Spring 2015 cruise

March 15, morning

The trip down was pretty uneventful. I had packed early and ignored my suitcase (as well as the cat carrier) for several days before I left, because if I waited to pack right before I went (as I usually do) Nell wouldn't let me near her that morning. So I fed her and everything was normal . . . until I grabbed her and put her in the carrier, where she meowed piteously. I called a cab and got her and my luggage to the vet, where I made sure she was put into her kennel and was all set before I left. They gave her an upper kennel, where she immediately jumped on the “sleeping” shelf and started watching everything. I'm glad, because she always feels more secure when she's high up.

I then walked to the rental place (not far) and picked up the little black Ford Focus I had rented. And as soon as I got in the car the rain started—great timing, since although I have an umbrella rain while walking would have been a pain. I wound up going back to the condo because of my OCD, to check that I had turned everything off and it turns out I hadn't—I had forgotten to unplug the cat water fountain. I don't think it would have run out of water, but that wouldn't have been good. And then on the road.

It rained for much of the first couple of hours, and looked like it was going to rain for longer than that. But there were no accidents, even when the traffic was heavier on I-10 and I-75. I stopped in Blountstown to use the restroom and buy breakfast, at Ocala for restroom and gas, and the Fort Drum rest area for restroom and lunch/dinner, and made it to the Motel 6 in Pompano Beach in about nine hours (which is what I figured).

The Motel 6 room was a bit worn but not bad; it was of the new style with no carpet, which I liked (although the floor could have used a good mopping). It was a bit noisy, and the neighborhood was not particularly good (I went to the McDonalds down the road for breakfast and there was a small gauntlet of homeless-looking people who were hanging out by the main door—I went in through the not-main door). But the car was unharmed, and I continued on . . . in more rain. And darkness. And I got lost a little before I made my way to I-95 (I decided not to take the Turnpike any farther, because it was damn expensive).

Drivers in South Florida drive like they are insane. Fast and zipping here and there and tailgaiting. I stayed on 95 until the very end, which means I've now driven the entire length of that interstate from Maine to Florida (just not in one trip). The car dropoff was in a mall and didn't open until 8am; the company wanted to charge me for an extra hour since I had picked the car up at 7:35am, but the agent waived that fee for me—nice guy!

I then walked across the street to the MetroRail station (I had picked that car dropoff very carefully!). Miami metrorail is very much like the New York subway, but above ground and thus with a much better view. From a downtown station I caught a bus to Miami Beach, which was nice because I could see the cruise ships leaving yesterday lined up at the port: a MSC, a Celebrity, two Carnival, and a Norwegian.

I got off the bus a few blocks from the hostel and walked along Washington Street, which is full of little shops (lots of tattoo places) and stores and restaurants. The hostel is an old hotel; my room is on the first floor, with an attached bath. I share it with two girls from Asia and another woman who snores like a freight train—yay I remembered my earplugs! I couldn't check in right away, so I sat in the lobby and checked my classes and did some other work. Then I dropped my luggage off in the room and took off for the beach.

I didn't actually go on the beach; the appeal of South Beach for me is the park next to the beach, where I sat in the shade, enjoyed the warm air and the breeze, and watched people. Lots of people. In various stages of undress. I think I've seen more body art here than I have in quite a while, including several guys with what looks like brands on their arms and chests. I've heard of those, but damn. I was hungry and walked to Washington Street, where I got a Cuban sandwich and chips and a Pepsi from a little carry-out place—quite tasty.

I realized after an hour or so, when the shade started getting iffy, that I should probably get out of the sun for a while before I fry; I have no base tan, since I spent all last summer in Panama City inside hiding from the sun. So I went back to the hostel and sat in the shade by the pool and read my book.

