In April we went on a much needed vacation cruise with Mindy and Dave. Ben and I flew into Tampa Florida, rented a car and drove around the bay area. It is beautiful there. It was fun to just drive around, exploring the city. For dinner I tried the GROOPER fish. I guess it's quite popular in Florida and yes, it was yummy! We stayed the night in Tampa. The next day we did some shopping, picked the Gales up at the airport and headed for the boat.
In Grand Cayman we went on a boat tour. Our first stop we went snorkeling. We saw some cool fish but the neatest thing was we saw two huge eels. The guide we were with would swim down and play with the mama eel (7 feet long). The baby eel (4 feet long) would come up to him and eat from his hand, but then quickly go back into hiding. It was so neat to just float in the water, watching the eels. Then the highlight was we got to swim with the sting rays! They say there are about 50 sting rays that live on this sand bar. We held them, fed them squid, pet them and even kissed them for good luck.
In Cozumel we ate some lunch, took a taxi to the main city and did some shopping, then the boys went scuba diving. Ben hadn't ever been but the instructor gave him a mini class, practiced some techniques in the water and down they went. 
We had a couple days to just hang out on the boat. One night was a formal dinner where we got dressed up and had steak and lobster for dinner. We laid out in the sun, played on the waterslides, stayed up late and slept in late, played lots of cards and ate and ate and ate! In the evenings we would go to the shows and comedians. One evening Ben and I went and played a group game. You were in teams of about ten people. The announcer guy would name something and you had to be the first team to bring it up to him on stage. It was rowdy and hilarious and Ben ended up kissing some bald guys head. Good times!
It was an awesome week full of fun! Thanks Mindy and Dave for yet another fun vacation together.
