Having a great time!
RELS
We have had the most relaxed day ever. This is an “at sea” day, meaning we are at sea all day, travelling from Granada to Bonaire. We have been driven away from the pool once or twice due to heavy showers, and I mean heavy! We had to wring out our towels, before we realized we merely had to ask for dry ones. After all, there is alot of staff onboard to see to our every need! Or at least dry towels....
The majority of the passengers onboard are from the UK. So far, I have not met anyone else who is not British, apart from the staff. I feel like I am the only one drinking iced tea and actually putting cream in my coffee! It was very obvious last night at the first show of the trip just how jet-lagged everyone was; the audience was half asleep! The comedian headlining this show must have been used to this and based his whole routine on getting used to being onboard and also being extremely tired at his show. He mimicked someone getting off the elevator and doing a sort of figure eight - is it this way, is it that way, no it’s this way - to remember which side of the ship their stateroom was on. Well, this is the third day onboard and I found myself still doing that, so I developed a word to help me remember, similar to POSH (port out starboard home). Mine is RELS-Right Elevator, Left Stairs. I have tested this all day and found my room no problem! I usually just follow Alan but was out and about on my own today, at the pool and at line dance class! Alan just informed me we are on the starboard side.
Although this is my third cruise, I have never had a room that looked out upon the ocean. This time, we have a balcony! I thought I could take it or leave it, but it is fantastic to wake up and look out and see little islands in the distance or amazing stars or flying fish and seabirds. Alan saw a pod of dolphins while I was at the pool earlier today.
Dolphins
Alan is suffering bravely by allowing us to eat in the formal dining room! He prefers the informality of the buffet and, based on our first experience last night, it is also much faster to do the buffet. We are with a table of eight. I really wanted to do this for two reasons: 1. so we could do the formal nights! And 2. So we could meet more people. Unfortunately, all 6 of the other people are much older than we are and we feel like children. Not sure how long we will last at this. However, there is another option – any time dining. Still in the dining room, but not with assigned tables and times. I feel this one coming.
Snorkelling on Eden Beach, Bonaire, Dutch Antilles
Yes, we are truly in the West Indies now! After our amazing day at sea yesterday, we docked at Bonaire this morning. This island looks beautiful and we are told no one hassles you here, great!
Kenneth
After convincing Alan we had to go on a snorkel trip, the excursion was cancelled! So when we disembarked, we found a couple asking the taxi drivers about going to a snorkel beach! Perfect, we joined them and had a great morning at Eden Beach. The taxi driver was Kenneth and looked perfect!
The fish were absolutely beautiful, all turquoise and purple and yellow and shiny and everything. I have not been snorkelling in years and it took a while to remember how to breath, but was so worth it
Bonaire (view from our balcony)
Lucky for us, the sky fell in just as we were finished at Eden Beach! We actually beat the really bad rain and are now safely sitting on our balcony watching all our fellow travellers arrive back completely drenched!
We saw the Syd Little show tonight. He was half of Little and Large, probably not known in the US, but they were very popular in the UK from the 70’s to the 90’s. This show was just his memories and experiences and was really interesting, even for me. I was aware of their act when I moved here, but I never watched them get discovered and all that part of their career.
Curacao!!
So far, the perfect day! Not only did we not get hassled and not get rained on, but we also just had a nice day, complete with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream! This island is part of the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. They are in the Dutch Antilles. The Dutch heritage in Curacao is very obvious from the very first view:
Willemstad, Curacao
There is no unemployment and very little crime on this island, mainly due to the oil industry. And you could see the refineries in the background, but we wandered up and down the little streets all day and the refineries were never a problem.
We discovered a floating market, and a delivery truck full of watermelons arrived. The delivery people had decrepit rowboats and they were thrown the watermelons. Then rowed them to the respective boats.
Other people went to the beaches and had a good day, but we spent our time taking pictures and enjoying the ambience of the place.
Once back on board, I had to go to the library and get my book group book! We will be reading Nora Roberts “Vision in White”. It will be interesting to see how this group operates – the one I belong to at home is fantastic, but based more on enjoying each other’s company than dissecting plots, etc!
We had to leave Curacao at 3:30 because we are travelling a huge distance now – to Grand Turk. Tomorrow will be another at sea day and I am looking forward to that! There was supposed to be an island party tonight on the upper deck at the pool area. For the first time, ever, Alan and I got there early enough to get a table! Which we then had to move – too close to the pool and the ship was hitting huge waves and causing tidal waves to come out from the pool and over our table. Once moved, we were then told the party had to be rescheduled due to bad weather, but we could go down to the Vista Lounge and have an indoor Caribbean party. Too bad though because they had done so much work to prepare for this.....