Around 3pm I headed out, since I wanted to get to South Point to watch the cruise ships leave. I waited for a bus for a while but one never came, so I walked (on the shady side of the street) to the park, where I sat (in the shade) until the Norwegian ship went by so I could wave (it's big!). Then I walked back to the park, buying a bunch of sushi at Walgreens on the way (it only occurred to me after I purchased it that if I got sick from the sushi (which was all cooked, by the way) the ship would think I had norovirus and not let me leave my cabin—so far, so good), where I ate it at the park and watched people some more. I also watched a drone that someone was zipping around; the best part was when a very tall man leaped up and almost grabbed it, which would have served it right.

I eventually walked back to the hostel, where I realized that despite my care I was indeed sunburned. My face isn't bad (I brought my straw hat that I bought at the Calgary Stampede), but my shoulders/upper arms and cleavage are still toasty the next day. I guess I'll wear a cover-up today, but I don't plan on being in the sun for any length of time again until Jamaica, which is a few days from now.

I went to sleep at a decent time, but couldn't fall asleep. I don't think it was the roommate snoring, although I am very glad that I brought the earplugs. I think it was just the small kind of stuffy room and that I was on the upper bunk, which is always “exciting”. The bunk was sturdy, but the ladder had tiny little rungs and hurt like hell to use.

I woke up at 7:30am and I'm in the lobby of the hostel, finishing work (no more checking classes until next Monday!) and writing this. I'm going to head to the port soon, so I can get there early before the sun gets too bad. I'm sure I'll update this tonight!



Much later Monday

I loaded up my pack on my back and headed out to the bus stop after I finished writing the above. It was already warm, but not too bad. I caught a bus and took it across the causeway to downtown Miami. The roads were open where the electric car road-race was yesterday, but the crash barriers (which are chain-link fence with slanted tops, like you'd see outside of a prison) were still up. Luckily they stopped right at the entrance to the road to the port, so I didn't have to go too far out of my way. After a few wrong turns, I headed up the road to the port.

The port is on a small island, and the bridge went up for a bit. I wasn't too impressed, since the Hathaway bridge connecting Panama City Beach to Panama City is much longer and more impressive, but given I was wearing a 35-pound pack on my back and hiking along in Teva flip-flops, it was quite a ways. I brought water and took my time and passed several people going in the opposite direction; some seemed to be coming from the ship, while others seemed to be on a morning jog.

Of course, the terminal that my ship was at was ALLL the way at the end, so once I got across the bridge I had to bushwack a bit to the sidewalks along the terminal (passing on the way a tennis court and volleyball court, apparently for sailors on a break as those were behind a store and chapel for sailors as well). There was a Celebrity ship, a Disney ship, and a Carnival ship that I passed to get to mine (plus a Royal Caribbean on the opposite side of the island). One terminal was empty, which was nice because I not only was able to walk in the shade without having to dodge people, but there was a pop machine! I hadn't eaten breakfast (I don't know why not), and I had a headache (which has come and gone today—I think I'm dehydrated and hot and hope to feel better tomorrow after drinking a ton of water and turning up the A/C), so the Coke was very welcome!

When I got to the terminal I had only a short wait to get through the metal detectors. At that point I was told that I couldn't bring my bottle of water on board since I had opened it, and I was told to drink it or throw it out. Well, I wanted the bottle (I like refilling it and having it in my room), so I chugged a good pint or so of water with no problems (I told you I was a bit dehydrated). The security guy seemed impressed that I had done that pretty much without breathing, and I made it through security no problem (although I did use the restroom before getting in the check-in line!).

Once I was checked in, I went to the waiting room with everyone else. It turns out the ship was about an hour behind schedule getting ready (we also left about an hour late, which may or may not be related), so we waited for quite a while. I had my book and my phone and was sitting down in air conditioning, so I was happy (if a bit hungry). Not everyone else was, but since I'd just walked about two miles, I was just glad to be sitting down!

