#wifies please be normal about parrot for one day please....... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mcheang · 5 years ago

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A new girl aloof and distant doesn't pay attention to Lila(she knows she lies but is smart not to expose her without proof) Lila gets annoyed and confronts her about the new girl says she doesn't care and wonders why Lila cares so much that one person doesn't give her the time of day Lila snaps(verbally) exposes herself and Chloe livestreams Lila defeated

Dakota North

Maybe it’s because I’m currently reading The Tyrant’s Tomb, but this character is definitely inspired by Piper McLean. Her name is copied from the Dakota North character from True Jackson. It was originally going to be Piper North but it’s late and I kept using Dakota so...Dakota North it is.

Here’s what you need to know about Dakota North.

She dresses shabbily for someone who looks really, really hot. Not such a surprise once you find out who her parents are.

Anthony North is a movie star, ranked along the likes of Orlando Bloom and Dwayne Johnson. He divorced his Wife when Dakota was 6, and switches girlfriends on a regular basis. However, he loves his daughter dearly, spoils her, and spends time with her every summer at his Beverly Hills mansion.

Brooke Song is an Asian Victoria’s Secret Angel and currently has custody of Dakota. Her main residence is New York but she travels frequently because of work. (Anthony travels too but he stays overseas longer). She adores Dakota and tries to give her a normal life.

This leaves Dakota with a lot of money and absent parents. Sound familiar?

Unlike Chloe who bullies with her father’s name and cash, or Adrien who tries to please his Father, Dakota causes trouble to get her parents’ attention.

She specifically enjoys stealing things.

Dakota also refuses to mention who her parents are so she can identify who her real friends are. Brooke supports this and thus lets her agent handle school matters to ensure confidentiality.

But Dakota’s thieving streak has finally gotten her kicked out out of all the good schools in New York and then some.

Exasperated, Brooke decides to send her Daughter to Paris as she signs with a French modelling company there.

When Dakota introduces herself to her new class, she says her name and that she is from America, that is all.

Her new seat is next to Ivan, behind Marinette and in front of Lila.

Ivan introduces himself. Dakota is agreeably pleasant.

Marinette introduces herself as the class president and invites Dakota to ask her if she needs help. Dakota responds politely.

Then Lila jumps in and mentions how she was in America too. She had met all sorts of superstars and describes how she knows a few of them.

Dakota actually knows those stars thanks to her parents letting her attend their celebrity parties. She knows Lila is lying but doesn’t really care.

Lila just got labelled as part of the “them” crowd.

Lila is perturbed. This is the first time someone has shown a lack of reaction to her tales. Usually there was awe, with the occasional sprinkling of anger and jealousy. But Dakota just looked bored by her.

Dakota soon begins her thieving spree but this is difficult because the Parisians are already wary of thieves.

The first time she succeeds, she is caught by Marinette.

Instead of immediately scolding her, like Dakota expected, Marinette asked for her reasons.

Dakota admits she doesn’t really care about this laptop. She just wants to cause enough trouble.

Marinette is silent, intuitively sensing Dakota isn’t mean, and offers a confession of her own. “I steal handphones.”

Dakota is shocked her class president is capable of such an act.

Marinette defends herself that she only stole phones because she had to correct an error or to delete incriminating evidence.

Sensing a kindred spirit, Dakota finally opens up and asks Marinette if she is Chinese.

They start bonding over their shared kleptomaniac issue and heritage. Marinette even invites Dakota to her bakery.

When Lila tells tales, Dakota now joins Marinette and Adrien on the sidelines to talk about actual reality.

The latter asks why Dakota isn’t enthralled like the rest of the class.

Dakota admits she knows Lila is lying. She isn’t calling Lila out because she’s seen girls like her before, and they aren’t worth her time.

One day, Brooke and Audrey meet and decide to let their daughters play together while the grown ups chat. Chloe is surprised that Dakota is Brooke’s Daughter.

Audrey assures Brooke that her Daughter can keep a secret. The two aren’t convinced after hearing how Chloe outed her hero identity.

Audrey pressures Chloe to keep silent. Chloe quickly agrees.

Meanwhile, Lila is annoyed. She assumes from Dakota’s position with Adrien and Marinette that she knows Lila is lying. The problem is that Dakota never called her out for it. The new girl just ignores Lila as if she were thin air.

