Day 127: St. Thomas

There are days when, regardless of whether I'm at sea or on land, my life is just a comedy of errors. If you read my blog two winters ago, you may have read the post about contacts.  That was one of those days. Today was another. 

I know you're wondering, "This lady is on a cruise ship. How can any day not be perfect". Well, it happens. To me more than most. Read on,...

It started nicely enough. We were up really early for us, before 6:30am. We had wanted to see the Emerald Princess sail into St. Thomas, and were up on Deck 19 for that. As soon as the thrusters started their dance in preparation for docking, we went to the International Cafe for brewed coffee and then to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast. I had a large one this morning (a whole bagel, lox and a smear)...I knew there might not be a lunch today. 

We had contemplated walking to Emerald Beach, or even going to St. John for the day. (We used to go there on almost every visit, but we're much more laid back now.) Still...we considered all our options and decided a return to Water Island was the best and easiest. We packed the beach bag/cooler for an intensive beach day (two floats, tarp, three water bottles with ice, two beers one Mountain Dew, two Sprite Zeros (which I've learned are shockingly good with gin), two minibottles of gin, two full water bottles)...this thing was fully loaded and heavy.  In my backpack went towels and sundries...and an iPhone charging cord (smartest move of the day; the shelter on Honeymoon Beach has an outdoor power outlet). About 9:25am, we left the Emerald Princess to walk to the Crown Bay Marina, to catch the 10am ferry to Water Island. 

Of course, on the way, iguana feeding was in order. G has taught one a new trick; it climbs up his leg to get the brioche. The reactions of the passers by:  priceless. Actually, if it had continued up into G's shorts, I bet his reaction would have been priceless, too. 

We were docked with the Nieuw Amsterdam again at Crown Bay, and there was an overflow crowd waiting for the 10am ferry. Luckily we made it on; some people had to wait for it to return, and then hope that there were 10 of them to warrant another ferry run. (Message here:  stand in line even when it's 15 minutes before departure time when there's a crowd). The weather was sunny and hot, but the strong breeze kept it comfortable. 

On the 10 minute ferry ride, I became aware of the fact that I was going to need to use the restrooms on Honeymoon Beach for my first time ever. G assured me they were there, though of questionable quality. Great....

Once docked, G decided he needed to run up the hill going to the beach, just for a workout. Would I mind carrying the beach bag/cooler?  Along with my backpack?  Sure, babe, no worries. Once we were on the dock and I was heavily laden, he took off at a quick pace. Meanwhile, loaded down like a sherpa, I commenced to climb. that. hill.  It was sunny and hot and I was immediately drenched with sweat. And the need to use the restroom was intensifying.  But I pushed on, moving at a pretty good pace myself, and when I arrived at the beach, quickly dumped the bags where G was already sitting, grabbed a hand wipe (just how primitive WERE these bathrooms?) and took off. 

I wasn't sure which building the bathrooms were in, and, well...I was wearing one contact, remember?  I walked all around a storage shed before I realized it wasn't what I was looking for, and headed down to the next small building. By this time, I was quickening my pace a bit, and I'm certain that's the only reason I tripped on a tree root and then ran head-on into a low hanging tree branch. Well, quickening my pace and the fact that I had sweated all my sunscreen into my eyes climbing up that damn hill, and the contact in my "good" eye was clouded and greasy. Luckily, my Tilley hat took the brunt of the impact, so I was left with only a growing lump on my forehead. 

By now half-blind and a bit dazed, I finally found what was obviously the bath house, but instead of obvious MEN and LADIES signs on the two doors, one of them said Guys (I thought). I headed for the other one, and thankfully discovered, before there was embarrassment to be shared, that these were clever, "beachy-type" signs. The MEN door had a sign that said Buoys, so I turned back to the other and saw, upon closer look, that Guys was actually Gulls. Cute. 

