in my bed?

22 Feb 2017

19 Comments

We Don’t Celebrate Valentine’s At Our House, part IV

Well it is true after all, we do not celebrate Valentine’s at our house. This year, in an effort to go some place warm(er), we decided to try our first cruise over Valentine’s Day. It was a Disney Cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral, FL.

Now, we have never gone on a cruise, for various reasons, preferences really. So we were excited to get away, do some exploring and be catered to by the good folks at Disney.

Photo Courtesy of Disney Cruise.Disney.go

We cruised on the newly refurbished Disney Dream. This was a huge ship! And, as the Cruise Director pointed out, the Lexus sitting in the cruise destinations in a dock full Fords. It really was a big, bright, impressive looking ship. To give you an idea, the ship boasted of over 4000 passengers and a crew of over 1500 below.

Inside of our state-room

Our room slept 4 fairly comfortably. In the picture above, see the rectangle in the ceiling on the right side; touching the blue and white drape? That was a bed that mysteriously dropped out of nowhere while we were at dinner. Seriously, we couldn’t figure out how to lower it.

The ship did not have all the rides of a Disney World but it did have a pretty fun water roller coaster..the AquaDuck..

Photo Courtesy of Disney Cruise.Disney.go

This ride looked so intriguing that we actually booked our board time as early as possible just so we could ride it as often as possible before the other shipmates boarded on arrival day. The water may have been cold but it was fun!

aqua-duck

Because this idea was based loosely around a 4 Day weekend from school for our girls we only booked the 3 night journey. Our destinations included the Bahamas and then over to Disney’s very own island, Castaway Cay.

Photo Courtesy of Disney Cruise. Disney. go

A month ago we booked a catamaran sailboat excursion to go out snorkeling at the Bahamas but when we got there both the air and water temperature were too cold to go swimming and sailing in a big Cat. I knew the children would be miserable in the cold breeze. Too bad for us, we still had to pay the $200 reservations anyway.

The next day at Castaway Cay was a bit warmer so we did go ashore there. Castaway Cay was a neat little island. A Disney amusement site in its own right. There is lots of fun to be had there..

UNLESS……. it gets a little breezy (who ever heard of an island without a wee bit of a coastal breeze?) Well the coastal breeze that day negated any and all water sports.. sailing, banana boats (our reservation), jet ski’s, you name it. All cancelled. After living on the coast it makes me wonder how often these ‘attractions’ are actually open? When is it not breezy on the coast?

Breakfast as we dock at Castaway Cay

For months I had been looking forward to doing some snorkeling there too. Well, too bad for me, about lunchtime the powers-that-be decided it was a bit too choppy to go snorkeling (with a life vest) too. Liability you know. The 20 lifeguards there must not have been enough of a safe guard.

The Disney Dream ship itself had plenty to offer the kids though. They never left the ship when we docked at the Bahamas and Dylan was quick to return there on our day at Castaway Cay.

There were plenty of fun things including the Candy Shop that was actually a fancy ice cream parlor.

dream-ice-cream-car

And, of course, the Disney Brand, all the Disney Princesses as well as Mickey and the gang were on hand.

disney-princess-meet-and-greet

Skylar wasn’t as into the Disney princesses this trip (all she wanted to do was hang out in the pool) but Dylan did meet them all and gather a few more of their autographs too.

my southern Belle

But it was the Caribbean after all and you knew, eventually you would see some Piracy!

pirate-night

And it was Disney itself this time!

And it came in the form of their ship photographers.

When we visited Disney World we always opted for the photograph option there where all the Disney photographers (located everywhere) take your picture and then you simply download the ones you want for a fee paid upfront.

On the Disney Dream they have some photographers too but the photo packages were quite different.

They assembled all your photos that they took, in various shapes and sizes, in hard copies the last day there. Then you could either buy a pricey photo package or photos a la carte.

Well I have YOU to post pictures for as well as send lots of pics of our kids to family and friends. So I asked if I could get the photos on a USB drive or something digital.

And…..for $149….. for 10 pictures (!!!) they said I could

If I wanted 15 pictures the price went to $199. Ouch!

But what are you going to do when you want to take some memories like this home?