No matter how ridiculous her tales got (that Marinette had to bite her tongue just to stop pointing out the holes), how exaggerated her “disabilities” were (that Adrien sighed in dismay), Dakota never showed the slightest hint of emotion.

It infuriated Lila so much that this American actually showed emotion to those 2 goody-goody, pompous duo, and actually ignored her.

If Lila had a pet peeve, it would be someone calling her out on her lies. But a close second would be lack of attention.

When Dakota and Lila were alone in the locker room, Lila asked sweetly, “Dakota, can we talk for a bit.”

Dakota looked at the clock. “You have 3 minuits.”

Lila feigned shyness. “Right, right, of course, I don’t want to waste your time.”

Dakota just gave her a deadpan stare. You’re already wasting it. Just say what you have to say already. I’m already tired of your endless blathering.

“It’s just...do you hate me, Dakota? I’ve tried to reach out to you, but you just ignore me and decline invitations.”

“I decline invitations from other classmates too, Lila. Don’t worry. You’re not the odd one out.” You’re not special.

Lila’s nostrils flared, but she kept her voice soft. “I’ve noticed. But I also...I also think you don’t like me.”

“That’s not exactly true. I don’t like you, yes. But I don’t dislike you either.” You’re nothing to me.

Lila stammered, “But...but why? I’ve been nothing but nice to you.”

“More like babbling my ear off,” Dakota’s tone was painfully blunt. “All the time you say me, myself and I. Can you even talk in a conversation without mentioning yourself? You’re like a parrot. Colourful and talkative, but you don’t know when to shut up or talk sense.”

Lila flushed. “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.” Dakota turned, finishing the conversation.

“We’re not done here!” Lila yelled, catching up to hold Dakota’s arm in a tight grip. “Who do you think you are, talking to me like that? As if you’re better than all of us. I’m the one with the connections. You’re just a walking fashion disaster.”

Dakota just stared at Lila, unimpressed and unafraid. “I believe the real question is, why do you care? Because honestly, you’re just proving my point. You’re a parrot spouting nonsensical lies.”

Lila finally snapped. “Because no one ignores me! Not that insufferable Marinette, not Adrien with all his naivety, and especially not the rest of our idiotic class! At least your self-righteous pals react when I lie to the class. But you sit there all unimpressed and uncaring.”

At last, Dakota felt she understood Lila. Wanting attention is understandable. But Lila’s reasons and methods were all wrong.

Dakota calmly pried Lila’s arm off her, walked away and flipped a rude gesture behind her without even turning her head.

Lila shrieked.

Neither of them had noticed Chloe standing behind the lockers, video recording their confrontation and live-streaming it to Audrey and Brooke.

True to her word, Chloe didn’t spill the beans. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t tried to cozy up to Dakota. Mostly because Audrey actually respected Brooke. But too little, too late. Chloe had been labelled as “them” too.

Now though, Chloe had very juicy gossip to share and she didn’t make a promise regarding this!

Next period, Lila reported a missing phone and accused Dakota. Dakota and Marinette exchanged glances, confirming that neither did this.

But the class was getting riled up by Lila’s accusation and Dakota’s uncaring non-reaction. They ignored Adrien and Marinette’s defenses.

“ENOUGH!”

As one, the class turned to stare at Chloe. The blonde frowned. “I’m tired of all this drama. If you’re all worked up about this simple theft, I wonder how you’re going to react when you see this.”

Chloe plays the video.

The class is an uproar. Lila is cornered and runs away. Marinette calms the class down and sends Adrien to retrieve Lila.

Dakota just watches all this and waits.

Lady Wifi returns and was defeated. Lila’s disabilities are looked into and she is in trouble.

Brooke and Audrey are so proud of their daughters. Chloe is basking in her mother’s praise while Dakota enjoys her mother fussing over her for any bruises left by the Italian and simultaneously praising her for her composure.

Dakota invites Marinette and Adrien to stay with her for the summer. Adrien can’t attend but Marinette makes it. She is the first friend in Paris Dakota introduces to her parents.

I had fun writing this 😋

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #lila gets exposed #lila is exposed #lila salt

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alarriefantasy · 6 years ago

Note

Annoying neighbours? Thnx!

I got a bit carried away here! I ended up making an all-around neighbors fic rec - BUT, since you wanted specifically, “annoying neighbors,’ I put * next to fics that are what you’re looking for! :) :) Hope that’s not too confusing!

