Prepared Wednesday evening, November 6th
It felt so good to finally get online today in Grand Cayman! I was thrilled to see that I had only 50 emails to attend to...until G pointed out to me that my iPhone settings likely limited them to just the most recent 50 emails and I had probably received a lot more than that since Sunday afternoon when we left cell service behind when leaving Port Everglades.
He was right. :-(
Never the less, we were able to once again feel on top of everything in our non-cruise lives, a good, albeit too fleeting feeling. And it's worth noting that our non-cruise lives already feel a world apart from our new, cruise lives. That didn't take long, did it?
Backing up...
We have visited Grand Cayman several times before, always by cruise ship. In early 2005, when the island was reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, we visited several times in quick succession, and were able to see the horrible devastation the hurricane had caused. Boats were being plowed off the main street; cars lifted out of the ocean; both the eastern and western ends of the island were without power for months afterwards. Grand Cayman is nothing more than a sandbar in the middle of the Caribbean, flat as a pancake and narrow enough to see across from the ship's upper decks. After the hurricane, there was no where to house the construction workers brought on island to clean up. We had seen barge after barge of camping trailers brought in for workers to live in; the barges then left the island full of debris. We received a real education in the reality of life on a small Caribbean island.
G was awake early this morning and in the buffet for breakfast by 7am. I took advantage of his absence to stretch across the entire bed and sleep a bit longer. He returned to the cabin about the same time I heard the cruise director make an announcement that today's tender operations were underway. Grand Cayman, despite being a popular cruise stop, does not have a pier large enough to accommodate a cruise ship, and tendering is required. Without the priority tendering that we have as an Elite perk on Princess, we would have had to wait in the Queen's Lounge for a tender ticket, which apportion passengers to each tender. That held little allure this morning, and gave me a chance to grab breakfast in the Lido buffet. By the time I was finished, the cruise director Dave was announcing open tender, and we quickly grabbed our wetsuit/dive skin and the dive gear we had brought from home and tendered into the little town of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. There were two other cruise ships also tendering today, the Carnival Conquest and Disney Wonder, but they were tendering to the new cruise dock. The Nieuw Amsterdam was tendering to the old cruise dock, which was lucky for us, because we were on a mission today, and that put us just a bit closer to our intended destination.
When we were in Grand Cayman several years ago, we had done some diving right from shore, gearing up at a dive operation called Eden Rock, a quick walk from the tender pier. We had had such a great time that we wanted to repeat that today. It's one of the few places in the Caribbean (Bonaire being another, and Coki Beach on St. Thomas a third) where we can dive from shore, by ourselves, without using a dive master.
It's also a great way to do a refresher dive, getting us back in the habit of assembling our dive gear. While it quickly becomes second nature, we did have to think for a moment, connecting our BCDs (buoyancy compensating devices- those "vests" that divers wear that support the air tank and manage buoyancy under water) and regulators (the hose/computer part) to the air tanks. Wearing 40 pounds of air tank and 16 pounds of weights (this is fun?) we climbed down the ladder in front of the Eden Rock into the water for our first dive in two years and our first taste of salt water this winter.
The nice thing about diving alone is that it allows us to go at our own pace and forces us to remember the basics of diving (especially navigation...you can't exactly ascend from 60 ft. just to stick your head above the water to see where you are), instead of mindlessly following the dive master. We spent most of our dive at about 50-60 ft, a comfortable depth on our own. The water was so clear that it was difficult to differentiate between water and air, and when a huge eagle ray swam over us, it took us a second to realize that it wasn't a large bird. No photos, though. My Lifeproof iPhone case is only waterproof to 2 meters and had been left behind on the ship.
We did just a one tank dive, and then tendered back to the ship to get cleaned up for lunch. We were starved, which being in the water always does to us. G was ready first, and we planned to meet up in the buffet. When I joined him, he said he had a surprise in store. He led me up to specialty Asian restaurant Tamarind on Deck 11. They were open for lunch today, and he was able to get us a table. What a treat! The setting, the food (Asian salad, hot and sour soup, four different kinds of dim sum, tempura seafood and, for me, green tea tiramisu for dessert) were all spectacular. I chose the suggested wine, called Conundrum, and by 2pm decided that this had to be the best day of our winter so far.
