San Juan

We have left St Martin… Our transit to San Juan takes us through the North Atlantic, away the protected passages through the Bahamas. It’s a bit rough, not too rough, but the ship is rocking, and I suspect some are suffering…

By morning it’s much calmer, broad, long swells of maybe 4 feet. The ship is still rocking, but no white caps, and a blue sky, a Caribbean blue sky, is showing through big fluffy clouds… We will see rain today, but today won’t be defined by rain.

We pass by El Morro, the fortress, a castle that guards and defines San Juan, enter the harbor and dock… then wait, and wait as U.S. Customs and Immigration inspects the ship, her documents, and calls for several passengers, presumably for “special attention”... It seems a bit overkill for a cruise ship that left a US port with those same passengers only 4 days before…

We had a bit of good news, really good news from an unexpected source… I was wearing a Google tee shirt… (Tina works for Google… Google only hires really smart people… Tina is really smart) So, someone saw the Google tee shirt and said something about the “news” and that I must be happy… The New York Times had an article saying that Google had given all employees (including the lovely Tina, no, the NY Times did not specifically say Tina, or Lovely Tina, but she is an employee and all by definition includes her) a raise, a 10% raise… A quick Google search confirmed the news… (how better to find news about Google than to Google it…) It is not everyone who finds out they got a raise by reading the NY Times, but for Tina it worked…

T. and I walk off the ship, through the throng of duty free liquor store sales people, onto the street with the taxi drivers and shore tour operators… “Tour of the City, $10.00, still some space” “tour of the City, $9.95” “Tour the rain forest”… Within a block we had escaped the port shuffle, then headed down the bay front towards El Morro… It was a pleasant walk… it wasn’t too hot, but it must have been close to 90 percent humidity… We find the “Casita” aka the “little yellow building”… Apparently, there are plans to open it as a gallery, but today it was locked up tight… but the first picture in our walking tour guide is of the Casita, and we found it… we saw it… but we didn’t get inside… renovation is apparently planned…

Having found the Casita we continued along the bay on the walking path… There were fountains, and art work, and a grand boulevard… The walking tour guide said we could see the Bacardi rum factory across the bay, but we were not sure, it looked a lot like a large power plant with lots of smoke stacks… Continuing on we soon found and passed through the City Gate… through the city wall, into the old city… We passed by several government buildings… I took photos… Tina pet the cats… this is a city of cats… lots of cats… Tina likes cats… (Their is a local organization that spays and neuters, vaccinates and feed the local feral cats… this town apparently likes cats)

We walked across the open area around the fort… it’s a very impressive approach…to the gate… through the gate… They charge admission, but I have a National Parks Annual Pass, a magic card, and Porto Rico, although an “exotic” Caribbean island, is part of the U.S., and El Morro is a U.S. National Park, operated by the National Park Service… so we get in free… Score one for the magic card. El Morro is a fierce fortress, more medieval castle than new world fort… there is a keep, a central fortified tower, with a chapel as all castles should have… there are walls, and since this castle is from the age of gun powder, cannon ports. It would be an easy place to defend, but not an easy place to attack…

Having toured the castle, we headed back into old San Juan, the area defined by the city wall, as this was a true walled city… once common in Europe, but not common in the new world… we are in search of historic sites, a beer or two, shopping, and beer… we are feeling the heat and humidity… We have maps… we both know how to read maps… we decide to head for the Casa Blanca… the white house… built for Ponce De Leon… although he died before he could move in, it is now a museum, but it was closed for renovation… We went in search of other (alternate?) wonderful things…

Continuing our wandering, we found the “Iglesia San Jose”, a famous local church… (it made the National Park Service’s map of significant sites… There were only 10 sites carefully marked in brown on the map, in English and Spanish…) but it to was closed for renovation… next door, on the square was the Museo Pablo Casals… (it didn’t make the NPS map) It to, sadly was closed, although this time there was no evidence of planned renovation…

Modern Old San Juan is a study in contrasts and conflicts… not the conflicts of fights, but the conflicts of senses… It is very much a Spanish Colonial city, a Caribbean tropical island city, with the colonial Spanish buildings, the blue brick streets… the language (knowing Spanish was not required, English is spoken universally, but knowing some Spanish made things easier)… and yet this is an American City… The U.S. National Park Service runs the historic forts… publishes a map of the city… the U.S. Postal service is delivering mail… Dollars are not just accepted, they are the official currency… and my cell phone works… I suspect there are conflicts that are not apparent to the casual visitor… Maybe it’s time to admit that there is a long term relationship and offer the population full statehood (assuming they want it.)