Disney Gold Doubloons!

and this

Another $15 doubloon… that I bought for you

They drove a hard bargain matey. I barely left with the shirt on me back!

Otherwise, we saw three shows and they all were really good. Like the magical show ‘Believe‘

Photo Courtesy of Disney Cruise. Disney. go

as well as the on the pool deck presentation of Mickey’s Pirates of the Caribbean

pirate-night-show

...where all the photographers put on a costume and a show.

The cuisine was up to Disney standards but also held up to cruise food reputations.

We both got food poisoning on separate days. One of us got it so violently ill Saturday night that we had to call housekeeping at 4:30am to come clean up our bathroom.

Which raised another point of contention.

First its a ship. Right? Some people are going to get sea sick. It’s also a cruise ship which I understand, have reputations for serving food outside of normal food handling guidelines, given the mass production.Food poisoning is not unheard of people tell me.

Second, if people are going to get sick why do they only carry nothing more than Pepto Bismol!

It lasts one hour!

The cruise medical staff said they could hand out as much Pepto Bismol to us as we wanted but for anything else we would need to visit the ship doctor.

Which was quickly followed up with a statement, “and probably quarantined.”

Can I say WTF here?

Its true. I heard this at least twice.

Not only do they not carry a travel staple like Imodium on board but the doctors play Nazi’s when it comes to you telling someone you are sick.

Sorry. I was just amazed at how the medical staff were so, ahhh, unDisney.

Overall, I believe our girls had a really great time. Dylan explored and met some more of her favorite Princesses while Skylar sat in the pool and watched Disney movies on the mega screen above the pool deck.

As for me, that is the last cruise I will ever go on. I saw this as one of the single largest wastes of money in my life, from a value standpoint. Too many rules, too many people, and lines, too many deadlines, too many precautions.

When I go on vacation I just want to be able to put my feet in the sand and relax; without wondering how soon everyone needs to be back on the ship.

As for Disney World vs. a Disney Cruise vacation, this is a no-brainer.

Disney World has it down to a science in hospitality and new levels of vacationing standards that others can only aspire to. Yes, I am a big fan! And, on a similar night package, Disney World is probably cheaper than a Disney Cruise too. (Don’t get me started on the mandatory $12 per person per day ‘Gratuity‘ fee!)

I am sorry this vacation post is not more upbeat like I normally try to do. My appetite is not the only thing I haven’t got back yet it appears.

I will do better next time knuckleheads.

Have a great weekend…

Posted in Disney Magic, Valentine's Day~ We Don't Celebrate It At My House and tagged Castaway Cay, Disney, Disney cruise, Disney Dream, Pirates of the Caribbean

01 Apr 2016

16 Comments

We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day at our house…

So if I haven’t lost you all yet are you ready for another few dozen family pics?

The final day of our Valentine’s getaway was, of course, Valentine’s Day Sunday. For whatever reason we opted to spend that day at the Magic Kingdom theme park (shoot me in the head).

It was crazy packed that day with lots of people off the following day!

Walt Disney World Photo Gallery Disc

But we did our usual routine again and got there scary-early so we could hop on some great rides before the rest of the world arrived.

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

Yes we got there about 45 minutes before opening so we were right up front when they opened the gates..

AND

Got to hear this opening number again to entertain and build excitement for the early bird crowds while they ~~pack the front gates~~ patiently wait for the gates to open:

The early start actually gave us time for a family, pre-planned prayer to the Disney gods to have a Magical day; to get on some great rides with no waiting, for a sunny warm day, and for the kids to not get cranky for the long rigorous day ahead.

The Disney gods did not disappoint!

Magic Kingdom Tinker Bell magic too

And it worked!

We took a minute to take a souvenir shot at the customary spot so that every one can get a picture of us for Christmas..

Required souvenir shot at the Magic Kingdom

Then we ALL hustled our way over to some of the rides with the historically long wait-times that we did not have a Fast Pass for.

First was the great Jungle Cruise with the comical river boat guide and then over to our 2nd fav. roller coaster there, Big Thunder Mountain. Then back over to the Pirates of the Caribbean before any lines formed to slow our mojo.

Never waited in line once!

Then we raced over to Tomorrowland for our first Fast Pass with Tomorrowland Speedway…. for the kids!