Neighbors Fic Rec

*Won’t Let Go of You for Nothing by AFangirlFantasy

Words: 3k

Louis’ new neighbor is playing their music offensively loud, and he’s fucking pissed. Every night this week he hasn’t been able to fall asleep because of it, but tonight, Louis refuses to suffer again. Taking matters into his own hands, Louis goes over to knock some much needed sense into their brain.

Things may or may not go the way he plans.

Or a Love/Hate neighbors AU

someone new by larrytale

Words: 3k

After realizing that standing around and worrying is only wasting precious time, Harry braces his hands on the wall and takes a deep breath, trying to will his nerves away. He needs wifi.

“PENIS!”

He has to stop himself from laughing after the word leaves his mouth, the absurdity of the situation finally catching up to him.

Return The Favor by Taayjaay

Words: 3k

Louis has a habit for almost burning his apartment complex down while cooking. His new neighbour helps him out.

it’ll all come up roses by neonmoonlight

Words: 4k

or the one where louis really doesn’t hate his neighbor who keeps waking him up at the crack of dawn. ft magic, liam, niall, and zayn barely being mentioned, harry and his fucking motorcycle, a date and a kiss.

Through the Wall (Through the Wall) by taggiecb

Words: 5k

The prompt

“We live in adjacent apartment and one day I accidentally knocked a hole in the wall and into your living room. I’m really sorry oh my God you’re naked” AU from qulcksilvers.tumblr.com

Gimme Gimme by CarlyLovesLarry

Words: 5k

or where Louis is a broke college student with a hot new hunk of a neighbor

Lust for Life by larryent

Words: 6k

AU. After Louis moves into a new flat, his fit next door neighbour who happens to be a baker brings him cupcakes to welcome him into the building.

*Can’t Shake You Out by fackinglouis

Words: 8k

Or the one where Harry and Louis have lived in the same building for three years but just meet now and bond over their crazy neighbors.

you've got a friend in me by graceana

Words: 8k

Louis talks to himself a lot so he buys a hedgehog and flirts through post-it notes with his fit neighbor who makes wonderful apple crumble.

there was a reason i collided into you by sockslwt

Words: 9k

AU where Louis and Harry are neighbors who meet in the elevator of their apartment one morning and it becomes a routine for them. Louis pines a lot. Then one day, Harry doesn’t show up at the elevator like he usually does, and well, Louis might panic.

*Get Off of My Cloud by Marora_Daris

Words: 9k

Harry is the most annoying neighbour that sexually frustrated Louis could have. Niall decides it’s a good idea to handcuff them together.

Featuring guinea pigs, animal print leggings and inappropriate boners.

London Calls Me a Stranger by Thatscoolbutwhataboutlarry

Words: 9k

“Hello, my beautiful, conceited coquette.”

“Hi, daddy.”

Or the one where Harry is a tease, and Louis is his new neighbour.

*3B Neighbour by orphan_account

Words: 10k

Dear Neighbour,I love the sound of your rooster alarm, it’s sucha joy waking up 5 in the morning. Can you get itany louder?

Or: a mysterious neighbour keeps slipping the worst sort of notes under Harry’s door.

You and Me and the Devil Makes Three by moodlighting

Words: 10k

AU. Louis moves in next door to Harry. Louis has a ghost, Harry has an extra futon and a crush.

*I’ll Make This Feel Like Home by 5ft9

Words: 12k

Harry can’t sleep because the cat next door won’t stop meowing. He goes over to confront its owner, things go surprisingly well, and the cat ends up being the cutest thing that he’s ever seen. Well, besides its omega owner.

A love story quickly blossoms.

in midnights, in cups of coffee by suspendrs

Words: 15k

Or, Louis is overworked and cold, Harry is stressed out, and they might be in love.

*Cut to The Feeling by ishiplouis

Words: 15k

Louis has just moved into his new apartment in the fancy Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. All was well until he notices that his neighbour rarely closes the curtains which makes for an unlikely friendship to form.

Or AU where Louis is a ghostwriter working from home, and Harry is his firefighter neighbour who happens to have the cutest dog on Earth.

*Sweet Cheeks by NoShitSherlock

Words: 17k

Louis is an innocent, pretty in glasses, flustered mess of a high school sex-ed teacher who gets far too many dirty compliments and taps on the ass from his students. Harry, the lacrosse senior star and bad boy of Rowan High, gets transferred to Mr. Tomlinson’s sex-ed class after humiliating his previous teacher. It’s just what he likes to do.