We forged on… we found one of the identified shopping streets (when on a cruise, you will be provided with information about shopping, where and who, and in many cases what you must buy to make your cruise vacation complete.) We found a store selling Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream… It wasn’t beer, but it was a close second… We were refreshed… Now refreshed, and on a shopping street, Tina proceeded to shop, not with gusto, but she shopped… We found a Tee Shirt… We liked said tee shirt… it’s goofy with an academic twist… we bought it for the daughter (who has said “no more tee shirts” sorry daughter) We found a café, really a bar (the store which sold us the tee shirt recommended it…) it had outdoor seating… we sat, and fulfilled the second goal, beer, cold beer… There seems to be only one local beer… a light beer… Medalia Light… We ordered two Medallia Lights… It was good… strangely while all information about the beer, the ingredients, the marketing pitch was in Spanish, the warning label, as required by U.S. law (Porto Rico is after all part of the U.S., and all Porto Ricans are U.S. citizens…) was in English…

Having drank, we continued our wandering… we found the cathedral, it was undergoing renovation, but was open… things were looking up… we didn’t stop to go inside… We continued our wanderings… We found the Plaza de Armas… every major city with a Spanish heritage in the new world has a Plaza de Armas… This one had a Wendy’s, a Mashall’s and a Starbucks… We asked a little old lady where to eat… She looked at an article we had printed out from the New York Times (the NY Times had an article saying Tina got a raise…) about where to eat in San Juan… she was talking about buses and transfers and long and complicated trips… She made a suggestion about a local place… El Jibarito, with vague directions… We found it… others on the street thought it was a good choice…

It was a wonderful neighborhood hole in the wall… in a good way… It is called La Fonda El Jibarito, locally known as El Jibarito… we received menus… we asked the waitress questions about what we should order… She told us what to eat… we did good… first there were pastiles, banana and masa around pork, like a tamale, fried… I had roasted pork, Tina cube steak with onions.. both with rice and beans, and an order of mofongo to share… How can you visit San Juan and not order mofongo? It may be their national dish… it consists of plantains (aka bananas, just not the yellow things from the supermarket) mashed with garlic and other good things… fried, with a garlic sauce… we also ordered beer, the local beer, Medalia Light… We ate until we could eat no more… It was good…

We were fast fulfilling all of our goals... we stumbled out onto the street… We headed aimlessly… we discovered that our wanderings had brought us to the other significant fort guarding the city… Castillo San Cristobal… As a fortification, the Castillo may be more impressive than El Morro… but it lacks El Morro’s dramatic location facing the sea, guarding the harbor… instead, the Castillo is protecting San Juan from land attacks… Like El Morro, it has layers of walls, gate houses, a chapel, and would, and was a significant defensive position… We explored… as we reached the top, we could look down on the Nieuw Amsterdam, docked about 5 blocks away…

We explored, then made our way back to the ship, our ship… boarded and relaxed… The ship left port just before 8:00, as we went to dinner… now, some hours later, we are at sea again… smoother now… but at sea, with the occasional roll, and the noise that a ship makes as she makes her way through the sea…

Tomorrow we visit San Martin… (their are alternate spellings depending on your political allegiance…) The island is half Dutch, half French, each with their own “style”… We will be landing on the more conservative Dutch side… We don’t really have a plan… we have been here before and there is nothing we must see… but there are possibilities… there is a beach where airplanes pass directly overhead while landing at the island’s one airport… they pass so low that you can feel the jet blast… On the French side is Orient Beach… known for its nudity… the problem with Orient Beach, is that most of the beach goers tomorrow will be my fellow cruise passengers… This is a group which is generally older… and has not wanted for food… Here on the cruise many are eating 7 and 8 times a day… I have seen them do this… Chronological experience and large quantities of food are not a good recipe for a “Beach Body”… In short there are not many of them I would like to see naked… of course I am not sure I would want to see myself naked… I after all am a cruise ship passenger…

Tina and I will likely go ashore and watch airplanes land… and shop… there is information about shopping available… and find beer…

Grand Turk

We woke at 6:00 a.m. with the dawn… showered and dressed… (Too early for a real vacation, but there is a schedule to me maintained…so we got up, showed and dressed then made our way up to breakfast, to eat and watch as we called on Grand Turk.

