August 22nd 2009 Western Carribbean Anyone?

[stsomewhere]

Our leader is the cookie person for our area. She has assured us that we will get her money.

It is just very frustrating for everyone else.

 

[stsomewhere]

DS made honorable mention in the schools science fair.

He is in 4th grade and was competing 4th-8th grade.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

DS made honorable mention in the schools science fair.

He is in 4th grade and was competing 4th-8th grade.

Awesome.....cause those older kids can sure build some wicked stuff.

It is frustrating dealing with uncooperative moms in Scout troops. Its just plain selfish. I have heard stories where parents will "borrow" the cookie money because they are strapped financially.

I believe in kharma - what comes around goes around.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Thanks for the welcomes!

I will probably book Cozumel with Aldora; they use 120 cubic foot tanks - 50% larger than the common aluminum 80 cf tanks so you get more bottom time. There are also plenty of good ops on Grand Cayman. It would be tempting to do a two or three tank boat trip in the morning, then a beach dive or two in the afternoon. But if I spend more than half my shore time in the water my DW won't be very happy...

Experienced diver/cruisers have told me that the cruise line excursions involve an excessive amount of hand holding; they may have very experienced divers in the group but they will also have people who haven't been diving in several years, so they cater to the lowest common denominator. I look for an operator who will let me dive to the limits of my experience and computer's no decompression limit.

If you are really interested in learning to dive, let me suggest you do your training and certification dives at home. That way you will have an exposure to local diving, you will not pack all the training into two days and will be more likely to remember vital information, and without the rush you will have more time to master the basic skills. And when you are on your vacation you can enjoy the dives without having to take time out to demonstrate the skills your instructor will require.

Brian

ITA!!!! Nothing against cruise excursions but there is so much "wasted" time that the actual amount of time doing the activity is minimal.

I am hoping that by 2009 that the fish population is sufficiently recovered in Cozumel. When we went snorkeling there in 2006 the fish population hadn't recovered from the hurricane a year earlier.

We still had a great time snorkeling but you didn't see the variety and amount of fish that existed before.

Funny enough....my memories of that trip were less of the snorkeling and more the great time we had with everyone else on the boat because there were only 12 of us and everyone was from the Magic. It took 90 minutes to get to the first reef and the kids sat on the boat's roof during the ride. Then right before it was time to head to the next reef all the kids were allowed to jump into the water from the boat's roof. Even some of the adults did it.

 

[stsomewhere]

.
It took 90 minutes to get to the first reef and the kids sat on the boat's roof during the ride. Then right before it was time to head to the next reef all the kids were allowed to jump into the water from the boat's roof. Even some of the adults did it.

My kids would love this. My dad has 2 boats-a large cabin cruiser and a speed/ ski baot. They can never decide which boat the want to yake because they enjoy tubing on one and jumping off the top deck on the other.

On cruise in Jan., we charted a 44ft sailboat. It was just the 4 of us with a capt. and first mate.
It was the kids first time snorkling.( Can't see much in the great lakes- they have practiced alot). We went to small coves off of St. John's. The guide was terrific. He would swim ahead and find different types of fish and coral. He would explain to us what we were seeing and swim down and point it out.

We saw so many different types of fish and coral. The highlights were moose antler coral, an octopus eating a conch, a sea turtle and a remora.

 

[Maza]

bumping
i have been away for a week...have just read DHs posts. Now i have to add group scout badges to our packing lists. Does anyone else think its funny that so may of us are scouting families? maybe its all part of the madness...lol
I might bring some neckers...neckers anyone???

 

[stsomewhere]

At what age do you let your kids sign themselves out?

DS will be 11 when we cruise. I was planning on putting him in the the Lab group. But, I have been reading about the Quest group and they don't have to sign in or out.

What are your thoughts or experience since some of you have teenagers? How did you deal with this?

I am sure that the subject will come up. I know he is responsible, but unsure how safe it will be. I don't like the idea of him wondering around alone.
Am I just being over protective?

What is the difference between Lab and Quest?

Thanks.


Maza- Do you mean neckerchiefs? Dh would probably like to bring those to. He needs to just get on here, too.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

This may change when the Magic goes through drydock later this year but as it stands now Ocean Quest is located on the second floor where the conference rooms used to be.

Its a place where ages 10-14 get to hang out and do unstructured activities. The bridge simulator machine is located there.

There are couches, a big screen TV, personal computers, tables to play board games. And counselors are there as well to play with the kids.

The big difference between OQ and the Lab is that OQ has no scheduled activities where at the lab there are set times to do set activities. Or the kids can hang out and play video games.

Yes, kids signs themselves in/out of OQ. Kids don't have to go to OQ at all. They can happily spend time at the Lab.

Now we are hearing rumors that OQ will be turned into a teen club for the 13-15 year olds. That might happen when the Magic is in drydock this fall.

I let my kids have the ability to sign themselves in/out of the clubs when it become a major pain in the butt to be constantly going back and forth to the clubs when the kids want to come/leave. My kids were in two different age groups with different schedules and DH & I were constantly running back and forth to sign in/out each kid. It meant we couldn't relax at all.

DD was 10 and DS was 11 at the time. They only needed to sign themselves out on the sea days and we worked out in advance where they were to meet us when they wanted to leave the clubs.

11 is not a bad age to try it. I believe DS can ask the lab counselors to page you when DS is ready to leave and then you know that he has left.

