Sun, Sand & Jump Shots: Thanksgiving on San Andres Island

After getting my fill of turkey at not one, but TWO Thanksgiving celebrations, I was ready to celebrate the actual turkey day with less turkey, more Caribbean vacation! Ever since my mom saw the pictures from my first Thanksgiving in San Andres, in November 2009, she said "I want to go there!" And that we did :) 

San Andres Island upon our arrival. Later we took a boat out to that small island in the lower left corner and walked along that sand bar to the right of it!

My mom arrived on Monday, in time to see my school for two days, attend the faculty Thanksgiving party, and do some shopping in Cali. Then on Thursday morning we headed to the Cali airport for our flight to San Andres Island. While geographically located off the coast of Nicaragua, San Andres is owned by Colombia, thus making it very easy to travel there from the mainland of Colombia! We arrived by 2:00 PM and we were sitting on the dock in swimsuits by 3 PM. Now this is Thanksgiving vacation.

The rest of the time in San Andres was a delightful blend of the following:

Partaking in the 24 hour bar located on the dock of our Decameron all-inclusive hotel. 

Relaxing on the dock. 

Enjoying time with my mom! Sadly, this was probably the most consistent amount of time we have spent together since I graduated college and it was fabulous!

Roommate jump shots!

Solo jump shots!

Dinners out and about on the island!

Watching a random reggae band playing at our hotel. We joined in an impromptu group of dancers during several longs and later my mom/Kelsi participated in the conga line throughout the bar!

Looking out from my beach chair to the beautiful dock and ocean!

Enjoying the view!!! Minnesota doesn't look like this in November...

Hanging out with my fabulous roommate.

Handstands on sand bars! Hey Caribbean Sea - what what.

Mother - Daughter bonding. 

Spending time with friends who also happened to spend their Thanksgiving at the beach!

Sand bar pyramids for 7? Okay :)

Boat ride out to Acuario island.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in the sand!

Kayaking nearby our hotel.

Needless to say I was nowhere near ready to leave when Sunday afternoon rolled around, and going to school on Monday felt a bit rough when compared to waking up just to put a swimsuit on, grab my book, and head to the beach. Alas all good things come to an end...

Hope you had an equally wonderful holiday however you celebrated!

tropical islands, snorkeling & my obsession with in-motion photography.

Hmm...after a week of trying to recover from my tropical island Thanksgiving and keep up with school work it appears I have been quite absent from the online world. My brother sent me a Skype message today asking if I was still alive. Whoops! Well, here I am. In the midst of writing an Algebra final, I have been terrible at blogging about my vacation in San Andres.

What is there to say about San Andres?? It's an island. In the Caribbean. Owned by Colombia. Are you picturing that? Is the picture in your head absolutely gorgeous?? Well multiply that by about 1,000,000 and that's what my vacation looked like. After a somewhat rocky start that involved tropical storms, a terrifyingly bumpy plane ride and a 2 hour pit stop on a runway in Panama, this all-inclusive vacation was nothing short of fabulous.

From our room overlooking the sea to the aqua blue water to the swim up bar, this vacation was relaxation central. Here are some highlights:

• My first ever snorkeling experience! I hate the taste of salt water but it was totally worth it for the up close experience of swimming around tropical fish! Thanks to my friend Catie's underwater camera you will see some of the pictures...

• Jumping off a high dive into the Caribbean - talk about thrilling! See photos below...
• Renting a golf cart to explore the other all-inclusive hotels on the island. Our hotel is part of a chain of 6 hotels on the island, and with our purple ID bracelets we were able to go and visit all the other hotels where we promptly made good use of their beaches, waterfronts and bars.

• Playing beach volleyball! I love love love beach volleyball, and Hana and I had a blast playing with some other people at a nearby hotel. However...next time I will apply sunscreen before playing. Oops. :/
• Delicious breakfast buffets of make your own omelets, amazing french toast, so so so so much fresh fruit, pastries, cafe con leche and more!

• Reading with the sounds of the sea in the background.

• Sunrises & sunsets.

• Kayaking around the hotel.

• Swim up bar & our gorgeous hotel in general.

• Exploring the sand bar on Rocky Cay.

• Taking a ridiculous number of photos - especially with in-motion subjects

On the subject of photography, I don't discuss it much on this blog, but I absolutely love taking pictures. Not only do photos help illustrate the thoughts, ideas, and adventures I discuss here, but they serve as such beautiful memories for the future. Since my senior year in high school, when I was editor of the yearbook, I have possessed a strong interest in the beauty behind photography. If I wasn't a math teacher, I would totally go into photography or graphic design or something. Maybe I will have a little side studio in addition to being a teacher, who knows? Anyway, as my interest in photography has developed I take less of the still, posed photos and more action photos. Ever since I saw one of those jumping photos...you know, the ones where a group of people line up and then jump in the air and the camera catches them in motion...I have loved them!!

Here are some of my favorite in-motion photos from San Andres:

And no island vacation is complete without pirates and Bob Marley.... :)