We slowly approached the dock, light lines were thrown, caught, and drogue in, pulling in heavier lines, mooring hawsers… each made fast, and pulled tight… a gangway was lowered, the local authorities welcomed aboard… We were here…

After a few minutes we were allowed to disembark… a 9 letter word for leave… We walked off the gangway, down the dock and into the “Cruise Port” and its associated village… a safe, cruise line owned, cruise line controlled tourist village… Full of shopping opportunities, a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Bar, A Wave Runner in case you would like to try surfing (without having to go in the ocean) a safe, clean beach, with life guards and security guards, more shopping opportunities, and a shore excursion desk…

We walked through the Village, past the “sanctioned” Taxis, past the sign saying “Please be advised that You are leaving the Cruise Center Property”… to where we could fine Nathan and his golf cart rentals… We had tried to reserve a golf cart from Nathan, but our credit card companies security department is fearful of charges on cards from service stations in the Caribbean, so we didn’t have a golf cart reserved, and there were lots of reservations, but some were from a different ship, (we were scheduled to be the only ship in port… but there was a hurricane, named Thomas, (you may have read about Hurricane Thomas in quality blogs like this one) (sorry Anthony)) second ship, which would arrive later… we were offered a cart for 2 or so hours… we accepted… we left, headed north to the far end of the island… where they have a light house… We only got lost once on the way… It’s not a big Island, you could get lost a couple of times and still find your way in a timely fashion… Along the way, I had to deal with driving on the left… I was ok when just driving, but junctions were difficult, and when cars approached (on a two lane road) I mentally assumed they were passing slower cars, headed my way, just ahead… and would first freak, before remembering… there are on their side of the road… I am on mine… all is good…

We reached the light house… we walked the bluffs, we viewed the reef… Having visited the far end of the island we headed back from where we came, the other end of the island… (this isn’t a big island…. )

Between the ends is found the major (only) city on the island, Cockburn Town… we paused, in search of the local museum which came highly recommended… we only got turned around a couple of times, before finding Front Street, the main street of town… on which is located the museum…

The museum lived up to its reputation… Its significant exhibit concerns a ship wreck, an old ship wreck, excavated some years ago… it is circa 1513, as early a ship wreck as has been excavated in the new world… the exhibits were good, the artifacts were well used, well displayed… the docents friendly and enthusiastic… all around a good deal…

Having done the museum, Tina sat while I explored the town… It was clearly English, clearly a colony… facing the sea… much remained to remind us… two warehouses, covered in sheet iron… other warehouses with the trading agencies name… a small dock… a quay… There was a tourist shop row, colorful shacks on one side of Front Street, a older building with shops on the other… Here and there evidence of Hurricane Ivan, who visited with great enthusiasm two years ago, and generally trashed the place… (Hurricane Tomas visited 3 days ago… it was windy, it rained… It left… the islands were fine…) I shot photos of town, of Front Street and of the H. M. Prison (“visitors welcome”, we didn’t visit) Then, with the second cruise ship visible off shore, we headed back to the Cruise Port…. To turn in the golf cart and explore a modern commercial, corporate enterprise, The Cruise Port…

As expected, the cruise port was clean, full of corporately sanctioned shops, mostly chains found at similar cruise destinations the world over, with a few carefully chosen local options (I assume certified safe) along with neat rows of beach chairs with matching towels and a foot shower (you are required to clean your feet before entering the Wave Runner… after all what is surfing if there is sand…), and a life guard on a jet ski… It was safe (no locals without authorization), sanitary, and had clean public restrooms, but no soul…

We explored, Tina tested the safe, sanitary restrooms, we walked through the stores, then headed up the beach, out of the Cruise Port, towards a known beach shack, a beach bar, Jack’s Rum Shack… It was about a quarter of a mile up the beach, on the beach (who knew, a beach shack on the beach).

We sat down, we ordered beers, we looked about, we ordered a second round of beers, and some jerk chicken… Other cruises joined us, some we knew… the owners dog went swimming in the surf… It was cloudy but bright and warm, then sunny, then it started to rain… more cruise guests joined us…

Eventually we walked back up the beach, towards the Cruise Port (It’s safe, It’s clean, It has security) through the Margaritaville, through a couple of shops (it was hard not to go through shops… it was designed that way) and back onto the ship…

Lessons learned… 1) People are scared of strange foreign ports… they are scared of foreigners… 2) corporations, travel corporations know this and create safe travel destinations and tours… boring travel destinations and tours, but they are safe, and easy, and folks take dollars and speak English… 3) Travel off the beaten path is interesting (more interesting) and rewarding (more rewarding) and cheaper…..

