At Sea

It has been a slow day in paradise… we are at sea, sailing from St Martin to the Bahamas, and a stop at Holland America’s private island, Half Moon Cay… A cruise ship like Neiuw Amsterdam has a top speed of maybe 25 miles an hour… We will travel at close to 22 miles an hour for about 40 hours… of course all of this is done in nautical miles aboard a ship… But in the end we will travel over 800 miles to get from St Martin to our stop in the Bahamas…

Tina and I got up late, had breakfast in our state room, then dressed and walked around a bit… We were invited to a cocktail party before lunch, where Tina got her 100 day award… (Apparently she has really only cruised with HAL for 99 days, but they are allowing for a 1% error rate… so she got her copper medallion) then lunch, then sit by the pool and lounge and read… We attended a cooking class, then went up to explore the new Asian bar, have a drink, before retiring to our room to get ready for dinner… It is a truly lazy day…

The end of the trip is coming too fast… tomorrow we will lie on a beach, swim a bit, then back to the ship for lunch, probably sit by the pool, think about packing… (but we won’t really pack, just think about it… packing will wait until after dinner… after all we waited until a few hours before the flight to pack for the trip… you may not want to try this, but we are professionals… )

Of course the ship is full of rumors about the Carnival Splendor… an ill fated cruise ship which had a problem off San Diego… variously reported as an engine room fire, or an electrical fire… some rumors have the passengers eating spam… (the cruise line denies that passengers were fed spam) The ship has since been towed into San Diego, the passengers off loaded and safe… but that doesn’t stop the rumors… Apparently the Navy flew resupply missions… (Supplies that included the dreaded Spam… (I would like to point out that there is a really nice Spam museum in Austin MN, I have been there and recommend it, but I digress) Two passengers have been arrested (on felony warrants unrelated to the cruise) There are jokes being made on late night TV… Several passengers have told me that the Carnival ship we saw in Grand Turk last Tuesday has since broken down... We have been told the ship (which may or may not be the ship we saw in Grand Turk last Tuesday) has gone aground... of course... the ship with the issues... a fire or an electrical issue was in the Pacific, never went aground (it was about 200 miles off the coast) and is now in San Diego, safe... but rumors are rumors, and they are so much fun...

Strangely four years ago, Tina (aka the lovely Tina, aka the wife) was aboard a cruise ship off San Diego that suffered an electrical fire that for a short time left it without propulsion, but never without lights, air conditioning, functioning kitchens, an internet connection and the other associated niceties that make a cruise special… Even stranger… our captain on this cruise, Capt. Mercer, was the captain on that ill fated cruise… It is in fact a strange, small world…

Now, sitting here finishing this posting… it is after dinner, after the show, after midnight (or not, we turn the clocks back tonight, and gain an hour of precious sleep) I will post this and head for bed, and sleep, for tomorrow is full of strenuous activities, like lying on a beach, lying by the pool, eating, and drinking those silly drinks many of which contain pineapple or coconut, rum, and small paper umbrellas in them… We must rest, so we can give it our best effort…

A thought on the photos... the internet connection at sea is a best slow... at worst glacial... photos will be uploaded once I have access to a proper high speed connection, and links inserted into each of the posts... I have photos... lots of photos... already sorted... most renamed... but putting them online requires resources not available on-board...