I stumbled inside and found the toilet (which, thankfully had toilet pepper). Also here were changing cubbies and a sink with a bar of soap. The problem is that the toilet cubbies were quite tiny. And this wasn't going to be a "shove aside" bathroom trip. If you know what I mean. My T-shirt was sticking to me like glue, and got twisted up in my lanyard, still dangling around my neck with my ship's card and photo ID, as I furiously tried to pull it off.  Just in the nick of time, I unwound all that, and managed to complete my mission. All was good in my life. Until I had to put everything back on. 

Ladies, have you seen those Miracle Suits they sell at Lands End?  The ones that promise you they'll take off 10 pounds? I have one and chose to wear it today simply because it offers more coverage and I'm really trying to limit my sun exposure.  Well, the only miracle about these swimsuits is being able to pull one on. In the best environmental conditions (AC on high, a bed to lie on, a large room and maybe even baby powder), these things are akin to what I imagine it's like to squeeze into a full body Spanx.  And forget 10 pounds lighter; all they really do is smoosh everything and shift it around. It's all still there:  what's behind goes to the sides, the sides go to the front, and the front shifts up to neck level. 

So there I was, pretty much sightless, still reeling from my run-in with a tree, hot and dripping with sweat in this tiny toilet cubicle trying to wrestle this Miracle Suit back up over my wet torso without letting any other clothing touch the floor in the process. G may have run up that hill for his workout, but that required a mere morsel of the energy I expended getting back into that suit. 

But it's hard to feel virtuous about a workout that involves wrestling on a swimsuit meant to slim you, isn't it?

Do these sorts of things happen to anyone but me?

Finally, back on the beach, I rubbed a metal water bottle filled with ice on my quickly growing forehead lump. And took my first look at this:

The day suddenly got better. 

Heidi of Heidi's Grill has gotten into the lounger rental business, I'm sure to keep up with Dinghy's down the beach. They're $10 each, but she refunds $5 each when the lounger is dragged back to her end of the beach. I guess we're getting old (or maybe our morning had already exhausted us); instead of sitting on our tarp, we rented two loungers for the day and settled in. 

Honeymoon Beach has definitely been discovered. If the expansion of Dinghy's bar and Heidi's lounger rentals weren't proof enough, there was a veritable traffic jam of excursion boats anchoring offshore to allow their participants a couple of hours on a beach. 

Two more boats eventually anchored behind these three. Five excursion boats. That was just...not good. That was the whole charm of Honeymoon Beach...no chairs, no umbrellas, no people. The residents of the island must be hating these developments. 

We stayed on the beach until shortly after 3pm. Remembering the overflow crowd on the 10am ferry, we made a point to get back to the ferry dock well before 3:30pm to ensure a seat going back. 

As G pointed out, we have at least 25 photos taken from this same place of the same ship...but it's a view that cameras (or iPhones) we're made for. 

It was 4:07pm when we reboarded the ship, and tonight was a formal night. I have to say that, even for me, for whom hair styling means standing under a fan in the ceiling of the midship elevator lobby, this schedule, particularly on a formal night, is really pushing it. Especially when all I wanted to do was lie down for a few minutes in the cool darkness of our cabin.  I asked G if he wanted to shower first or clean out the beach bag and water bottles. He wanted me to shower first...and then clean out the beach bag and water bottles. (He has the advantage here; he could contentedly live with the mess until tomorrow, but knows I could not). 

And so what followed was a blur of activity, but we were both formally dressed and standing on the Promenade Deck with a bottle of Korbel by 5pm, when the Emerald Princess slowly moved away from the pier and made that sharp turn to starboard to sail past Water Island. 

I made a final call to Mom as G went to Crooners for two chilled flutes and returned to open the champagne. And as I described our setting to her- both of us dressed to the nines, G in his tux and patent leather shoes, standing on the deck of a cruise ship drinking champagne as we sailed past the picturesque beach on which we had spent the day - even I was struck by what I was describing. That's become a fairly routine experience for us, but, as I said to Mom, "Wow. That sounds really good, doesn't it?"  I know that wrestling a tight swimsuit on a sweaty body in a primitive bathroom is the reality of my life, but I guess what I was experiencing at that moment is my reality, too. 

