Cruise and knitting at sea

Let's start with the fun stuff, like the cruise. Really, I went to knit, no really. Ok, so I went partially to knit. I also went because it sounded like fun.

We left on Monday and got on board early enough to have a late lunch. Have to say that the terminal in Jacksonville isn't exactly the prettiest, but they did a good job of moving us through fairly quickly, at least from what I remember from my previous cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. The cabin was great, larger then I thought since we opted for an inside one and the "not so expensive cabin" at that. Before we left I found out that a friend I used to work with, and whom I have just gotten back in touch with, was going to be on the same cruise. John & I managed to text our way to meeting up before the ship left the harbour and talked for a bit. That wasn't the only time we saw each other, I also managed to get up one morning and meet him for breakfast. For those who know me, this wasn't exactly the easiest, but I got up early that morning to see the sunrise and then went to breakfast. It was a good morning.

But back to knitting and cruising. We had a small group, only 6, but I think we managed to have fun and everyone got started on the lovely design.
That's us. (Thanks John for taking the pictures for us, and you were right, that wasn't a great background.)

Ok, so we spent Tuesday at sea. Being at sea has to be the best in my book. There's so much to do on the ship, plus it's just relaxing to be sailing along. We had at least 1 lesson for the shawl on Monday, and another on Tuesday. I also took some time Tuesday to get a pedicure at the spa. Not exactly the cheapest pedi I've ever had, but it was very nice and it was a treat, plus I had my toes painted to match my outfit, so they were blue! (No I don't have a picture of my outfit that evening or my toe nails, bad planning on my part I know.) I do have this picture...
Yep, that's me under the hat. That hat and the massive amounts of SPF 70 lotion I packed managed to keep me from getting burned. That's a good thing.

Wednesday we docked in Key West. We decided to take the Conch Train. It was a great way to see a lot of the island. I would really like to see the inside of the Hemingway House, but this time just got another shot of the outside.
We dropped in to see "the other KnitWitz" which is really Knit Wits and saw lots of pretty yarn. Yes, I found something I fell in love with, but of course don't have a picture of yet. I'm planning on making one of those lovely open-weave scarfs. We had a great visit there and then headed to find this...
Yep, that's a piece of frozen Key Lime pie dipped in chocolate. So yummy and so worth the calories.

From there we went to Nassau. I've been to the Bahamas 3 other times and have only spent the night in Nassau and really hadn't seen much of the town. Kathe, my friend John and I stood at the front of the ship as we pulled into Nassau. It was so windy, but we enjoyed the view.
I think you can tell from this picture of me and John that the wind was pretty bad.

Not sure I've still seen all that much of Nassau since we mainly walked down to the Straw Market, shopped in some of the jewelry stores and then took a water taxi over to Paradise Island and walked around there some. We did find a nice little hole in the wall place to have conch fritters. No pictures of them, we ate them too fast. I would love to go back and spend some more time exploring.

The next morning I got up early to see the sunrise.The next morning I had breakfast with my friend John. It was a great day to hang out and do some more knitting on the project.

Saturday morning we found ourselves back in Jacksonville. I really had a great time. I hope DF Katha decides to do another one next year.