The only time we've had problems with the kids checking themselves out is when the kids decided on their own that they wanted to stay longer at the clubs and don't tell us. Then DH & I were left wondering what happened to them. So of course we head down to the lab looking for them and take one set of stairs while the kids headed back up to the room taking a different set of stairs and we couldn't find each other for a while. One of those comedy of errors things.

 

[Maza]

we let our youngest DD sign herself out last year..she was 11. No problems!

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

My kids would love this. My dad has 2 boats-a large cabin cruiser and a speed/ ski baot. They can never decide which boat the want to yake because they enjoy tubing on one and jumping off the top deck on the other.

We are definitely snorkeling with Eagle Ray again. They have a 2 reef snorkeling trip and a 3 reef snorkeling trip. The 3 reef trip includes lunch at a private beach club. That was really neat - we sailed up to a dock and got off and literally sat down at a table to eat.

The only thing with the 3 reef is that is gets back rather late in the afternoon so its a bit of a push if you have early dinner seating.

 

[stsomewhere]

We are definitely snorkeling with Eagle Ray again. They have a 2 reef snorkeling trip and a 3 reef snorkeling trip. The 3 reef trip includes lunch at a private beach club. That was really neat - we sailed up to a dock and got off and literally sat down at a table to eat.

The only thing with the 3 reef is that is gets back rather late in the afternoon so its a bit of a push if you have early dinner seating.

This sounds great. Is this in Cozumel?
We haven't done a western cruise in many years. I think the last one I was pregant with DD. We sailed on HAL.
We prefered to take eastern iteraries with the kids.

 

[BlueMarlin]

St.Somewhere mentioned I should join the thread and discuss my own Scout swapping activities.

Neckers and Patches sound good. I might ask what both of you think is cool so that I can bring good stuff. I might even be able to make a run to Canada and get patrol patches that are unique from there if interest shows.

Erik

PS: Really glad I took the time to read your posts, because when DW mentioned swapping "knickers" to me, I thought she was hanging with a really strange crew. Once I read the post I and made the reference.

 

[Maza]

PS: Really glad I took the time to read your posts, because when DW mentioned swapping "knickers" to me, I thought she was hanging with a really strange crew. Once I read the post I and made the reference.

glad you sorted out the confusion. two countries separeted by a common language! I had a weird experience last year when i first joined DIS. In my ignorance i typed fish extenders into ebay...and it came up with bra extendered and for one mad moment i though about hanging underwear outside our cabin Glad i got that one cleared up before the cruise too ! You bring knickers if you want Erik....infact a guess they will also be required...but i dont think we'd be up for swapping

 

[Maza]

i just remembered. When our DD(11) left the Lab...they paged us. Except they never did. Or rather we would receive random pages , usually when Lucy was with us, informing us she had left the club! Cant help but wonder if she had been confused with someone else...but it gave us a few laughs. 'Oh No...shes loose..'

 

[soccermom10]

We gave our DS11 the ability to sign himself out. The only problem is that my kids never even tried the clubs. We've traveled with my DH's entire family on both of our previous cruises, so all of our kids just hang out with each other all day. The older kids in our group were okay with having a little freedom & we had two way radios to keep in contact. It worked well.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

glad you sorted out the confusion. two countries separeted by a common language! I had a weird experience last year when i first joined DIS. In my ignorance i typed fish extenders into ebay...and it came up with bra extendered and for one mad moment i though about hanging underwear outside our cabin Glad i got that one cleared up before the cruise too ! You bring knickers if you want Erik....infact a guess they will also be required...but i dont think we'd be up for swapping

OMG that is so funny!!!!

You know what would be a great inside joke for us on our cruise is to hang a bra on our fish extenders. Could you imagine what people would think passing by our rooms!!!! Our room stewarts would wonder what kind of nuts we are

Sigh.....so true, countries separated by a common language.

I, too, saw the neckers referenced and was wondering what on earth are those. Thankfully we don't have those in Girl Scouts here.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Oh, speaking of reading things that make you chuckle....here's a good one for all us scout families......a fellow Scout leader told me she once saw a registration form for a camping trip and at the bottom it said..."no alcohol or illegal drugs".

Hmmm.....so we guessed legal drugs are okay......

 

[Maza]

Oh, speaking of reading things that make you chuckle....here's a good one for all us scout families......a fellow Scout leader told me she once saw a registration form for a camping trip and at the bottom it said..."no alcohol or illegal drugs".

Hmmm.....so we guessed legal drugs are okay......

actually...its not so strange. In correct medical terminology drugs are for medication, not for recreation! Narcotics are legal is prescribed! My dad takes prescribed morphine...he could make a fortune if he thought of selling them on street corners. Fortunatly he just takes them for pain releif! I can prescribe diamorphine (aka Heroine) and pethidine ( another synthetic narcotic) but only to labouring women!
We were a bit more concerned about the no alcohol bit....our camps wouldn't be the same without a beer at the end of the day ( for the over 18s only .. ) Our scout association has enough trouble recruiting leaders without insisting they take the pledge too As long as atleast 2 adults dont drink they dont restrict alacohol. They dont tend to get blind drunk though!

 

[Maza]

OMG that is so funny!!!!

You know what would be a great inside joke for us on our cruise is to hang a bra on our fish extenders. Could you imagine what people would think passing by our rooms!!!! Our room stewarts would wonder what kind of nuts we are

.

incidently...it would take ALOT of gifts to fill my bra!

 

[stsomewhere]

incidently...it would take ALOT of gifts to fill my bra!

Mine, too.