Cruise--Day 5 Labadi, Haiti

Beach day! I was soooooo looking forward to this day. Royal Caribbean (RCCL) owns this Haitian Island--or leases this portion of it, probably, but they claim it as their own. This is their 2nd island. We stopped at their other one on a previous cruise. They really have this one set up well with plenty to entertain the masses. We were lucky that we were the only RCCL ship on the island so we had not trouble finding plenty of chairs in the sand/shade to use when not in the water, on the roller coaster, eating at the BBQ, or riding the HUGE zip line. Jeanette snorkeled here and said it was the best experience of the trip with the healthiest live coral reef she has seen. That was great to hear, because it would certainly be sad if RCCL had destroyed a coral reef while trying to make money.

As I said, RCCL really got it right with this island. They even had plenty of beach wheelchairs if you needed one. They came complete with your own attendant who you tipped later, if you opted for that service. It was well paved/pathed so Andy didn't need a personal attendant...he had Marty, Matt, and Mitch! No tipping required.

We had a great day. My only complaint is that our sandy beach was quite rocky once you got into the water for about 40 feet until you got a little farther out so water shoes were required if you were at all tender-footed until you got out a little deeper. As you'll see...it didn't stop us.

They also have a HUGE zipline that runs the length of the beach--at least 1/4-1/2 mile. For $75 you can ride it, choosing to speed through it in a ball or throwing out your arms/legs to slow yourself down so you can enjoy the view. Six in our party took the ride, and they all chose the slow ride. No pictures as they were too far up, but they had a blast. A special thanks to Grandma, who paid for the prince/princess' rides.

The tower at the top of the island is where the zip line starts. The track to the right of it is the part of the rollercoaster. The building with the red roof is where we walked to get lunch. We were camped out to the right of the red roof on the beach you are seeing.

Remember that story about the king now being able to swim...good thing he's not very far out there! Or is he? Becky, Matt, Marty, the king.

Matt and the king

A little closer to shore


Andy and Becky
Perhaps later I'll post a photo of what that girl did to her brother!
She made him a sand mermaid--anatomically correct.
REBECCA!


The princess, Jared, the prince, Liz
These 4 headed to the zip line together and had a great time
Thanks Liz, for being their "parent". :)


The princess

The prince.

We heard a "thunk".

This nut-thing fell out of the tree.

Good thing no one was sitting in the chair where it landed!

Love us some beach time!

Do you see the wave in the ocean behind us?

That's about where the king was standing in the earlier photo!

He's so brave for a non-swimmer.

Back on the ship it was time for our last formal night dinner.

As you can see, "formal night" means ties for the men and dresses for the gals.

That's as formal as we get.

Grandma is missing from this family photo.

She opted to pass on dinner.

Too much fun in the sun for her.

The gentlemen had their island attire a few nights ago.

The ladies had their "thrings"!

We look GOOD!

YUM!

After dinner we all went to cheer Becky on while she sang karaoke.

She did GREAT!