On this, our 9th visit to Princess Cays this winter, our 19th visit over the past two winters, we finally hit a snag. I can't say that I'm surprised, given the winds from the southwest that we'd experienced here two days ago, and yesterday's really lousy weather in Fort Lauderdale. Just before 9:00am, Captain Tony Draper made an announcement that was broadcast into all the staterooms, a rare occurrence. We were told that, due to the strong winds from the west, and weather that was expected to deteriorate as the day went on, he had decided not to allow the tender with all the food to go over to the island, and there would be no BBQ there today. There would also be limited beverage service, and he asked that we stay close by in case they needed to wrap up tender service early if the weather worsened. We weren't planning to walk to the southern end of the island today anyway, and were still anxious to go to the island, so we packed up the appropriate beach gear and took the second tender over.
It was sunny, and deceptively pretty, but I could see that the surf was even rougher than two days ago. I quickly decided not to snorkel today; two days ago even the fish seemed a bit discombobulated by the waves and wind direction. G and I dragged two loungers just to the right of the feeding pier and settled in for a few hours. It was soon obvious that the rough tender ride and the threat of bad weather wasn't going to deter most people from going to the island; we were told that, at one point, there were over 2000 people on the beach.
I have a habit of always asking people what their favorite...whatever is. It's a great conversation starter (the kids at school love to tell me all about their favorite EVERYTHINGs). As we sat there, in semi-silence, enjoying the crashing waves and feeding brioche crumbs to the sandpipers, G offered that, out of the entire winter, and of all the experiences we've had, his very favorite was doing just what he was doing at that moment: sitting near the water's edge on Princess Cays, drinking a beer, watching all the people participating in the various watersports, and feeding crumbs to the sandpipers.
Even on a good day, some people don't bother to get off of the ship at Princess Cays. Between you and I, I simply don't understand why not.
For all the contentment we were feeling, by 12:30pm we were getting hungry. All the brioche was gone by then, fed to the birds, and so we decided to go back to the ship. We didn't know that they had opened the dining room for lunch due to the change in food service on the island, or we would have gone there. Instead, we got grilled veggie burritos and gazpacho from the buffet, and ate while watching the tenders struggle their way between the ship and land.
It was sunny, and deceptively pretty, but I could see that the surf was even rougher than two days ago. I quickly decided not to snorkel today; two days ago even the fish seemed a bit discombobulated by the waves and wind direction. G and I dragged two loungers just to the right of the feeding pier and settled in for a few hours. It was soon obvious that the rough tender ride and the threat of bad weather wasn't going to deter most people from going to the island; we were told that, at one point, there were over 2000 people on the beach.
I have a habit of always asking people what their favorite...whatever is. It's a great conversation starter (the kids at school love to tell me all about their favorite EVERYTHINGs). As we sat there, in semi-silence, enjoying the crashing waves and feeding brioche crumbs to the sandpipers, G offered that, out of the entire winter, and of all the experiences we've had, his very favorite was doing just what he was doing at that moment: sitting near the water's edge on Princess Cays, drinking a beer, watching all the people participating in the various watersports, and feeding crumbs to the sandpipers.
Even on a good day, some people don't bother to get off of the ship at Princess Cays. Between you and I, I simply don't understand why not.
For all the contentment we were feeling, by 12:30pm we were getting hungry. All the brioche was gone by then, fed to the birds, and so we decided to go back to the ship. We didn't know that they had opened the dining room for lunch due to the change in food service on the island, or we would have gone there. Instead, we got grilled veggie burritos and gazpacho from the buffet, and ate while watching the tenders struggle their way between the ship and land.
The front of the ship was anchored, and on a normal day that's enough to hold the ship in position.. Today, however, the rear thruster on the ship ran continuously, to hold the ship against the wind. In the buffet, dishes and silverware were the percussion in a concert of rumbling that lasted for hours. If you've been on a ship as it turns 180 degrees into position at Pier 2 in Port Everglades, it was like that, but all day long. It never did rain today, and while the winds stayed strong, they also stayed steady, and tender operations were able to proceed as planned until our scheduled departure time from Princess Cays.
Eventually we ended up in a hot tub, and spent a most companionable hour talking with fellow cruisers, some of whom we remember cruising with last year. Showered for dinner, we went to Facets fine jewelry store in Deck 7 to try to win a 5-carat sapphire (it doesn't need mentioning that we didn't win, because of course we didn't). Before dinner, we did something we hadn't done yet this winter: we simply sat in the sofas by the Explorers Lounge and watched the sun dip low in the sky.
Dinner followed, and then we went to the 7:15pm performance of mentalist Jon Stetson, whom we'd never seen before (we can't often say that about cruise ship performers!). Next up will be listening to the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz in the Adagio Lounge, a favorite.
We move our clocks ahead an hour again tonight, but I'm not sure I even care. I'm fighting a bit of a cold and am going to sleeeeep as long as I want, ignoring what the clock says. That's one of my favorite parts of our winter at sea!
Photo 1: feeding the sandpipers on Princess Cays
Photo 3: for those who have been to Princess Cays, do you notice anything different? The ship doesn't usually point to the right; it points to the left.