Once we got on board I checked to see if the rooms were open; they weren't. So I did what most experienced cruisers do: I went instantly to the buffet. I found a small table by a window, dropped off my bag (it got its own chair) and my hat and went to eat. Which I did, a lot. And I drank some more water too. Then I went outside and sat in the shade and started sorting things and reading, until I heard the rooms were ready.

I'm in a studio room, which are specially made for single occupancy. They have their own hallway and their own locked lounge, with 24/7 coffee and tea and cold water available, along with cookies (I don't know if those are 24/7, yet). There's also a bartender for Happy Hour. The rooms are indeed tiny, but plenty of room for one person. Most of the room is made up of the bed, which is supposedly a double but more like a queen (I'm pretty sure it's two of the single beds put together). There's a very narrow walkway on one side of the bed with two closets with sliding doors (no room for them to open like regular doors) and a very small desk between them under the TV; the other side of the bed is flush with the hallway wall. The sink is on the other side of the middle closet, opposite the door, with the shower in its own cubicle next to that. Opposite the shower is the toilet, in an opaque cubicle, with a door to the next room between it and the shower. And that's the room. Since I only plan to be here to sleep and shower and update this journal, it's plenty. The one thing that worries me is that the hallway is on the other side of the wall next to the bed, and I'm afraid it's going to be loud (normally the bed is opposite the hallway, not running along it). I still have my earplugs though!

After a quick sponge-bath (I was hot and sweaty and rather disgusting) I wandered the ship before going to the lifeboat drill. After the drill (which involved neither lifejackets or even lining up outside), I went up to the tip-top of the ship to watch us leave.

The Epic is probably the ugliest ship I've been on. It's not streamlined or anything; it looks a lot like a shoebox plopped on top of the bottom half of a boat. I still don't know how these things don't tip over, but they don't. I sat on a padded double-bed type thing looking through an opening in the glass windshield, watching the tugs and the traffic on the causeway and what-all else.

We were the third to leave, late as I said. The Carnival ship went first (it was the same boat that broke down—I think in the Gulf? Or off Mexico (it was the Splendor)—and floated for a while with no power or anything), then the Disney boat. The Disney boat has a horn that plays “When you wish upon a star”, which I didn't know about. They played that, and then that boat and ours decided to do a little re-enactment of the end of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: after “When you wish upon a star” our boat did three very long very loud horn blasts, then the Disney ship did three shorter blasts, then we did one long and one short, then the Disney did a short and a little bleep. I have no idea why; I've never been on a ship that did that before when leaving, but I did find it amusing.

We crept down the waterway at about the same speed as the traffic on the causeway (slow), and I got a very good look at a lot of very expensive boats at the Miami Beach Marina, which should be called the Miami Beach MegaYacht Marina. I also got a good view of the spot where I watched the boats yesterday from shore, but from a very different angle.

After that, I went exploring a bit more. I found some possible places to hang out outside but not in the sun, near the climbing wall. I wanted to sit in the shade and read, but every time I found a shady lounger, the workers were getting ready to stack them up for the night. So I eventually went to the buffet and had dinner. I wasn't very hungry, so I just had some seafood paella along with some more water. I went to see if my room was done and found that the steward was working on it right then, so I went back to the lounge and had some decaf tea, then up to the buffet for a piece of cake while I watched the sun set. After that I went back to the room, which was finished, ate one of the pieces of chocolate the steward left and then took a very long lukewarm shower which was absolutely wonderful. I feel so much better now, it's amazing. I still have a bit of a headache, but I'm hoping that sleep and water will take care of it. I finally figured out how to turn off all the lights (this place has about four places where lights turn on and off), and after I finish this I'll probably watch a bit of TV (not many channels available, but I don't need to watch TV anyway) and go to bed. It's early, but it's also been a very long day.



March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's probably not a surprise that a lot of people are wearing green today (including me), but perhaps a bit surprising that it doesn't seem like there's any more drunk people around than usual. Then again, it's early.