Carnival Corporation (owners of Carnival, Holland America, Princess and other cruise lines) will create ports… create experiences… much as Disney creates rides… But rides are not travel… The Disneyland Railroad is not a tourist railroad, it is an amusement park ride… a Wave Runner is not surfing, it is a ride… a Margaritaville Bar in the Cruise Port is not a beach shack and doesn't have a dog…

Now, 4:00, back aboard… we have sailed… there was a sail away party with drinks with little umbrellas… the official drink was the margarita (we haven’t visited Mexico, but we have visited the cruise port with a Margaritaville) The steel band played… people drank… the ship dropped her lines and sailed away… it began to rain… a warm rain, but outside it looks grey, not at all tropical…

While I love cruising, and am loving this cruise, I am glad we escaped the cruise port… I am blogging, Tina is napping (she sleeps more than most cats...) and all is good in paradise...

The photos can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/RandyHees/GrandTurk#

Monday Evening, Crooked Island Passage

Monday, November 8, mid day, at sea

Since the last report, the sun has be sighted, not consistently, but occasionally, we are now closer to the Bahamas, and the islands have been transformed from cold grey shapes to islands, with beaches, greenery, and the occasional building… you can feel it becoming tropical…

We have tucked behind the lee of Cat island, in Exuma Sound… Many experts believe Cat Island was the sight of Columbus’s first landing in the new world… of course many islands claim Columbus… as does Spain, Genoa Italy, and most Americans of Italian descent…

The ship is big, bigger than we are used to… It is easy to be removed from it being a ship… not from the sea that surrounds, but from the mechanics of being on a moving object, away from the life boats, and the bridge, and all the things that make it go… The captain noted that while the officer cadets on board still practice celestial navigation, there is a problem… they have an enclosed bridge, with enclosed wings, so now the cadets have to make their way up 5 decks to find a place where they can see the horizon and the stars at the same time to take their noon observations. Captain Mercer also suggested that we are close to abandoning paper charts for the convenience of computers and GPS… Currently they have much of the outdoor space, including the promenade and sports decks closed for our safety… So, we can stare at the ocean, but it is hard to feel an ocean breeze.

Now Sunset… Transiting the Crooked Island Passage, Bahamas - The sun is fading fast… nearly gone by 5:30… just peeking under the cloud layer. The skies are dark, there are rain squalls to starboard… It’s a bit too cool to be outside… not too cold, but too cool… and dark and foreboding… the Dark and Stormy Night of bad novels… As if to provide contrast, the cover over the pool area is closed, but there are still people lounging, still swimming, still drinking tropical drinks with umbrellas.… It’s still party time on the Neiuw Amsterdam… But it is also formal night, when the people who were sitting in the sun by the pool done long dressing and tuxedos… on their way to a formal dinner in a formal setting… I hope I don’t get shot for wearing my white dinner jacket after labor day…

Now at Sea

Sunday, November 7^th, 2010,

We had a wonderful, lazy day… we got up late… showed and packed, checked out of our hotel and went in search of food… Even with the advantage of a free hour, courtesy of the change due to Day Light Savings time, It was nearly noon before we reached a beach bar on Ft Lauderdale beach… We had to make a quick decision, breakfast or lunch… One kitchen crew did breakfast, and was preparing to leave, a second, just arriving would do lunch… lunch offered the option of alcohol… (but only after 12:00 noon, It’s the law.) We chose lunch…

Tina had a Blue Burger and a glass of chardonnay; I had alligator and a glass of beer… I was seeing a trend, Last night I ate a bunny wabbit, Big Bird, and Bambie’s mom, today I am after a big lizard… I can’t decide if I am an adventuress eater, or if I am trying to consume every cartoon character I can… At least I am irritating the vegetarians I know…

Having eaten, we went in search of a liquor store to purchase supplies… It’s seven days at sea after all, then went to the cruise port and left our luggage… We knew we couldn’t board until 4:00, but others thought they could board at 1:00, and some had been told that boarding would start at 11:30… We figured the further we could be away from the cruise terminal the better… but we wanted our luggage to have a head start on the transfer process…

