Finally, I did get up, successfully put in my contacts, applied sunscreen and dressed in yesterday's dry but sandy swimsuit and beach dress and set out to go to the DaVinci Dining Room all alone. Cabin steward Awesome Ambrish greeted me with a Happy Birthday as soon as I opened our cabin door, and he had already hung balloons and a happy birthday sign on our cabin door. Good grief; who wouldn't love this?!?
Headwaiter Francesco seems to remember our favorite table from several years ago and put me at a table for four just for me at the very far corner of the DaVinci Dining Room. The Thai waiter (whose name eludes me right now (filled in later...it's Chayiut) but he knows Suttipong!) and his assistant waiter (whose name also eludes me but is something like Bananeo...or Grapeo...or something fruity-eo) were very welcoming and provided wonderful service. I had the pineapple sunrise-y thing with honey yogurt followed by another egg white veggie omelet and six grain toast. That was a breakfast that would see me though the day.
Our arrival in Barbados today was scheduled for 9am, and, as is always the case when we have a later arrival, the lines to disembark the ship from either the forward or midship gangways stretched back to and wrapped around the Piazza. Disembarkation was complicated by the fact that we were at a far berth at the port, and shuttles buses were taking groups of passengers up to the terminal building to avoid passengers walking through the freight area. Only one bus load of passengers was being allowed off at a time, and it took some passengers an hour to get off the ship. We weren't that bad but it did take longer than it ever had in the past.
The plan was to meet Suzan and Greg on the beach at Lobster Alive. They wanted to walk, but, with three blisters between us, G and I were taking a taxi. We had started talking with two others couples while we were standing in line to get off the ship; they wanted to go to the Boatyard, and we invited them to follow us to the cheaper taxis outside the secured port area. (If you click on the Barbados tags on the side of my blog, I posted pictures of us doing that a couple of years ago, showing where to walk to the left instead of going to the right where they'd like to force you to go, bypassing the taxis trying to fill van loads of people). The six of us got in one taxi and during the ride they asked which beach bar was better...Lobster Alive or the Boatyard. I have definite views on that (as you know) but didn't want to dissuade them from following their plan. After all, they're right next door to each other and they're both great. But Carlos, our taxi driver, piped up, telling them that Lobster Alive was better for older people (like all of us). That settled it, and we all ended up in the front row at Lobster Alive.
I was in a party mood from the get-go, and wanted to go out to see the turtles. I don't do that very often, but I wanted to be able to remember that I snorkeled with turtles on my 56th birthday. Snorkel trip salesman Victor had struck up a conversation with us as soon as we arrived (and we ended up talking to him much of the day). We rented our two loungers and an umbrella for $15 from Terry at Lobster Alive (we've known him for years) and while the guys settled in, Suzan and I and the two other couples walked down the beach to board the glass bottom boat to see the shipwreck and turtles. Both places are right in Carlisle Bay, and you can just swim out to them, but it is tough to get the turtles to come near you without the chum that the boat operators use. I think I saw far more legs and feet than turtles, but I did see turtles, and there were some good fish around the shipwreck, and, because it was my birthday, I got two rum punches when I got back on the boat. :-)
Suzan and I returned to Lobster Alive and wasted no time getting in that gorgeous blue water on our Swimways floats. We'd probably still be out there floating and talking, but around 11:30am I realized that the bar at Lobster Alive was open and I hadn't yet had my first real rum punch. I took one of the three half-price drink coupons that we received for renting chairs and went to see Cheryl, the bartender who makes the BEST rum punches in the Caribbean. I posted a picture of Cheryl serving one up a few years ago on my blog and said good things about Lobster Alive and they have a link to it on their homepage. I was unaware of it until someone who reads my blog saw it and emailed me. Well, that unsolicited advertising got me my first rum punch free, but one just got me started. The second one went down pretty fast, too, but it is the third one that almost finished me off.
I love this pic! (Suzan took it and the two below...thank God for Air Drop!)
We were so lucky today with mostly sunny skies and not a single rain shower. The waves were fairly large (though we've seen them so large in the past that it wasn't safe to swim). When we weren't in the water, we sat and talked with each other, with Victor, with Terry and with Tom and Nancy who I just met today. Nancy reads my blog and was so impressed with French Polynesia that they took the 28-night round trip Los Angeles cruise down to the South Pacific (they said they know you, Adele and Don!). We missed them in Bora Bora by two days but finally met in Barbados! Jewelry salesman Sunny came by and I bought a pair of fake turquoise turtle earrings for $10, as a souvenir of snorkeling with the turtles (they'll fit in my shoebox of life, too!).
Suzan and Greg left early to stop at a favorite stationary store in Bridgetown on the way back to the Emerald Princess. We stayed on the beach until about 3pm and took a taxi back (the option to walk back evaporated when I had that third rum punch). We were allowed to skip the port shuttle bus, and walked down to the Emerald Princess gangways. There were several other ships in port, including the P&O Adonia, the Fred Oleson Braemar and the Ocean Princess, the sister ship of the Pacific Princess. It just completed its circumnavigation of Africa and a 14-night Caribbean cruise and started a circumnavigation of South America on January 3. In March, it leaves the fleet and is being sold to Oceania cruises. It was great to see it in person just once before it is.
We were famished, but waited until dinner to eat anything. I had calamari and black bean soup (like G said, just that would be a meal at home), and Szechuan shrimp and a Norman Love white chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Victor (the waiter, not the snorkel tour salesman) and Darko (not that one...you'll soon need a program to keep up with all the players) sang happy birthday when they brought me a small chocolate cake, but we asked to have that sent back to our cabin to enjoy later. (It was never delivered by room service. I may need to have another birthday tomorrow).
We made a quick stop in the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the pianist (his name eludes me, too, but is Eastern European with lots of extra letters, like ELGeorgie (filled in later...it's Ryszard Sulek)), who is really good. We then went to the Princess Theater at about 7:25pm for the 8pm performance of male vocalist AJ Brown. He was great, and very young (but they're all getting younger every year).
We ran into Suzan and Greg afterwards and firmed up plans for tomorrow on St. Lucia. The alarm is set for another great beach day. I warned you...it's going to be just one beach day after another for us!
And, finally, my birthday today brought back lots of memories, and two in particular stood out: the year Mom made me a two tier cake (11 years old) and the year Mom was working and didn't have time to make me a cake so Dad did, because he thought everyone should have a birthday cake (17 years old). Today, try as I might (and I did try, many times) I hadn't been able to reach Mom using Vonage (for free! Get the app!). She was also not able to email because she is without Internet right now, and I was feeling kind of bad that this was the first birthday of my life that we hadn't connected either by email or phone. After the show, when we were back in our cabin, I tried one final time using Skype...and it worked! It was brief, but we did talk. However, I now don't have enough internet time to post a lot of photos from today, but I think it was a worthy trade off. I'll post more from St. Thomas using AT&T.
A birthday spent with wonderful friends on Carlsisle Bay Beach in Barbados swimming with turtles. Last year I celebrated on Moorea by swimming with sharks and stingrays.
Life is definitely good. :-)