I've been doing my usual thing during sea days: sleeping, sitting in the shade and reading, and eating. I'm on my fourth book since Friday, and my third on the ship. Luckily the Studio lounge has a small library, and I also brought my Nook reader for when I run out of paper books.

I've also been going to the art auctions. I'm not exactly sure why, since I don't plan on buying anything (and I couldn't afford anything even if I wanted to, pretty much) and much of the art is rather ugly to me. I do find auctions a bit entertaining, the auctions are in the middle of the afternoon when it's rather too hot to be outside, and I now have two small art prints that I got for attending. I also “won” a larger piece of art during a raffle (they raffle lots of stuff off to increase attendance) but I declined to claim it, because it was rather ugly and they were going to charge me $35 to ship it home. No thanks.

I did go into one of the pools, which here on the Epic are less pools and more oversized hot tubs that aren't hot. Much of the time they are stuffed full of people, and thus aren't particularly appetizing. Add to that the fact that they are all in the full blazing sun and I'm still a bit red from Saturday and I don't think I'll be going in again. They do have water slides, including a smaller version of the Toilet Bowl from Great Wolf, so I may go on that at some point.

The room turned out to be very nice. It can be noisy, when people are loud in the hallway, but I've been able to sleep just fine. I'm also enjoying having the lounge nearby, not just for the library but for the tea available 24/7, as well as cold filtered water (I've been filling my water bottle, although I'm not supposed to). There are also cookies in the afternoons and evenings and breakfast food (including cereal and muffins and croissants) in the morning.

The food has been good in the buffet (I don't do sit-down restaurants) but the hamburgers and hot dogs are really really good. And of course the soft-serve ice cream is also a hit—it's better than the couple of other desserts that I've had.

I've seen a couple of shows; the Second City comedy/improv was fun, but I left the Legends in Concert after the Jimmy Buffett guy (who didn't have enough of a low range to really do “Come Monday” justice), because I had no interest in seeing a facsimile of Adele or Aretha Franklin.

I sang karaoke last night and was a hit and it went well; this evening I sang again but I couldn't hear myself on the song and the key was bad for me. Oh well. I guess I won't sing that again. I do wish they had more speakers so we could hear ourselves better; it's hard to sing when my voice covers up the backing music.

Jamaica tomorrow!



March 19 morning

Note: Watching “The Help” while on a cruise ship filled with (mostly) white people being waited on hand-and-foot by non-white people gives a whole new spin to the movie.

At any rate, I set an alarm so I could wake up early enough to get out of the ship with the first wave (I still got plenty of sleep, since I don't do much in the evenings other than maybe sing).

Jamaica, like Roatan, is hilly. I like this, as both Cozumel and Grand Cayman are low and scrubby and I like hills. There is only room for two cruise ships in Ocho Rios, unlike pretty much everywhere else we're going. Hills, green everywhere, warm air, cool breezes, just great.

I got off the ship to go to my Blue Hole expedition, and had a bit of trouble finding my bus. Once I asked the nice Jamaica Tourist Board lady, she led me to the group to wait, and the bus came soon afterward. I got a single seat near the front, and when the bus was full (after lots of yelling by the driver at various other workers in Jamaican patois, which while theoretically based on English is impossible to interpret). The bus took us to a field where we all got off then got on other buses according to where we were going. Except our bus was shanghaied to the other cruise ship terminal to pick up people there, whereupon we went back to the field while they were sorted out. Then it was finally time to head out.

Jamaican roads are very narrow and people drive like maniacs. They make Miami drivers look like the old Canadian snowbirds who drive very slowly while in Panama City. Lots of horn honking, lots of driving in the other lane (what makes it more fun is of course that Jamaicans drive on the left—a vestige of British rule), lots of missing accidents by inches. Not to mention the one-lane rutted dirt road up to the Blue Hole itself.