My views during my "aha moment". The ferry dock on Water Island:

Honeymoon Beach:

Champagne at sailaway:

We went down to Dinner with Darko when there was nothing more to look at. I've stopped ordering lobster on formal night since I learned how much the waitstaff deplores lobster night, not because of the shell removal but because they wait so long in the galley to pick it up. I wondered why Suttipong always brought extra servings in case someone wanted a second; now  I know. Instead, I've started ordering all three of the appetizers and calling it dinner:  pear with blue cheese crumbles, shrimp, squid, scallops and a mussel with lime juice, and escargot. Komang always has special flaky rolls for me in the bread bowl on escargot night, along with G's favorite brioche, because they're so tasty with the garlic butter. But Komang is still out sick, so I wasn't expecting them. Well, I should have had more faith. Darko took care of that little detail, something he wouldn't usually be involved with. 

Have I mentioned we love Darko?  Yes, I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?

My seafood starter:

We were expecting a gorgeous sunset off our side of the ship, but it sort of fizzled at the last minute. Still, by the time we were finished with dinner, the night sky had taken on a blue-orange hue, with the lights of Puerto Rico in the distance. 

We went back to the Promenade Deck to watch for awhile, then decided that a hot tub soak was the perfect way to end the day. Entertainment options tonight that we skipped included vocalist Jacqi Michaels in the Princess Theater and comedian Al Katz in the Explorers Lounge. 

Sitting under a starry sky with my best friend was a good alternative. :-)

Life is good. (Miracle swimsuits are not.) ;-)

Day 103: St. Thomas

Oh, help me. It is 10pm, and, after four Breeza Marinas at the Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) party, I am just starting this post. Fortunately, while I still had 4G Internet in St. Thomas, I was busy uploading photo after photo to my blog (during dinner. Shoot me.), a most Internet-intensive task, so that all I had to do later was add some narrative. It's now time for that, so here goes...

First of all, I must say (just in case I run out of energy before I finish) that this was a really fun day.

I had set an alarm to get up early, and was in the DaVinci Dining Room for Breakfast with Darko shortly after 7am. I wasn't sure if G was going to make it or not (he was still happily snoozing when I snuck out of the cabin), so I didn't get him a chocolate croissant or his usual four juices. Instead, I sat alone, quite happily interneting with the free, unlimited 4G Internet service we get in St. Thomas. I was checking emails and downloading news, and on and on, until eventually G showed up and, together, we finalized our plans for the day. 

Right way, we faced a disappointment. I had phoned the golf cart rental on Water Island yesterday from the ship (For free. Using Vonage. Get the app!) and inquired about a rental for today. Unfortunately, when I turned my phone on this mornng, I had received a text that there were none available. 

Well....shoot. We really should plan in advance, but that's obviously not what we're about during our winter at sea. Instead, we decided to check out the wifi available at Crown Bay for $4 for the day. Darko filled us in, though. It wasn't fast, not at all. We want to download more videos from iTunes to watch on our cabin TV...it appeared St. Thomas wasn't the best place to do that. So, with no other plans for the day, we decided to take the 10am ferry over to Water Island anyway, even without a golf cart, and spend a beautiful day on the beach. We returned to the cabin, got ice from Raymond in the metal water bottles, and packed for the day. G fed the iguanas on the way over (one of them crawled part way up his leg, which caused a lady who was watching to shriek...that's MY entertainment). 

Passing the Emerald Princess on the Water Island ferry provided a view of what it would look like if encountered head on at sea level...scary, and huge.

Wow. How things have changed on Water Island, just since we were last there in November. The bar tucked in on the end of the beach (it used to be called Joes), is now called Dinghy's. It's been bought by a guy from South Beach in Miami, and it's definitely changed things. There are umbrellas and loungers for rent ($20 for the day), and they have a shuttle that meets passengers at the ferry to pick you up and take you up the hill and down to the beach for free. What a way to draw in customers. 

Well...how big time of them. We chose to walk, and to settle in on our same end of the beach, with our blue tarp and our Princess  towels.