Harry becomes set on humiliating Mr. Tomlinson who just so happens to be his next door neighbour, but it backfires when sexual comments get made. There’s one thing about Harry Styles: he doesn’t do teachers.

Until he does.

please don’t be in love with someone else by wildestdreams

Words: 18k

The one where Harry and Louis are neighbors and there’s a lot of overthinking, misunderstandings, Backstreet Boys sing alongs, embarrassing moments in the hallway, and pining. They somehow still make it work.

*That’s How I Know by allwaswell16

Words: 19k

Louis Tomlinson has just landed his dream job, coaching soccer at Augustus University. When he moves into a new house near campus, he meets his very fit new neighbor, English professor Harry Styles. Although their first meeting leads to an instant mutual dislike, the more Harry gets to know Louis, the more he likes what he sees.

Or the one where Harry’s African grey parrot spills his dirty secrets to his very hot neighbor.

In Dreams by dolce_piccante

Words: 23k

When Harry moves to a new city, his new flat come with a number of sweet, anonymous gifts and surprises that brighten his days. Could it be a friendly ghost? Another friendly presence in his new building is his tattooed neighbor, Louis, who seems determined to put a smile back on his face.

*A Whole New World by backonefish

Words: 24k

Louis has moved into his new apartment to start his new job as a teacher. Things would be great. If only his arsehole neighbour didn’t wake him up every morning by playing piano.Shenanigans ensue. Like a very inadvisable kissing bet.

hit me with your sweet love, steal me with a kiss by icedwaters

Words: 27k

or louis is a 22 year old photographer in his third year of uni, and harry is his 19 year old cat-loving neighbor.

Curtains, Cataclysms, and Constellations by aclosetlarryshipper

Words: 30k

Harry doesn’t understand the boy next door.

People don’t normally send surreptitious messages through the form of symbolic emotion and quick glances if they want to be left alone. Right?

No. His new neighbour is trying to say something to him.

(And if Harry decides to devote his entire summer to figuring him out, it will be a summer well spent.)

*Two Steps Behind by sacredheart (orphan_account)

Words: 38k

Or, Louis is two years younger than his neighbors, Harry, Liam, Niall, and Zayn, and he grows up bending over backwards to get their attention and acceptance. Especially Harry’s

Just Me, You, And This Box of Matches by tomlinsunshine

Words: 87k

Louis is fairly sure that his new neighbour is going to destroy him. And also their apartment building, and the dumpsters outside, and all the forests within a thirty mile radius. But. Mostly him.

updated: 03.24.2019

#ask

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anotherdoor · 7 years ago

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The next few days in Rome were a bit more exciting than our first night there. Although Shaun was still sick for the duration, we managed to have some adventures. The first stop that morning being the Vatican City – it was pretty impressive. We went as part of our tour group. Interestingly, even though we were a supposed “skip the line” group, we were still standing in a queue (in the rain) for half an hour (while street vendors walked us up and down, trying to convince us to buy umbrellas, rain ponchos, water and other various knick-knacks – they knew we couldn’t escape them if we wished to enter the Vatican. Normally the best thing to do with street vendors is to give them a wide berth and don’t make eye contact! In this situation all you could do was stare at the ground and ignore them, or turn away from them and pretend to be deeply engaged in a conversation.). So if that’s a “skip the line” queue then I dread to imagine how long you’d have to wait otherwise (being pestered by intrusive street vendors)! But we made it in eventually.

Guys, there is so much art in the Vatican Museum, who knew? You’d walk into a room and it would be impossible to even take in all the paintings/sculptures/frescoes/mosaics/whatever that were contained within any given room, let alone examine each one individually. Seriously. You’d need to have a lot of time on your hands if you wanted to appreciate all the art there. A lot of time! (Note from Shaun: if you looked at every piece of art for 60 seconds, you’d be there for 17 years). As it was, we rushed through in about 2 and a half hours, stopping only to appreciate the most famous pieces of art. Our guide for the Vatican was an Italian women who was clearly very passionate about the art and artists, so she added a lot of value to the experience, despite it seeming rushed. We did get a whole ten minutes or so in the Sistine Chapel. Which you actually really need if you want to be able to examine it in any detail. SO many panels. Here are some photos (not of the Sistine Chapel though, because that’s a strict no-no):

That was the big event for the day. (Shaun’s note: not quite, this was the big event for the day:

This painting of a dove firing holy light into a saints head and granting him a halo at the Vatican captivated me until I was able to track down more clues at Saint Andrew’s cathedral in Amalfi town. Look forward to that blogpost because I get excited.)