We got off the bus in a small dirt parking lot and headed down a hill following our guide; then it got interesting. The guide had said that flip-flops weren't appropriate for the tour, and he was completely correct, as much of the tour was either wading through running water or jumping off into the deep pools. I wasn't very fond of much of the walking, since without good depth perception I'm never quite sure how far away things are. This made jumping off the cliffs a bit disconcerting at first; the first jump was maybe 8 feet, but it looked like forever. Luckily I got over it by the last jump, which was probably 25 feet or so.

At any rate, we walked up this narrow dirt path or through the water, then jumped into various pools on our way down. It was beautiful and I enjoyed it quite a bit (after I got over worrying about the climb—luckily I had worn my Five-finger “toe shoes” which were perfect for this), until we got to the last pool. This was rigged up with a rope swing, and I forgot that my left shoulder is getting gimpy until I started the swing. It felt like my arm was being removed, and the rope kind of slithered through my hands and into the water I went. I didn't hit anything, but I probably wouldn't have felt it if I had. Once I got to the surface, I tucked my left arm against my side and sidestroked to the side, where I waited until my arm stopped hurting. Since I'm a bullhead, I then climbed up to the highest jump and leapt off, since I'd be damned if my last experience here was going to be that rope “swing”. Getting to the jump required climbing through a little cave, but I was reassured at that point that my arm was still working. (It's the next morning and it's not hurting or stiff, but I suspect I just accelerated the time when this one, like my other arm, gets the rotator cuff surgery).

The trip back was even longer. First there was the waiting at the parking lot while the beer supply was replenished, then a utility truck blocked the one-lane road for a while, then we had to go and drop off the people who were doing the tubing, then we had to drop off the people who were doing the plantation (they actually decided not to go, but that took some negotiation presumably about money) and only then did we get back toward the ship. I was actually getting a little nauseated from the diesel fumes and the bouncing jouncing roads, but I will say that we got a good look at Jamaica. A bar on every corner (literally), marijuana sellers on every other corner, goats and dogs and concrete houses in various states of disrepair. I kind of like it.

After we got dropped off at the tourist trap (I had tipped the guy who guided us through the falls, but I didn't tip the other guide and driver—I know it's island time, but I'd rather not have been driven all over hell when I could have been doing something else) I checked out the selection. Not much that I might like, but I did buy a shot glass for Sandy (she collects them). I also bought a Pepsi (real sugar!) and drank it in the shade while watching the jerk chicken guy and the ice cold jelly coconut guy try to sell their wares. Then, while walking to the ship, I spotted the beach at Margaritaville, so I took a quick dip in the ocean. It's amazing to me how cool the water is here. I'm used to Florida where the waters get up toward 90 degrees when it's consistently hot out, but here I guess the water is deep enough that it stays cool. That, and it's warmer in Miami than it is here today.

I got back on the ship, took a quick shower and changed, and then headed out with my phone to find some free Wifi. I finally wound up back at Margaritaville, which was full of people drinking (and not a few smoking marijuana—hey, it's Jamaica, mon!). I checked my email, sent a quick note to Mom and Dad, and then just wandered around a bit and watched people. Including three drunk guys who wanted to buy the safari helmet off a police woman, and when she wouldn't sell convinced her to let them wear it in a picture. She did get the helmet back, thankfully.

When I got back on the ship I ate a very late lunch, then sat in the shade to watch the Running of the Tourists. This is something that you won't read about in the guidebooks, where those in the know watch for the people who are so late that they run to make sure the ship doesn't leave without them. It's more fun when the runners are drunk. Today we had three runners, none of which seemed too drunk, but were met with the traditional call of “Run, Forrest, run!” 20 years after “Forrest Gump” came out, and people are still yelling that.

I watched us sail out of port, and then watched the island go by and the sunset. While I was watching the sunset I noticed three dolphins leaping out of the water headed for the ship to ride in the bow wave. They were silhouetted against the bright water and it was something I've not seem before. I think they were common dolphins (I got a closer look at one later) but it was wonderful to watch. A good goodbye to Jamaica.



