Thanksgiving Caribbean cruisin'

The week of Thanksgiving was the Conger Family Reunion. And this year our grandparents took us all to the Caribbean! No words. It was the first time I had been that far east and south, and it was like a whole new WORLD to me. We cruised with Norwegian Cruise Line out of Miami, and our week-long itinerary on our ship, the "Getaway," consisted of Nassau (Bahamas), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), George Town (Grand Cayman), and Cozumel (Mexico).
 Ryan and I flew to Denver (where Ryan and I had possibly some of the best burgers we've ever tasted. Or maybe they were just average but we were seriously famished. Either way, thank you Denver airport.) to intercept my grandparents' flight from Seattle, and then we all flew together to Florida. Aside from almost losing Grandma in the airport [: the day went rather uneventfully, and it was great to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa! We met up and stayed that night with my family in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, and even though we were all exhausted from a day of travel, we stayed up late into the night catching up on all the stories my family had from spending the previous few days at Harry Potter Land and Universal Studios (!!! so jealous!).
The day of our disembarkation was hectic to say the least! The morning included Ryan and I slipping away with minutes left before we had to leave in order to track down some proper sandals... (Thank you random Ross that we found.) Like total Utahns we are completely lacking in beach gear now. Embarrassing. Dad had rented a huge 12-passenger van for us and all our bags, and after a quick morning workout and hurried breakfast, we were on our way to Miami.

All throughout the day we connected up with family members on the ship (shouting hug-fests always followed), hung out in Grandma & Grandpa's spacious stern cabin with it's awesome private deck, got lost trying to find everyone's cabins, and determined the quickest ways to the FOOD. What a crazy day! While eating dinner we got this gorgeous view of the city as we pulled out of the harbor. ^^^ Finally on our way!

Our little cabin. It was perfect.

What's a good old-fashioned Mormon family reunion without decorated doors?!?!

The first day was the city of Nassau, and we didn't have anything planned but wandering.

We walked through town to a pretty, pretty beach and just wandered up and down, wading in the warm water and showing each other any pretty pieces of coral we'd find. Basically we were all kind of in shock at it all and needed some time to acclimatize. [: Haha. We were super lazy this day!

I can just hear the palms whishing around in the breeze as I write this! ): 

 We took the long way back to the ship and picked random streets to explore. It was a great way to see the area. The buildings were SO colorful in Nassau! Ryan said it reminded him of his mission in Mexico. I loved it! Want a purple house? A blue church? Why not!

Stumbled upon Christ Church Cathedral, which was so beautiful - the first church built in the Bahamas (1841!!). It had stunning stained glass surrounding the chapel on three sides, depicting the Savior's life and the acts of His apostles. It was a wonderful find!

The colorful buildings! America needs to get on its rainbow house game STAT!

That evening we enjoyed a magic show with dinner and tried to convince my dad to enter the "Mr. Sexy Legs" competition. Haha. The ship never failed to supply things to do, no matter what the hour. It was so fun to stay up late and do whatever sounded fun! Snacking, exploring, playing, seeing a show (Ryan and I watched a Newlyweds Game and also teamed up with some other Congers for an 80's music trivia session. We all saw Legally Blonde: The Musical, too. It was fun, but kinda "eh." But still fun!) Though the late hours made getting up early in the morning to hit the gym very difficult... we didn't miss a day! So thankful they had a fitness center because I know for a fact that my reunion with the tape-measure back home would not have been pretty. [; Can you say endless soft-serve ice cream and midnight crepe bars?!

The following day was at sea, which gave us a chance to explore the ship a bit more! We tried out the pools and water slides (they had one of those slides where you stand on a platform that randomly drops out from under you. HOLY. Pretty sure I reached my target exercise heart rate on that thing, without moving a muscle.), played some mini golf on the top deck, and walked around the shops. I seriously can't believe how much they can cram onto these ships! It's incredible.

 The next morning we woke up in Jamaica!

We opted for a day at a little nature resort. This area full of tropical birds was probably my favorite part of the day! They were adorable, fascinating to watch, and all had the funniest personalities. And they would land on literally whatever surface of your body that they could. It had us all laughing.