Our first view of Honeymoon Beach:

I love the shadow of the palm trees on the beach when we first arrived:

My view overhead:

More changes:  a rope handrail to help swimmers climb out of the water:

The new umbrellas and loungers at Dinghy's:

Eventually, I made my way into the water for some not-too-impressive snorkeling (but the coral is slowly getting better):

Afterwards, I sat on a Swimways float and listened to an audiobook on my iPhone, one of my favorite things of the entire winter to do. My view as I did that:

Eventually; I saw the Fly Board, which can be rented at Dinghy's and strongly resembles a jet pack. It was quite entertaining to watch it, and I recorded a video that I uploaded to YouTube today.

What I didn't know is that, while I was doing all this, G had struck up a conversation with a couple on the beach. They were staying on Water Island for a week and were a military family. The next thing I knew (Grant and Cariol, Jan and Phil this won't surprise you in the least), Rick was offering us a tour of Water Island in his golf cart, and said he would afterwards take us to meet the 3:30pm ferry back to Crown Bay. 

This was quite a thrill. We had never been beyond Honeymoon Beach (this falls into our "When was the last time we did something for the first time" type of thing to do), and it was quite interesting to see the rest of the island. It's very small...maybe two miles long by a half mile wide, which is why golf carts are the primary mode of transportation, but it's also very hilly and irregularly shaped. 

View of St. Thomas from Water Island:

Typical toad condition on the southern end of the island:

Fort Segarra, built during WW II to protect the submarine base at Crown Bay:

The Virgin Islands campground features tents on elevated platforms for $175 per night:

The photo of the day...the view from Rick and Beth's rental property:

Rick and Beth's lanai. Their rental costs $2500 a week. Water Island is gorgeous. It is not cheap!

The northern coast of Water Island:

I was the keeper of the the clock; every 15 minutes I'd update G and Rick on the time.  This whole personalized tour was not without its risks:  we didn't really know Rick other than he was a marine for 28 years; we HAD to get on the 3:30pm ferry or miss the Emerald Princess; in the end, Rick's golf cart was so low on gas that he called his wife to follow us in their second golf cart in case he ran out; and if the 3:30pm ferry was full, we didn't have the option of waiting for a later one. But, as we always say, if we won't remember it 10 years from now, or if it will make a good story, it's not worth stressing over today. And so we didn't stress, just went along with whatever the day brought, and we arrived at the ferry dock just as the ferry arrived. 

Whew. 

I plugged in my iPhone the second we returned to the cabin; I was down to 2% battery level. It was a remarkable that I hadn't run out on our tour. 

So, in the end, we had a great beach day, a snorkel day AND a golf cart tour of Water Island, even better because it was led by someone who's vacationed there for years. 

We showered and dressed for the evening (there is no way to describe how stinky/ salty/ sweaty we were) and watched sailaway from the Promenade Deck. 

The Water Island ferry dock:

Honeymoon Beach, as seen from the Emerald Princess at sailaway:

We were tired, thirsty and hungry, and started the evening at Dinner with Darko, and then went to this cruise's Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) party. The cutoff numbers are dropping a bit, just as they did last year at this time: 464 Princess days. We sat with friends Steve and Peggy and Jackie and Dave, and friend Alice, who we've also cruised with for years eventually joined us (I love the cocktail parties, because we can mingle), and, unsurprisingly we closed the party down again. Honestly, the socializing is one of the best parts of cruising, and I'm not usually a highly social creature. 

It was 10pm before we returned to the cabin; 11:07pm as I finish typing this. I have recounted our entire day, albeit in a Readers Digest version. It was a wonderful day, one of the best of the entire winter, not least because I have a husband who will (and does) talk to everyone, and who, when we were disappointed that there was not a golf cart available for rent today on Water Island, found us an even better alternative.  He's a keeper.  (Although, when we were on the ferry back and he was explaining to some fellow passengers that he wanted to find me a job on the ship so he could cruise for free, and this guy looked at me and asked, "This is going in one ear and out the other, isn't it?" and I said, "Not even. After 30 years it skips right over my head.") He's a PITA, but he's still a keeper. 

Day 33: St. Thomas

It is 9pm as I begin this post, after a fantastically fun and busy day, so let's see how much I can relate before I run out of 1.) battery; 2.) energy; or 3.) attention span as the Monday Night Football game grabs my interest.

