Read on to see how THAT plan backfired in a big way.
G left for breakfast in the dining room ahead of me, and I grabbed today's Princess Patter to read at breakfast when I left the cabin. Standing in an elevator full of people, I let out a spontaneous whoop: the BRONCOs are playing on Thursday Night Football and it's being shown on MUTS!!!! These are my favorite nights of the cruise...plus, we're moving our clocks back an hour to EST tonight. Princess Cays, the Broncos on MUTS and a 25-hour day in a cruise. Could it get any better than that?
After breakfast in the dining room, we returned to our cabin and took care of a few grooming things while the ship was steady (meaning I gave G a haircut and reapplied nail polish) and I finished packing my first big suitcase. Making progress...
We soon dressed in regular clothes (not swimwear) and took a tender over to Princess Cays. Sadly, it was not a sunny day, but it certainly was a windy one. Although the ship seemed steady, the tender pitched and rolled as we rode the 10 minutes or so to the island.
We wanted to check out how the resort was recovering since we'd been there exactly 20 days earlier, and we were thrilled to see that the feeding pier has been totally rebuilt. That was certainly fast, and I'm sure the fish are happy about it too. It looks great. In fact, the whole resort looks great. Except for the damage to vegetation that I mentioned last time we were here, now that the pier has been rebuilt, you could never even tell Hurricane Sandy paid a visit.
We enjoyed the BBQ lunch on the island. I know people diss the lunch; in fact, some people diss all of Princess Cays, but we love it. I love the smell of the BBQ, and particularly enjoy the grilled chicken. And I love that, because of where it's located, Princess Cays either kicks off a cruise or finishes one up in an easy, relaxed manner.
As we sat at a picnic table eating our lunch, we could see a dark storm cloud moving our way. G said we needed to be ready to make a run for the tender loading dock; unfortunately, he said it about 5 minutes too late. While we were still throwing our plates in the trash, the rain started. We had been sitting well down the beach, and in the time it took us to walk to the tenders, 1.) the rain intensified; and 2.) everyone else had the same idea. Lets just say that by the time we finally boarded a tender, we were dripping wet, totally soaked. Without a towel to dry off, we were just as wet when we re-boarded the ship. Despite my best plans, I may be packing wet clothing tonight anyway. There is so much wet stuff in this cabin, the humidity in here is probably 192%.
After things were washed out (hey, they were already wet...they might as well be clean too), G decided a hot tub was in line in order to warm up. I took advantage of being alone in the cabin to pack the beach suitcase and take down our over-the-door shoe rack that we hang on the outside of the bathroom door, not to hold shoes but to hold all the small items that would normally be stored in drawers. IF we had more than four drawers in the cabin.
Sure, I wish we didn't have to move. But we're also really excited about what we're calling our "vacation". So, in the end, it's all good.
Photos 1-3: vegetation damage at Princess Cays
Photo 4: but look at all the new growth!
Photo 5: the rebuilt feeding pier- gorgeous!
Photo 6: isn't it even larger than it used to be?
Photo 7: the over the door shoe rack that, in over 10 years of use, has never held a shoe