Our Wedding Anniversary/Babymoon Cruise

Last week Matt and I spent the week aboard Holland America's Eurodam ship for a week of rest and relaxation. In addition to celebrating our first wedding anniversary, we also considered this our "babymoon", which just means it's our last big vacation before the baby arrives and changes everything!

Our cruise took us from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and then to Holland America's own island of Half Moon Cay. We relaxed while on board the ship and enjoyed taking our daily naps! Matt really needed a relaxing vacation... he's been so busy at work and studying for his Board exam lately that he was completely burned out. So a week of cruising the Caribbean is just what he needed!

In Grand Turk, we just spent the day at Govenor's Beach snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. It was a beautiful beach and the snorkeling was great. And the baby loved being in the Caribbean water!!!

I loved being the water and feeling so weightless!!! But as soon as I walked out of the water, I felt the weight of the baby and forgot how heavy my stomach was getting!

In San Juan, Puerto Rico we took a historical walking tour. It was great, but it was soooo hot and humid that day that by the end of the 3 hour walk, I was completely exhausted. I think I pushed it too far that day, even though I tried to sit and drink water as often as possible. Our tour guide, Ramon, was fantastic. So knowledgable and so funny! He's retired now, so he does the tours to keep him busy. We visited El Morro Fort and walked through downtown.

That night we headed to San Juan's oldest restaurant, La Mallorquina. They had lost electricity earlier in the day, but thankfully got it back on for the evening. However, we ended up being the only customer's in the place and we spent a lot of time talking with our waiter, who had been working there for nearly 35 years!

For dinner, we both had the same thing... Pastelon which is basically a Plantain "lasagna". It was layers of plantaines and meat and was so delicious! We had a wonderful time!

In St. Thomas, we took a catamaran to Turtle Bay where we spent the day snorkeling. It was by far the best snorkeling I've ever seen. The water was so amazingly clear and beautiful. We saw tons of fish, including a barracuda, and beautiful coral, sea urchins and starfish. The best part was that I finally saw my first sea turtle!!! I could have watched it all day... so graceful as it glided through the water! There was also a shipwreck at the bottom that was a 200 ft vessel that had been broken up into 4 pieces after 2 hurricanes had thrown it around. Very impressive!

Aboard ship, we had a great time. We spent a lot of time up at the Crow's Nest which was a relaxing area at the front and top of the ship. We would spend time reading, relaxing and listening to music. The food was great, although I don't think Matt was all that impressed. Although dinner in the main dining room was always good. We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches at the Lido restaurant which was always a buffet... it was good, but not great. Overall, we had a great vacation and really enjoyed the time relaxing together. Now just 3 more months until Baby Bowdish arrives!!!

To see all of our pictures, click on link under "View Our Photos" above on the right!