That’s me! This was my favorite ride when I was a kid. Yes, I was a kid once..

Yes, this was my favorite ride the one time I came to Disney as a kid.

Then we had some time to kill until our next Fast Pass, Peter Pan’s Flight.

This ride has an incredibly long wait times historically. And the girls didn’t have any interest to see any of the Disney Princesses this trip so we hob-knobbed around in the Liberty Square / Fantasyland areas and took in a couple of old favorite rides, like the humorous Haunted Mansion and the timeless It’s a Small World attractions.

We found a few good carnival rides too to put smiles on our faces…

Magic Kingdom Carousel

And I did see MY favorite Disney Princess getting in a bit of a spat with my alter-ego while we were there…

Beware the Smolder! Someone is hitting on my girl

Yes, I have a dream!

By then the park was getting packed! And a lot of standing in-line was making my feet hurt and my whole Magical attitude go south.

I prayed for a way to get off my feet. What I wouldn’t give to go on a train ride, to hear the whistle blow, put my feet up, and go someplace else mentally for 30 minutes…. hmmmm

My feet and hips hurt. The trains were calling me!

I rode that train just long enough until the time for our last Fast Pass, and where we have a Star on their walk-of-fame for the now, almost famous, commercial we made for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train:

And that about wrapped up our day at the Magic Kingdom.

Going back to the beginning, keep in mind it was Valentine’s Day. When we made our reservations, about 2 months out, we could not get a single table reserved for dinner IN the Magic Kingdom. So we had to hop the tram to run us over to the closest hotel, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort.

Never been there!

This resort was at the last stop on the round-trip Disney tram but we made our 6:15 dinner reservations. We found this lovely hotel and vestibule, complete with a live jazz band playing to the open air hotel lobby from the third floor.

Nice!

And if this lobby was any indication of our Valentine’s dinner we were in for a very special Valentines’ Day dinner; all of us!

The dinner was outstanding!

Yes, it was still on the Disney meal plan, even in a hotel restaurant. The kids loved it. Mom loved it. I tried to embarrass Mom by proposing again on one knee beside our table, an anniversary of sorts as I proposed for the first time on Valentine’s Day several years back.

Well, she didn’t fall for it this time and I got up without any round of applause or anything.

My perceptive 7-year-old though, never missing a beat, took one bite out of her dinner roll and held it up for my Valentine that evening…

Magic Kingdom Valentines Dinner

This kid is pretty smart!

We finished our meal, hit the tram, found our shuttle bus to our hotel, staggered in to check-out for the following morning and wrapped up our Valentine’s Day celebration away from home.

One thing about where we stayed on this trip.

We stayed at one of Disney’s Value Resorts this time, the Disney All-Star Movie resort.

We were just there to shower and sleep and were not to impressed with Moderate priced level last time. And this hotel and our room was every bit as nice, or nicer than the last venture at the Caribbean Resort. The only down side was this hotel, being one of the value branch, was attractive to all the large groups visiting Disney and so there was a lot of laughing outside and doors slamming as they went from room to room.

All in all though the All-Star Movie resort did put on a good show!

One last thing, we visited Disney Springs for the first time, on the night of our arrival as well as the day of our departure. This is not a theme park but a big outside mall, full of all the big brand names a place like Disney World can attract, whether retail or dining. No rides there, just great shops and eats.

Like this $50 Rice Krispy treat:

$50 ‘magical’ Rice Krispy treats

NOT on the meal plan!

Still… our girls did find some way to have some magical fun and meet some new friends…

Disney Springs w Pooh

It appears Skylar just likes ~~warm~~ lots of hugs now!

Warm Hugs anyone?

Yes, that is a painting on a wall she is hugging!

Crazy girl…

Thanks for taking a trip with my family to Disney World!

I wanted to get this last post in as I have some potentially sad and damaging news to broadcast next.

It appears I may have to spend some time behind bars in mid April.