Having sent the luggage on its merry way, we headed back to Ft Lauderdale, to their historic downtown village/square… where it was the monthly Jazz in the park… (we didn’t hear much music, but we saw many, many people picnicking, with lots of wine and beer, and even more dogs… apearrently Ft Lauderdale is a dog city, who knew?) We found a parking place (with strange and unexpected ease) then went to the New River Inn, a 1905 hotel, which houses Old Fort Lauderdale Museum of History. Our goal was a tour of the 1907 King-Cromartie House, a house museum (I run a house museum, I like to visit house museums)… The next tour was nearly an hour away, so with time to kill we joined a historic walking tour… very well done, tying many loose bits of local history together… returning to the hotel late we got an abbreviated tour of the house…

By now it was after 4:00, so we headed to the airport, to return the rental car, and grab a cab for the cruise port… All went well, all quickly, and we arrived at pier 26, to find the shuttle busses with the throngs of early arrivals returning from their shopping trips… (because of the late departure, Hal (aka Holland America Lines) had arraigned shuttle busses to the convention center, where there was more room, and access to the rest of the city… ) Many of the passenger were frustrated with the late departure, the shuttle, the convention center, and the phase of the moon… we did not share their frustrations…

Now aboard Nieuw Amsterdam in Ft Lauderdale…

We missed the delay and late boarding and arrived about 5:00 after boarding had started… it was close to a walk on… less than 30 minutes from taxi to stateroom

The ship is beautiful… as others have noted a bit sparse, but really pretty… They have the most ornate flower arraignments I have seen on a ship.

The Capt. has announced that he expects to sail a bit earlier than planned at 7:30 or so… Of course that didn’t happen… the earlier departure announcement was followed by announcements that they were looking for two couples, 4 passengers, who we suspect were not aboard… but were not required to be aboard per the ship’s schedule… we suspect they were having a wonderful evening somewhere in Ft Lauderdale, since the ship was not planning to sail until 10:00… and the ship didn’t, while we were at dinner, about 10:15, the ship quietly dropped her lines and made her way out the channel, disembarked the pilot and entered the Florida Straits.

Monday, November 8, 2010, Aboard Nieuw Amsterdam

At Sea, off Exuma Islands, Bahamas

The Florida straits can be rough… The Gulf Stream passes through the Florida Straits, and there it meets the continental weather for the first time… Many years ago on our first cruise we crossed the Florida Straits to find conditions so rough that the ship’s propellers we regularly coming out of the water… Most of us spent time in the state room that night with Mal de Mar… Last night on this ship the propellers didn’t come out of the water, but the ship moved, in unpredictable and interesting ways… kind of like a cork screw… I suspect many passengers went to bed to hide…

I rose a little early (6:30 am) got coffee an half a grapefruit… Returned to the cabin, to work on this, and get Tina for breakfast, followed by the captain speaking about the ship…

Outside its grey, the skys cloudy, rain squalls on the horizon, the seas steely blue grey… There are swells, but not many white caps… Although the Bahamas are in sight, it doesn’t feel very tropical… Who cares? We are on a ship, at sea, on vacation...

A Caribbean Cruise… getting started…

T. and I are in Florida, Ft. Lauderdale Florida… We flew out from San Francisco on the red eye last night. We arrived a little after 7:00 in the morning… We both managed a little sleep… I slept through the take off… The flight was fine… We flew Jet Blue… One issue… the plane was hot… in the middle, where are seats were, but was freezing at the ends… don’t you love to fly…

Once on the ground we waited for checked luggage (first bag free on Jet Blue… this was why we chose them over the other guys (including my beloved Virgin America) who charge for every checked bag.) Grabbed our rental car (why do we distrust rental car companies… the correct answer would be because they are too often not trustworthy, the second question being why are they so often lying thieves, with lost reservations, and cars reserved not available…) The car procured, inspected, and mirrors adjusted we headed south towards Miami and South Beach… we found a Mexican restaurant on Washington Street that had a breakfast menu… Breakfast in Miami Beach is a challenge, it’s a community that wakes late…

From there we headed south to Vizcaya, a 1916 Estate, now historic house museum… The house was interesting… the home of John Deering of International Harvester… very wealthy, and able to afford anything he wanted. It is in the tradition of European styled estate summer homes… like Hearst’s The Enchanted Hill or San Simeion, Ringling’s Ca ’da’Zan, or any of the may Providence Rhode Island estates…

There are lots of ways to approach a house museum, especially a house like Vizcaya… on one level it is a beautiful place… the gardens extend all about, and are particularly spectacular and beautiful. So beautiful that they are one of the preferred locations for Quinceañera photos… and there were at least 8 groups there that day, taking what at first glimpse are wedding photos, but instead are celebrating the young woman’s 15^th birthday… In some Latin cultures, this is as significant a celebration as a wedding.

