Morritt's Grand: what a view....

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Foster's Express

As promised, I went there today to shop for some groceries. It's a small and compact grocery store, but it has all the essentials. Good variety. Better than any timeshare store I've seen. A little bigger than a 7-11 mini-mart. I didn't have to buy meats, since we brought our own. And, the fruits and vegetable selection was limited. It did have some hot food. Mostly fried chicken. It was a bit pricey, probably 25% or so higher than in the US. The only shocker was the ice cream. It was about $8-9 for a 1/2 gallon of Bryer's ice cream.

Here are some pictures:

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Sunrise: June 19, 2006

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

How beautiful!

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Boca, this is really fun reading your impressions while you are experiencing them and especially with the photos too. Thanks for keeping us informed.

I am really curious about how many weeks a year you spend in timeshare resorts. Are you ever home? I would never tire of an ocean view either or a sunset and would like to see them from some other places too rather than from only the west coast or Hawaii. The color of the ocean is definitely different from the ocean color here in or in Hawaii. It just dawned on me that you have no sunsets on the east coast unless you are on an Island far enough away.

How is the snorkeling? You haven't commented about that yet.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Boca, this is really fun reading your impressions while you are experiencing them and especially with the photos too. Thanks for keeping us informed.

I am really curious about how many weeks a year you spend in timeshare resorts. Are you ever home? I would never tire of an ocean view either or a sunset and would like to see them from some other places too rather than from only the west coast or Hawaii. The color of the ocean is definitely different from the ocean color here in or in Hawaii. It just dawned on me that you have no sunsets on the east coast unless you are on an Island far enough away.

How is the snorkeling? You haven't commented about that yet.

Emmy,

My timesharing habits are misleading. I am in a business that allows me to work anywhere there is internet access. So, I use timeshares as a second home for getaway purposes. In Florida, there is so much oversupply, that it's easy to get flexexchanges or 45-day bonus time reservations or exchanges. So, my cost per week is usually around $200-300. I don't really count those weeks as vacations. Just going to my home away from home. And, most of the time I am just away for long weekends of 3-4 days.

This trip is a real vacation. We only do that a couple of times per year. We just set up our itinerary for the rest of the week. We scheduled way too much stuff. I think it's going to be grueling.

I did some snorkling today with my oldest son right in the water you see in the pictures above. It was only okay, but my son loved it.

I will be scuba diving every day for the rest of the week. Those dive sites will be spectacular. Tomorrow morning I will be doing a shore dive at Eden Rock and then an afternoon boat dive.

There are unbelievable sunsets on the gulf coast of Florida. Or, in the Florida Keys. The waters are different here. And, the water is warm. Today, it was 80 degrees and that is considered cool. It gets much warmer later in the summer as it does in Florida. Some pools get to about 90 degrees. I don't like it that warm. It's more like a jacuzzi than a swim. In any event, you should take a trip out to the east coast to try something different.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Boca, enjoy your dives. Are you going to make some snorkeling pictures too?

I want to visit the east coast and the Caribbean too but I would have to go alone. Now, I just look at pretty pictures and dream.

I would love to go to New York City again too as the last time I was there was in 1964. I loved the visit.

[SharonD Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SharonD]

Boca, your pictures brought back memories... from my trip to the Grand 3 weeks ago! We were in a 2 bedroom on the 3rd floor. Gorgeous ocean views from the deck... I couldn't ask for much more than that on an exchange.

We enjoyed diving with Tortuga Divers a couple of days, then also did a relaxing shore dive at DiveTech up by Turtle Farm (I think it's called the Turtle Farm mini-wall). We also enjoyed snorkeling right out in front of Morritt's. Rum Point was fun too.

We went to the Barefoot Man's show at the Reef, and all of us enjoyed the food and the show. They even made a special vegetarian meal for my husband.

I hope to go back in 2008, but it will have to be a rental, a direct exchange from another owner, or using an alternative exchange company due to the 1 in 4...

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Today was a busy day.

I went for a shore dive at Eden Rock. Great warm up dive right next to the cruise ships.

Lots of caverns and tarpon feeding these little silver fish. Millions of them, literally. It was cool swimming through them. It was like the parting of the red sea.

In the afternoon, did a dive a Black Rock with Tortuga Divers. AWESOME dive location. Very pristine coral. Great purple fan coral. Lots of purple and oranges out there. Saw a small baracuda along with parrot fish and the normal suspects.

After the dive, one of the kids taking their open water certification dive got hit by a Portuguese Man-o-war. I did manage to get a small sting on my arm, but the vinegar stopped any pain right away.

My wife and kids went on the Atlantis Submarine. They had a blast. At lunch at Paradise Cafe. Great burgers.

And, in the afternoon, they went to the botanical gardens to see the Blue faced iguanas.

We've got tons of pictures. I need to get one of those underwater housings so that I can take underwater pictures. Took a bunch of the unit as well. I'll try to post them in the morning. Got to get back to the Miami game.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

You are KILLING me

The pics and descriptions both!


I SO need and want to go back to Morrits.

[Larry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Larry]

Boca, your pictures brought back memories... from my trip to the Grand 3 weeks ago! We were in a 2 bedroom on the 3rd floor. Gorgeous ocean views from the deck... I couldn't ask for much more than that on an exchange.

We enjoyed diving with Tortuga Divers a couple of days, then also did a relaxing shore dive at DiveTech up by Turtle Farm (I think it's called the Turtle Farm mini-wall). We also enjoyed snorkeling right out in front of Morritt's. Rum Point was fun too.

We went to the Barefoot Man's show at the Reef, and all of us enjoyed the food and the show. They even made a special vegetarian meal for my husband.

I hope to go back in 2008, but it will have to be a rental, a direct exchange from another owner, or using an alternative exchange company due to the 1 in 4...

What night is the barefoot man at the reef and how far in advance do you need to reserve?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Pictures of my unit....

Lawren,

These pictures are for you. Regarding the 1 in 4 rule, is there a way to get around that with multiple RCI accounts? I seem to recall the Morritt's limits you to 1 in 4 independent of how you got there.


Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen:








Master Bedroom:








Second bedroom and bath:

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Wild Blue Iguana: we had such luck only 25 Wild in the world

This is what we saw. Their color changes with the intensity of the sun:




This is what it looks like when it's blue (we did NOT take this picture)

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Morritt's very own Miss Cleo

About Miss Cleo

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

BB,

Thanks for providing such great pictures. Since I have never been there, they are really familiarizing me with the resort and the island.

I had a big smile on my face looking through all the pictures until I came across your friend....the Wild Blue Iguana. Yikes, I understand that it is special to get to see something this rare. However, it ain't too pretty....

Looks like you and your family are having a wonderful vacation, enjoy the rest of your trip....

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

This is what we saw. Their color changes with the intensity of the sun:




This is what it looks like when it's blue (we did NOT take this picture)

You were so lucky to see this if there are only 25 of them left. I also enjoyed reading the story of Miss Cleo.

Have another wonderful day and don't get stung when diving.