It’s hard to believe that tonight was our last night dining at Table 578.

We’re heading home.. we’ve left the turquoise waters of the Caribbean and have headed back in to the darker oil rig studded waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

I can’t believe that tomorrow night I won’t be served dinner by the delightful team of the smiling Renato and the charming (and young) Ryan.

After tomorrow… I have to cook again.

I should say get to cook again because truly, I love it.  It’s one of my joys in life, however…

Table 578 has been a haven.

Delicious food appears and re-appears, suggestions are made, new delicacies tried and gorgeous crystal glasses are filled with sultry merlots that slide over our tongues and delight our tastebuds.

Tomorrow, it’s back to reality and my own kitchen table.

For tonight, I’ll curl up under these heavy white covers in a room with my family and let the gentle rocking and shushing of the ocean lull me to sleep.

On Thursday, Nathan and I took advantage of the day in the Grand Cayman’s and the awesomeness that is Camp Carnival (truly) Monkey  has a major fan in the precious Daniela from Romania; she loves him and he can’t get enough of her) to enjoy a day to ourselves.

This is our first REAL vacation since our honeymoon 9 something years ago and our first real-honest-to-goodness family vacation ever.

We woke up to less than stellar weather but learned that our excursion hadn’t been canceled, so off we went.  I mean really,  nothin’ short of an actual hurricane would have kept us out of the gorgeous Grand Cayman Islands (Montego Bay) and this was nothing more than gray clouds and intermittent drizzle.

It was cool to see that most of our fellow cruisers went along with the flow, too.  Bad weather? Meh.. we’re Carnival Cruisers… we can make good out of any situation.

Nathan an I decided to try the Shipwreck and Coral Reef Snorkeling trip, we’ve never ‘actually’ snorkeled before; it. was. AWESOME!!!!!f

Here we are on the way to the shipwreck.

Here I am IN the gorgeous green and blue waters

We spent about 2 hours snorkeling around a really cool shipwreck and an amazing coral reef.

Our tour guides, Paul and Steven, hysterical, informative, fun and super helpful.

Paul is from Manitoba, Canada and sitting listening to him made me miss my Tanis

We saw lion fish, a GIANT STINGRAY, squid, scorpion fish and so many gorgeous colored fish, coral reef and others… it was truly breathtaking.  I took TONS of pics, will share more when I get home!

Today, we arrived in the simply stunning Cozumel, I honestly could have spent a couple of days here.  I have never seen water so gorgeous. EVER.

We took the kids on land and shopped for trinkets, played around and then went on a stingray excursion.

Oh YES we did!  We took the kids snorkeling with stingrays.  It. rocked.

Look at Monkey and Me with the large female

We got to touch her, hold her and feed her and probably about 20 others.  Their bodies are soooo smooth and slick and their “faces” SO sweet!

The kids LOVED the vacuum feeling of the stingrays sucking the ‘food’ right out of their hands.  I was a tad bit hesitant at first but then, I could have spent hours in there feeling them swimming around my legs and watching them frolic with my kids.  Seriously, the smile on my kids’ faces and the sparkle in their eyes… priceless.

Of course, there was also the moment that my husband kissed that other girl……..

I’ll share more about that and the rest of our days.. plus pics later, for now   I’m off to get dressed and enjoy another meal in the Monet dining room and the kiddos are off to Camp Carnival