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Western Caribbean Cruise 2004 WOW! As I write this, I am simply amazed that this was the 3rd cruise I earned from Close To My Heart! The rewards truly are endless when you are a part of this company. As with the Alaskan cruise, I brought my entire family with me, including my 2 boys. We sailed on the Norwegian Sun to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya and Cozumel. As always, Close To My Heart pampered us all the way, with a balcony stateroom, welcome reception, and gifts every single day. There were a record 104 of us who earned the trip this time! More and more consultants are making their own dreams come true! How about you?
Here we all are on deck on the Norwegian Sun! Unlike past group photos, this one only includes consultants and company representatives. We had so many consultants earn this cruise that we didn't have the room to include everyone's spouse and family!
This photo was taken at Eden's Rock in Grand Cayman. It is a little snorkel shop/scuba shop/restaurant along the shore just a stone's throw from the dock. For just $12, you could rent snorkeling equipment for the day. Just walk over to the shoreline, go down a few steps, and you are there! The coral reef here doesn't have a lot of life in it (perhaps because it's too close to shore and too well-'snorkeled'?), but we were surprised by the number and variety of fish we saw. Our boys LOVED this experience! And it was only $12!
Also on Grand Cayman, you can take a deep-sea submarine journey down 800-1000 feet to the bottom of the ocean. The little sub (above) holds just 2 people and the pilot. Passengers sit just inside the large, circular window. There isn't much to see on the way down, but once on the bottom they turn on the lights and rise slowly towards the surface, with the nose of the sub just inches from the "edge" of the island. As you ascend, you go through various "zones" that contain different types of sea life. The bottom photo shows one of the many, many beautiful views from down below.
Here we are on Costa Maya. We are resting a bit during our mile-long-walk along the shoreline to reach the small fishing village that is pretty much "it" for island attractions. Costa Maya is still quite primitive and beautiful, though they are laying the infrastructure (roads, hotels, etc) to make Cost Maya one of Mexico's next resort locations. It would be interesting to come back here in a few years just to see how different it looks! We found the people here to be very friendly and delightful. We set up another snorkeling excursion at a booth we encountered just off the ship's pier. Everyone at the pier spoke perfect English. But we had to get to a hut in the fishing village to start our excursion, and at each step of the way we discovered that they spoke less and less English. By the time we boarded the small, almost-overcrowded boat, no one spoke English! To this day I wonder if they knew the word, "HELP!" in English!
This was by far my favorite excursion, a day-trip to Chichen Itza, the "premier" Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. We docked in Cozumel (an island), took a 45-minute ferry ride to the mainland, and then a 3.5 hour bus ride to the ruins. But it was a trip NOT to be missed! The above photo shows the largest pyramid on the site, which you can still climb. The boys were up and down it a couple times. I managed it just once, but it was well worth it. You probably can't see it in the picture, but people coming down the steps are shimmying down on their behinds. It looks silly, but when you are up at the top and looking down at all those very steep, very skinny steps, it makes perfect sense. And by far the safest plan of action!
This could be you someday! If you'd like more information about becoming a Close To My Heart consultant, click here.
© Linda Harrison 2004
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