At breakfast this morning in the DaVinci Dining Room with wonderful Viktor from the Philippines and Nadiia from Serbia (after just one prior breakfast they remembered that G gets four juices and which ones they are) G mentioned that perhaps I should check the vinow.com website to verify the Water Island ferry schedule, and I'm glad he did, because it has changed quite a bit from last year and what had been a 10:30am ferry from Crown Bay was now a 10am ferry with another at 11am. It appears Water Island has been discovered (and no pointing fingers, please). 

G had to first run over to the nearest Scotia Bank location to take care of some business (and I saw him leaving...he truly ran the entire way), so I returned to the cabin to pack for our first "real" beach day of the winter. Sure, we've been to beaches already, but they were beaches that offered chairs or shade or other amenities. For Honeymoon Beach on Water Island, we need to be fairly self-contained for the day. I took our new 5'x7' beach tarp (purchased at Home Depot) out of its wrapper, pulled out one float, asked our cabin steward Raymond to fill our two metal water bottles with ice (which he gladly did, because we don't ask for ice in our ice bucket every day), threw in my mask and snorkel in case I chose to snorkel, plus two beers, two water bottles and two towels in our beach tote/cooler and the usual things in my backpack, and, fully loaded down I left the ship and walked to the Crown Bay Marina. 

I was not alone. In fact, there were so many of us waiting for the water taxi that it was announced that they'd be making a second run immediately after the ferry returned. I phoned G to let him know that, so he didn't think he needed to wait until the 11am ferry, and so he arrived on Water Island only 20 minutes after I did, his business completed. 

Of course, my first focus is always PHONE and INTERNET. I first phoned Mom to try to catch her despite the busy schedule she had today (my 82-year old mother needed roller skates to get through her crazy day; I lay on a beach). I had had trouble getting on the ship's wifi last night, and so wanted to publish yesterday's post, and then Iet G handle checking on things at home while I checked the usual- the financial accounts and verifying automatic payments had been made correctly. G made it into the water with the float before I did, but I was finally able to join him, and we spent a lot of time talking with other cruisers. Even if we've never met before, we all have at least one thing in common and it makes for easy and interesting conversation. 

I worked hard today watching these palm fronds sway in the gentle breeze;

At one point, I emailed Segway Antigua about whether they had more space available on our tour with them tomorrow because others wanted to join us, and, oh yeah, I was in the water when I was doing that on my iPhone.  G called it surfing (the net) in the surf.  Ain't it crazy?

The day was sunny and warm and perfect, and we had a most enjoyable first visit to Honeymoon Beach. I never did snorkel because the beach was so perfect. We returned on the 3:30pm ferry despite the fact that we didn't need to be back on board until 5:30pm; we still had a few more phone calls to make. 

We returned to ship soggy and sweaty and salty and sticky, and there is no better part of the day than dumping everything on the cabin floor and stepping into the shower. Bliss!  I was dressed for dinner first and went up to the Adagio Lounge, hoping for quiet and privacy and I had both (I worry about that lounge...they've eliminated any music up there and I never see anyone up there). I first made a mobile deposit of that check I'd received in the mail (I remember when we first did that using our iPhones...we were so precise and flattened out the check and placed it on a dark service before photographing it; today I threw it on a table in Adagio still creased, took a crooked photo and hit Submit. It's more forgiving than I would ever have imagined). Then I tackled my next project:  I had suffered another cruise casualty last week when I blew out a black patent Birkenstock Mayari sandal. I suppose I could have made it through the winter with just my silver ones, but I knew I'd be missing the black ones every day. Having had such success getting our box of mail on turnaround day, I decided to take a chance. I phoned Zappos to ask if they could accommodate a six-line delivery address. The helpful CSR said they could handle five lines, and promised me no part of any line would be truncated. So I placed an order and took great care in relaying the delivery address. Emerald Princess. Passenger xxxx. Cabin xxxx. The rep told me that, due to my VIP Zappos status (I get every pair of shoes I own from them) the package would be delivered tomorrow. I told her that, unless a drone was going to land it on the Lido Deck (what a cool thought), not to hurry as I wouldn't get it for at least a week. It's a $90 gamble...stay tuned to see how this works out. 

