We were awakened by the Emerald Princess backing into her berth at Crown Bay. I'm telling you, we could lie in bed in our inside cabin, and simply by listening to the ship know whether we were docking at Crown Bay or Havensight. There's a world of difference in how much noise the ship makes, with Crown Bay being the louder one due to all the thruster use required. We had a quick breakfast in the dining room, internetting away as we ate. Internet! We had Internet today, and it was my first day utilizing the 4G network in St. Thomas as compared to the 3G network my old phone and G's phone use. Yes, there definitely is a difference in speed. So, in the end, drowning my original phone was probably not a bad thing. Not to mention the better camera I have now (wait until you see my photos of the coral).
We walked over to the Crown Bay marina to catch the 10:30am ferry to Water Island, and were thrilled to see cruise friends Vickie and Bernie and Anita and Richard and Alice also going over. We've cruised together for as many Januarys as we can remember (we floated at the beach today trying to remember how many years it's been). Once we arrived at the dock on Water Island, my not-shy husband asked a couple with a golf cart and an empty back seat for a ride to the top of the hill above Honeymoon Beach, and in typical Water Island fashion, they readily agreed. Lucky us!
Water Island was as pretty as it always is, and G entered the water first, wearing a shorty wetsuit to stay warm in the 83 degree water (really). I stayed on shore for awhile, phoning Mom and friends and getting caught up with emails, but finally spent quite a bit of time floating and talking. Eventually, Vickie and I went snorkeling along the rocks on the far side of the beach; Bernie had gone first and said it was great, and it was. I was thrilled to see the corals, not numerous but gorgeous and very colorful.
It began to rain while I was out there, just lightly, and I made my way back to G, thinking he'd want to take the earlier ferry at 2:15pm instead of the one we'd originally planned to take at 3:30pm. But G, in typical fashion, had something else up his sleeve, and the next thing I knew he was motioning me over to a large catamaran that had anchored offshore as part of a ship's excursion. Sure enough, like so many times in the past (Antigua, Barbados, St. Thomas, St. Thomas again) we hitched a ride, right back to Crown Bay, and were drinking rum drinks before we even sailed away. (Carol, Grant, Jan and Phil, it was the pirate ship all over again, but without the tattoo on a normally unseen body part).
I was only able to get a few photos from the catamaran (but did take a most important one...FINALLY I was being served drinks by bare chested young men) before my phone battery was totally exhausted, leaving me momentarily concerned that its salt water bath had been too much and I'd once again drowned a phone. Not to worry; once we were back on the ship and I'd plugged it in, it sprang to life and I heaved a sigh of relief.
Rinsing everything out was a chore today. The tarp which I thought was good for the duration of our cruise got wet in the rain, so the sand stuck to it. We know now not to put it away wet, so it needed another shower with some Cheer detergent and is now strung on a clothesline across our cabin (and it's nearly as wide as the cabin is, making our cabin seem the size of a refrigerator box). G's wetsuit is hanging on the line in the shower, our swimsuits are on hangers in the closet and literally every inch of wall space has something- water sandals, floats, mask, snorkel, backpack or beach bag leaning up against it to dry. This is luxury living! ;-)
On a slightly related note, our too-short shower curtain was finally getting stinky and G asked our Steward Nazi to change it out with a fresh one. (I warned G that he was tugging on Superman's cape, but he was not deterred). SN did as asked (!) and the replacement not only smells fresh, but it's long enough to fit inside the shower pan. No more flooding the bathroom with every shower. Now that really is luxury living!
Back to today (and sorry for the sidebar)...
After showers, we grabbed our phone chargers and plugged in in the back of the buffet on the quiet side where no one was sitting, and finished up whatever we needed to do. Since we had just been in Fort Lauderdale three days ago, and it wasn't a business day today, there wasn't much left to get done. After a few more phone calls, we were up in Skywalkers for my favorite night of the cruise: Breeza Marina and herbed goat cheese night. Gosh, Breeza Marinas and a St. Thomas sailaway (one of our prettiest)...what a great way to start our evening.
Sunset wasn't until 6:05pm tonight, and it was so beautiful that we watched it from the Promenade Deck before heading to the Michelangelo dining room. I had something new for dinner tonight. Yes, I had the usual deep fried sushi, which I don't think is deep fried at all, just coated with a crunchy topping, but then I had a chili shrimp entree with a yogurt dip, kind of Middle Eastern in flavor, and it was wonderful. 74 days into our winter at sea, and we're still not bored with the menus. Headwaiter Robert had offered to have anything we wanted made for us if we got bored, a very kind offer, but we haven't needed anything special yet. I mean, compared to our limited menus at home, even if we ate the same ten things every 10-night cruise, what's to get bored with?
Pianoman Kory Simon, who usually plays in Crooners martini bar every night, did three shows in the Explorers Lounge tonight, as he did last cruise, backed by the full Emerald Princess orchestra. (There was also a comedy impressionist in the Princess Theater, another two entertainment option night, the second of the cruise). We enjoyed Kory's show so much last cruise that we saw him again at 8pm tonight, and then we enjoyed that so much that we stayed for the 9:15pm show. We know what we like and what we like is being entertained by talented musicians.
Afterwards, we stopped by the Piazza where band Accent was playing party songs, and did just a bit of dancing (because we had just a bit of energy left). Popcorn, fuzzy water, blog post and bed, in that order, will finish out this wonderful day.
Photo 1: it wouldn't be a day on Crown Bay without G feeding brioche to the iguanas
Photo 2: Vickie, Bernie and Alice on the Water Island ferry
Photos 3 and 4: now THIS is the best beach on (near) St. Thomas, Honeymoon Beach on Water Island
Photo 5: the plaque on the palapa we used today. What a nice way to be remembered.