Segway Time, Baby!

So...picking up where I left off yesterday! We were in Grand Turk and we were about to take on our first {and only} excursion of the cruise!

Ryan really wanted to go on a Segway tour and convinced me it was safe and entirely possible for me to do. {Does he KNOW me???}

Twelve of us went on this tour, and we were picked up in a 15 passenger van and taken to a little place about 15 minutes away from the cruise ship to begin our tour. I should mention that our tour began about 2 hours before we had to be back ON the ship to leave port. And it was a two hour tour. A few of us on the tour were a bit concerned about that - including one guy who asked the tour guides about 15 times if we'd be back to the boat in time to leave.

The tour guides were on classic island time {no worries, man!} so they were very laid back about the whole thing!

Tyson, one of the guides, gave us a full demonstration on how the Segway works, which is when I learned I should have spent more time researching THAT...than researching how its inventor died. I honestly thought you just got on the thing, pushed start and went on your merry way. I didn't realize there was balance, leaning, and you know...actual SKILL involved.

Everyone had to go through training before we were allowed to go out on the tour. Ryan volunteered for training before me:

 My thoughts on my pending training:

Training involved learning to start, stop, turn left, turn right, and then maneuver through cones...figure eight style.

It was such a bad flashback of driver's ed in high school. THAT didn't go well.

But I was a big girl and got up for my training:

I passed!!!

But still felt nervous:

And so the tour began. We rode out single file and it turned out that the actual tour took less skill than training. Thank Goodness.

I opted to be last in line, with Ryan in front of me. We all wore radios in our ear to hear Rodney, the lead tour guide, explain the island.

Well. Most people did. You actually had to be within 100 yards of him to hear what he had to say, and I was more interested in NOT falling off the thing {which, let the record show, two people DID do, but I was not one of them thankyouverymuch} than hearing about the island, so I was content to go at my own pace!

Obviously taking photos was out of the question - but Ryan snapped a few, and so did tour guide Tyson when we stopped for a water break, so enjoy the photos from our tour!

The tour itself was interesting. Other than the beach area pictured above, it took us through some of the poorer, less "touristy" places in Grand Turk  and that surprised me. I guess I figured they would pull out the best of the best for the thing. But it was interesting to see places I'd never been, and it was fun to try something new!

{Tyson the tour guide kept coming back to check on me and would say, "You okay, mi'lady?"}

We finished the tour right on time and scurried back to the ship and made it on before it pulled away from shore.

WHEW!!!!

The Shaffers Take on Grand Turk

Thanks so much for being patient with the vacation coverage! I hope you're enjoying your virtual cruise...and I wanted to make sure I documented it well so I can do a good job on the scrapbook later!

We were pulling into Grand Turk on Wednesday morning just as the sun came up. Though it is, I'm sure, counterproductive to see a sunrise on vacation, we made our way down the hall to the little deck out on the front of the ship...and welcomed ourselves to port:

We were not the only cruise ship in port that day...another, smaller, Carnival ship pulled up alongside us and floods of people began to pour out of both ships for a {short!} day on Grand Turk! Incidentally, this was my first time out of the country, aside from a visit to Canada when I was a kid touring Niagara Falls. Pretty exciting stuff for me!

Ryan and I waited until the first wave of people had left the ship, and then we made our way onto the island. Margaritaville was right there...so we did a little photo opp picture, but that was it for us in Margaritaville!

There was a beach right there, so we pulled up a chair with two cruise ships full of people {did I mention the 1300 children on board? Ay-yi-yi!!!} and attempted to rest on the beach for a bit:

After a while, it just was too loud and too crowded, so we gave up our chairs to two very eager-to-have-them people, and we wandered around the area just a little bit, looking for fun photo opps.

Like....the conch swing....

...and the beach!

 And then we got back on the ship to enjoy some lunch...before our excursion that afternoon!

We only arranged one excursion for the whole cruise...and it was....

Ahhhhh yes. My dear husband, lover of adventure that he is, talked me into a Segway tour. You should know that before sailing on this cruise, I'd done all my research on the Segway...including the small factoid that the inventor of the thing actually DIED riding one - when it went over a cliff. Oh sweet goodness.

But I put on my bravest face:

And before you know it...off we went! This blog post is kind of long already, so I think I'll take you ON the Segway tour tomorrow!! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

And a happy Labor Day Sunday to you!! Did you miss me? {Did you know I was gone?}

Well, remember when last Sunday, I told you I spent the day taking naps and reading a book? I may have forgotten to mention that I did those things in Miami. As in Florida. As in vacation week for the Shaffers! Of course I have much to tell you, but here’s a quick synopsis of our week!

* Last Sunday, we boarded the Carnival Breeze in Miami, and set sail for a week of cruising in the Caribbean. This was Ryan’s 8^th cruise and my first, and we have been eagerly counting down the days to sailing for weeks now! We were up on the 11^th deck of the ship – in a nice room with a balcony, and we got to the ship early that day so we could settle in and explore before it left port shortly before dinner.

* We sailed all night and awakened Monday morning in Key West, Florida – and neither of us had ever been there before, so we enjoyed experiencing that first together. We didn’t sign up for any excursions on shore, so armed with a map and a couple of granola bars, we set out on our own to look around. Among other things that day, a highlight was crossing an item off my bucket list: I got to see a lighthouse in real life…and climb to the top of it, too! This was a big deal for the girl who is both afraid of heights AND claustrophobic.

* Tuesday was one of our at-sea days, so we enjoyed spending the day resting and roaming about the ship – and we took advantage of some of the activities the ship offered for entertainment. One of those was Hasbro the game show, where they did a live game show, and guess which one of the Shaffers crossed off another bucket list item?? NOT THIS ONE!! But Ryan was so excited when he got picked to go on stage and be a contestant!

* Wednesday we watched the sun rise {yes, on vacation…isn’t it WRONG?} over Grand Turk as we pulled into port! This was my first time out of the country {Canada excluded} and I really enjoyed being there, though we were there such a short time. In an event worthy of its own blog post, the highlight of that day was a little activity we like to call The Shaffers Play Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Ride Segways.

* We spent Thursday at sea as well…and while we didn’t attend any shows like we did the first day at sea, we did participate in a digital scavenger hunt and watched an ice sculpture demonstration! We got to be on the big jumbotron for that. This is typical of us: Ryan spends his time waving and I spend my time taking pictures. HA!!

* Friday we docked in Nassau, and we had the BEST TIME on our own private little beach we just happened upon! We got back on the boat about 20 minutes before it POURED, and we just took it easy the rest of the day. Great dinner…met some new friends who were on their honeymoon! And then…sob…we had to pack. We don’t talk about it.

*When we woke up yesterday, we were back in Miami. I was excited to be back in the land of phones and internet – until I logged on and saw all the news…and then I thought it was better when all that was turned off. We had the privilege of spending the entire day in the Miami airport – an activity not on either of our bucket lists!! And there may or may not be MUCH more blog fodder from this day alone!! But until then...