Miami Beach and Carribean Cruise - December 2025

On December 7 we flew to Miami and checked into the Miami Beach Edition hotel - a grand but modern hotel right on the beach. We stayed there 3 nights, enjoying the resort and swimming in the ocean. This little beach stay was a precursor to boarding the Seven Seas Mariner on Dec 10 for a 10 day cruise in the Caribbean.

Here is the route for the cruise:

Our first stop was George Town, Grand Cayman, where we had booked an excursion to swim with stingrays. This turned out to be a great time. A boat takes you out to a sand bar, where the water is about three feet deep and the guys from the boat persuade stingrays to some play with the tourists in exchange for handfuls of squid. Much more fun than it sounds. The comedy started with the 10 attempts to moor the boat on the sand bar before we could get in with the rays! Once back on shore we found a marvelous Italian restaurant right on the beach for a late lunch.

We did not get off in Falmouth, Jamaica, as the excursions did not appeal to us and the local area was still recovering from hurricane damage. So our next stop was Belize City where we did an excursion to Altan - a wonderful site of an excavated Mayan city. There were only about 30 of us across the whole site split between 3 knowledgeable guides. This was one of the best stops of the cruise. Also we ate well that evening in Prime 7 on the ship!

For the rest of the cruise, I do not have many good photos. At Roatan, Honduras, the excursion we wanted turned out not to be available and we stayed on the ship. At Cozumel, Mexico, we had a great time on a swimming with dolphins excursion, but cameras/phones were not allowed. We did purchase photos from the dolphin excursion company, but the link expired before we downloaded them. Anyhow, here is a nice sunset photo from our balcony as we steamed away from Honduras.

On December 20 our ship arrived back in Miami and we flew home with 4 days left to prepare for Christmas. 2025 is a wrap! We have more adventures planned for 2026.

Nuggets Game - Dec 1, 2025

This is the second time I decided to fly to Denver for one night to see my current favorite NBA team, the Denver Nuggets, led by the amazing Nikola Jokic. The timing was the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend and my good friend Ben Sander offered to join me for the game on his way home from his family Thanksgiving in Indiana. Ben's brother Steve and his wife Julie live in Denver and are huge Nuggets fans, so once they heard we were going they snagged tickets too.

We met at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar for dinner and beers. From there it was a brisk 10 minute walk to Ball Arena and great seats for the basketball game. The opponent was the Dallas Mavericks and unfortunately we lost by 131-121. Jokic had his usual triple double, but Jamal Murray was not in his usual form and we could not hold off a stronger than expected Mavs team. Dallas played great. The scoring combination of Anthony Davis, Ryan Nembhard and 18 year old phenom rookie Cooper Flagg was just too much.

You win some, you lose some, but seeing these players live and up close is always worth it, as was hanging out with clan Sander!

Rome and Home - Oct 24 & 25

Flights home to Austin from Rome on BA means a morning flight to London, so we leave Amalfi a day early and stay at the Hilton Rome Airport, so that the next day at stupid o'clock we can walk from the hotel to the airport terminal.

So at mid-morning on Friday October 24, we left the Santa Caterina for a car transfer to the Rome Airport. Laura and I opted to take a taxi into the Trastevere neighborhood for a late lunch and some shopping.

Not much more to tell on this trip. A forgettable dinner at the airport hotel, two flights the next day and after a 20 hour travel day we were home. Another great trip complete!