The rest of the day was spent finding food and getting Italian sim cards. Just as a note, if you need a sim card in Italy go with Lycamobile – we spent nearly 3 hours going into different phone provider stores, hearing about really terrible and expensive deals, before we went back to what was essentially a tourist info store and for 15 Euros each got a sim card, 2 GBs of data, with the ability to text and call nationwide. To compare, Vodafone wanted us to pay 25 Euro each for basically the same deal, but without the texting or minutes. And 3 wanted us to pay 30 Euros for 30GB of data. Again, just the data. I don’t know why they think anyone would need that much data on their phone. Like, what are they planning on doing with it all? Watching Youtube videos all day? I mean, you’re on holiday – you should be exploring. Mostly you just need to be able to use Google Maps! 2 GBs is more than enough to get through a month. Most hotels/airbnbs have free wifi anyway!

That day in Rome we also learnt that not all gelato is created equal. If you’re going to get gelato, get it from a proper Gelateria – it’s much lighter, fluffy and made from proper ingredients. Italy has some amazing Gelato shops – the best in the world. But there are also some duds. Don’t go to a Bar for gelato, it’s not the same, as we learnt that the hard way (it was the only place that was open near us).

On our third day in Rome, we broke off from the tour at last, ready to strike out on our own. We moved from our hotel (which was near the Vatican), to a little guesthouse (the Mersede Guesthouse) that was located very near the Termini Station.

It was nice, except for the shared bathroom. At least there was a toilet seat I suppose. It’s really weird, but in most public/restaurant bathrooms they seem to remove the toilet seats. It was so baffling that Shaun and I decided to look up why that was the case. There are multiple purported reasons – one is that people stand on them and they break so it’s easier to just remove them, and the other main one is for hygiene purposes. Either way, it’s incredibly annoying. But that wasn’t what I was going to write about.

Anyways, for the sake of convenience [mine] I’m just going to lump our last two days in Rome together. On those free days we did many wanderings around the streets, we visited the Villa Borghese, which is a lovely park up from the Piazza del Popolo, which is quite a cool Square to visit too - there’s an obelisk (stolen) and lots of churches and statues too. (Shaun’s note: please acknowledge the Chiesa of Santa Maria del Popolo, which also has a massive Samsung phone advertisement hung on the front. This encapsulates my feelings on Rome nicely.)

We also went to the Bioparco di Roma (the zoo). That was probably a highlight for me. I got to see wolves! And an adorable fennec fox. The Reptile House was pretty cool too.

We did the obligatory touristy things – we threw a coin in the Trevi fountain, took selfies with the Colosseum, gazed on the Pantheon, drank espresso and ate gelato. I found a fantastic gluten-free bakery called Pandali and had a calzone and pastries. It was good. We tried to avoid most of the attractions that involved long queues.

Rome has so many things to see – there will be random excavation sites in the middle of streets for uncovered ruins and artefacts, and there are statues and busts everywhere. We also found Groot.

That said, Rome does have a rather unkempt look to it that was surprising for such a touristy city. The sidewalks and cobbled streets were not well maintained at all. And it was very crowded. So we were looking forward to heading to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, and its relative ‘smallness’ by the end of our time there.

Oh, I almost forgot! We got to meet Pope Francis and he gave us a parrot! We called her Sparky.

True facts.

- K

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deladane · 7 years ago

Text

Day 10: Saturday, March 10 ~ Barbados

(Eddy’s pronunciation: BAR – bah – dose)

This was my third visit to Barbados and my third trip to the Boatyard Beach club at Carlisle Bay. It is such a pretty beach with powder-soft white sand, turquoise blue water, and it is close to the cruise port, making it an easy and enjoyable plan for the day. They have a package where $20 USD buys you a lounge chair, a shared umbrella, a cup of rum punch or a beer, use of their bathrooms, use of their water toys on the beach, and free wifi. They also have a bar and restaurant with decent prices if you want to buy lunch. One thing that has changed since our last visit here 3 years ago is that they now also include a short boat ride out to the bay to go snorkeling, whereas we used to have to pay for that separately with a vendor on the beach. We had a not-so-great experience with that last time we were here (see my Carnival Valor review for more details!), so we were happy to have it included with admission this time. The $20 also includes a taxi ride back to the port at the end of the day, but you need to find your own way there in the morning. They open at 9am, so my goal was to leave the ship by 8:30am to get a taxi and arrive there just as they opened so we would get lounge chairs in a prime location.

