Wow...you've heard of six degrees of separation? Well, today I enjoyed just two degrees of separation from the Duchess of Cambridge. TWO! Imagine the thrill of that for someone for whom royalty is a spectator sport (like me). But I am getting so far ahead of myself, because that was just the exclamation point on an oherwise wonderful day.
We did our usual morning routine- IC for coffee and then breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room- and I was walking through the Calypso Pool area to get a morning fuzzy water from the Calypso Bar (for that 9am "Take Pills" activity) when I ran into Suzan and Greg, and, honestly, they are staying right around the corner from us but that is the first time we have just casually met, yet other people we see nearly every day. Anyway, we confirmed our plans to spend the day together, and, with just a backpack, they said that they were ready to go. I went back to our cabin where we packed the beach bag and my backpack and could have pulled a trailer behind us to carry everything we might need for the day. Light packers, we are not, be it for a day or a season.
We met them again at the IC and walked off the ship. Despite a rain shower as the Emerald Princess had docked earlier this morning, the day looked sunny and not too hot. We took a taxi over to the Segway Antigua office just 10 or so minutes away where we were greeted first by Lance, who is a new member of their team, and then walked inside to see all the familiar faces. It was wonderful to see Juliette, who manages the business and meet her husband Kandesh, who handles the computer side of things, and Yandeen and Liz, who were our guides for our tours last year. Suzan and Greg, though the super-active people that they are, had never rode Segways, and, along with a group of four from England, we all watched the safety briefing video with that same stick figure doing all the wrong things (obviously he'd learned nothing in the intervening year), and were suited up with our safety gear of helmets and elbow pads. We headed outside where we went through the regular practice session of getting on, going forward, stopping, turning and finally getting off the Segways. It didn't take long before everyone, novice and veteran alike, was up to speed and we took our practice session off road and then, in a single file, took off for our tour with Lance in front, Elizabeth in the back, Juliette providing the narration and Yandeen driving the sag wagon bringing up the rear. Juliette had told me before hand that we would be going on a new route today, and, boy, did we and it was fantastic.
I'll provide just an overview...we rode Segways for more than two hours, on Runway Beach, to Dickenson Bay Beach, and then back north to historic Fort James (built by the British in 1706) and finally to Fort James Beach. We had stops for delicious snacks (sugar cane and fruit kabobs) and water, were rained on briefly, and always, always were provided with the most incredible overview of Antigua history, and geography, and flora and fauna and especially life in Antigua, all delivered by Juliette through a blow born while she rode a Segway alongside us. It was an excellent combination of adventure and education and I learn more every time I do this tour. How much do we enjoy doing this? Well, I think this was our fourth time doing it. Yeah, we like it a bit.
Runway Beach
Greg and G:
Dickenson Bay Beach:
Fort James;
Suzan and Greg so enjoyed it, and we loved spending the day with them (especially since it was Greg's birthday). We finished up our day on the island at beautiful Fort James Beach next to the Segway office, and had a bit more adventure in store when our taxi driver backed into large rock while we were leaving the beach. This being Antigua, he simply pulled forward and tried a different angle. When we got back to the port, I couldn't help but look to see what the damage was, but it was hard to determine which dents came from this particular accident and which came from all the others that came before it.
Fort James Beach:
We stopped just long enough for some rum samples before boarding the ship. G and I were cleaned up and in Skywalkers for the Elite Lounge in time for sailaway at 5pm. Sailaway from Antigua at sunset is one of the prettiest we do and I took photo after photo of the same things I've taken photos of before.
I had had a conversation with friendly headwaiter Luis from Portugal this morning inquiring if we should prepare ourselves for waiter Darko and junior waiter Kamong to disappear before our next cruise and he assured me that wouldn't be the case. That's good, because they truly are the sweetest, best guys and they are going to make this winter for us as Suttipong made the prior two winters for us.
We limited ourselves to one course (plus dessert, of course) at dinner, and then spent some very pleasant time listening to strings duo Playthoven before heading up to the Adagio Bar for this cruise's Most Traveled Passengers cocktail party (cutoff was 443 days, which is crazy...we first were invited to this party exactly two years ago this cruise with 268 days). There we met Deputy Cruise Director Lynn from California and she is a joy. She told us how she was a dancer and then dance captain in the production shows for ten years before recently joining the cruise staff. She is in the equivalent position as Frenchie last year, and I can already tell we're going to enjoy knowing her this winter.
And, finally, I can finish as I began, and explain my two degrees of separation between the Duchess of Cambridge and me...our drinks tonight were served by friendly bar waiter Lazar of Serbia who saw G's Royal Princess polo shirt and told us he was on the ship even before it was launched and then for several months. I asked him if he had seen Duchess Catherine and he said that, not only had he seen her, he served her refreshments when she made her tour of the ship after christening it. His hand touched a glass touched by Catherine and a glass touched by me.
I simply can't top that, and so will close the curtain on this perfect day!