And Lydia's new iguana friend, who I'm surprised couldn't tell she was pregnant, because as we found out during this day pretty much every animal we were touching or holding had special senses and could tell who was pregnant, according to the locals. (; It made us laugh so hard, which I'm sure was the main goal, haha. For example, we found a gecko hitchhiking on Mom's shoulder at one point during the day, and while I was picking him off, a passing Jamaican said, "Mon! A gecko? You pregnant!" Another time Mom barely missed getting bombarded with bird poo from above and the park employee next to us laughed, "Bird poop is lucky! It mean you pregnant!"

 Dolphins! One of those guys was named Apollo... Can't remember the other one. [: It was amazing being in the water with them. I hope I never forget the way their skin (I think? Do dolphins have skin? No idea what the right term is for this...) felt. It was unbelievably smooth. Being with them, you could just see how intelligent and aware they were. I was in total awe. Definitely fell in love with them. I had mixed feelings about this part of the park, though the company states that the dolphins are free to come and go from the enclosure as they please.

 Green everything. I loved it. We loved exploring the trails until at one point one of us looked up and realized there was A HUGE JUNGLE SPIDER RIGHT ABOVE OUR HEADS. We gawked at him/squealed about the whole situation for almost ten minutes (we think he was a banana spider. Tip: DON'T look that up). We also held some snakes and lizards, watched a shark show (with Lyd and Sarah swooning over the shirtless shark handlers (; ), and swam with a stingray! Woah. That was very cool. She was massive! Though according to her handler I am, of course, pregnant. But with twins! Ryan and I are so proud.

 Back on ship we snacked and looked out at the beautiful port of Ocho Rios.

 At dinner that night, Dani and Lydia tried escargot. I definitely could not work up the courage to try it. Looking back... yeah still don't regret it. I love their facial expressions:

Evenings were always great because we got to all gather together for dinner. It was so fun to switch up the seating arrangements and chat with everyone about life. We also all got to know the standard items on the menu and by this point in the trip we all knew that the molten chocolate cake was the dessert go-to. [:

Our third stop was definitely my favorite: Georgetown, Grand Cayman!

 Tendering in to shore.

 Sarah embracing Grand Cayman hair.

 In my research earlier I came across a beach that looked like it offered some pretty good snorkeling while being relatively uncrowded. We decided to walk there, which ended up taking a little longer than we anticipated [; but it sure was a pretty route!

We hadn't gone far when we spotted literally an entire tree full of green Grand Cayman natives - iguanas! Oh. my. word. They ranged from every size - just a foot to easily over four feet long! Like this dude:

And the thing we couldn't stop laughing at (mostly out of shock) was how fast they were! Really most of the iguanas we ended up seeing were only revealed to us because we startled them while we walked, and they launched themselves into the shelter of nearby bushes with their legs paddling like mad, tails swinging and mouths open wide. They could really haul! With the bigger guys, it was really quite terrifying to watch! Haha. We must have seen at least fifty on our way there and back. They were like crows or squirrels are in America - just commonplace and scattered everywhere!

 Met a more friendly-looking lizard friend on the way. [:

More colorful houses! This one ^^^ made us think of Little Bo Peep. Teehee!

Finally, the beach:

 It was fabulous. Not too many people, gorgeous soft sand, the coolest black rock, and the snorkeling was really nice!

 Ryan didn't have his contacts so he laid on the sand and read while the rest of us snorkeled. We saw beautiful fish, urchins, rock formations, and coral. Prettiest fish I saw was what I think was, *ahem* - a "juvenile yellowtail damsel fish," (thanks Google). It was tiny, like half the size of my thumb, but its tiny fluorescent spots were so bright! He was the cutest. [: I watched him for awhile. We're friends now.

We also got to watch a lovely little wedding ceremony on the beach! Ha! It was so fun. Everyone on the beach watched quietly and then of course cheered and clapped as they kissed as husband and wife. #unintentionalweddingcrashers Talk about a pretty wedding venue...