March 20

Yesterday I got to Georgetown, Grand Cayman, on the first tender (there's no dock). By the time we left, there were five ships there: two Royal Caribbean, one Carnival, and one I never got the name of, so it was crowded. I had nothing planned other than to walk to snorkel, so I headed out fast (there were the usual people waiting to take pictures of unsuspecting tourists as they exit—someone dressed in what looked like a really uncomfortable dolphin costume scared the hell out of a little kid by jumping at him out of nowhere) and headed left this time. Before I'd gone to Eden Rock, which was to the right of the pier, but I wanted to try something new.

So I schlepped along the road with my gear, passed up the first snorkel site (it's a sunken ship) to get to Cheeseburger Reef, which is just behind the Burger King. No, really, it is, and it's called that. I'm not sure which came first, though. Just past the Burger King was a little cove with a diving shop/restaurant (the Lobster Pot) and a bit of beach. I had thought about trying to get into the water before the Burger King, but this was much easier and more public and I didn't have to climb down a wooden pallet doubling as a ladder. There were even stairs!

I left my stuff on the beach next to the retaining wall and waded into the cool water. It got deep pretty fast (it turns out the diving shop holds scuba lessons right there, because it's deep enough to submerge easily while still being safe) and I put on my fins and swam out. The reef itself isn't marked, but I headed out toward some likely-looking buoys, and made sure I stayed out of the boat channel nearby, as well as away from the helicopter landing pad for the tourist place next to the BK.

It was probably out as far as Eden Rock, but it extended much farther. There was quite a nice bit of coral, both soft fan coral and hard brain and branch coral, and a lot of fish. I spent most of the next two hours or so alternately swimming, looking around to make sure I wasn't going to get run over by a boat (the buoys were for boats to tie up to), and just floating vertically with my head out of the water like a seal. I like just floating a lot, enjoying the water and watching what was going on around me. Probably the most fun to watch were the Duck Boats that used the boat ramp on the other side of the dive shop. They didn't look particularly seaworthy, even by Duck Boat standards; in fact, I was fairly sure one stalled out for a while. They also went quite far out, much farther out than I did, close to where the cruise ships were anchored (seriously, everything here happens in a relatively-small area). I was the first to get to the reef, and only saw a couple of other snorkelers (including one pair that passed me and I didn't see them return—I hope they are OK).

After about two and a half hours I started to get cold, and a giant stinking diesel boat showed up and began disgorging snorkelers near where I was floating, and I decided that was a sign. Those snorkelers got about 20 minutes, maybe, of snorkeling; I wonder how much money they paid for that?

When I returned to the beach I decided to try to use the facilities at the dive shop to rinse off, which worked fine until I went down a short flight of steps and slipped at the bottom, falling flat on my ass and my back. Yeah, real subtle, Lisa. Probably was karma. Everyone was concerned and kept asking me if I hit my head; no, actually I didn't, as I apparently tucked my chin to my chest when I fell (I'm a damn good lander-from-a-fall, if such a thing exists). I then rinsed off, returned to my clothing, put them on, and came back to the Dive Shop to thank them by buying a soda . . . but they didn't have Pepsi, so I didn't. Again, probably bad karma. I did buy a Pepsi at a little shop down the road, which appeared to be a local store (none of the prices were in US dollars).

After that, I hit the tourist traps. Most places here were way too ritzy to be true tourist traps; apparently the Caribbean is where everyone goes to buy their really expensive (and often really damn ugly) jewelry. Many of them give away cheap earrings or pendants to get people in the door, so I collected as many of those as I could while checking out the real tourist traps. I had bought an absolutely wonderful coin purse here a few trips back, but they apparently don't make them anymore, which is unfortunate particularly since I don't like the newer versions. The free gift scam actually did get me to buy something; at one place I had asked if some gems were amber, the salesperson said no and showed me a cheap but pretty pair of amber earrings, which I bought. They'll go nicely with the amber necklaces I have.

