Summer travels

Sometimes a writer just needs to sail off into the sunset with good friends and visit unusual places. I’ve been able to go on two different cruises and thought I’d share some of the beautiful and hilarious things we experienced.

The first trip was out of Miami, Florida for a cruise to Aruba, Curacao and the Dominican Republic. My friend Helen and I met almost 40 years ago at Fort Lewis, Washington as army wives. We have remained friends while our families have bounced around the United States. Now that we are both retired from full-time jobs, we thought we’d celebrate with an exciting trip. Helen’s husband is not a fan of deep water, so it was just the two of us. And it was exciting! And HOT!

We snorkeled in Aruba, tasted lots of liquors in Curacao and enjoyed the beach at Amber Cove. We went on a cave exploration in the Dominican Republic, thinking this would be a cool break from the tropical heat, but we were wrong. Here is a picture of the sweaty spelunkers deep inside a cave, where the humidity was about 100 percent.

We found the dazzling umbrella canopy in Puerto Plata, DR.

I couldn’t resist showing you my selfie with a pirate and some of the beautiful orchids from the area.

Helen took this fantastic picture of the moon’s reflection upon the sea.

My second sailing was out of New Orleans with my friend Kristi. Her husband Jerry would have loved to go with us, but we didn’t invite him. As a running joke, we enlarged a photo of him and carried “him” around the ship and one port to take pictures “with” him. It was hilarious, and he didn’t mind us doing this.

I’ve included a picture of a coconut pirate,

a beach demonstration in Bimini of a native preparing conch for eating,

and a beautiful flamingo spotted at the Butterfly museum in Key West.

The rooster is a native of Key West and the towel turtle found his way into our room. Perhaps he was riding on a wave of fun?

Two great trips with two great friends. Now…back to writing!