What a nice start to the day!
At 7am we decided we wanted a bit more substantial breakfast and so we headed to the dining room. After a couple of blips getting unwanted cheese with my veggie egg beater omelets this cruise, I've taken to ordering just scrambled egg beaters and a bowl of salsa, which is pretty much what I eat at home for breakfast except on the ship it starts with orange segments and mixed berries and the salsa is fresh, not Kroger brand from a jar. I've fallen in love with the fresh salsa made on the ship...it is fairly mild but heavy on the cilantro and onions and if I had concocted a salsa recipe to my personal taste, this would be it.
By 8am I was back in a lounger. I should have walked, or gone to Zumba at 10:15am, but instead I fell asleep. Yes, I fell asleep...took a nap...snoozed. Whatever it's called, it was a wonder. I think the ship was bouncy last night as Captain Pomata made tracks to get to Grand Turk on time today after being delayed about two hours as we left St. Thomas yesterday. Particularly up where our cabin is, on Deck 14 aft, there was just enough movement to wake us up several times throughout the night. In fact, G said he had dressed and left the cabin this morning at 4:40am, giving up on sleep altogether.
So, l'll give a restless night the credit, not the blame, because I've always wanted to be able to nap. I think it's a valuable talent.
Captain Pomata announced about 10am that we would be arriving in Grand Turk on schedule at 1pm, a heckuva accomplishment given that we had already been scheduled to be cruising at 21.5 knots from St. Thomas to Grand Turk, nearly the ship's cruising limit.
We were lined up for lunch in the dining room just before it opened at noon. Normally the dining room is closed for lunch on port days, but it does open for lunch on days that the ship arrives late or departs a port early. Luckily, today featured our favorite lunch menu which wasn't offered last cruise. G ordered fried mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce as an appetizer and I had spaghetti aglio, olio and pepperacino (or something like that) which is basically spaghetti served coated with olive oil, butter, garlic and red pepper flakes. I've tried making it several times at home, but it's never as good as on a ship. I think it's because I skip the butter.
As we dined, the ship was cruising down the west coast of Grand Turk, a 6 mile long, 1 mile wide coral island surrounded by reefs. From the ship, it didn't look at all like I had expected it to. We had been told there was nothing on the island, so I was expecting it to look like the southern end of Eleuthera. It wasn't at all like that. There is one town, called Cockburn town, and several beach resorts. It's biggest claim to fame is a shopping complex right at the cruise ship dock, with Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, a large beach, pool, restaurant and shopping complex also located there. It seemed most passengers had been there before, and they rushed off the ship as soon as it was cleared to claim loungers in prime beach or pool locations. We managed to find chairs under a canopy of palm trees and set ourselves up for the afternoon.
The air was considerably cooler today, in the mid- to high 70s. I used a float to relax in the water but after 30 minutes or so got a bit chilled, and we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and watching the entertainment provided by brave passengers trying to master the flow rider.
With margaritas starting at about $10 each (with tax and tip), we decided to instead enjoy margaritas in Skywalkers tonight for less than half that price, and made our way back down the pier to the ship around 4.30pm. The ship was docked right at Margaritaville, and we decided that the ship docked just a couple minutes walk from a beach is a very nice thing.
After dinner tonight, we saw the Disco production show again and it's growing on me; I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Then we watched a brief acrobatic performance by Duo Push in the Piazza afterwards. I was so mesmerized by their performance that I forgot to take photos, but I'm certain there will be plenty more opportunities to do that in the next few days.
It's almost 9:30pm (10:30pm AST, which is where we spend most of our days), and time for bed. G found a movie to watch on TV, Men in Black #72, but was asleep less than five minutes into it.
Such a talent!
Photos 1 and 2: watching sunrise at sea from a deck chair
Photos 3 to 5: our favorite lunch menu and G's favorite mozzarella sticks. These were served more artfully plated, with the sticks stacked and angled, but the first thing G did was straighten them out in three lines.
;-)