Explorer of the Seas Continued

The Rest of the Explorer cruise.

This was the itinerary of this cruise.

Departing Miami.
At Sea
Labadee, Haiti
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
At Sea
Nassau, Bahamas
Miami

Our first big excursion was in San Juan where we booked Horseback riding on the beach. It turned out that almost all of our group and some other folks we got to know already since it was the fourth day of the cruise, were coming also. We met our tour person on the dock and were escorted to a bus.....a kind of old bus. We traveled quite a ways on twisting turning roads through some hills. I recall how we were swaying back and forth in our seats as the bus wound its way up the hills.
Eventually we reached our destination, which was a rather dilapidated Hacienda. They brought the horses out to us and the first thing we all thought was, " The horses are kind of on the small side." Yes they were. Joe, who is quite tall, almost had his feet on the ground. Those of us who weigh a few extra pounds seemed a little large in the saddle. In spite of all of that, we eventually all were mounted and were herded out of the Hacienda . The whole riding group was on the large side....... I would say about twenty-five people on horses and a few Puerto Rican cowboys to guide us. Some of the horses were unruly and tried to wander off if you weren't controlling them. The cowboys were verrrry busy.
One horse bolted. The rider ( not from our group) was barely able to hang on as the horse took off in a full gallup. The cowboys told us to wait here as they ran off to catch the horse. It was amusing to watch the horse eluding the wranglers as the rider sat helpless hanging on for dear life.Fianally, the horse was brought under control and remained so only because one of the caballeros held his reins. We continued on.
They escorted us through dusty trails and over a golf course as we headed towards the ocean. Once there, we were given instructions on what to do. The main thing we were told is, " Do not let the horse stop on the beach." The lead caballero warned us that if you stop, the horse will want to roll in the wet sand and surf. Okay...we were warned.
The leader told us to follow him and off we went. I will say that the brief jaunt down the beach was a lot of fun and was quite scenic. We followed him along the beach until he turned and rode up and over the dunes heading away from the water. It was a bit of a hill and then down to a grassy area. He pulled up and said we had to wait for everybody. We waited. George realized that Marie was not with the group. Where was Marie? Suddenly, we saw her walking up and over the dune.....with no horse. She was saying" I'm not getting back on that thing." A moment later a rider brought her horse up from the beach. It turned out that she let the horse stop on the beach and the animal rolled over in the wet sand and surf with Marie on board.
Marie didn't want to get back on the horse but the lead man said that she must or she'll never get back to the ship in time. Reluctantly she got on. Luckily nothing more happened to her but we got a good laugh out of it and NOBODY GOT HURT!

All through the week, everybody did something on the ship. Rock climbing, ice skating, rollerblading, and mini-golf was available to do, as well as the typical cruise ship activities.

Our next big adventure was a snorkle trip to Trunk Bay in St. John. It took a while to get there but you were rewarded with a superb beach and interesting reef to look at or photograph.
The final excursion of the cruise was the Dolphin Encounter. It's not the same as swimming with them but at least you get to really see and touch them up close. I got some pretty good pictures on a film camera.This was the pre-digital era, and I never scanned them to go on the computer.
Before we knew it the seven night cruise on Explorer of the Seas was over. We didn't even get off the ship and we were ready to cruise again. So we went home and made some plans. Before long we had had plans made for another cruise and behold......the MIXED NUTZ were created.

Next time....... The making of a cruise group.