Labadee, Haiti

Labadee, Haiti

Ready for an exciting day in Labadee!

Dawn drinking her Labadoozie...
It's a tasty rum and citrus drink.
You'll see vendors walking up and
down the beach selling them. If 
you are curious about whats in
one, here you go...

1/2 oz Orange Juice Concentrate

1/2 oz Pineapple Juice Concentrate

1/2 oz Papaya Juice Concentrate

1/2 oz Coconut Cream

3/4 oz Dark Rum

3/4 oz Coconut Rum

1/4 oz Grenadine

Crushed ice

(Makes one cocktail)

Enjoying the warm water in January. Quite the change from 

subzero temperatures back in Montana.

A bbq lunch was provided. Everything was quite tasty.

This is the Haitian market where locals can sell their crafts to the tourists. It was fun to browse through and the prices were pretty good. We bought a few Christmas ornaments and key chains. This market is regulated by the cruise line. Behind this is a more rustic market with Haitian crafts. The vendors at this market are very aggressive..enter at your own risk. I wanted a Haitian dollar for Michael and one of the vendors tried to charge me twenty dollars for 1 Haitian dollar. I ended up talking him down to 3 for five US dollars. I'm sure I still got ripped off...I can't imagine what the exchange rate is. As long as  you know what you're getting into, it's a blast looking through the local crafts.

The beach was really nice..plenty of chairs, palm trees and clean sand. While we were in the we water a small piece of garbage would occasionally drift pass. Nothing too bad though. I would imagine it's coming from the mainland of Haiti. All in all the water was nice though. It had that Caribbean turquoise hue to it. Michael and I wandered down to the far end of the beach and found a cool blowhole. I will try to link a video of it here.

Blowhole on the beach!

A tropical paradise in the middle of winter!

Heading back to the ship.

The end of a great day...

This shot was taken off our balcony as we were pulling away from Haiti.

I think it looks like glowing eyes...

Fun in the sun...you can't ask for much more out of a beach day. I really never thought I would be in Haiti, but this part is beautiful. I think it's fenced off from the rest of the island so that's probably why. It is good for the local economy though. Many Haitians are employed by Royal Caribbean for service and upkeep of the island. The local vendors have a chance to sell to tourists here also. Most everyone seemed friendly. The beach is very well maintained. If you are looking for activities there is jet skiing, zip lining, a water slide, kayak trips...the list goes on and on. The food was good and included with our cruise fare. It was a good day...the best part, though, was knowing how cold it was back home...

Next up...food of the cruise