Sailaway from Antigua

Photo #2- Antigua's sister island of Barbuda (pronounced bar-BOO-da) in the distance.

Remains of three forts overlooking St. Johns harbor, Antigua

Sailaway from Antigua

Around 3pm the bright sun was suddenly blocked by one large black cloud, and before I knew it I was being chased inside by raindrops. Luckily, by our 5pm sailaway, although it was still wet and cloudy, the rain had stopped and I was able to step outside to get some photos of the beautiful harbor of St. Johns, Antigua.
Photo #1: the large building on the top of the hill overlooking the town of St. Johns is a new hospital funded by, of course, China.

Day 85: Antigua

It would have been another perfect beach day today, but we just weren't in a beach day mood. I guess that's the beauty of visiting these islands multiple times each winter. Instead we enjoyed a late breakfast in the dining room, continued to work our way through the latest batch of mail that Martha sent from home, spent time in the hot tub on the back of Deck 17, enjoying the gorgeous view and hot sun, had a slice of pizza for lunch (the dining room was closed for lunch and I'm not a huge fan of the lunch buffet), and decided the best place to enjoy the rest of the day was on the sunny aft deck. Sometimes a deck lounger and choice of two sparkling clean pools on the back of the ship beats getting to a beach and renting chairs and umbrella, and today was one of those times.
But, of course, it's against G's religion to not get off the ship for at least a little while every port day. He finally walked off shortly after 1pm, armed with a two-way radio. I had the other one with me on the back terrace deck. At 2pm he radioed me...he was the sole passenger on an historical harbor cruise, and their ship had just left the dock and was sailing past the back of our ship. I was thrilled for him; he's been wanting to take this hour-long cruise every time we've been on Antigua. I told him to listen well to the narration, and fill me in when he returned. (Look closely at photo #2 and you'll see him waving from the front of the boat).
Well, since he was the only passenger, he was able to ask all sorts of questions, which you know he loved. He said the guide was extremely well informed and could answer very one of his questions. Unfortunately, they began serving him rum punches before the boat ever left the dock, and at the end of the cruise, sent him off the boat with one last rum punch in hand. All I'm getting from him tonight is that there were three forts overlooking St. Johns harbor, but he can't recall their names. :^|
I must make a note to read a comprehensive history of the Caribbean before our cruises next year.

More entertainment last night

After the Beatle Maniacs performance, we listened and danced to band Evolution in Club Fusion for awhile. They were new onboard two cruises ago, and we love their sound. Then, later, we went up to the Adagio Lounge, which we think is the nicest on the ship, for a drinks demonstration. It was the first time they'd done this, so we didn't know what to expect, but we know the bar staff who work up there, and decided to give it a try. It was fun, entertaining, AND there were generous and unexpected drink samples to enjoy too, with a light live piano music in the background. It was a really nice way to end the evening.

Part 2

I take at least 10 photos to get one that's decent enough to post. The lighting and the lack of adjustments on my iPhone camera make it tricky, but the convenience and ease of posting the photos to my blog make it worthwhile.

Beatle Maniacs- Version 9.0

It was that night of the cruise again, so, of course, we made it a priority to see the Beatle Maniacs again last night. It is fun to see so many passengers of so many ages up dancing to the timeless music of the Beatles.

Sunset after St. Thomas

As seen from our dining room table.

Carnival cruise ship leaving St. Thomas

St. John (another US Virgin Island) in the distance.

Water Island and Honeymoon Beach

As seen from Skywalkers at sailaway.

Water Island at sailaway

As seen from Skywalkers. St. Thomas is one of the prettiest sailaways in the Caribbean.

Photo 2: the Water Island ferry dock

Water island: Part 5

How to tell the cruise ship passengers from those people living on or staying on Water Island? Two things: they have chairs (we don't), and our towels all match (theirs don't).

I would LOVE to spend a winter here, but knew it was out of the question when I learned their primary source of water was rainfall collected in cisterns. G considers that just a small step above camping. And, in reality, as much as we love visiting, a daily diet of this beach alone might get a bit boring.

