April 9--Labadee, Haiti

I got up at 7am, ate quickly, and was ready to go about a half hour before the doors opened. Labadee is a small peninsula west of Cap-Haitien, and it looks like there are no roads leading to it—big mountains cutting it off. I headed to Nellie’s beach, named after a woman who used to live there who ran a trading post—there are still ruins of stone buildings standing, which are theoretically hers. The water was fairly clear and warm, and I went out and floated in about seven feet of water for at least an hour. There weren’t many fish, although two tiny fish decided I was something interesting and hung around me for a while; I think they were using me as cover. They were cute; they’d swim right up to my mask without apparent fear. They did occasionally check out other people who came near, and eventually they joined two people on a raft, who did make a much better cover. I then went snorkeling along a rock wall, and actually there was a lot more there than I thought there would be—hard and soft corals, lots of urchins, and a few fish.

After two hours in the water I got out and wandered over to the artisan area, which is full of Haitians doing a seriously hard-sell on all sorts of crafts and such. There was some neat stuff, although apparently the wood items might be full of worms, and the woven bags were incredibly rough. I did buy an anklet that was woven from an incredibly non-natural material, with a couple of beads. Then I found a hammock in the shade, read for a while, and then sort of napped. The cruise ship had set up a cookout, and I grabbed a hamburger and some pasta salad, and then went snorkeling again, at a different beach. This one was rougher, and had a zip line running over it (which was a bit disconcerting, having people zipping overhead, even if it was far up), but lots and lots of coral and urchins, and not a few fish. Some of the coral was spectacular, considering how much use this area must have from the cruise passengers. I also found some sea urchin tests, and took a small one with me, along with a little piece of dead coral (both probably illegal, but oh well).
I got tired of worrying about swimming in shallow water over coral, so I headed back over to Nellie’s beach and again spent an hour and a half or so just floating around. It was very restful, and very nice. I got back to the ship around 3:30pm, showered, and went up on deck to watch us sail off and take lots of pictures.

I also saw another show, with pretty much everyone on stage. It was nice, except for the little girl in my row who coughed until she vomited partway through, which wasn’t much fun. Now I’m continuing my party-pooper reputation by getting ready for bed at 9:45. I’m tired, I’m on vacation, and I don’t want to do all the cruise stuff. Maybe tomorrow