Saturday, April 5, 2008

BERMUDA!!!! (We take cash. You go CRASH!!)

So I am back from my week long cruise to Bermuda. I am sitting at a Starbucks in NYC right now on 42nd St and Park Ave. I am waiting for Joe to get in tonight, so I thought I would kill some time and post some pictures and CRAZY stories from my trip. I wasn't able to get on the internet on the cruise because it was SOOO expensive....so here goes a week of fun!!!!

We set sail Saturday evening (March 29th) out of New York harbor. It was pretty cool because they took us by the Statue of Liberty and had an amazing view of the New York skyline. It was FREEZING cold on the boat as we left New York and very windy. Kelsie (my cousin that I shared a room with) and I were soo excited to get to our room. It was pretty sweet, but pretty small!!! Our balcony was really cool. We were the last room on the side of the boat at the back of the ship. It was pretty stormy on our voyage to Bermuda. Everyone kepty telling me that I wouldn't even know that I was on a boat....YA RIGHT!!! It was pretty bumpy!! I luckily didn't get sea sick! We had a practice drill in case of the need to evacuate the ship. It was pretty funny. Everyone on the boat had to wear their life jackets and meet at their life boat. "B15" was my boat and I was sure to know where it was located! Luckily we never had to use it!! Later that night we decided to order some FREE room service. We ordered chocolate chip cookies and shrimp cocktail...RANDOM!!! We also hit up the raging club on the boat, "Northern Lights"!! It was tons of fun and I was pretty soar the next morning!!



We were at sea until Monday morning when we woke-up to an overcast Bermuda!! It was pretty cold the first day. We decided to take the ferry across and go rent our scooters that we would use while we were there to get us around the island. I had never riden one and got some special lessons. It was a little getting used to, but got the hang of it pretty quick. The hardest part was driving on the wrong side of the road!! It was sooo confusing, especially after going around a round-about!! We headed down to an underwater museum where we walked around. As we were getting ready to leave, one of my cousin's told me to go in front of her on the scooter. Well, I started to go and the next thing I knew, I was flat on the ground!!! It was pretty funny and from then on out had the nickname of "CRASH"!! We then headed down to the town of Hamilton where we stopped to see a Cathedral that was amazing!! As we were leaving the Cathedral, we were all lined up to go down the driveway (we had 16 scooters in our group)when two of my cousin's pulled out at the same time. Next thing we know is Margaret is headed straight across the street and plowed right into a parked scooter and knocked it down and totally crashed!!! The locals looked at her like she was CRAZY and all the rest of us could do was LAUGH!!!! The scooter she crashed into didn't get too banged up. At that moment we started "The CRASH CLUB". There were now only two members....but more to come!!!



We then headed down to Horseshoe Bay which in one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world!! The water there and in Bermuda is gorgeous!!! It is this turquoise bright blue color! The water was pretty freezing, so I didn't get in. A couple of my cousin's did though. After we were at the beach, we thought it would be funny for me to pretend that I crashed into a palm tree so that when the others came walking up from the beach, they would think I crashed again! It worked and it was pretty funny!!! The ride back to the ship was FREEZING!!! I don't know how people ride motorcycles in the cold. We were seriously NUMB by the time we go back to the ship.



Tuesday we road the scooters down to St George which is at the other end of the island. It takes about an hour to ride from our boat to St George. The scenery is absolutely AMAZING!!! On our way we decided to stop at a sweet cove called Church Bay. We got separated from our group, so I was sent to go find the rest (They would later regret sending CRASH!!). I found the lost group and we headed back to Churches. We arrived at the bay and for some reason I decided to pull into the driveway a littler earlier than I should have. I pulled in to a pile of dirt and gravel and couldn't stop. I flew off my scooter and slip through the dirt and onto the street. It hurt SOOO bad. I looked up to see a car driving right passed my head!!! I slowly got up to see the palm of my hands cut open with dirt and rock stuck in them. One of my cousins picked up my scooter and discovered I had broken off the right side mirror...OOPS (Good thing I paid $30 for insurance!!). When I got back to the group everyone was laughing at me!! I spent most of my time at Churches trying to get the rocks out of my palms!! I was a little apprehensive to get back on the scooter to travel 30 more miles to St George, but I did. As we were getting ready to leave, one of my other cousin's, Jen, some how ran over her leg on her scooter and totally crashed!!(Crash club members up to 3!!)



We got to Tobacco Bay in St George. I was SOO BEAUTIFUL!! It was the perfect spot to snorkel, so we all braved the cold and went exploring. We found an underwater cave that we all swam through. Well, I was going through the cave and came up too early to scrape my back and legs through the rest of the cave! When I got out of the water, I had a ton of scrapes along my back and legs!!! I saw some really big fish. I was really cool!! The weather was perfect that day. It was a bright blue sky which made the ride home a lot better especially when you are wet! I decided to dress a little warmer this time and had a pretty sweet outfit on!! Ugg Boot and board short...SWEET!!! The locals really liked my outfits!!!




