Day 507 - At Sea

Today was another sea day. It was also a formal night. I went up for a bit of tanning - only one hour. I rotate every 15 minutes. I'm not a sun worshipper, but getting a tan is becoming a challenge and I'm up for it! Bring on the vitamin D! 

I cleaned up the cabin, made some almond milk to take my protein shakes with and went up to see Larisa while she was shooting. I visited with her a little about diving, travel & her upcoming holidays. I chatted to her colleague Craig, about lenses, as I was thinking of getting a new lens in St. Maarten. I'm pretty bad at decision making these days, so I wanted some input. 

Of course, my day isn't complete unless I visit Jaco at work in the afternoon. And then I leave & wait until he is finished for the night. We then chill out in the cabin & watch a little TV & visit about the day's events. 

Tomorrow is another dive - a wreck dive! Stay tuned!

xxxxMaria

 land ahoy!

Hard at work!

Day 504 - Curaçao

Humming right along with my sprouts, I planted the wheatgrass, peas & sunflowers. The other sprouts continue to be rinsed & some will be ready by tomorrow night! I don’t have the proper trays & I couldn’t get stockings to cover the trays with, so I’ll attempt to use the spray bottle again this time around. Hopefully I won’t get any mold & will get a nice even growth. I sprouted more seeds than previously, although I did spread them out over 1.5 trays apiece. Here’s hoping!

Jaco & I went out in Curaçao today. He had never been ashore there, so I was happy to show him around, although we only had 1.5 hours. He had always looked out from the ship & didn’t think there was much to see. Truthfully, in town, unless you’re shopping or going for a meal, there isn’t a whole lot to see. Out of town, there are plenty of beaches & great diving! Sadly, we didn’t have time for that! We walked past the new hotel that has gone up since I was here in 2007. There are plenty of typical ship shops – Diamonds International, Columbian Emeralds, etc, etc. We then walked into the Old Fort, with more shops & little cafés – it has a nice ambience to it.

Exiting the Fort, we came to the swing bridge, but it was closed to let ships pass by. We waited for quite some time & finally took the ferry across – about the time the bridge swung open. We visited with one of the locals, took a quick stroll down the main pedestrian street & a few souvenir photos before it was time to head back to the ship! Jaco had a hankering for ice cream, so after we’d walked across the swing bridge we stopped for ice cream in the Fort.

We made it back with 3 minutes to spare! Here’s hoping we can get off a little sooner in Grand Turk! We were both commenting on how hot it was & how nice it would have been to be in the water today!

I went up to the gym (day 2!) & decided to do yoga out on deck. Bad decision. I used to do yoga outside all the time when I was on the Sun Princess. This is a sister ship, so the layout is pretty much identical. Well, something must have changed. I was in the exact same spot as I used to be & it was disgusting. There were bits of carpet, hairs, dust, dirt, passenger receipts & paper towels whirling around in a wind tunnel in the exact spot where I’d chosen to do my workout. Gross. I blew the bits off my laptop about 6 times when I finally decided it might just wreck my laptop, so I went inside. I had to compete with the loud dance music playing in the gym, but I managed to fumble my way through the remainder of my workout. I’m pretty out of shape. My poor arms were buckling & shaking like crazy on a few of the poses. My balance is also a little lacking. It will be a few weeks before I can handle crow pose – that’s for sure!

This evening, I had the pleasure of dining with Larisa in the pizzeria. I met Larisa when I sailed with Jaco on the Star Princess in South America. She is a Photographer from England & has a passion for travel. So much so that she only spent 9 days at home on her last break! That’s impressive! She’s making plans to travel to Costa Rica, Barbados & Thailand for this holiday coming up. We had a wonderful visit – in fact, we were talking so much that I didn’t even realize we were the last two left in the restaurant! Whoops! I haven’t laughed that much in a long time!

She recently took up running, so I took the pleasure of introducing her to Lululemon. When we came back to the cabin, I showed her half my wardrobe. I think I’ve piqued her interest! She’s also an avid diver & was my buddy last cruise in Dominica. She’s leaving at the end of this cruise & I’m going to miss her terribly. I’ve really enjoyed seeing her again! But that’s the beauty of ships. It’s never goodbye. Only goodbye for now. You always bump into each other again somewhere down the path.