Soaking up the sun

School kids and shoppers arrive home at Water Island

3:30pm Water Island ferry

We can always see it making its way across the harbor. Because of today's wind, it docked at the end of the pier at Water Island, which made for a good photo with the Emerald Princess in the background.

Water Island: Part 4

The sunken sailboat on the edge of the little bay housing Honeymoon Beach is new this year. We've heard its story in bits and pieces. Seems like it was insured and worth more sunken than not. We've snorkeled around it; if left for a few years, it should house a nice little artificial reef.

Water Island: Part 3

There are two places for food and drink on the beach, Joe's beach bar an Heidi's BBQ. Heidi's does a huge business contracting with cruise ship snorkel boat excursions to serve lunch on the beach.

Water Island: Part 2

The clouds eventually reemerged, and by now (2:30pm) the sunlight is filtered and has lost its heat. I took a walk down to the other end of Honeymoon Beach to get some photos from the other direction, opposite where we sit. There are two shelters in Honeymoon Beach in case of inclement weather, but, regardless of weather, we still have to be at the ferry dock in time for the 3:30pm ferry. So we can camp out in the shelters but have to eventually make our way back to the ferry dock.

Water Island Part 1

I spent a lot of time swimming along the buoy lines marking the swim area until I snagged my palm on one. The rough fiberglass rope tore a jagged cut which bled profusely but then calmed to something no worse than a paper cut. No doubt I'll feel it tonight though. Then I lay back on the sand (and handled business calls at the same time), looking up at the sun through the palms.
It was a good day!

Day 84: St. Thomas

Today dawned a bit drizzly, but we've learned that that means nothing about how the day's weather will turn out. I was up early to do some business, and I was a little bit skeptical that we'd have sunny beach day. But by the time we had breakfast in the buffet and packed up our gear for a beach day (for centuries, people have existed for an entire year with less stuff), the sun was out and shining brightly.

Once again G had to feed brioche to the iguanas. Once again, I was mesmerized by the huge yachts docked at the Crown Bay marina.

More about our day at sea

We had a great day yesterday. The sun came out, we met up with Internet (Cruise Critic) friends mid-afternoon in Skywalkers, followed by a slot pull with members of that same group. I didn't participate (the casino is just too smoky for me), but G did, and thanks to Corinne's $1000 pull, the group almost tripled their money, from $15 to $41. G always seems to have better luck in the casino when I'm NOT with him!

It was formal night, so the chocolate covered strawberries were delivered at 4pm, and we dressed and went to Skywalkers for pre-dinner drinks. At the beginning of every cruise, we really miss friends we enjoyed having drinks with on the previous cruise!! But as the cruise goes on, we meet new people to miss after turnaround day. It gives us some idea of what it's like for the crew members to see passengers and fellow crew come and go.

We went to the Welcome Aboard champagne waterfall and party after dinner (see photo of G with bar supervisor Victoria from the Philippines), and tried to get a seat in the 8:15pm production show, but the theater was full 15 minutes before the performance began. That was our signal to go up to the big screen to watch part of the Pro Bowl, eat some popcorn and retire to our cabin fairly early. I knew I had to get up early the next day and take care of some business on my iPhone as we approached St. Thomas.

Day 83: At Sea (and the contacts story)

We were asleep early last night after a big day on the water at Princess Cays. As is typical for me when I'm tired, once I get a nice meal, I'm out like a light. There was some good music scheduled around the ship throughout the evening, but I couldn't stay awake for any of it. G seemed of like mind. We fell asleep with the lights on.

We awoke early this morning to a light rain and slight wind. G went up to grab two lounge chairs on the Terrace Deck...and most of them were already reserved with pool towels. Grrrr...that is SO rude. It's 9:35am right now, and there are 16 chairs across the back of the ship with towels but not people on them. Ridiculous.
But, G went up just a few steps further and sat in one of two covered chairs there and I joined him as soon as I had dressed. We sat in the early morning light, drinking coffee and watching as the rained slowed and the ship slowly came alive. We moved our clocks ahead an hour last night, so things were a little quiet first thing this morning.