I need to start passing the hat to earn my release……

Posted in Disney Magic, Travel, Valentine's Day~ We Don't Celebrate It At My House and tagged 7 dwarfs mine ride, beware the smoulder, Disney, grand floridian, magic, magic kingdom, Magical, Trains are the best, valentines day

13 Feb 2014

12 Comments

Jamaica Mistaica

Is it cold where you are? We are under yet another winter storm advisory here. I feel a need to escape t some place Hot! So with this Valentine’s holiday coming up had me reminiscing over past holiday trips, since we can’t actually go on one this year. Its been fun looking at pictures and reliving past experiences. It helps take the chill off! Thinking back, the trip that is the most memorable was the year we spent Valentines in Negril, Jamaica. So if you have a few minutes, can I tell you a funny story? Funny, now, that is.

First I have a few disclaimers! A) This vacation trip was a good five years ago. Any resemblances to this blogger in the pictures is merely coincidental. B) All the rumors you have ever heard about Jamaica are true….It is a beautiful tropical island, yes, there is a ganja drug problem there, and tourists do actually disappear there. C) There are many, many beautiful resorts there, most by the big chains from Breezes to Sandals and more. We unfortunately didn’t stay at one of them.

The view I had from my beach chair

Arrival: We flew into Montego Bay airport. Now for a third world air port Jamaica’s was pretty nice, with no hassles upon arrival, once they staffed the Passport arrival area. In fact, it may be one of my favorite air ports because it is small and there is a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville right on premises. This is particularly cool for when you are waiting for your flight to arrive on the way home. Margaritaville has a great menu and a gift shop that is sure to leave you cashless, in case you had any funds left at the end of your vacation.

As with any trip when leaving the country, always do your research first! One very valuable tidbit we found was find yourself a taxi driver in Jamaica before you arrive. I can’t under estimate this enough, given what we heard about some. We actually found a few advertised on the Internet with references. Stepping out of the air port, on to the curb with your luggage, this piece of research paid off from the beginning.

The cab drivers were thick as thieves, trying to get you to ride in their cab. I immediately pulled out my sheet and asked for “Juan, our cab driver”. They all quieted down in an instant and one said he is over there. We went over to his cab stand, introduced ourselves, and boarded his cab. Once inside this rustic 4 door sedan, he turns around points to a small cooler on the back seat and asks, “ Would either of you care for a Red Stripe? I brought one for each of you.” Score one for Jamaica! (It took almost 7 hours to get a Guinness in Ireland) Double score, since my wife doesn’t drink beer!

It takes about a good two hours to travel to Negril from Montego Bay. So our cabby asked if we were hungry. We said yes. So before we left Montego Bay he pulls off to a quaint road side café; a locals only type of joint. He asked if we ever had Jerk Chicken before? We shook our heads no. So he said, “come on…”

We had our first taste of Jerk Chicken by some locals that knew how to prepare it. It was great! It was served on paper plates with a big helping of dirty rice. I stumbled upon another Red Stripe. So far so good. The rest of our trip to the resort was very bi-polar. Very beautiful scenery coupled with views of poverty ridden towns, that we have grown accustomed to seeing in the Caribbean. It always leaves you wondering what happens to all the tourist money, taxes and jobs that come into a tiny country like this.

The Resort: We arrived at our resort, Merrills III. It was only our third all-inclusive we had been to and easily the least glamorous. But it was what we could afford at the time, and given what we just drove through, very adequate. We unpacked, cased the joint for amenities and waited for dinner…..Jerk chicken and rice. 😦

We ate. We explored. We went to bed. Hmmmm? I can see through the roof. The ceiling above us was very much a thatched roof. We could literally see some stars. Trying to be positive, we thought very appropriate for a beach side resort…as long as it doesn’t rain.

On the other hand, if the property directly beside you happens to be an outside, midnight beach bar, with absolutely no walls, right on the beach, catering to late night beachcombers because the volume is so loud it draws them in from two miles away, then we have a problem. (Sigh) And, yes we were in Jamaica. And, yes every song was reggae but there are some songs that should not be covered in a reggae motif. The Captain and Tennile’s “Muskrat Love” is one for instance. Even after days of hearing this it still made no sense. Live bands playing top 40 hits to a reggae beat just don’t sound good. Reggae songs sound good. The Bee-Gees do not. This bar started around 12 midnight. It was very loud, like our beds were stage front. And the party lasted until the sun came up. Pretty cool if you were 20 or so. I guess.