Wednesday we decided to go to some of the local coves in Hamilton. We first went to Warwick's and Jobson's cove. Jobson's cove is where the missionaries do their baptisms (one of my cousin's husband served in Bermuda and told me all of the secret spots to go...Thanks Tim!!). The water was pretty nice and the weather was beautiful again. I got my first sun burn of the year!!! YEAH!!! On our way back, one of my cousins, Blake, had a bad accident. We were going through this narrow, windy road and he looked in his mirror to make sure we were all still together and when he looked up, he was up on the curb. His front wheel flew up and he crashed into the side of a wall. It was pretty scary because we were on this little road and there were cars right behind him. He ended up scraping his arm pretty bad and totally broke off his right mirror!!! (Crash club members up to 4!) On our way back we stopped by the Lighthouse and saw an amazing view of the entire island!! We stopped at a couple other spots along the way to take some pictures. As we were pulling out of one of our spots, Yvette went to turn out and landed smack on the street. I was driving ahead of her and heard a car honking!! I looked in my one mirror and saw her laying in the middle of the street!!! Poor thing almost got run over!!!(Crash club members up to 5!!)


Wednesday night Kelsie, Blake, Kendel and I went out to take some pictures on the scooters. We went to this really old cemetery. It was really neat. We got there right at sunset and the view was gorgeous. As we were getting ready to leave, Kendel started goofing off.....and crashed into a tree and broke his right mirror off too!!!!!(Crash club members up to 6!!)



Thursday was our last day riding the scooters. We went back to Horseshoe bay for the day. A few of my cousin's and myself went exploring and found this huge cave. We hung out in there for a while and then went exploring some more. We ran into another of our relatives and he had us all line up in a row so that he could take a picture of all of us on our scooters! It was pretty funny seeing all of us riding through the town!! We were getting ready to head back to return the scooters when another one of my cousin's, Emily, crashed into a curb and fell off her bike!!(Crash club members final count...7!!!)


Right when we got to the scooter rental place it started poring rain. We timed it just perfectly. Could you image all of us crashers driving through the rain!!?? I was a little nervous to return my scooter missing a mirror, but luckily I wasn't the only one!! They were really nice about it and even let me keep my mirror!!! We did a little shopping until we got back on the ferry to our ship. It was a wet ride back but the scenery was still amazing!!

"Crash Club"

We left Thursday at 4:30 for New York. It was such a rough ride back! There was a really bad storm and the swells were HUGE!!! Soo many people on the boat got sick! We went outside to watch the swells. It was amazing...I totally felt like I was on Deadliest Catch!!! There were at least 15-20 feet high!! It was crazy!!! The swimming pool was HILARIOUS!!! It turned into a giant wave pool! There were kids flying everywhere in the water. It got soo bad that they finally shut it down.

Friday I got a massage as a little treat to myself. It was really relaxing. The massage lady was wondering why I had soo many scratches all over my body!! The boat was pretty nice. There wasn't too much to do on it though...I wish there was a rock wall or a water slide. The food was ok....I was really looking forward to eating non-stop, but that didn't happen. My favorite was breakfast where I would get waffles with strawberries. I did get to have lobster one night which I loved. It was really neat because every night we would go to our room to find a little animal made from our bath towels waiting for us on our bed. We had a dog, lobster, elephant, monkey and a seal!! They were soo cute!



We got to Pier 92 in New York this morning (Sat April 5th). I was sad to leave. It was such a nice trip and Bermuda was AMAZING!! I would really like to go back in the summer time when the weather and water is warmer. I have definitely gotten over my fear of cruise boats!! I can't wait to go on another cruise!!!!

The best part of the trip was the t-shirt Vaughn and Margret gave me. It says "Bermuda Scooter Rentals" and has a picture of a skeleton riding a bike that is all broken and at the bottom of the shirt it says "We take the cash. You go CRASH"!!! It was perfect!!!



I had so much fun hanging out with all my cousin's. Dana and I had such a blast goofing off!! We pretended that we were from "Chips" when we were riding the scooters. She was John and I was Ponch!!



Pretty much everyone on the ship thought that I was 18 years old, which I thought was pretty funny!! I was always hanging out with the kids and goofing off. They didn't believe how old I really was!! Oh well, some day I will grow up!!

Also, if you are wondering why I am wearing my USC sweatshirt in almost EVERY picture??? It is because I only brought one sweatshirt. I had no clue how cold it would be in BERRRRMUDA!!!!

I really got lucky....Joe's camera decided to break last night!!!???? I couldn't believe it. At least it didn't break during the cruise. I went to Best Buy today in NY and had to buy a new one. When we get back home, we can take it in to get fixed. I better get going. Joe's flight just landed. I will update when I can on the next week in New York.....Good thing I'm not renting a scooter!!

7 comments:

Dana Hansen said...

Ponch, I miss you man!!! I loved reading your blog. I could not stop laughing. 7 crash club members, that has to be a record. GOOD TIMES!!! what a fun trip i will never forget it and i will laugh out loud when I think about our adventures. Hey did they let you keep the mirror...ha ha ha. Enjoy New York. love, John

Tim and Jennifer said...

Tim and I were dying reading this together. Crash club is hilarious. I'm so jealous you went, but so happy you got to experience Bermuda! Now you'll want to go back (when it's warmer!)!

Anonymous said...

Loving the post and all of the pics from the Crash Club, hurt hand, and towel animals. Looks like you had an amazing time. Have fun in NYC!!! You should have just let everyone think that you were 18:>

SUMMER said...

Looks better than I even imagined... Hate you!

Shauna Brown said...

SOOOO jealous!!! I could just see you all cruising the streets together. I'm glad you had so much fun. You look great at 18! Have fun at dinner tonight!

Emily M said...

looks like you had fun!!

Anonymous said...

Cara-
Reading this makes me laugh all over again! That was the most fun I have had in a long time and I am so glad that you were a part of it! I have a picture cd for you but I need you address, email me at stampinmamato2@yahoo.com. Take care and keep havin' fun!
Jen
P.S. I want a cd of your pics too.