Being a few minutes early we walked once around the house, to look about and in search of a bathroom… to reach the bathroom you had to walk once around the house, construction had blocked one corner… and behind the blocked corner were found the facilities we were in search of… so starting at the back of the house (where the entrance is, and always was located) we first headed around the north side where we found the pool, to the east side, facing Biscayne Bay, around the south side with its massive gardens, to the north west corner of the house, 100 feet from where we started, but as in so many things, we couldn’t have gotten there from here…

Having rested, we headed back to the front of the house… all the way around the house… because the entrance of course was where we started, and you can’t get to there from here… Our passage around was blocked at the side gate by a Quinceañera photo shoot… as was the front entrance (by a different shoot, by now there were so many photo groups that they were standing in line to get the good shots…)

Inside, we explored a bit while we waited for a guided tour… Photos are not allowed inside but they were not enforcing the rules, and I shot a few…

The house is interesting, the basic design very pleasant… It is in the Mediterranean style, but something of a cross of several Mediterranean styles, as was popular in the early 20^th century… It’s a bit Spanish, a bit Moorish, a bit Venetian… borrowing from each without apology. As built, it was a roughly square house, around an open courtyard (which now sports a modern glass roof overhead). It fronted on Biscayne Bay, with a grand patio, and breakwater in the form of a stone ship… The entrance was not at the front, but at the rear, with its entrance road… Both the front and the rear walls were open to the elements… providing for breezes… both are now, as a museum house enclosed… While I understand why this was done… it fundamentally changes the house… The public rooms surround the lower floor, a balcony runs around three walls of inside, the front and sides, but not the rear or entrance… the guest rooms all open on to this balcony… at first glance is seemed to be a perfect home, a perfect place to entertain, understanding and adapting to local conditions… (at least before all the added glass)

Then we went into the downstairs public rooms… and we were bothered… Inside, away from the courtyard, the rooms were just too much… a spectacular example of the early 20^th century rich trying to establish that they too, like Europeans had culture, by adopting the styles, and frequently whole rooms, ripped from their buildings, imported to the US and installed in their mansions… The public rooms had tapestries from France, Italy and Spain, more like hunting trophies than as beautiful objects… painted walls, from Italian villas, Over the top decorative ceilings… heavy furniture… apparently Deering preferred smaller spaces, rarely used the dining room and entertained upstairs… but he needed his trophies… The library, where business meetings were held had heavy English book cases full of books indicating knowledge, but one case was a door, and the books had been cut down, only 1” or so deep… so the books were not about knowledge but the appearance of knowledge… It bothered me…

Upstairs the bedrooms all had a theme… All overly fussy… all too filled with overly decorated antiques…

Throughout the house there was little to indicate who Deering was… It felt more like a beautiful place he paid for with the art mere trophies... not unlike a deer's head on the wall.

Having visited the house we returned to the gardens… wonderful beautiful, sometimes playful gardens, full of photographers taking pictures of overdressed 15 year old girls…

We explored, then found our car and headed back north… through downtown Miami, then on the freeway north, stopped at the Bass Pro Shop… If you haven’t visited one you need to, I had been to the stores in Oakdale California, and in Las Vegas (the Las Vegas store is an order of magnitude larger, and has a casino attached… and is truly a landmark of destination shopping) but Tina never had visited a Bass Pro Shop, so we stopped…. The scale of the store is unreal… they have live fish, game fish, big fish… If like Tina and I you are from an urban area in a blue state, you may not be aware of the culture around fishing and hunting… The store huge… with departments supporting boats and boat supplies, fishing (Tina liked the pink fishing rods for girls…) hunting (guns, reloading supplies, gun cleaning kits) there was outdoor clothing (there is nothing not available in camouflage, camo baby booties anyone?) but also camping supplies and if you are successful in the hunt, cooking equipment, sausage casings, recipe books, and folding filet tables. They had a single aisle dedicated to turkey fryers… of course also adaptable to other outdoor cooking, and most disturbingly, they were scheduled to unveil their Christmas merchandize that evening… But as we left, just outside we found our “it” for the day… the live bait vending machine… a typical soft drink machine adapted to dispense worms and night crawlers and such… guaranteed to be alive… Tina and I, pleased to know that if we found a need for live bait we could in fact get it, day or night, got in the car and headed north towards Ft Lauderdale and our hotel for the night…