The beach and ocean was beautiful though. Our room opened up to the pool area (beside the beach bar!) on one side and above the kitchen on the other We had either Jerk Chicken or Jerk Pork everyday for lunch and dinner. And regardless of which entrée we were having that night, the kitchen side always smelled like pot. When in Rome we thought!

Beach: The beach was nice; coarse white sand and clear blue Caribbean waters. Gorgeous! We were there to tan and snorkel and just relax and figured to spend most of our time there. Considering how much sleep we weren’t getting at night (from the outdoor bar silly person!) It was the place to be. Relax with a Red Stripe and soak up some vacation I thought. My foot had to be wrapped in tape every day from a running injury so the idea of walking far in the sand or shallow surf was really out of the question any way.

A wrapped foot kept me on the beach and out of the water

But what is with the armed guards on each side of the resort? The resort had rental police at each side of the beach along the property’s borders. We soon deduced it was from keeping unwanted locals off the property and harassing the guests. A few hours later we found out they were on the beach to keep unwanted locals from harassing the guest….on the beach.

You see the beach front was open to anybody walking by and the best way to describe the traffic along the beach was think about your last professional baseball game you went to. How many vendors marched by you there, selling a wide variety of goodies?

Negril’s beaches were very similar. You had all kinds of locals parading down the beach, trying to sell you their goodies. They tried to sell relaxing tourists everything from aloe plants, baby bananas, jewelry, bandanas, people-who-knew-people that sold the local crop, souvenirs, and even a Valentines Day dinner and snorkeling cruise aboard a sailboat. They all sounded just like those barkers at the ball parks. If you made eye contact they closed in. If you said no, they tried harder. If you got frustrated and asked them to leave, and they figured out you were an American, they called you a racist (we all must be racists in America evidently). This is when the policemen on the beach stepped in. Now this didn’t happen all the time but you did learn not to make eye contact. It is with this type of mentality, of a local beach peddler, that we were advised not walk very far on the beach at night. ..very unfortunate on a Valentine’s getaway!

Now the beach wasn’t all bad. We walked up to a locals craft market and found some nice things to bring home. We found another Margaritaville beach bar about a mile in the other direction down the beach. This was very nice; like a mini resort. We spent half of our souvenir money there it seems. It turns out half of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville’s are located in Jamaica, which is another story (summed up in the video at the end). But if you are a fan, it was a pretty cool place to be on in barefoot, sun burned, half-naked on vacation.

I blew out my flip-flop

We met other nice people. Ate at some nice beach side bistros we found while beach combing (you can only eat Jerk Chicken so many times!). We were actually enjoying ourselves on the beach, as we should. Did I mention all-inclusive and Red Stripe? We actually had everything we wanted except…. snorkeling. So on Thursday, when the lady selling the Valentine’s Dinner Cruise and snorkel trip passed by we hopped at the chance.

St. Valentine’s Dinner Cruise: Our vacation getaway to some place warm had been OK so far. A little sleep deprived, but OK. But it was Valentine’s Day coming up and we hadn’t had a chance to swim with the fishes yet. We thought this was just what we needed to make our trip …memorable!

The plan was to sail on this large sail boat, sail down to a snorkeling spot, swim for a while, and then be served a dinner on the boat on the way back while the sun set. It sounded like fun!

We boarded the boat with the other 20 or so passengers. Everything was included , including a bar downstairs in the cabin. We proceeded to sail down to the snorkel spot. Then we heard a voice from the captain’s chair, “Oh no! Pirates!”

A chuckle in his voice kept me from terror. I turned around and here, speeding up to us, was a motorized canoe with two freaky dread lock males aboard. Now, I don’t know Jamaican pirates from Somalian but I didn’t like this. They came on board, went down below for a few minutes, then left the same way they arrived. We were spared!

It wasn’t long after I noticed, couple by couple going downstairs, two at a time, then coming back up. It wasn’t long after that we got wind of that familiar cash crop of Jamaica’s rising from the cabin below. Modern day pirates in deed! Watch out Tubbs and Crocket! (sorry 1980’s refereance) I smiled to myself…no escape!

We reached our snorkel location. It was at the foot of what was called one of the 10 most famous bars in the world, Ricks!

