Here's where I am right now...
Jack's Shack from the water
The island beer
It was like a wind tunnel between the ships
The view of Grand Turk from the Terrace Deck. You can clearly see where the wall is where the ocean floor drops to more than a mile deep.
It is 11:30pm.
I spent hours playing in the gorgeous crystal blue water off Grand Turk today.
I consumed two 24K margaritas a couple of hours ago at the Captains Circle party (I need a keyboard shortcut for that).
I just had a blast dancing at the Love Boat Disco Deck Party (and for that!).
I am really tired.
I have typed four different first sentences, trying to start this post. It is going nowhere. I am just going to jump in once again and, whatever I type, I'm going with it. Entertaining, this will not be. But it will get done, and that is the best I can hope for at this point.
We arrived in Grand Turk early today, around 7am. I think. All I know is that we were still asleep when we heard (and felt) the ship's thrusters pushing us against the long pier at the Grand Turk Cruise Center. Then we fell back asleep a little longer. The plan for this morning was to meet Suzan and Greg on the beach at Jack's Shack around 8:30 or 9am. I texted Suzan early and told her it would be closer to 9:30am by the time we got there. (It was about 9:45am. We were moving slowly this morning!).
G and I went to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room where waiter Jorge from Mexico (he is darling, and looks just like Clark Kent with black glasses) served me my usual fruit and egg white veggie omelet. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I return home. Somehow, Greek yogurt and oatmeal will never hold the same appeal after omelets with three different colors of bell peppers, spinach, asparagus, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. I just can't match that variety at home, nor will I have a cute Clark Kent look alike serving it to me with a smile.
Luckily, I don't have to worry about that quite yet.
We gathered up some beach gear and walked off the ship and through the shop area of the Grand Turk Cruise Center. This is such an easy port. It's a bit like Princess Cays but better, because cruise ships can dock and the beach is right at the end of the pier. Just a couple hundred yards off this beautiful beach is a wall that drops to over a mile deep(!), allowing the ships to come in close. It's a perfect situation, not unlike Costa Maya in Mexico.
G and I walked down the nearly empty beach towards the beach bar/restaurant called Jack's Shack, where Suzan and Greg were already settled in two loungers. We sat in the two loungers next to them (chair rental was free, which is exactly what these chairs were worth; umbrellas were $10 for the day) and examined the sky. The weather forecast had been for partly sunny skies, but that's not what we were seeing around 10am. In fact, we occasionally felt some misty rain and wondered what the day had in store.
Still, we wasted no time in getting in that clear, azure blue water. It is so beautiful that it rivaled Matira Beach on Bora Bora...except with waves. As far out as we swam, we could see the bottom as if we were looking through glass. The water wasn't warm, about 78-79F, but we quickly got used to it and spent a long time in the water.
The crystal clear underwater view
G went up to the bar to check out the menu and reported back that they had fresh conch fritters. I just had to try these ($9), and G bought us one plate of them. They were hot and very flavorful and we both loved them (yes, G ate seafood, something he does only when it's battered and deep fried). Blog reader Kelly spotted G with his yellow shirt and came over to say hi and drop off some liquid refreshment (thank you, Kelly!). Maybe I should rename this blog 'The Adventures of Yellow Fish and Yellow Shirt'. ;-)
Back and forth we went, between the water and our beach chairs. By late morning we were seeing some definite patches of blue sky with more clearing on the way, and it turned out to be a really beautiful day. We had not rented umbrellas, and continued to apply layer upon layer of sunscreen. Still, one of us (not me) is slightly red tonight; it's a good thing that we won't be on a beach again for a few days.
We watched as another cruise ship, the Carnival Valor, made its slow approach toward the island just after noon, docking on the opposite side of the long pier by 1pm. Then watched some more as its passengers began to pour off the ship and walk down the pier toward the beach like a line of ants. Then watched, a little disconcerted, as they walked down the beach toward Jack's Shack. Then watched, more disconcerted, as they settled into loungers set up in two rows in front of the ones we had happily been occupying for hours.
At first, it was a little entertaining, watching all the body art and piercings and bikinis on bodies best left unbikini-ed. It was like a train wreck...we didn't want to see what we were seeing, but couldn't bring ourselves to look away, either. Suzan and Greg have been on Carnival, and advised that the real entertainment would come later. Forewarned, we gathered up our things about 2:30pm and walked back to the ship.
I had my third Horizon Court Buffet meal so far: a wonderful salad from the salad bar and mussels in limoncello sauce. G and I dined sitting in loungers in the shade on the Terrace Deck with that gorgeous blue water as our view. I then put in my webbed gloves and did a workout in the 6 foot deep water of the Terrace Pool (reason #3 that we aren't on the Royal or Regal Princess right now).
About 4pm we returned to our cabin and lay down for just a few minutes. G snoozed, but I decided to just relax by reading a magazine on my iPad. For this magazine, the iPad had to be held in Portrait Mode, so I had it propped up on my chest and was reading and...it happened again. I fell asleep for just a second and it fell over and hit me in the face (this time on my chin). This is getting dangerous!
A very hot shower (still no shortage of hot water in our cabin) went a long way to giving me a second wind, which was a good thing. We were having dinner with Suzan and Greg at our table for four for two at 5:30pm. It was Italian night, and I had a seafood starter followed by a delicious spinach and pecorino and pine nut salad and then spaghetti and meatballs (there was no penne arribiata tonight. :-(). Limoncello sorbet was the perfect dessert, and we finished in time to go to tonight's second Captains Circle Party.
#3 MTP Phyllis asked us all to join her and so we were able to go into Club Fusion 15 minutes early by the side door. It didn't take long for my first margarita to be set in front of me, and then the second, and the party was, as it usually is, a lot of fun getting caught up with cruise friends. I posted the top three MTP numbers two days ago. The top three MTPs are all staying on for next cruise, so our #4 position this cruise can only go down, and that's fine by us. It's an honor, of course, to be in the top 3, but one that means more when it happens less frequently.
We left Club Fusion when the party ended at 8pm and went directly to the Princess Theater for the 8:30pm performance of production show I Got the Music. It seems so simple and pedestrian after Magic To Do, but we still love it.
We were starting to fade a little by then, but swung by the International Cafe. G had a mini cheesecake and I had a brewed decaf coffee (oh...I forgot to mention that I had successfully traded in our minibar from this cruise for two coffee cards this morning. They were marked with the ship name and voyage, but we'll be able to use them for free brewed coffee while we're on the Emerald Princess this season. Yay!!!). That pepped us up enough to make it to Deck 16 for a great view of the Love Boat Disco Deck party.
For the record, this party was not offered on our recent 4-night cruise (but Magic To Do was), but was offered on our 10-night cruise (we didn't stay up for it then). We've seen it now on the Grand Princess, the Caribbean Princess, the Pacific Princess and the Emerald Princess and I think my favorite remains the Caribbean Princess. That ship had some great parties!! It also had a bit of a stage under the MUTS screen where the band could set up; and two of the production show vocalists sang. Tonight, band Soul Rocker was set up on the port side of Deck 16. That was not quite as good, and, at the risk of being cruel, the male singer in Soul Rocker is definitely not as good. I've decided I like that band best when he only plays guitar.
Still, the dancing and the music and the video on the MUTS screen and the silly Isaac dance (done to 'That's the Way (uh huh uh huh) I Like it') and the great choreography performed by the production show dancers and the Love Boat theme song singalong...all these make this deck party very entertaining and miles better than the old Island Night Deck Party.
It is 12:30am and I simply can't write another word. That's the hallmark of a really great day: too much to say and too tired to say it. Good night!