Today’s daily schedules:

As usual, we started our day with room service breakfast on the balcony.

At 8:30am, we gathered up our bags and took the elevator down to Deck 2 to exit the ship. I have always been on the only cruise ship in port when I visit Barbados and I have always been docked very close to the cruise terminal. Unfortunately, today there was a P&O ship docked in that spot so we were docked further away from the terminal. There is a shuttle to bring you from the gangway to the terminal, but it was not there when we left the ship so we just started walking. It took us 15 minutes and over 2,000 steps on my Fitbit to get from the gangway to the taxi stand on the outside of the cruise terminal! We were walking very quickly because we were eager to get to the beach, so the walk probably would have taken a lot longer at normal walking speeds.

We asked one of the taxi dispatchers for a taxi going to the Boatyard and he directed us to a van that was nearly full. Half of the passengers were getting off downtown for $2 per person, and we were charged $5 per person to get to the Boatyard. I guess they don’t have inflation in Barbados because that is the same price I paid in 2012 and 2015 haha

We arrived at 9:05am and there were already a lot of people at the beach. Our goal was to arrive early enough to get lounge chairs in the front row along the water, and while we did accomplish that, there were only a few chairs left in the front row, so it’s a good thing we didn’t arrive any later! At the entrance, they explained everything included in the package, collected our $20 per person, and gave us each a wrist band with a pull tab flap to redeem for our free included drink. We went down to the beach and got settled in our loungers, and then realized that they never told us about the snorkeling tour. DH went back inside and put or name down on the list for the 10:30am tour. We didn’t know if this was the first tour of the day, but there were already a few names on the list. I usually prefer to snorkel as early in the day as possible before the other tour boats arrive and it gets too crowded, but the schedule is less flexible now that the tour is included with admission.

We spent some time relaxing on our lounge chairs, and then at 10:10am, they made an announcement over the PA system to call several parties by name to go on the tour. This was sooner than we expected so we rushed to get our belongings ready. We took our money, ID, and seapass cards with us in a plastic bag in the pocket of DH’s bathing suit, but we left the rest of our stuff behind on our chairs, including our towels. I am actually pretty sure that they did not allow anyone to bring their bags, towels, or shoes on the boat. It was okay to bring hats, sunglasses, and of course, snorkeling equipment. The reason they called us so early was that everyone was given an inflatable life vest which they put on each of us individually, and they also gave out snorkel equipment if you didn’t bring your own. There were about 25 to 30 people on the tour with us, so that took a few minutes. Once we were all ready, they walked us up the pier and onto the boat. The boat was pretty big, with plenty of seating and shade, and there were cubbies below the seats to stash your hats and sunglasses while swimming.

We went out a short distance into the bay and then dropped anchor next to the ship wreck. There were already 2 or 3 boats snorkeling at this spot, so the water was crowded with lots of swimmers. The heavy winds continued to follow us through the Caribbean, and the water looked very choppy with a strong current. The guides instructed us to stay directly over the ship wreck and not to swim further away, and everyone was required to keep their life vests on at all times.

As soon as I jumped in the water, I immediately felt the current. It was really hard to stay over the ship wreck because as soon as I stopped actively swimming and tried to float, I was carried away. Plus, with so many people in the water, we kept bumping into each other and getting kicked. It was definitely not the greatest of experiences, but on the bright side, the snorkeling was wonderful! This was my third time snorkeling over the ship wreck here, and I think this was the most fish I have seen. There were tons of the sergeant major damselfish that I am used to seeing all over the Caribbean, but there were also lots of other fish. The current made it hard to take good photos, but this is the best of what I could get…

I spy two parrot fish!

