Home again, home again

I’m now sitting in Miami, enjoying net connectivity over the cell network.  We’ve made it through customs (always a challenge in Miami), everyone who wants food has had it, and all we have to do now is get home.  This trip is just about over, and now I have to look forward to too few degrees on the thermometer.

It was a good trip.  We did lots of fun stuff.  I didn’t enjoy myself quite as much as on previous tropic trips, but then, I wasn’t really in a state to enjoy myself quite as much.  Still, all was good.

But I don’t think I’ll be visiting a non-US dollar vacation destination until the dollar recovers a bit.  Things were expensive on the islands, and the exchange rate did not help.

High points:

– Kate and Diana vote for Stingray City.

– Andy votes for the beach – both walking it and just sitting on it.

– Julie liked the horseback riding.

– For me, it’s always about being wet.  Either scuba or snorkel – I just want to be moist.

There were a few firsts this time around: this was our first non-inclusive tropics vacation, and the first time we rented a car for the whole week.  I rather liked that, though it did add to the expense.  It let us do a lot greater variety of stuff, and allowed the occasional random jaunt that was fun.  (Inclusive resorts worked out really well when the kids were young.  They’re not as young now, so it wasn’t as necessary.)

On the water front: I liked the diving at Cozumel last year more than at Caymans.  The coral and wildlife here wasn’t notably better, and the drift diving at Cozumel was a lot more fun.  (The current is strong enough at Cozumel that you hardly have to swim – just drift along by the corals.)

And oh – today was the first rainy/ugly day that I’ve ever had in the Caribbean, after six trips down there.  So I did not get a chance to swim this morning, before the plane.  But there’s something kind of nice about bad weather on the day that you leave – makes it easier to go.

So farewell to another trip.  I do hope to keep up the blog – not as many posts as this week.  But do keep an eye on this space and see if I can keep up the resolve over the new year.