Day 511 - St. Lucia

Today was nothing short of interesting! We were in St. Lucia today & after the past few days of diving, I wasn't in the sight-seeing mode. I opted instead, to try & find some wifi in the terminal. 

I like the terminal in St. Lucia. I've found a few cheap bargains over the years & you never what you'll find. I wandered around the shops & found myself in Diamonds International. Now, just for the record, DI is NOT one of the shops I find cheap bargains in. In fact, I am a strictly window shopper when I'm in that shop! 

When I strolled into the shop today, I was immediately approached by some of the salespeople. They asked if they could help & I said I was just looking. They were all smiles. Then, one of them tells me he has the perfect watch to match my laptop bag. My laptop bag is purple. I smiled sweetly. Then he comes over with a Hublot watch. It has a purple band & plenty of diamonds on the face of the watch. He slips it on my wrist & everyone oooh's & aaah's over the stunning timepiece. I said it was nice, but I'd prefer the diamonds on a nice eternity band instead. To which he replied, 'Platinum or gold?' I said, 'Platinum, of course!'

So there I was with this fancy Hublot watch & a stunning eternity band on my left wrist & hand. Sigh. That's a lot of glitter & glam! They told me if I bought the watch, they'd throw in the ring for free. Ha! The watch was only $23,000. Cough.

After I had removed all of their precious gems & metals, I looked around the shop. The salesgirls chatted with me & complimented my haircut. Pretty soon a few of the salesmen joined in. Before I knew it, we were a group of 6 & I was showing them my wig photos from Christmas, as well as wedding photos & pre-chemo hairdo's. We had a good laugh about all of it. Nice bunch of people working there!

From there I ended up at a little picnic bench next to a few crew who were hacking into the rum shop's free wifi. I joined them & settled in to update the blog. I hadn't been there for very long when 2 couple from the UK sat down at the table with me. Turns out they were from Harrogate! I've been to Harrogate! To Betty's for cream tea! Forgive me if I get their names wrong - Bob, Mark, Mary & Grace. The didn't even know they were on the same cruise until they were onboard! Fantastic! I told them about the blog - although I'm so far behind I'm sure they've given up by now! (Sorry guys!)

Today was also our anniversary! Our 1st 2nd Anniversary! 2 years ago today, we married in the Namib desert at a little place called 'Deadvlei'. If you haven't seen the photos, go to this link & scroll down to March 18th. Mario is an AMAZING Photographer. 

Jaco surprised me today with a dozen beautiful red roses! I was so impressed when he told me he did it all on his own accord! I thought surely the girls in the clinic had put him up to it! But nope! We had a lovely dinner at the Pizzeria - funnily enough, so did the rest of the Medics! They were at a different table with Eddie, the Medical Steward, as a farewell/thank you dinner for all parties involved. Rafeeq is the Supervisor in the Pizzeria & he & Jaco hail from South Africa, so they were able to have some chitty-chatty in Afrikaans in between courses. Rafeeq is a real sweetheart. He knows that Jaco likes these little nut squares & always makes an effort to send a plate of them back with Jaco or myself. 

Tonight I also had an email from Dr. Daly regarding my PET scan results. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but not entirely dire, either. Basically they didn't get a great scan so they want me to redo it in 3 months time. They think there *might* be some residual disease, but they aren't sure. (Most likely because they lost the 4th cycle scan of my head & neck. Yeah.) In any case, I'm not panicking & neither should you. Just pray! I'll keep you posted on what's next!

And with that, the day is done. I'm going to spend some time with my husband. Did I mention that I am married to the most wonderful man on the planet? He is more than I could have ever asked for, dreamed for, hoped for, longed for, or wanted for. I love you Jaco. 

xxxxMaria

The crew in Diamonds International

 Beautiful Roses from my Baby!

 My handsome Husband.

 Hmm... What's new on the menu? (Inside joke!) (The menu NEVER changes!)

 Rafeeq & Jaco

 Nic, Nelis, Eddie, Leana & Bronwyn

The Photogs were dining beside us! Larisa, Nacho, Taufiq & Craig

 The work of the AMAZING Mario Sales

Mario's Artistic Talents on our Special Day!

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