We tendered back over to the island with our iPhones, simply to find Wifi, and did, at a bar called The Blue Parrot on the other cruise tender dock. I was able to get a quick Vonage call of questionable quality out to Mom, work through 50+ emails and publish the blog posts I've been preparing each night. G checked on the webcams and Nest thermostat (so far so good on that). We were on the final tender back to the Nieuw Amsterdam at 3.30pm, and went out to the aft pool for a sail away party with unlimited rum cake (a Grand Cayman tradition). HAL does a lot of little extra things like that to recognize the day's port of call. It's a very nice touch!
There was no way we could eat a full dinner tonight. We relaxed on our balcony until about 7pm, when we went up to the Lido buffet for salads and dessert ('cause there's always room for Wildberry Charlotte!). Have I mentioned how incredible the food has been? When we were at the sail away party, we sat with a couple who does a lot of Princess and Celebrity cruises, but this is their first HAL cruise. Their first comment? "This is the best food we've ever had on a cruise!" With nearly 70 cruises, it's hard for us to say that with certainty, but this is definitely in the top 5. If we spent a winter on the Nieuw Amsterdam, the variety and quality of food would have us soon outgrowing our clothes.
We went to the 8pm show, called Piano Legends. Five musicians plus a guest pianist played music from Beethoven to Lady Gaga. I guess it's obvious that our favorite sort of entertainment is musical in nature, and this cruise has had a plethora of offerings that appeal. Eclectic music performed by talented musicians...we'll always be in the audience for that!
We move clocks back an hour today, and have a 10am arrival tomorrow into Cozumel. We have actually booked a ship's excursion (!!!!) and so are hoping for some sun (pretty please!).
Photos 1-6: lunch at Tamarind restaurant on the Nieuw Amsterdam
Photo 7: tonight's towel animal
It felt so good to finally get online today in Grand Cayman! I was thrilled to see that I had only 50 emails to attend to...until G pointed out to me that my iPhone settings likely limited them to just the most recent 50 emails and I had probably received a lot more than that since Sunday afternoon when we left cell service behind when leaving Port Everglades.
He was right. :-(
Never the less, we were able to once again feel on top of everything in our non-cruise lives, a good, albeit too fleeting feeling. And it's worth noting that our non-cruise lives already feel a world apart from our new, cruise lives. That didn't take long, did it?
Backing up...
We have visited Grand Cayman several times before, always by cruise ship. In early 2005, when the island was reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, we visited several times in quick succession, and were able to see the horrible devastation the hurricane had caused. Boats were being plowed off the main street; cars lifted out of the ocean; both the eastern and western ends of the island were without power for months afterwards. Grand Cayman is nothing more than a sandbar in the middle of the Caribbean, flat as a pancake and narrow enough to see across from the ship's upper decks. After the hurricane, there was no where to house the construction workers brought on island to clean up. We had seen barge after barge of camping trailers brought in for workers to live in; the barges then left the island full of debris. We received a real education in the reality of life on a small Caribbean island.
G was awake early this morning and in the buffet for breakfast by 7am. I took advantage of his absence to stretch across the entire bed and sleep a bit longer. He returned to the cabin about the same time I heard the cruise director make an announcement that today's tender operations were underway. Grand Cayman, despite being a popular cruise stop, does not have a pier large enough to accommodate a cruise ship, and tendering is required. Without the priority tendering that we have as an Elite perk on Princess, we would have had to wait in the Queen's Lounge for a tender ticket, which apportion passengers to each tender. That held little allure this morning, and gave me a chance to grab breakfast in the Lido buffet. By the time I was finished, the cruise director Dave was announcing open tender, and we quickly grabbed our wetsuit/dive skin and the dive gear we had brought from home and tendered into the little town of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. There were two other cruise ships also tendering today, the Carnival Conquest and Disney Wonder, but they were tendering to the new cruise dock. The Nieuw Amsterdam was tendering to the old cruise dock, which was lucky for us, because we were on a mission today, and that put us just a bit closer to our intended destination.