I stayed out in the water for 15 minutes, and then went back on the boat to save some energy to swim with the turtles. The guides never told us how long we would stay at this location (and shame on me for forgetting to ask!). It turned out that I could have stayed in the water an extra 15 minutes so I only did half the snorkeling time. That’s okay, we are still going to the other snorkel spot with the turtles, right? Wrong! Once everyone was on board, the guide said we were heading back to the Boatyard. I asked him if we were going to snorkel with the turtles and he said there have not been any turtles in Carlisle Bay for over a week so we were just doing the one snorkel stop today. I understand that the guides probably assume we are all first timers to this our and didn’t know anything was missing, but there was a sign posted at the entrance to the Boatyard which mentioned snorkeling with turtles and when DH signed us up for the our, they told him it is not guaranteed we will see a turtle. That implies that we will TRY to see it, but the guides indicated we were not going to try because it had been so windy all week that there were no turtles in the bay. If that is the case, it would have been nice for someone to tell us that upfront so we would know what to expect. I wasn’t even that upset about missing the turtles… after all, this isn’t a zoo and the turtles are free to come and go from the bay as they please! I was really just bothered by the poor communication. I like to be kept informed so I can make my decisions accordingly, and I would have stayed in the water to explore the ship wreck longer had I known this was our only stop.

Anyway, we got back to the pier at 10:55am and the next group was already lined up to take their tour. I guess they try to make it an efficient process to get guests out to snorkel quickly. From the pier, I could see the cruise ships docked in the distance.

There is also a great view of the Boatyard and the neighboring restaurants and beach clubs. The yellow umbrellas are all part of the Boatyard.

Every lounge chair is occupied by 11:15am so you have to arrive early if you want a seat!

I also wanted to point out those 3 brightly colored Adirondack chairs in front of all the loungers. Those are a new addition since I was last here 3 years ago and they seem to be a big annoyance. When we first arrived this morning, nearly every seat in the front row was occupied, except the seats directly behind those chairs! They have these chairs on the other side of the pier too, and those were also the only vacant seats in the front row on that side. We were lucky to get a spot 3 umbrellas over (you can see our spot if you look closely- it’s the 2 vacant chairs to the left of the Adirondack chairs, with grey towels and my bright teal beach bag on the seat). Notice how there is more space between the sets of lounge chairs that are behind the Adirondack chairs? That’s because the people on either side moved closer to their neighbors so the Adirondacks don’t block their view! I guess these chairs look cute and beachy, but they sure do cause an annoyance to people wanting front row seats with unobstructed views of the beach and water!

My hair was a mess after coming back from snorkeling, so I went to dunk my head under water really quickly. I was holding my camera at eye level to take this photo- notice how close I was to the water line? There is a steep drop off not to far into the water so just be careful not to lose your footing! No need for water shoes here- there is nothing but soft sand on the floor of the bay.

As evidenced in the photos above, our bags were waiting for us back at our lounge chairs when we got back from snorkeling. Unfortunately, the other thing waiting for us was the wind!! It was very windy the whole day and the waves were quite loud crashing in on the shore. Usually the water is very calm here, but not today! Much like we saw in St. Maarten, people kept getting knocked around by the waves. At least it was entertaining to watch them from our front row seats haha

At around 12:30pm, we started to get hungry. We always bring a few Clif Bars into ports with us because they are filled with protein to fill us up, and they meet the requirements of being pre-packaged food that is safe to enter a foreign country. Today, we decided to try something new and we ordered food from the restaurant. We have never tried flying fish and I have read that people really like it so we ordered the Flying Fish Fingers and Fries appetizer to share.

DH placed the order at the bar and they told him to pick it up from the counter when his name was called. They said it would take 30 to 45 minutes for our order to be ready, so we used this opportunity to redeem our free drink coupons. I ordered the Shark Bite (left) and DH ordered the Pirate’s Punch (right), and both were strong and tasty. We brought them over to one of the tables at the restaurant and waited for our food order to be called.

Sure enough, it really did take 45 minutes for our food to be ready! I guess they needed time to go out into the bay to catch the fish fresh for us?? The portion was a bit on the small side, but it was very good and I’m glad I tried it.

We returned to our lounge chairs to enjoy the rest of the afternoon at the beach. This isn’t exactly a calm and relaxing beach because they play loud, upbeat pop and hip hop music in the background, but I enjoy the fun vibe here. At some point, DH went up to the pier to use the rope swing, but I didn’t join him because I was too comfortable sitting in my lounge chair. I was so lazy that I didn’t even take any more photos here for the rest of the day! To be fair, this was my third visit here and not much has changed in the last 6 years, so I guess I just didn’t feel that inspired.

