Okay, let’s try and catch up through to today. I’ve been busy writing and such and neglecting the blog :) Let’s pick things up from where we left off.
On the 20th, we were in Curacao for the first time. I was IPM so technically stuck on the boat but we were there from 9am to 11pm, so around 1, Jen the Party Planner called me and said she was onboard and I could get off for a while. So I hopped off and explored the area around the pier. It’s a beautiful little city there (Willemstad) and I enjoyed my little impromptu tour. It reminded me, color-wise, a lot of Burano, Italy. I wanted to go a little further and maybe go to a local museum, but most of the museums are across the pontoon bridge and it was ‘out’ when I was there and I didn’t have time to wait for the ferry. Basically, there is a pontoon bridge that crosses the channel into the island into some of the port areas so the pontoon bridge swings out of the way against the shore when the big ships pass through. At that time, the way across is a ferry instead of on foot. I posted at least one picture of Curacao in my last update.
Since we were there so late, after work ended at 10, Gabriella, Jean-Louis the acupuncturist, and I got off for a half hour and took some pictures (also posted) and checked the place out at night. It was really the first place since I got on board I got to see at night – usually we sail by 5 or 6 and when we stayed later in Juneau, we sailed at 10 and I had to work 8-10 so couldn’t get off after dark. It was really pretty.
The next day we were in Aruba. I had put my name down for an excursion in which we went under water in a submarine (Atlantis VI, I believe). I was very surprised to get my ticket and have it leave at 8:45am! Turns out, they added another sub tour because it was so popular and I got the early one. Thankfully, Gabriela is awesome and agreed to cover for me as long as I did all the opening chores before I left. I’m so glad she did! Although it would obviously be cooler to actually scuba dive on the places, I still enjoyed it a lot. We descended to about 141 feet at the lowest and got to see two wrecks – the Morningstar, an iron ship that was purposefully sunk 30 years ago to create a man-made reef and a wooden ship that sunk about 70 years ago. I posted video of both of them last time. My camera wouldn’t take good pictures through the glass so I had to resort to videos. I do think they came out pretty well, though! I missed getting video of the two amazing Moray Eels we saw, though, because I’m an idiot. Needless to say, I still got to see them and they were really cool – both different shades of green under the same rock. We also saw a bunch of coral and all the fish, obviously!
After the tour, we had the chance to go into town, but it was a really rainy day and I decided I’d rather just go back to the ship. Turns out, it was a good choice because the people I went with on the sub who chose to go into town all got soaked!
On the 23rd, we were back at Half Moon Cay. This time, I didn’t have to work until 3, so I got off the ship and explored the island with Gabriela a bit. We found out that we can do the excursions but it’s always done last minute for crew and then we snagged a quick lunch and then hung out on the beach and in the water. The water was a little chillier than what we’ve had recently, but it had also rained a lot in the 10 days since we’d last visited. The sun was hot, though, so it still felt nice! Around 2, we took the tender back to the ship.
The next day was Fort Lauderdale and I got off as soon as we could in the morning. I made mostly the same stops as before – Publix and the smoothie shop for internet. I also ran into the Total Wine store and bought some hard cider for the ship, which I’ve been craving! Although alcohol on board is cheap for crew, my tastes don’t really coincide well with the limited offerings. I’ve been greatly enjoying my cider all week! Right before I had to come back, I ran into the dollar store to see if I could get anything cheap for a Halloween costume, but found nothing. I did, however, find Renee, my boss, and Solana, the lifestylist, buying Halloween decorations for the ship, so I helped them out with that. We then went to the catch the shuttle but after 20+ minutes, it still hadn’t come (despite promises of every 10 minutes) and a couple of us were getting dangerously close to when we had to work. Finally, a cab came by so we grabbed him and stuffed 5 of us into the cab. It worked out well and the cabbie was super nice (and American!) and we tried to convince him he needed to do the World Cruise. I rushed to my room, threw on my uniform and ran upstairs to be at work on time.
On the 25th, we were back at Half Moon Cay at the start of the current cruise, but I was IPM this time so again stuck on the ship. To be honest, I spent a nice chunk of my free time sleeping. Boring, I know, but it feels good!
Then, the last three days, we’ve hit Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. To be honest, by the time we hit Aruba, I was ready to take it easy and not necessarily be around people, so I set off on my own around town. I got all of about 3 stores before I ran into a group of the HALcats and Jen. Jen told me that Gabriela was inside the jewelry store getting the rough emerald she bought in Columbia set, so I wandered inside with her to visit. While we were standing there, waiting for them to check prices and options for the emerald, the store suddenly went bananas and I realized they were all whispering ‘queen, it’s the queen’. I’d heard that the Dutch Queen, Beatrice, was supposed to be on Aruba the day after our visit, but it turned out she was there when we were! Not only that, but she brushed right by the three of us to stand at the counter behind us and look at some pieces. I wouldn’t have recognized her, but it was still pretty cool to brush shoulders with real royalty!
I nudged Jen to show her and tried to get Gabriela’s attention over Jen’s shoulder without being That Person, but failed and I just wasn’t willing to be That Person, when the queen was within even whisper earshot. Gabriela might have been the only person in the entire store who did not see the queen.
By the time I left and headed down the street, a crowd had gathered outside the next store the queen visited (fittingly a jewelers called the Queen’s Jewelry). I kept going and did a bunch of window shopping before finding a few things I wanted. I also ended up buying an Aruba hoodie that is totally not my color (it’s more than a little borderline pink) but grabbed my attention and would not let go of it. I think I am somehow even more disappointed with the shopping in the Caribbean than I was in Alaska if that’s possible. I ended up grabbing an ice cream after my shopping and sat outside on the street and read/people watched until it was time to return to the boat.
In Bonaire, I got an excursion, so I grabbed that around 1pm – we took zodiacs out to a 40+ year old Chinese Junk (I might relate the story of it sometime, it’s pretty cool) called the Samur and then sailed out to the island of Klein Bonaire, which is part of their park system. Once there, we took the zodiacs in to shore and then went snorkeling. Not the best snorkeling I’ve done but still pretty cool! Saw all sorts of fish super close and almost stepped on a hermit crab on the beach! Then we reboarded the ship, had tropical cocktails and sailed our way back. I met a couple that used to live in Gloversville (for those of you who are locals reading this) so we talked about the area and a whole bunch of stuff. They were really nice. I also bought a neat t-shirt that is literally the color of the Caribbean water.
Yesterday was Curacao and I was all signed up to do a crew dolphin encounter but the company messed up and ended up cancelling on us :( I’m disappointed but am hoping to be able to do it next time instead – at least it wasn’t my last week like some of the people on the tour. Instead, I pretty much spent no time on shore because I was waiting for the tour in the morning (and it rained) and then I only had an hour after we found it was cancelled before I had to shower and such for work. Instead, Gabriela and I went and got ice cream at the Lido on the ship for that hour and chatted with those that came up and joined us.
The past two nights have also been Game Nights – Bonaire night we played Sorry, which I taught to Gabriela and a few others throughout the night, and last night we played a large and rousing round of Apples to Apples. Apparently tonight is Balderdash night, although I’ll probably also take a copy of Uno. Basically, we secure a table and a drink and people bring snacks to share and we have at. Of course, this has kept me up later than usual the last two nights. Ah well, naps have definitely become my friend on the ship!
36 days (including today) until I get off. Hard to believe that 2.5 months are already gone!
Coming up:
Panama tomorrow/Monday
Costa Rica Tuesday
Fort Lauderdale Friday
Half Moon Cay Saturday
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