After a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, we walked off the ship (the Vision of the Seas was behind us at the preferred berth) and caught the #10 Arubus to the furthest hotel. We then walked back, via beach, road and sidewalk, from Palm Beach to Eagle Beach. Today was sunny and HOT, with a stiff breeze, and by shortly after 1pm we were beached, sunned and walked out, and caught a privateer minibus back to Orangestad.
We returned to the ship for a late lunch (so tired of pizza- I'll not be eating pizza again anytime soon!) and spent the remainder of the afternoon sorting through paperwork in our cabin.
At 4:30pm, we were on the Promenade Deck for our last sailaway of this entire winter, accompanied by our final bottle of Barefoot Bubbly. (And I did a quick calculation: counting Fort Lauderdale but subtracting our missed ports of Half Moon Cay and three Princess Cays visits, this was our 99th (!!) sailaway of the winter.)
As much as we hated to, we skipped Dinner with Darko tonight; I accompanied G as he ate a burger and fries in the Horizon Court Buffet (but didn't eat...yet). At 8pm, I had a much anticipated Ladies Night Out. This had been in the planning for awhile, a last hurrah with some ship officers who have become friends, at the Crab Shack. I have been wanting to go to the Crab Shack since it was started on the Emerald Princess after the holidays, but as G considers this sort of seafood to be bait, not dinner, he was not at all interested. It worked out perfectly to do it with friends.
Brown paper tablecloths and crayons to draw:
Serious tools for serious crab leg excavation:
We started with shrimp and hush puppies, and then had Manhattan clam chowder. Just these two courses made a meal, but the really good stuff was yet to come.
The entrees, served family style- GORGEOUS and delicious! Crab legs and mussels and clams and shrimp, corn on the cob and kielbasa.
There was a choice of two desserts; we all chose neither. We were stuffed!! It was so much fun to dine with new friends, and I'm happy I was able to try the Crab Shack. It's well worth the $20 per person charge.
Meanwhile, G went to see Jon Root and Bill Berry, of juggling Team Rootberry, who came on board today in Aruba, so he was happy doing his own thing tonight. It was a harbinger of days to come; once home, we become unconnected at the hip, which is not a totally unwelcome operation after five months of togetherness.
;-)
