Vacation Day 8

The last stop on our cruise was Grand Turk, and it's my favorite island thus far! Our ship got there first, so we were able to get 2 canopies with chairs under some coconut trees on the beach, and it was the perfect place to spend all day. We all snorkeled, swam, ate and played before walking through the port shops and heading back onto the boat. The only thing we missed was seeing the wild donkeys. Next time!

Vacation Day 7

We pulled into San Juan, Puerto Rico super early the next morning, which was nice that we were able to get off the ship and start our (self guided) walking tour before it got too hot. The city is so incredible! We walked around the outside edge of the island to get to the Castillo San Felipe Del Morro, which is a 16th century citadel built by the Spanish. It is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, we came around these huge stone walls and up a steep staircase that opened into this beautiful green rolling hillside that overlooked the city. The fortress is huge, and several stories high, with lookouts and ramps everywhere so they could roll the cannons all around. After we had seen everything, we walked through town to the Castillo de San Cristobal, which was built in the 1700s and is the largest Spanish fort built in the New World. It was also used as a military base during World War 2, with huge cisterns that could be used as fallout shelters if needed. We continued our tour with a stop at the beach, where Brinley found a seahorse tail, past the Capital building, and back to the port. We walked about 10 miles through old San Juan, and it was so worth it! It's definitely a city I'd love to go back to, and see even more things!

Vacation Day 6

The second stop was St. Thomas, and it was so fun. Once we got into port, we headed for a shipwreck museum and the Skyride, which is a gondola ride that takes you to the top of a mountain, with the most amazing views of the island and ocean. We had lunch at the top (which included cracking up our waiter when Brinley ordered a virgin margarita!), then headed back down and to the beach. The beach we went to, Megan's Bay, was beautiful and the boys loved snorkeling there. We even found a crab that we named Herman, still living in his shell.