Jaco was already in bed by the time we came back to the cabin, so we didn’t visit for too long. I’ll see her again before the end of the cruise…

But for now, it’s bed time. Tomorrow is a sea day & Jaco has asked me to join him for the Captain’s Circle Luncheon. I’ll fill you in shortly!

xxxxMaria

 Swing Bridge

Day 499 - Dominica

Ahh. Dominica. I always enjoy my days here. Today was no exception. I was up early & off the ship for my dive. I was joining Larisa & we were going to be dive buddies for the day. We saw Leana & Bronwyn on the dock, they were off on a whale watching tour. 


Larisa had her G12 & an underwater housing with her, so I had given my underwater camera to M&D2 to take with them on their Champagne Snorkeling tour. 


I have dived in Dominica previously - Valentine's Day 2007 to be precise. It was a rather memorable dive. I went with a bunch of friends from the ship. When we were on the boat, they told us they didn't have enough wetsuits for us. In the end, the guide ended up giving me his wetsuit, which was very generous of him. Apparently my diet had also been generous, for when I pulled the wetsuit up, I managed to tear the backside of the wetsuit! I was mortified! Of course, we had the ship's Videographer diving with us that day, so my white cheek ended up on the souvenir dvd of the cruise! 


Lo & behold, our dive today found Larisa with a split up the backside of her wetsuit! It wasn't her - it came that way, but I found it highly entertaining that there was a split wetsuit onboard 4 years later! Oh the irony! 


The dive wasn't that wonderful. Dominica is usually a diver's dream. Today was a bit of a nightmare! I had a regulator that sprayed sea water into my mouth with every breath, which meant I came up from the dive having inhaled a fair amount of salt water. I had a headache like you wouldn't believe! I didn't really want to do the second dive, as I knew what I would be up against! I went, but it certainly wasn't enjoyable! We saw plenty of fish, but it wasn't as memorable as I had recalled from 2007. Larisa & I had fun visiting in any case. 


The second dive was at Champagne Reef. Gases escape from inside the Earth & bubble up to the surface. The water is warm & it seems as though you are swimming in a glass of champagne! It's really something to experience!


Once we were back at the dock, I strolled through the terminal & listened to one of the steeldrum bands getting ready for Carnival, which was happening at the start of the week. They were young musicians, but they sounded great! When I left the terminal & walked towards the ship, I noticed the objects along the pier. I don't know what the English name is, but the Afrikaans translation is 'dumb oxen'. When I first visited South Africa in 2005, Nico's father, Marten, worked at CSIR. They had a to-scale setup of some of the ports & piers around the world. They also had a wave making machine & they would observe the flow of water & the tolerance of the piers with different strengths of waves. It was quite fascinating! In any case, they had these 'dumb oxen' lining the piers in some places. I had never seen them before & I haven't seen them too many other places. It was special to see them here! 


I went back onboard, changed quickly & headed back off the ship. I was hoping to find a fabric shop open that sells African prints. I have a little tradition of buying fabric each time I come. I don't sew, but I'm hoping to one day do something with it!


Sadly it was Sunday. EVERYTHING was closed. The only thing open was a small bar with a side shop selling fresh herbs. I saw M&D2 on the street outside the shop & they suggested I go in & get some herbs for my raw dishes. I thought it was a great idea! That is, until I saw lizards crawling across the tops of the open jars & birds landing on the jars! No thanks!


I strolled down the waterfront & took in a bit of the pre-Carnival festivities - mostly just music & a few tourist stalls - before I caught the last shuttle back to the ship.


I spent the evening helping M&D2 pack. They were overweight with their luggage & I lent them one of my suitcases. I didn't know what I was going to do with the suitcase in the first place, so it worked out well that I could send it back with them. I consider myself a pretty good packer, so I managed to cram 50 lbs worth of stuff into a small carry-on suitcase! 


I said goodnight to them & we made arrangements to meet tomorrow & go ashore one last time. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already. I've had so much fun showing them around. They have enjoyed every minute of it & I'm thrilled to pieces that they had the opportunity to join Jaco & I onboard. Now they know what I've been up to all these years!


Okay, I'm off to bed...xxxxMaria

 Workin' the shirt

 Lovin' the sunshine!

 Swim like a fishy!

 Part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here!

 Steeldrummers

 The band

 Youngsters

 Steel drum

 Handicrafts

 More handicrafts

'dumb oxen'