.: DAY THREE: LABADEE, HAITI

Today we were supposed to visit our first port of call, Labadee, Haidi. Unfortunately, the captain had to cancel our port. When we woke up, we were anchored off the coast of Haiti. We were supposed to tender in by boat, but there were 12 foot waves, so it wasn't safe to tender ashore. So, we had another day at sea.

After breakfast, mom and I joined a women from our dinner table for a ship scavenger hunt. It was loads of fun and we won FIRST PLACE! We got gold medals. We had a fun time running around the ship gathering information. People who weren't playing probably thought we were all crazy!

Shortly after our port got cancelled, the Captain made an announcement saying we had a sick crew member who was going to get off in Haiti, but since we couldn't go ashore, they were going to need to have to get this person off the ship. He then said we were awaiting word from the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a rescue helicopter. Next thing we knew it was anchors up and we were full steam ahead towards Cuba. I'm not sure what happened with Guantanamo Bay, but about 30 minutes later, the Captain made another announcement saying we were heading towards the small island of Inagua. That lasted for a short while and then, he announced again that we were now heading towards the Bahamas. We were all over the place! Finally, the US Coast Guard came and rescued our crew member who was flown to the Bahamas and then taken to a hospital in Miami. It was a 35 year old waiter who suffered a heart attack. At the end of our trip, we were told that he was doing well and expected to be back on board in a few weeks. The rescue was insane! We didn't have a heliport on this ship, so they literally dropped a guy from the sky along with a basket and a stretcher. They loaded the ship doctor into the basket, loaded the patient onto the stretcher and the rescue diver climbed back up and into the helicopter. It was crazy!

After the rescue, we got some great seats on the pool deck. These are impossible to get as people reserve them before breakfast...I swear! They cleared the pool deck for the rescue and we were right by the doors, so we got to the chairs fast and got seats in the sun. We hung out by the pool for a few hours that afternoon.

That night after dinner and the show, we played a game called The Quest. I knew what to expect from my cruise with Wayne, but my mom was in for it! At one point, they asked for 2 pairs of mens pants. We only had 2 men on our team and one of them was not going to take off his pants. The other guy did. Next thing I knew, mom had her pants off and handed them to me and said "They won't know the difference!" They didn't and we got the points! It was funny!!

Haiti

Mom, Traci and Me after our scavenger hunt