One more call to Mom later to be debriefed on her busy day, I joined G in Skywalkers for Breeza Marina night in the Elite Lounge. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and were hungry, and it was nice to be able to drink a Breeza Marina and eat herbed goat cheese and homemade wheat crackers with a clear conscience. Still, we were at dinner by 5:40pm, and had a perfect view of Water Island as we sailed at early at 5:45pm 

Darko and Komang (not Koman, Komang. Good grief, Princess, get some light over our table. Thank God we know the menus by heart because there is no way we can read them with all that romantic ambiance) are treasures. G made the bold move today of requesting a sorbet intermezzo before our entrees were served (which was de rigeur with Suttipong) and Darko didn't bat an eye. Funny, cute (in a favorite son sort of way) and so personable, I want to beg someone (who?) not to rotate this team again until we leave. 

And steward Raymond is a gem...and he loves American football!  Is this a match made in heaven or what?  We were really hoping for a good service experience this year, and we sure are having it. 

(Except for one headwaiter, who will go unnamed, but it's not just us having issues with him, which makes me feel better, for some reason. We're not accustomed to this!). 

After dinner, we swung by the Explorers Lounge to watch Alice and Garry, dancers extraordinaire, who we had met on the beach today. We've cruised with them twice in the past two years, but had never actually talked. They are incredible dancers (they are dance judges) and Garry has taken it on as a personal mission to get G to learn how to dance. Go Garry go! 

We returned to the cabin just to plug in our phones and now are situated in front of the MUTS screen watching the Saints-Seahawks game. There is a table full of hot and cold "game snacks" on the pool deck, which is a nice touch, and hopefully will spur beer sales. We'll last as long as we can out here, before finishing our game viewing from the comfort of our cabin. 

OK, this game is already NOT going our way. Perhaps this is a game best endured in private. I liken watching football on MUTS to being in a sports bar, except there's more diversity in spectator allegiances. It's painful to listen to the cheers I'm hearing!

St. Thomas- Part 3

Photo 1: always pretty: walking back down to the ferry dock on Water Island, with the Emerald Princess in the distance docked at Crown Bay on St. Thomas

Photo 2: the Emerald Princess at Crown Bay

Photos 3 to 5: I was very lazy with these...instead of stepping outside at Skywalkers, I took these through the streaky glass.

Photo 3: you can see another cruise ship leaving from Havensight in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Also interesting, all the moored sailboats are pointed the opposite direction for the first time all winter as the prevailing wind direction has changed.

Photo 4: the ferry dock on Water Island

Photo 5: our last glimpse of Honeymoon Beach until next winter. Sigh.

St. Thomas- Part 2

Photos: Snorkeling at Honeymoon Beach

Day 118: St. Thomas

I'll confess...I'm actually writing this the day after St. Thomas, on a sea day morning, because I was so worn out from having fun yesterday that I fell asleep last night before typing a single word. I think that's only the second time all winter that I've done that (although sometimes I couldn't get on wifi at night and so didn't post until the next morning). I'm slipping!

We were awake early yesterday, as the thrusters moved the Emerald Princess into position at the Crown Bay pier. After breakfast in the dining room (no special treats, but just wait and see...), we returned to the cabin to get packed for our last Water Island beach day of the winter. Since Honeymoon Beach on Water Island offers very little in the way of amenities, we have to be fairly self-sufficient when we go there. Ice in water bottles, plenty of drinks, beach toys, blue tarp...G even stopped by the International Cafe to pick up some pastries to tide him over until we returned to the ship hours later (and also providing me with my splurges for the morning).

We were meeting Jenny and Bill on Deck 4 outside the Medical Center, but were also hoping to meet up with Dr. Smith (Lynn) and her husband. It was their 5th wedding anniversary and we couldn't think of a nicer place to spend it than Honeymoon Beach. Alas, she had a cardiac patient come in during the morning, and was unable to leave the ship. I suppose that happens frequently in a doctor's life!