See the local climbing the cliff to get back up to Ricks?

Here was a bar, on the west side of Negril, with perfect sunsets, where the apparent draw is cliff diving! Can you imagine? Getting all Red Striped, feeling invincible (or invisible) and jumping two stories into the famed Caribbean Sea? With no apparent way to get back up to the bar…unless you can climb the cliff wall. Have you ever been THAT drunk? Not me. I’ve done some crazy things

Watch out below!

but …..

We grabbed our snorkel gear and hopped in the water. The water was nice and clear. Their were enough fish swimming to keep it from being a wasted dive. We explored the caves and tried to stay clear of the drop site from above. Not too bad really. We enjoyed it.

We finished and climbed back in the boat, toweled off and prepared for our Valentine’s Dinner Cruise dinner. You guessed it, Jerk Chicken and rice of course 😦

We ate our modest meal, happy to have finally been able to snorkel. We watched the coastline as we motored back home. Not a bad day all in all. Even met some pirates!

We soaked in the scenery along the coast. Oddly, I noticed we were slowly being left alone. Did I smell? Whassup? It seems everyone had migrated over to the ocean side of the boat. I stood up and looked over and then grabbed my wife by her hand. As we were cruising home without a doubt the most beautiful sun was slowly setting on the horizon. Nobody talked (they were all stoned…..just kidding). We just watched as something beautiful was happening before our eyes. Then someone pointed to a solitary sailboat was on a collision course with the sun on the horizon. The timing could not have been better scripted. As the sun slowly dipped halfway into the sea the silhouette of the sailboat cut across the orange ball, sailing directly in front of it before our eyes. It was like it was a scheduled perk of the V-Day cruise. It was a Valentine’s Day gift to us.

Our Valentine’s sunset. Can you see the sailboat approaching?

With apologies to myself, my family and all future readers, I was not going to spoil this moment by whipping out a camera. I decided to take a picture early, tuck the camera away, put my arm around my wife and just enjoy this moment unfolding at sea. The camera doesn’t come close to capturing the moment anyway. It was a special moment, at least to me and few future Valentine’s moments could ever stack up to it.

We got back to our beach, walked hand-in-hand back to our resort. Resolved to be forced fed yet another midnight version of Muskrat Love, and remember that day for a long time. Pirates for crissake!

Jamaica left us with some wonderful memories of a beautiful island yet inhabited by hundreds of panhandlers. We resolved never to go back because of that. Many of the locals were just too nasty if you ventured off the property. And we like to walk on the beach at night. There are too many other Caribbean islands out there, just as beautiful, we thought.

And we resolved to explore every one of them for some more memories.

The sun setting on our Jamaican vacation

“What do you mean you lost the camera?!”

Jimmy Buffett’s Jamaica Mistaica:

Posted in Travel, Valentine's Day~ We Don't Celebrate It At My House and tagged Happy valentine's Day, Jamaica, Jimmy Buffett, margaritaville, negril, no cancelled flights this time, no valentines at our house, Paradise!, pirates, snorkel

02 Jul 2013

21 Comments

Hidden Gems: Curacao in the Netherland Antilles

I am in the process of doing a Guest Travel survey for one of my favorite travel blogs, EmilyLuxton: Explore, Dream, Discover. Emily accepts surveys from people taking special trips and so I wanted to offer her one of our favorite hiding spots, the island of Curacao. I sent Emily our story and she will post it next week.

I thought in the meantime I wanted to offer it to you. If you have some spare time this holiday and you want to go someplace exotic, come on along with us to Curacao! Here is the survey for Emily:

My wife and I love to travel. We love to explore anywhere and dig into the history or discover the local people and culture. Every place is different and that’s what’s interesting to us. One of our greatest passions has been the water and beaches.

My wife, who is cold blooded by nature, doesn’t like to be cold and so each winter we try to take trip some place warm in the Caribbean Ocean. The warmer, the better! So what could be anywhere warmer than close to the equator, right?

Where did you go/what was it like?

So several years ago we looked for a nice resort, close to the equator (warm!) that offered great beaches and diving to cool off with. We found the hidden gem of Curacao, one of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao in the Dutch Antilles).

