Short Cruise to Cayman & Cozumel

On Jan 16, Jackie & I met with friends to go on a short cruise. There was 32 in our group. We took a bus to the port at Tampa and boarded the Carnival cruise ship Inspiration.

Leaving Tamps pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/LeavingTampa#

Here are some of the ship's specifications:
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Carnival Inspiration
Owner/Operator: Carnival Cruise Lines
Year built: 1996
Rebuilt: -
Builder: Kvaerner MASA Yards, Helsinki, Finland
Former names: Inspiration
Gross Tonnage 70,367
Length: 260.8 m (855.0 ft)
Beam: 31.5 m (103.0 ft)
Passengers (normal): 2,040
Passengers (maximum): 2,594
Crew: 920
Service speed: 19.5 kn
Sister Ships: Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Sensation, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Elation, Carnival Paradise
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We left on Saturday (Jan. 16) and the next day as we were near Cuba our ship was diverted to help a boat in distress. After arriving on the scene we stood by as a Coast Guard cutter was on the way.

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/VesselInDistress#

We arrived at Georgetown, Grand Cayman our ship anchoed in the harbor and we tendered into the dock.

We did not sign up for any excursions so we spent the day walking around looking at the local sights and doing some shopping. There is a mixture of old and new stores.

The first thing I noticed is that they drive like the English. We would say the "wrong" side of the road or as an Englander once told me, "We drive on the other side of the road".

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/GrandCayman#

After Grand Cayman we went to Cozumel. We were taking a tour of the Mayan ruins at Tulum so when the ship docked at Cozumel Island we took a smaller boat to the mainland.

Our guide was a wealth of information. It took aboout an ouur to reach the ruins and he spent that time talking tous about Mayan history. He passed around a mayan calandar, pictured here, and explained that it was more accurate than the Gergorian calendar that we used today. He also explained that the world wasn't really going to end in 2012. According to him 2012 will mark the end of the Sun of War and begin a new cycle to be know as the Sun of Peace. True? Well, we will just have to wait and see

I really enjoyed the ruins. pictured here is the Castle. Ther are more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/CozumelTulum

I took a lot of pictures of the ship. You access these at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/ShipShots#