Things are now picking up. The rain has stopped, the pool attendants have dried off tables and chairs and people are bringing their breakfasts outside to enjoy. The sun is out; we can see its light on the top deck of the ship, but since we're sailing in an easterly direction, it's still nicely shady back here. It's going to be a beautiful day.

I had promised to post what I've been through with my contacts, and it's a story that continues to unfold. Since I'm sitting in the shade here, and can see my iPhone screen, I'll take the time to tell it.

12 years after LASIK surgery, which corrected me from being near blind to being able to see without correction, my eyes regressed and I needed to begin wearing contacts again. Even glasses couldn't provide me the correction I needed. And not just any contacts, but, I found out in August, I needed rigid gas permeable (RGP, also known as "hard" contacts) again. Fussy fit and unforgiving. I will fast forward through two and a half months of appointments and fittings and trials and errors to this point: due to a series of goof-ups, the last day we were home I received a spare lens for our trip...but not the one I'd ordered. The lab had made a mistake. What to do? I was a woman without an address for the next several months. A replacement lens sitting in my file at the doctor's office did me little good when I was on a ship in the Caribbean. Luckily, a cruise friend (Suzan!) who was joining our ship on November 28 offered to bring me the corrected lens, so I had my doctor's office mail it to her once it was was made.

For the first 20 days of this cruise, I knew I had no room for error. I couldn't lose a lens, or I'd be blind in one eye. The pressure was on. One day I walked out onto the Promenade Deck to wait for G. We were going to sit and watch for the dolphins they'd just announced were off the port side. As I was slipping on my sunglasses, my finger brushed my eyelid. My contact slipped off my eye...or did it fall out of my eye? I couldn't tell. Since G hadn't yet arrived (he's become very adept at lifting my eyelid looking for a missing contact), I turned and went back into the ship, into a ladies restroom that was nearby.

For five minutes, I lifted my lid, rubbed it from every direction, rolled my eye every which way and peered into the mirror, all while half blind. I finally gave up...the lens was gone. It was probably laying on the Promenade Deck, smashed into pieces by someone's footstep.

Resigned, I picked up my sunglasses from where I had thrown them on the bathroom counter...and stuck to the inside of the glasses was the missing contact. Thank God!

But the story doesn't end there. As I rinsed off the lens with water and then put a drop of the lubricant I now have to carry everywhere on it. I put the lens on the end of my finger, leaned close to the mirror to insert it on my eye...and DROPPED it into a LARGE bowl of potpourri sitting on the vanity.

Does anyone besides me have this kind of luck?

Still half blind, my mind was racing. What to do, what to do?? I'm in a ladies room. Even if I could find G, he couldn't help me. I scanned the top of the potpourri, and didn't see the contact. So, with no other options, I dumped the entire bowl into the sink. The drain was covered with one of those filters used to prevent small items (like contacts!) from going down it, so I knew I was safe there. But I still had to find that little piece of plastic in all those flower and wood bits.

Piece by tiny piece, I picked up each little bit of potpourri, examined it on all sides, and placed it back in the bowl. Piece by tiny piece, my heart sank as I couldn't find the lens. I finally reached the last piece with no luck. I resigned myself to being blind in one eye until Suzan arrived with my spare lens.

And then, I looked again. Glistening in the drain filter at the bottom of the sink was my lens!! Happy, happy, joy, joy! I moved the potpourri to the other side of the vanity this time, cleaned the lens and reinserted it. And went to find G on the Promenade Deck.

Where he wanted to know what took me so darn long to meet him. :-|

Well, I was saved that time, but wasn't so lucky last month. Still half asleep one morning, I was rinsing my lenses to insert them when I mixed up the "close the stopper, turn on the tap" order. I turned on the tap, and then moved to close the stopper. In that split second, I dropped a lens into the sink. What a sight I must have been. I instinctively moved both hands to plug the drain, but the stopper was still open and the tap was running. I'd have to remove a hand from the drain to close the stopper. What to do, what to do (again!)?? I removed one hand and made a mad dash for the drain valve-y thingy...and watched the lens float down the drain. It was over. There was no saving it.

But, by then, my spare lens had arrived. I had prepared for this to happen...and it did. THANK YOU Suzan, for carrying onboard a package given to you by a stranger and intended for someone else (which goes against every security rule in the book). I'd be half blind without it.