We stayed at the Riverside, on Los Olas Blvd… they upgraded us to a balcony room, which by chance faced the cruise port, a couple of miles away. That evening we could see ships leaving… a virtual parade of ships… tomorrow we will be part of the parade, abet a bit later than the others… we sail at 10:00 pm

We walked around… Los Olas is a street full of shops catering to those with money, there were Ferraris and other exotic cars in evidence… but there were also empty store fronts, city busses and tee shirt tourists… The weather was by their standards cold… (by the standards of Kodiak Alaska it would have been a heat wave) the first cold front of the season had blown in… We had a drink in the hotel’s bar (outside table) and eventually made our way across the street to Johnny V’s for dinner…

Johnny V’s is the restaurant owned by celebrity chief Johnny Vinczencz. He competed on Iron Chief… (against Bobby Flay, battle Citrus, Bobby Flay won) Our dinner was wonderful… I had the game trio… Venison steak, Ostrich chop, and bunny sausage, Tina had the special Ahi with crab mashed potatoes… There was an amuse, spicy tomato soup, with goat cheese on a cracker… plus desert… I had a cheese plate… they are especially proud of their cheese selection… It was an “Oh my god moment” There was wine involved… We would recommend the restaurant… highly.

This morning we slept in, watched the ships come in… I worked on the blog… I uploaded photos… we are now packing and getting ready to spend the day in Ft Lauderdale before boarding the ship late today (about 6:00… boarding starts at 4:00, but that will be a zoo… we will board fashionably late…)

Off on an adventure...

T. (aka The wife, aka DW (dear wife) in cruise speak) and I are off on a Caribbean cruise… I may have mentioned this before…

There is a plan.

We pack… The plane leaves in less than 4 hours… we haven’t packed… some might think this is an issue… we don’t… we are professionals… If you are not professionals, don’t try this… but it works for us.

Back to the plan…

We fly the red eye to Ft Lauderdale Florida… spend Saturday, Saturday night and now most of Sunday in South Florida… before boarding our ship … it’s a two day get away before THE VACATION starts… what a concept… If we laid one more vacation on this thing I would think we were retired (fat chance)

We will land early Saturday morning in Ft Lauderdale, claim our rental car, and drive south on I-95 in search of breakfast… I have my eye on a couple of places in Miami Beach… Both are modern diners, they are cute, painted pastel colors, and at 9:00 in the morning no one else will be up… we will enjoy our meal.

Having eaten we will resume our trip south, towards Vizcaya, a museum, a house museum (I run a house museum, its my job) and gardens… It is reportedly quite an estate… (T. has been there… I never have, but will be going soon)

Having toured a house museum, we will retreat north towards Ft Lauderdale… we may pause in Miami, in one of their Cuban neighborhoods, or we may speed past on I-95 north…

We have a place to stay, the Riverside Hotel, on the “New River, on Los Olas Ave… By the time we return north we can check in… then wander about… We need wine… there is a good used book store nearby, and there is a house museum nearby (I run a house museum, I like house museums, when traveling I tend to visit house museums ) Actually there at three house museums in Ft Lauderdale… I have visited two, including the Stranahan house, with is one block from our hotel… the third, so far unvisited is nearby, and we will probably visit it, claiming another merit badge on my house museum manager’s uniform (we don’t really wear uniforms… but if we did there would be patches or merit badges for every house visited… but we don’t wear uniforms (we don’t need no stinking uniforms) so we don’t have patches and merit badges, but if we did…)

Sunday, we will find breakfast, find provisions (a couple of bottles of an oaky Chardanay, and a couple of books) and if we haven’t yet visited we will visit Old Fort Lauderdale Village where we will find 1907 King-Cromartie House, a museum of pioneer lifestyle… (and another merit badge, not really)

We were supposed to board our ship, Holland America’s Neiuw Amsterdam, after 1:00… today they announced that boarding was being pushed back to 4:00… they have a tummy virus on board and need to clean the ship up… in an effort to evict the virus (Norovirus… a really contagious intestinal bug.) Appearently we are still planning to sail at 10:00.

