Ahh vacation (Part Two - Freedom of the Seas).

Sunday, the 31st, we took the shuttle to Port Canaveral to meet up with Ms Freedom. Sure, after being on Oasis last fall, she may not seem as huge as she is, but she's another beauty. A few misc notes:

• One flow rider, so the lines were longer
  
• Some new meals at dinner time
  
• No art going on onboard aside from the Britto store
  
• No waits to get onboard, thanks to being a Diamond member and nightly free drinkage in the C&A lounge
  
• Nice shows, but I'll say that this ice show wasn't as extravagant as those on Explorer
  
• Lots of (excellent) music going on onboard, but thinner in activities, particularly on at sea days than what I'm use to

Our first full day was spent at Cococay. This is my second visit here, and it was still every bit as lovely. Freedom is much bigger than the ship I previously visited there with, so there were more people along the back side, but it was still pretty quiet as we sat and enjoyed the sun, the gentle breeze, the lapping waves, and the fish. Along the paths we saw a TON of geckos and hermit crabs scurrying about.

Thanks to hurricane Emily the announced pretty early that we had a change of itinerary. Instead of revisiting St Thomas and St Maarten we headed to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This had us hustling to pick replacement excursions. In Grand Cayman we headed to a few places I had been before, but still enjoyed - Hell and the Turtle Farm. After getting back onboard we snarfed down some Johnny Rockets and soaked in the whirlpool. At this point I had a good bit of sun, but not as severe as I have in the past. See, I was a good girl and put a good bit of 50 SPF on! Cozumel day had us heading to a clear kayak and beach snorkel which was pretty nice - ESPECIALLY FOR MEXICO. Have I ever mentioned how not fond I am? In port we were parked next to Oasis, so we were able to clearly see the size difference. I did manage to pop my left ear quite well while diving down during snorkeling. Eeesh that hurt like a bitch.

This nice part of this cruise was having two more days at sea to just relax and recuperate. In one hour sitting on deck to watch the belly flop competition (always entertaining) I got a solid burn on my legs and arms... yay, I actually have a tan!

Let's be clear, I didn't even plan/try to stay on any kind of diet while away. I sure could have done without heading up 6 lbs. Ouch. The icing on the (fat-ass) cake was the chocolate breakfast on Saturday. Time to totally refocus on the 17 day diet. I say that, but yet, tonight I haven't made time to hit the treadmill. There is just always so much needing attention after a week away (missed calls, emails, text messages, giving the dogs attention, grocery store runs, etc).