We walk all over these islands. We manage to avoid 2 foot deep open storm sewers and potholes the size of small cars. We play chicken with crazy taxi drivers as we cross streets where they drive on the left side of road and we're not sure where the traffic's coming from. We snorkel in coral gardens and climb on rocks the size of houses. We haven't had any issues with these things at all. But I am staying clear of potpourri bowls and open drains from now until we go home. That's where the real danger lies.

Photo: My view while I was sitting on the deck of the ship typing this post. That's the "breakfast bar" I sometimes mention on the Terrace deck right in front of me. We love eating our outdoor meals sitting there watching the wake.

My first green flash tonight!

Sunset from our dinner table. For the first time ever, I saw the green flash at sunset! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash). Now I need to see the northern lights!

Part 3

This house, right on the beach in the heart of Princess Cays, is where the directors of operations live. Sandy beach and gorgeous sunsets right outside their door. How bad can that be?
That's all I'm writing for today. I swam all over the beach area today and am worn out tonight.
But it was a perfect day!

Part 2

Day 82: Princess Cays

After several cloudy days on Princess Cays in December (when we did most of our exploring of the southern end of Eleuthera), we've been lucky every time we've been there in January. Although one large cloud loomed early this morning, it quickly blew over. Today was no different than our other January visits: sunny, hot and slightly windy. We had a quick breakfast in the buffet and were then once again on the first tender going over. We like going early; we always go to the same area which allows G to have the shade he wants and me to be in part sun/part shade.
We looked at the cables that had lowered the tender boats to the water with a whole new appreciation today. You can easily see how, if the ship was tilted to any significant degree, the life boats couldn't be lowered. That's the reason for the redundant chutes and rafts system that was the focus of yesterday's drill.

Cruise #9: Back to the Eastern Caribbean

Two views of Port Everglades

With the ship turned in its berth, I'm sitting here on the aft Terrace Deck getting a much different view than the beautiful 17th Street drawbridge and all the megayachts. Instead, I'm looking at three other cruise ships in port (two Holland America ships and the Carnival Miracle) and the freighters docked here.
I much prefer the bridge view, but this is interesting for a change.
We never left the ship today, other than to go through immigration. I was fascinated by the emergency chute drill and wanted to watch it until the end (shades of my husband here?). Then I had to take care of some business while I had cell service and free Internet. That's okay...we really don't need much from Walgreens/Publix. We're getting close to the end of this dream.
:-(

It arrived!

The order that I placed on January 2 from Drugstore.com for Physicians Formula SPF50 tinted moisturizer finally made it to me today!! I'm not able to get this product at any of the stores within walking distance of Port Everglades, and will likely run out of what I have in the next day or two. I had purchased a different product with only SPF15 at Walgreens on our last turnaround day, having almost lost hope that I would ever see this package.

I had had the box sent to the same PO box in Fort Lauderdale at which the ship's crew receives its mail and at which we'd received our previous box of mail. The issue was immediately apparent. Although I had put complete address information on the order (name, ship name, passenger cabin #), most information had been truncated on the shipping label. It read "My Name, Emera", and that was it. The hotel clerk thought I was NOB (not on board). Luckily, when the Passenger Services supervisor, Nadine, started tracking it down, he recalled having seen the box, which, considering how much mail he handles, is pretty remarkable. Then it couldn't be located for a few days. Finally, today, it was found, and just in time. All this sun I'm getting...gotta save my skin!!

Now, if my 3 month supply of People magazines arrives on board today in the box of mail that Martha just sent, I'll be one happy cruiser!!

An amusing aside...a fellow passenger asked me yesterday if I had received this tan in the 10 days of the cruise. When I told her that we had been on the ship before this cruise, she asked if I got it all in just 20 days (keep in mind that, although I wear SPF50 all the time, the sun still gets through). Then I admitted that we had been on for awhile. She looked at me and asked, "Are you those people on for 100 days?". I said yes, we were, and her jaw dropped. She had thought that we'd be a really OLD couple. I should have said, "Well, I'm 75 but this cruising life does wonders for my appearance!".

;-)