We (T. & I) will delay our boarding until 6:00 or so to avoid the crowds, and there will be crowds…

We have a friend joining us on our trip, Tomas, tropical storm/hurricane/tropical storm/hurricane/tropical storm… (repeat) Tomas…

The Weather Channel is covering it… as a special “thing” They have special reports… from Haiti, from Grand Turk (we will visit Grand Turk on Tuesday…)

As of now, Tomas is a Cat 1 hurricane… aka a bad storm that circles…

The Weather Channel has special coverage…”Hurricane Tomas” From their coverage… “There is potential for strengthen, not major strengthening, but strengthening…. Tomas pounds the Caribbean… We are talking about 75 mile per hour winds, maybe… up to 95 mile per hour winds… Big time heavy rainfall… (2” in 24 hours…)

It isn’t really much of a storm… We get harder winds during winter storms, but they aren’t hurricanes… they don’t circle… and more rain in 24 hours… but the storm doesn’t circle… Southern California reaches higher wind speeds with the dry Santa Anna winds… but they don’t circle…

Hurricanes can be devastating… just look back to Andrew in 1992 and Katarina in 2005… but this is not Andrew or Katarina… Tomas is dangerous, particularly if you are a Haitian earthquake survivor, living in a tent… It that is your life this sucks…

But, if you are on a cruise ship, with stabilizers, buffets, a really nice dining room, an attentive staff, too many bars, a pool, several hot tubs… you may need an umbrella ashore… you may miss a port… but this isn’t a disaster…

But if you are the Weather Channel, and need to fill airtime, calling it a disaster, doing live feeds of 70 mph winds… “Its tearing at the corner of the roof over there”… “look at the lawn chair being carried down the street” or “the water is rising… Its now several inches deep in the street” makes it immediate and real and brings higher viewer numbers….

I am tired of it all, I think I will go on a Caribbean cruise… We have a plan... reports to follow…

Packing (or not)

We fly tomorrow night… on a red eye for Ft Lauderdale… the prelude to the next adventure…

We will spend a couple of days and one night in Ft Lauderdale, then off on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam for a Caribbean cruise… Grand Turk, San Juan, San Martin, and a private island in the Bahamas… add a couple of days at sea, along with cross country flights, and it looks like a one week vacation.

As noted before, this is a true vacation… no agenda… no required sites… just a vacation, a getaway, to celebrate an anniversary, our 30th… for us it is just another year… friends and coworkers seem to think it is important.
We will spend a week on a ship… with stops in tropical ports… their maybe alcohol involved, wine, beer, whisky, and maybe even rum… We will spend time on a tropical beach or two… we may swim…

There will be meals, memorable meals… some elaborate, but some, likely less so… not less good, but less elaborate…

We are not ready… we haven’t packed… It’s not our fault… we blame work… both of us… I worked late last night… until 9:00 or so, then home to cook for a potluck, at work. A turkey, and dressing (don’t stuff the bird, stuffing is evil, or so says Alton Brown, and I agree, Brother I agree.)


“Suddenly it's Christmas,
The longest holiday.
When they say "Season's Greetings"
They mean just what they say:
It's a season, it's a marathon,
Retail eternity.
It's not over till it's over
And you throw away the tree.


Christmas will come soon enough, whether I am ready or not (I’m not… I will go on record as saying that… I am not ready for Christmas) We use artificial trees at Patterson House, and we never throw them out… we just take them to the Teen Center in March where they become part of the “Enchanted Forest” for Leprechaun Land… and event for small children… and parents…

But I am tired, and not ready for the vacation… there is a coverage plan due, and meeting agenda that needs to go out… and there is the Tiny Tot trip to Ardenwood… It’s in my performance plan… as a thought, a maybe, but a goal none the less… and on Oct 27th, it became a possibility… and needs to become a reality… 300 three year olds visiting a house museum, and the surrounding farm… As of this afternoon it is close to a reality… we have a plan… which needs to be approved tomorrow before I leave… for the vacation, where I am to escape work, and planning for a visit by 300 three year olds… 300 three year olds sounds a lot like small children… (and parents…)

Tina and I are beyond small children (as in 300 three year olds) this is just not where we are… except at my work… our darling kids (everyone involved in cruises, and cruise vacations is Darling… Darling Husband (aka DH) Darling Wife (similarly aka DW) or Darling Kids, more specifically, darling daughter (DD) and Darling Son (do I need to say it a fourth time?, DS) ours, Steph 24, Brian 22, as far as I know neither have plans to make us Grandparents… eventually probably, but not now… (this is known as a “good thing”)

All of this means that while I and T. need a vacation, all is conspiring to prevent the vacation… the relaxation… We will escape the pull of the jobs… we will board the airplane… stay at the hotel… board the ship for the cruise… but right now it doesn’t feel that way… the flight, in 24 hours is far, far away, and we are not really ready.