On Board

With the ship docked at Lisbon we decided to enjoy some of the ships facilities. This time it was a draw at mini golf, with Pauline having to pull off an unbelievably amazing long putt on the last hole. It must have been the threat of the loser having to try their luck on the "flow rider" that spurred her on. So with the score even, we decided to move on to a past-time we have both become proficient at, the buffet!

Sunny Madeira

After a wet and windy stop at the Azores, it was a welcome sight to see the sunshine in Funchal. We strolled the streets for a couple of hours looking for an internet cafe, and found one right back where we started near to the ship, still it gave us a chance to have a good look around the town. After all this walking, refreshment was needed as you can see.

Independence of the Seas

After a good journey to Fort Lauderdale, we dropped off the car and boarded the "Independence of the Seas". This is a huge ship and even has a promenade style street down the middle, complete with cafe's, shops, bars and even a barbers shop, but at $45 a shave I decided DIY was the best option, (and so did Tom! haha). The lighting level changes throughout the day and is dimmed in the evenings. One night we watched the "Mad Hatters" parade. The Ice skating show was superb, but unfortunately no flash photo's were allowed. This is our 6th day at sea and we are looking forward to a day ashore in the Azores.

Bye Bye Florida

Well its time to leave the sunshine and head home. To make sure that the transition from junk food to good old British fare isn't too much of a shock, Pauline has cooked up a roast beef and Yorkshire pud dinner followed by a fruit cake (lovely jubbly).
In order to walk off some of this grub, we decided to have one last game of mini golf at "Congo River" where Pauline won by two shots, (well I need to make sure I get more roast beef dinners when we get home).

Wekiwa revisited

We liked Wekiwa park so much that we felt we had to make another trip there.
This time we did a 4 mile trek around the woods, which seemed longer in the heat of the afternoon. Thought there may be some unusual wildlife as there were warnings of black bears,
but all we managed to see were some squirrels. One chap tried tempting them to take some food from his hand, but changed his mind after the squirrel bit his finger!

Downtown Disney

Believe it or not, these dogs are made from LEGO bricks. They make the ideal pets, as they are house trained, don't need exercising and when you get fed up with them they can be made into something else!




Downtown is really a big shopping centre for Disney, but its nice to walk around and has some whacky restaurants like the T-Rex one above. Its good to view, but as for eating there, you may need to use ear plugs!

Old Town

A warm Saturday evening saw us strolling around 'Old Town' to take a look at the classic cars that were on show. There are all types here, from concourse restorations to outrageous custom styles, even a copy of the police car from the 'Blues Brothers' film.

All good things come to an end, and on Monday afternoon we waved goodbye to Mark and Helen as they flew back home.

Theme parks and crazy golfers

Now that the weather has warmed up, a trip to Universal Studios and Disney's Epcot theme parks was enjoyed by all. Birthday boy Mark chose 'Hawaiian Rumble Golf' as his birthday treat.

Mark reaches 30

Mark reached 30 on the 6th of March, and we all helped him to celebrate with a surprise trip to 'Capones' dinner show. As you can see from above, it was a quiet affair where we tried to keep his birthday a secret, haha!

Islands of Adventure

Just like in the 'Hulk' movie, when he say's... 'you won't like me when I'm angry'!
Didn't seem to worry Steven much, as for the other two, the picture says it all.


The knitted character makes an appearance here, can you spot it?

Steven, Helen and Mark splashdown at Ripsaw Falls, obviously we would have joined them, but one of us had to take the photo while the other held all the bags! (thats our excuse anyway)

Mark & Helen can see that Steven is in for a soaking, but at the moment Steven is full of ignorant bliss!

Messin' about on the river

A great time was had by all at Wekiwa Springs national park, about 30 mins north of where we are staying.

The peace is over

The kids arrive and immediately get into the holiday groove!


Steven tries his hand at training the wildlife, before sending an application for a job at Sea World!

Sunny Delight

The pictures above are of the clubhouse and lake within the 'Terra Verde' complex, where we are staying for the next eight weeks. After taking two weeks and driving approx 3500 miles, its nice to be able to settle in one place and relax.



When we planned our trip last year, we envisaged a sea front hotel and lots of walks along the beach. Well we got half of it right but arrived to severe weather warnings, so after only one night we hot footed it out of Galveston and made our way through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to reach Florida three days later. Luckily for us, the weather changed and so did Tom into his shorts.