At around 2:30pm, we decided it was time to head back to the ship. When we got to the front parking lot, they immediately directed us to one of the waiting taxis with another couple. I think the first shuttle back leaves around 11:30 or noon, and then the shuttles run every 15 minutes or so for the rest of the day, so there is never much of a wait. The ride only takes about 10 minutes, and they dropped us off at the front of the cruise terminal. We walked passed all the shops and exited at the other end to find a nearly-full shuttle bus that was about to leave. Perfect timing! It was standing room only, but we didn’t mind standing for the 2 minute ride back to the ship, considering that saved us 20 minutes of walking!

Once we were back on the ship, we went upstairs to the Solarium to spend 20 minutes soaking in the hot tub. There were a few people in there already when we arrived, and they were still in there when we got out. I always thought you aren’t supposed to sit in a hot tub for too long, and the water actually was quite hot, so it seemed weird to me that these people were spending so much time sitting there, but I guess it’s not for me to judge!

Neither of us was feeling 100 percent tonight. I’m not sure if it was a little sea sickness from the boat rocking so much, or maybe it was dehydration, but we both just felt off. Instead of our usual routine of bar hopping before dinner, we decided to take it easy and relax in the cabin. For the first time ever, we spent a few hours watching TV! I watch tons of TV when I’m at home, but I have never spent any time watching TV on a cruise ship before! We found a marathon of Property Brothers running on HGTV, so that was the perfect way to pass the time until we had enough energy to go downstairs for dinner. I was kind of bummed that I didn’t feel well tonight because this was another new menu for us and I was really looking forward to trying some of the new dishes! The first appetizer on the list was Hawaiian Tuna Poke. In the last year or two, poke bowl restaurants have popped up all over San Jose and it is one of our favorite dinners, so I was really looking forward to trying Celebrity’s version.

Tonight’s menu:

Poached Anjou Pear and Gorganzola Cheese

Hawaiian Tuna Poke (this was delicious and had I had more of an appetite, I would have asked for a second round of it!)

Pappardelle Con Funghi

I am still disappointed that I didn’t have more of an appetite that night because I would have loved to try the pate and the lamb kebab, but I guess that’s a good excuse to take another cruise! In the end, I only had room for my 2 appetizers and about half of my entrée, so I definitely didn’t have room for dessert. We finished eating rather quickly since we didn’t order as many courses as we usually do, so we just wondered around the ship to walk off the meal. They have this funky wall sculpture back near the entrance to the Ensemble Lounge, and we thought it made a nice background for a photo.

I really like this piece that is located next to Qsine. It reminds me of origami…

The Wine Cellar was almost always empty. I liked the décor in here but we never spent much time here because it was always deserted and boring. It does make for a pretty place to take photos though!

Tonight’s show was a solo performer named Liam Ryder. We thought he was a very talented pianist, and a pretty good singer. He played a few classical music pieces, and a few rock and roll songs.

My favorite part was when he played the full version of The Flight of the Bumble Bee and played a cartoon that was perfectly synced to it. I was able to find the cartoon on Youtube so you can see what I am talking about. Imagine seeing this live with the cartoon playing on a big screen at the back of the stage, and a pianist playing the music perfectly synced to the cartoon. I can’t really give him credit for the cartoon itself, but seeing him keep up with the music was absolutely incredible to watch in person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZG8bN8tAws

After the show, we were feeling much better so we went over to Café Al Bacio for dessert. The cakes in that display case always look so yummy, and since we skipped dessert after dinner, we thought this was a good opportunity to finally try it out. DH had the coconut cake, and I had a slice of strawberry chiffon cake. Honestly, both were just okay and they looked a lot better than they tasted. Maybe it just wasn’t sweet enough for me?

Tonight was one of the theme parties up in the Sky Lounge, so we headed up there to check it out. The Eclipse Orchestra performed songs from the Big Band era while the performance dancers danced to it.

The Sky Lounge has a terrible set up for a show like this where everyone wants to see the dance floor. The chairs and banquets are positioned poorly and block your view, and there are thick support beams surrounding the dance floor area. There are very few seats offering a good view, so people end up standing around the perimeter of the dance floor, just behind the first row of chairs, and that blocks everyone else’s view. We had to keep asking people to move so we could see the show from where we were sitting, and it made for a frustrating experience. We stayed for about 20 minutes, then gave up and grabbed a quick snack at the buffet before going to sleep just before midnight.

Step Tracker Daily Total: 7,632 steps; 3.060 miles

#Celebrity Eclipse Cruise 2018 #celebrityeclipse #celebritycruises #travel #vacation #cruise #Barbados

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