 We walked back tired and happy. And I had to stop and smell this plumeria bush! ^^ Easily the best-smelling flowers in the world.

 That night after dinner, Sydney, one of the youngest cousins, begged us to take her on the ropes course. That girl is fearless! Is this what it feels like to become a boring adult? Because not only has my fear of heights increased exponentially as I've gotten older, but I'm a serious worrier... Haha. What is happening to me? So lame! Syd and Ryan practically skipped through the course while I held on to my harness for dear life and swore I'd never do anything of the sort again.

 Next day we were HOT LIKE MEXICOOO.
Most hilarious moment of the day: Ryan stepping off the ship, taking a sniff, and reporting, "Yep. We are definitely in Mexico." Haha! It was so fun to be in Mexico with Ryan. The first time he's been back since his mission!

 Getting to our ferry was an adventure in itself. We walked and walked past shops, taking in the sights and getting heckled by souvenir clerks standing on the sidewalks ("Heya Barbie!" to Lydia and I. We laughed so hard. What charm!) while Ryan and my dad sprinted ahead to use Ryan's Spanish to get our tickets.
After the following positively wild boat ride from Cozumel to the mainland, we met up with our guide who took us on a tour of the ruins of Tulum. It. was. MAGICAL.

 Our tour was unique in that our guide was an LDS member there in Cozumel, and he gave our tour with a Book of Mormon spin, weaving in facts that we know about the ancient inhabitants who wrote the incredible record we have today. Though we know that these ruins are much younger than the people of the Book of Mormon, it was really awesome. I learned a lot about the book of scripture that I love so much! Plus it was so fascinating to SEE THIS PLACE and learn about the people who lived here hundreds of years ago.

Group pic 1.0

Yes I'll have this view from my house, please.

 Group pic 2.0, with everyone who came on the tour! Taken super quick before we dashed back to our ferry, hence me not being able to be by Ryan. ): But I love this family of mine!

 Luckily the ferry ride back was much more calm, and walking back to the ship was much less rushed. Also the sunset was beautiful! The night was warm and it was so relaxing to walk along the waterfront with Ryan. Lydia and I eventually stopped in a shop to buy Christmas ornaments (something I've started doing wherever we go!), and found the cutest little tiny ornaments of a Nativity inside a cactus. Teehee! Probably made in China but hush. It's cute.

 Our last day was at sea, and we spent it swimming & sliding, seeing any last-minute things we wanted to check out on the ship, playing giant shuffleboard out on the deck, and relaxing.

 ^^ Watching my parents play shuffleboard against a random couple they met! Haha!

 That night we got all gussied up for a family picture and our last evening on the cruise.

 A Matthew photobomb.

 The next morning we packed our bags and loaded ourselves off that big, beautiful ship for the last time. Lots of hugs and goodbyes as we all went our separate ways home from Miami!

Back in our 12-passenger van again, us Krops/Grays, two Jorgensons, and Grandma & Grandpa went for lunch (Chipotle! Not going to lie, non-cruise food tasted SO GOOD. You can have too much a good thing.) and then drove around killing time before our flights. We loved stopping by the beautiful Fort Lauderdale Temple! Isn't it so pretty?

On the way out of the temple neighborhood we passed a long stretch of canal alongside the road and Dad joked, "Watch for gators, guys!" We laughed and joked about how cool it would be, but no one really expected to be able to see one as we zipped along the road. But really not 60 seconds later and Sarah J shouted, "WAIT I SEE ONE!" We pulled over, and sure enough! We got to watch an alligator cruise around the canal, just doin his Florida gator thing. SO COOL. Gold star for Sarah J's sharp eye.
Last stop was the Boardwalk, which was way cool. Miles of beach and pathway along the ocean.

 We split up at the airport, with Ryan and I heading back to Denver on our route to SLC. After a delayed flight in Denver until almost 1:30am due to snow, we were two very sleepy travelers, but I definitely couldn't stop thinking about those white beaches and hanging out with family. Dear Caribbean, you definitely made this a Thanksgiving to remember!