We, I really should say I, had a great time at the Caribbean party. It was meant to be solely Caribbean, but they could not get anyone on the dance floor, so they gave in and played a few line dance songs to get everyone out. After that, there was no going back and I learned a lot of new Caribbean dances. Funny though, we have passengers from Barbados and Trinidad onboard. They did not need to learn dances with steps; they just had the rhythm anyway. (At one point I looked up at Alan and he was asleep!) What a weird feeling to dance on a floor that might not be in the position you would expect when you move your feet!
At Sea
These at sea days are absolutely wonderful! So far, two hours of early morning sun, followed by line dancing and then Martini demonstrations. I won an Appletini and am struggling to finish it so I can go to lunch! After lunch is a 5K run/walk to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. What happened to time to relax?
Later – The “On Deck for the Cure” 5K event raised $500.00 and Princess matches that amount. They say this cruise had the best turnout for the run/walk. However, as a result of having such a good turnout, I never got a hat! I am really disappointed too, since this was the first Breast Cancer event I have ever done. They might get more in when we dock in Barbados, but we will be on our way home then......I had put off buying a hat waiting for this one.
We had to set our clocks one hour back this morning. So we are now 5 hours behind the UK and the same time as the Eastern US. This won’t last long though, I think once we leave Grand Turk, they go forward again....
Today I was lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins! It is amazing to see them cavorting in the waves in the open ocean. We are on the 11th deck, called Aloha. Being this high makes the dolphins look about 2 inches long! I saw lots of flying fish, and am amazed at how far they can fly. They look like little birds and the seabirds just wait for them and take them out! Poor little things.
G
Gannet after catching a flying fish
I am hoping after my horseback ride on the beach tomorrow morning, that Alan and I can find an internet cafe and send this blog.
At Sea – Again!
Due to gale force winds, a high current, a reef too close to the harbour and Grand Turk not having a tug boat, we were not able to dock today. It was an odd feeling. Alan and I were eating breakfast and expecting the ship to dock any minute. The next thing we knew, we were nowhere near land! The Captain came on the intercom and announced what I started this with. So no internet and no horseback riding on the beach. I must say I am really, really disappointed about the horseback riding.
We never even saw Grand Turk!
Alan and I spent the morning at the pool. I have read half of my book group book; really good too! Then I went to another line dance class. There must not be many feelings stranger than doing a grapevine on a dance floor that leans a different direction than you started. It was very bumpy and quite challenging to dance today. After a few screams and lots of laughs, it was worth it though. (No one was injured during the dance!)
I also got to go to a craft class! These are usually scheduled at the same time as line dance and can’t compete with dancing. We did little gift boxes. Cute and easy!
The Captain explained that they tried to find another port for us to visit, but this is a busy season and there is no room for us anywhere else. Tomorrow was another planned sea day, which means we will be at sea for a total of 3 days before being able to land at Tortola. I sure hope they have a tug boat!
Looks like it might be time for a nap on the balcony!
Still at Sea!! Day 3
Today was yet another very relaxing day at sea.......giving us a total so far of 4 sea days and 3 days visiting islands, one of which was too intense, one that was rained out and one that was lovely.
I did the mundane task of laundry today. In between loads and drying, Alan and I guarded our sun loungers! With so many people stuck onboard for so long now, there is a bit of tension regarding sun loungers! One couple we met told us they witnessed sun lounger rage yesterday at the pool! The rule is you cannot reserve a sun lounger for more than 30 minutes. When they saw this situation begin, there was a man on a lounger and a woman came up and told him he was on her’s. However, he had been on it for over 2 hours....she was not amused, tipped up the lounger and kicked him in the stomach! That is where the story ended, unfortunately. But it is true that there are not enough loungers and if you do not intend to return in decent time, why not let someone else have it?
Yesterday, we sailed between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. We were supposed to go north of Puerto Rico today, but the weather conditions are not the best, so we are retracing our steps a bit. Then, with any luck, tomorrow we will be ON Torola and OFF the ship!
Today was the last of the planned sea days, and I was able to attend the line dance class again. We got certificates of attendance this time! I don’t think I will ever enjoy line dancing as much anywhere else though. Using the ship’s movement or protecting yourself against this same movement, made dancing so much more of a challenge.
I also attended the last official arts & crafts session. We did really cute butterflies from wrapping paper. You can take the girl away from Guides, but you cannot take Guides away from the girl! Meaning, I have now have two really cute activities for my Ranger unit. (we did little gift boxes yesterday)
This is the second formal night and our first in the anytime dining. So I am looking forward to that. We switched to anytime dining a few days ago and really like it so much better. It is the same menu and same level of service. The people all dress up for dinner just the same. The only difference is you go when you want and get placed at random tables. So there is more opportunity to meet people.
“What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
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