We hired a guy out on the beach to take us out on the water. Everyone kept trying to sell us hours of boating to go whale watching or fishing or whatever. What they didn’t understand was that a baby and a toddler (and frequently we) have short attention spans. So we asked for a short trip 30 minutes to an hour and we had no expectations beside going out on the water with the kids for a bit.

Boating is so relaxing. The sun, the rocking, the ocean smell and spray. The kids did fantastic. We watched planes take off from the airport and pelicans glide close to the water looking for dinner. We waved at locals in their boats and got splashed by bigger boats’ wakes. Little miss Eden got to wear a life jacket like Dora the Explorer. It was the first thing she asked for when we told her about the boat.

The guy driving the boat put some lines in the water. Eden got some beginner’s luck! A fish got on one of the lines and right as Chad and Eden were reeling it into the boat it got away. Only minutes later Eden was helping reel another, bigger fish in!

She could not get enough of touching that fish. She stroked its scales and poked its eyes. The girl is not afraid.

Maybe it is common knowledge that there WILL be a karaoke night on any cruise or at any all inclusive. I knew I wanted to do it before we got on the plane or packed.

I got up and sang “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA. I was the first to go, the words were only showing up a few words at a time at the most, there was a funky, distracting background track and I was terrified. It was all wrong. Elisa doesn’t ever know how good she sounds.

So Chad made it all right! Later Chad agreed to do a duet with me of George Michael’s “Faith.” It was so much fun. We rocked it!

It was so great to have my Dad and brother with us for a few days. Dad hasn’t had the flexibility with work to go on a vacation like this, especially around the holidays, as long as I have known. Dad and I went out trying to solidify plans for our canopy tour one evening. On the way back we discovered the Marina. It was literally right across the street from where we were staying but just enough hidden that we could have totally missed it.

It had such a lively fun atmosphere. We especially got a kick out of the warning signs for crocodiles.