When we were in Grand Cayman several years ago, we had done some diving right from shore, gearing up at a dive operation called Eden Rock, a quick walk from the tender pier. We had had such a great time that we wanted to repeat that today. It's one of the few places in the Caribbean (Bonaire being another, and Coki Beach on St. Thomas a third) where we can dive from shore, by ourselves, without using a dive master.
It's also a great way to do a refresher dive, getting us back in the habit of assembling our dive gear. While it quickly becomes second nature, we did have to think for a moment, connecting our BCDs (buoyancy compensating devices- those "vests" that divers wear that support the air tank and manage buoyancy under water) and regulators (the hose/computer part) to the air tanks. Wearing 40 pounds of air tank and 16 pounds of weights (this is fun?) we climbed down the ladder in front of the Eden Rock into the water for our first dive in two years and our first taste of salt water this winter.
The nice thing about diving alone is that it allows us to go at our own pace and forces us to remember the basics of diving (especially navigation...you can't exactly ascend from 60 ft. just to stick your head above the water to see where you are), instead of mindlessly following the dive master. We spent most of our dive at about 50-60 ft, a comfortable depth on our own. The water was so clear that it was difficult to differentiate between water and air, and when a huge eagle ray swam over us, it took us a second to realize that it wasn't a large bird. No photos, though. My Lifeproof iPhone case is only waterproof to 2 meters and had been left behind on the ship.
We did just a one tank dive, and then tendered back to the ship to get cleaned up for lunch. We were starved, which being in the water always does to us. G was ready first, and we planned to meet up in the buffet. When I joined him, he said he had a surprise in store. He led me up to specialty Asian restaurant Tamarind on Deck 11. They were open for lunch today, and he was able to get us a table. What a treat! The setting, the food (Asian salad, hot and sour soup, four different kinds of dim sum, tempura seafood and, for me, green tea tiramisu for dessert) were all spectacular. I chose the suggested wine, called Conundrum, and by 2pm decided that this had to be the best day of our winter so far.
We tendered back over to the island with our iPhones, simply to find Wifi, and did, at a bar called The Blue Parrot on the other cruise tender dock. I was able to get a quick Vonage call of questionable quality out to Mom, work through 50+ emails and publish the blog posts I've been preparing each night. G checked on the webcams and Nest thermostat (so far so good on that). We were on the final tender back to the Nieuw Amsterdam at 3.30pm, and went out to the aft pool for a sail away party with unlimited rum cake (a Grand Cayman tradition). HAL does a lot of little extra things like that to recognize the day's port of call. It's a very nice touch!
There was no way we could eat a full dinner tonight. We relaxed on our balcony until about 7pm, when we went up to the Lido buffet for salads and dessert ('cause there's always room for Wildberry Charlotte!). Have I mentioned how incredible the food has been? When we were at the sail away party, we sat with a couple who does a lot of Princess and Celebrity cruises, but this is their first HAL cruise. Their first comment? "This is the best food we've ever had on a cruise!" With nearly 70 cruises, it's hard for us to say that with certainty, but this is definitely in the top 5. If we spent a winter on the Nieuw Amsterdam, the variety and quality of food would have us soon outgrowing our clothes.
We went to the 8pm show, called Piano Legends. Five musicians plus a guest pianist played music from Beethoven to Lady Gaga. I guess it's obvious that our favorite sort of entertainment is musical in nature, and this cruise has had a plethora of offerings that appeal. Eclectic music performed by talented musicians...we'll always be in the audience for that!
We move clocks back an hour today, and have a 10am arrival tomorrow into Cozumel. We have actually booked a ship's excursion (!!!!) and so are hoping for some sun (pretty please!).
Photos 1-6: lunch at Tamarind restaurant on the Nieuw Amsterdam
Photo 7: tonight's towel animal