So, Jenny, Bill, G and I left the ship about 10:00am to walk over to the Water Island ferry from Crown Bay Marina. Of course, along the way, we have our routine:  G stops to feed brioche to the iguanas, and we have to walk by yachts and discuss which one we'd like to own. Jenny said that, for her, it's all about the cup holders (hilarious, Jenny!); G says that his has to be all white. Me...I'm not fussy. Anything over 75 feet in length will suffice. There weren't nearly as many yachts there as there were over the holidays and in January; even if we weren't going home soon, it seems the season is winding down on the islands. 

On Water Island, we walked up the hill, then down the hill to the beach (although G hitched a ride on a golf cart up the steepest part of the hill). And we were so pleased to see the looks on Jenny and Bill's faces when they had their first glimpse of Honeymoon Beach. It reminds me so much of Gilligans Island lagoon beach...gentle waves (if any), lined with palm trees, set in a deep bay. 

It became very quickly very hot yesterday. Someone back on the ship said it was muggy; I'm not sure I even recognize muggy after four months on the islands. But it was so hot that, for the first time this winter, the soft, white sand of Honeymoon Beach became too hot to walk on barefoot. And that's saying something! (Edited later to add:  we were told that the Real Feel temp had reached 104F.  It was HOT!)

Jenny, Bill and I snorkeled a bit, and I took frequent dips in the water just to cool off. Bill and G purchased a brat and hot dog from Heidi's Beach Grill, but I was happy eating not one, but two pastries that G had brought from the International Cafe. Except for stollen at Christmas, these were my very first pastries of the winter. And they were scrumptious!

Jenny and Bill took the 2:15pm ferry back, but G and I wanted to extend our last visit as long as possible and took the 3:30pm ferry back. There had been four big excursion boats that anchored off the beach for lunch at Heidi's, but none of them were returning to Crown Bay- they had passengers from the three cruise ships at Havensight- and so we couldn't hitch a ride back. While we were sitting in the shade before we left the beach, the resident dog (G named him Bosco but a little girl informed us that she was a girl dog) sprawled out under the bench G was sitting on and I saw him rubbing her belly with his foot when he thought I wasn't looking. The man needs a dog, but my allergies and our travel schedule just don't allow for one!

The walk back to the ferry was HOT. I do believe that this was the hottest day we'd seen all winter. Even the breeze while crossing to Crown Bay on the ferry wasn't enough to cool us off. We wasted no time returning to the ship, plugged in our phones (because we'd almost exhausted the batteries in our excitement to talk/ Internet/ photograph using free AT&T Internet) and took long, cool showers. That G didn't even go to a hot tub first tells you how hot we were. 

We were up in Skywalkers for sailaway (always beautiful from St. Thomas), and I made one last phone call to Mom. Too soon we were losing our signals, and put our phones into Airplane Mode for the last time this winter (except for the plane ride home, of course). I can't tell you what a happy thought THAT was! Oh, I'll miss being on the Emerald Princess immensely, of course, but I will NOT miss slow/ expensive/ non-existent wifi!! At all!!!!!

We went to the 5:30pm performance of comedian Al Katz in the Explorers Lounge before dinner. (Another 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back...haven't I learned by now?). Joshua Seth was doing his hypnotist act in the Princess Theater and I have learned not to go to that, so after dinner we went first to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to four members of the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz, and then to Club Fusion to listen to band Sol Provider. They have made us feel so welcome this winter.  We will miss their incredible talent as a band, but we'll also miss them as very kind and friendly individuals. 

G then wanted to go back to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to another set by the Emerald Princess orchestra, and so we did, but I was fading. Finally, my contacts were mutinying...it was time to get them out. And that's when I just didn't have enough energy left to blog. 

But what a great reason to be tired:  a wonderful day on a beach and a musical evening on a cruise ship!

Photos 1 and 2:  yachts at Crown Bay Marina

Photo 3:  the first glimpse of Honeymoon Beach from the top of the hill

Photos 4 and 5:  the beach was almost empty when we first arrived