We chose Curacao because it is supposed to have some of the best diving in the Caribbean. The island boasts of some 60 diving locations and 35 beaches.

Close to the Equator, this island is little more than a stone’s throw from Venezuela in South America. In fact farmers from Venezuela ride boats to Curacao and sell them at their ‘floating market’; home to everything fresh, fruity and tropical!

The colorful floating market with fresh produce

Curacao is a small volcanic island, like most in the Caribbean. It has a diverse heritage being fought over and conquered by the Dutch and French in colonial times. You land on north side of the island than take a bus trip to the south side. When you reach the other side you sit atop a small mountain with a great picturesque view of the capital, Williamstad.

Williamstad is a colourful town, separated in the middle by a deep harbour for cruise ships. It is largely comprised of Dutch based architecture.

On the east side of the capital (Punta) is the touristy area, filled with colourful, affordable shops, multi-cultural restaurants, night clubs and hotels.

The west side of Williamstad is more of the professional and artsy side. The two halves are connected by a swinging pontoon bridge that actually swings open across the large harbour to let the large ships pass by.

Along the harbour in the Punta are many boats that make the trip across the sea from Venezuela. These boats are filled with the produce of that country and dock. It is a unique attraction called the Floating Market. Here you can barter for loads of fresh produce, both known to this traveler and unknown.

If you are interested in more of Curacao’s diverse history click here to find out more.

Where did you stay/what was it like?

Each time we visited Curacao we stayed at an all-inclusive called Breezes. Its rates about a 3 on a scale of 5, but it offers everything we look for in trips, free food and alcohol! ~ kidding. But it does offer one free dive per day, free diving lessons and the best part is there is a great man-made coral reef just a stone’s throw from the beach.

That is how far the reef is from the beach!

The mudslides were great for my wife. They pour free Amstel light on tap (Dutch heritage) and so we have gone back to this Breezes 3 times. It would have been four but I found someone bought this resort and is turning it into a Timeshare resort now.

The picture above was part of the Kid’s Corner part of the resort that we looked forward to taking our girls to.

Any time of the day, you can go to the dive hut, pick up some snorkeling equipment and go explore this reef. On the lagoon side are colourful fish, protected from the larger predators of the deep.

If you swim to the outer side of the reef it is like exploring the moon, with huge corals and underwater plants. Its like another world we never see….

This is some of the best snorkeling we have ever experienced and you can do it any time of the day right from the resort; no schedules or buses to catch. I even had a face to face encounter with a four foot barracuda that is STILL vivid in my mind.

I was looking down at the corals and fishes. I looked up to clear my mask and there he was about 30 yards away just looking at me. Huge! I froze! I remember our diving lesson where they told us barracudas are lightning fast and like to go for shiny things (rings, watches) thinking they are fish.

I folded my wedding ring under my other hand in a prayer type of position (literally…Help!) Then, I slowly backed away. I looked down to see where I was at one time, looked up, and she was gone!

Later I found her offspring hiding in the lagoon…where we swam!

A baby barracuda blending in in the shallows of our lagoon.

One of the nice things about staying at Breezes was there is a nice aquarium within a 5 minute walk of the resort. This ‘open water’ aquarium has the dolphin shows, sea lions, swim with the fishes and more. Not to be missed is the eel feeding. I have never seen anything so vicious as these nearly blind creatures fight each other for the food.

The aquarium is also unique in that instead of a large filtration system it is actually maintained by the ocean. This aquarium has ocean rocks for walls and the ocean freely passes in and out the areas where the large fish are maintained. A perfect Ph!

the Curacao Aquarium

Curacao boasts of 35 beaches around the island. We only had the one at Breezes. So one day we paid one of the staff of the resort to take us around to some of the better ones. Most of these beaches are small and secluded. Lovers or divers this is Shangri-La!

We visited some nice romantic beaches, romantic if our guide had not been along. A few of the beaches didn’t have any one there at all. We did some snorkeling, saw some of the scenery and then our guide took us to an overlook he described as Post Card at Kenepa Beach.

What do you think?

Those of you in the restaurant scene might know of a blue cordial called Blue Curacao. This liqueur is made on the island and you can go to this quaint factory and have some samples. The beverage originated from the slightly bitter oranges that grow on this island. It now comes in 4 or 5 colours.

