Florida Gators and Caribbean Cruise: Day 8 November 14, 2018

(click here for today's pictures)



Continued from last night: The boat was pretty rocky, really like super rocky. Since Robby had removed his patch because of his eyes being dilated, he soon was a bit sea sick. I had already tried my “magical sea sickness” oil (I put quotes around that because I really don’t think it does anything, but I happily talk it up to anyone who thinks they might be a bit sickly.) I had also given Robby some dramamine, but since he didn’t keep that on his stomach for long, he decided to go back to the patch.

The patch must have helped because he seemed to fine this morning. He was moving rather slowly since my crew had already been to breakfast and he was still in bed when we returned with his requested cinnamon rolls.

There was a loud clang of thunder when we were eating breakfast, but by the time that we made it back to the room the skies were already brightening some. Whitman opted for cereal and a banana in the room. The replace a basket of fresh fruit every day, and my kids go to town on eating the fruit. So far Robby has been able to save Whitman a banana though for each morning.

Graham had spent the night in Grannymom’s room, so he went to breakfast early. Anderson went once and brought food back down to the room. As we were leaving breakfast, we found both boys playing ping pong on the deck. The pool deck can be covered so it was dry out there. But the dryness doesn’t change the rocking-the pool is rocking so much that it is just insane. On our other boats, they would close the pool, but not this one. It is like a wave pool.

Whitman, Keaton and I played a round of Sorry as the boat pulled into the dock at San Juan. It was rainy and yucky outside, but we could still see the massive fort walls surrounding the city. Everyone met up for lunch-I do believe everyone was eating breakfast upstairs at the buffet because it was pretty hard for us to find a seat.

After eating, we headed to the rooms to grab our bags before leaving the boat. However, it was raining pretty good outside so we weren’t in any hurry. Thankfully, the radar showed that the rain would soon be ending and indeed it did. I am so glad that it did because I have been super excited about our day in San Juan.

We left the boat and headed towards Casa Cortez-a chocolate cafe in the heard of old San Juan. To get there we had to cross the 400 year old blue cobblestone streets. It is a beautiful old city. It was as if, we hadn’t had anything to eat all week-everyone was super excited about eating some of the churros that I bought and dipping them in their homemade hazelnut sauce. I could have certainly had some more of that.

After eating our snack, we headed up the hill to the first fort-Castillo San Felipe del Morro or we could just call it San Juan National Historic Park. The fort is massive, and we barely covered it all. We were worn out by the time that we made it there since it seemed to be uphill most of the way.

Grannymom and Grandpa got an uber back to the boat, and we pressed on after the first fort. The walk to the second fort, Castillo de San Cristobal, wasn’t too bad at all. Though it seemed to be a bit uphill-thankfully, it was super cloudy today so we weren’t burning up.

The second fort had dungeons to explore so that was neat along with a movie to watch. We walked in during the end of one movie. As soon as we walked through the doors, I could tell that it was at the very end of the movie, because at least 3 folks were sound asleep. Yes, I can’t laugh too hard because I am usually the one snoozing during the films.  

From there, we stamped our national passport books and walked back down towards our boat. We had done a little bit of walking so everyone was rewarded with a coke. We sat in a bench in front of the boat and drank our cokes. Then we boarded the ship once again.

The tvs in the rooms have tons of movies on-right now Reagan is watching the second Ant Man. And gracious, I keep getting distracted watching all of these movies too. We missed our dinner seating because we were still exploring so around 7 we headed to the buffet to eat dinner. This time I did remember to take my jacket with me-even though we are on a tropical island, it is still cold inside.

Speaking of cold, I am just a bit disappointed that the first snowfall of the year has occured while I am out of town-not just out of town but out of the country. Hopefully, there will be plenty more snow this year. Though as much as we have been missing school lately with this trip, maybe I shouldn’t hope for snow or we will never finish school this year.

We ate our supper-I had an empanada, pineapple salsa and chips, sweet potato fries, fried rice in a bell pepper, chocolate pudding, a cookie and ice cream. And yes, I was just looking at my fitbit wondering if 16,000 steps is enough to cancel out all of that...plus what I have eaten for the rest of the day.

After we ate, Robby and I played ping pong with Keaton and Graham. Campbell and Whitman went to kids’ club for a little bit. I am actually going to pick them up in about 15 minutes. Keaton headed to Grannymom’s room to spend the night while Reagan, Anderson and Graham watched some movies.

It has been a pretty perfect day-hopefully, our short little ride tonight to the Virigin Islands won’t be too rocky (doubt it). Robby doesn’t think that we will be able to make it to the National Park there, but who knows what the day will bring.

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