What was the highlight of your trip”

The highlight of our many visits, to me, was that one beach exploration trip with our guide from Breezes. He took us to a secluded Jeremi Beach.

No one was there. I hopped in the water and swam out to the edge of the cove along the cliff walls. As I reached the edge I saw, not one but two Atlantic Puffers (Porcupine Puffers) swimming together. Having a saltwater aquarium at home I recognized these two fish were getting more than friendly. They just kept a slow chase in circles, like they were courting each other.

Here is my distant pictures, on my disposable underwater camera. Can make them out in the center? They are both about the size of your head circling in the middle of the picture. .

After watching them for several minutes, I swam back to get my guide and a camera. The fish either didn’t know I was there or didn’t care. I swam back to my same spot and they were still there. I wanted to get a picture of this but knew not to get too close as I knew from my aquarium they have a sharp beak for a mouth, often used for breaking up coral in search for food.

Keep in mind this picture was taken with a disposable underater camera. Not top of the line! Then think about how far away or deep those Puffers are. That’s easily 30 feet away yet a cheap camera can easily pick out the fish. This gives you an idea of how clear Curacao’s waters are.

What was the food like?/Where did you have the best food?

Sadly, we did not get off the resort that often for meals; one of the downsides to all-inclusives. We did stay at a hotel, the Renaissance Hotel, on the mouth of Williamstad’s harbour one night. This attractive hotel was once a fort protecting the harbour in the 19^th century.

We walked the streets and found a water side café with some great seafood. Again, the dining is diverse from the diverse heritage of the island.

Any funny/embarrassing stories or disasters?

We often make these Caribbean trips in the middle of winter to warm up. What better time to go then Valentine’s Day! We don’t celebrate the day much so it’s our gift to each other!

One year my wife’s wedding ring broke about a month before our trip. I took it to get fixed and while waiting enjoyed looking at the various rings. I could afford a bit larger diamond now and so decided to trade in our diamond for a bigger one, have it reset in the original ring and then re-propose to my wife on Valentine’s night at Breezes. I had proposed on Valentine’s Day originally.

Well we picked a nice restaurant that night. Had dinner. Then I got down on my knee again, in front of everybody and asked if she would still have me. She laughed at me and thought I was joking! The curse of a vivid sense of humour!

I gave her the new ring and she cried. She wanted her old one back! It was sentimental to her. That ring salesman didn’t tell me that would happen! I was in the dog house the next two days of the trip. Live and learn!

How was the weather (and when did you travel)?

The weather was hot but not as hot as you might think for the equator. We did get our share of sun.

I got some sun that day!

I think in the 3 weeks we have been there we might have seen about 3 hours of rain. Curacao does sit below the hurricane zone in the Caribbean so gets spared from most of those storms

Do you have any tips or advice for anyone planning a similar trip?

My only advice is if you visit there please make plans to explore the island and its many secluded beaches. There are other sites to see as well including a national park, national dive site and the Curacao aquarium and more.

With the closing of Breezes Resort we were forced to look for another family-friendly resort. A short swim or walk up the coast from Breezes, and right beside the aquarium, is a Dutch resort Called Lion’s Dive Resort. This is a beautiful resort but not the all-inclusive we look for.

It does have the same man-made reef out front. It has its own dive shop on property, right beside Curacao’s aquarium and a very popular beach bar, Hemingway’s, that gets a good crowd at night.

We occasionally walked up to Hemingway’s, grabbed a local Polar Beer or Mojito and sat on the edge of the island just listening to the waves turn over at our toes and the Caribbean music in the background. It was very nice!

Traveling is not real difficult as the island is small. But many of these beaches are off the beaten path so a guide would be helpful if you do.

Most useful word/phrase you learnt.

Bon! This simply means “Good”. Its easy to say with a smile and always gets a smile back.

If you go to Curacao’s homepage they offer a handful of useful expressions. ’ it was my experience that the locals speak many languages there. I was quite impressed that the young staff at our Breezes spoke five languages with ease.

The island of Curacao is affordable, the hotel rates are cheaper than similar touristy Caribbean islands and its not the tourist mecca that some exotic locations can be.

So that’s the story of our passion for Curacao.