I headed back to the ship at that point, to try to avoid the rush and because I was hot and hungry and had run out of tourist traps and free trinket coupons. Once back at the ship I showered and changed and ate lunch and then went back to the padded shaded seats I had sat in before to read and relax.

Once we left, I tried to watch the ocean but there is no real good way to do that on this ship; even on the upper open decks, the railings are glass to above my head with a couple of horizontal gaps for the breeze to come though, and the glass is dirty with salt and suck so visibility isn't that good. But I did watch as much as possible (including one big patch of seaweed (sargassum?) that was so large it actually calmed the waves around it), watched the sunset, then headed off to a show.

I saw a stage hypnotist that night. Normally I enjoy these shows, but this one made me uncomfortable. It wasn't the hypnotist, as she was very kind and nice (I may be going to a weight loss seminar she's holding tomorrow), but there were a lot of kids sniggering and giggling, and it made me feel really bad for the people up there. Granted, they volunteered, but still. I think it's because I know I'd be really uncomfortable with that; I don't mind people laughing at me as long as I'm in on the joke. Interestingly enough, if the people being hypnotized are college kids, I have no problems with it whatsoever. I suspect that says something about me . . . .

This morning we docked last at Cozumel. I slept in (all the way to 7:30!) and took my time to eat breakfast and get ready. I was going to snorkel, but I decided last night that I wasn't really interested in doing so (I guess I'd done enough in Jamaica and Grand Cayman), so I went tourist trapping again. Even more coupons, even more stores, but much less highbrow. Cozumel, like Jamaica, is full of people trying to get you to go into their stores and buy their stuff. It's very much a gauntlet that one runs to see the junk that is being sold. I was looking for a little cat statue that I had seen on my last trip so I hit every store (after buying a Pepsi at the first store, of course!) looking for it. I didn't find it (apparently that got discontinued too), but I did get a whole lot of trinkets. Lots of cheap earrings, a couple of pendants, and a very cheap necklace that's too short for my thick neck.

So I walked the whole gauntlet to the end, then turned around and came back. I stopped partway along at a bar called the Thirsty Cougar, where I bought some guacamole and a Coke and used their Wifi to check e-mail and such. I also sat at a few places and watched the tourists run the gauntlet, which can be amusing. I did wind up buying some stuff: a silver ring (I don't wear rings much, but this was cheap and it's very sparkly and looks nice against my tan), and a different little cat statue that I liked, plus another Pepsi for the walk back to the bus on Sunday (at least it will be early and cooler for this walk).

At this point I was tired of being nice to people trying to sell me something so I went back to the ship and grabbed my book (I finished the fourth one today and am already a quarter way through the fifth) and went to some shaded lounges where I could see the pier, to read and relax and rest my feet. No real running of the tourists today, I suspect mostly because one of the cruise excursions came in at the last minute so people who were also late didn't bother running.

I'm going to see Blue Man Group tonight at 9pm; I hope I can stay awake!



March 27

I've actually been home for a few days, but I need to update this before I forget!

I did stay awake through the Blue Man Group, but I don't quite see the appeal. Maybe I needed to be drunk, or less tired, or something.

The next day was the last sea day, and I spent it much the same way as I spent other sea days: in the shaded padded chairs, reading and looking at the ocean. I did sit out in the sun for a bit with my bathing suit on, to get a bit more sun, but it was hot and I got bored. I also decided to try out the water slides. The mini-toilet bowl slide was fun, but the pitch-black-on-the-inside slide was a bust, as I very nearly got stuck inside of it—I literally had to push myself along with my arms for a while. Um, no thanks.

I also went to the last art auction. I mean, I really don't know why I go, but it's kind of fun to see the (in my opinion) ugly stuff that people pay big money for. That, and I've usually been reading for several hours at that point and I need a break. I actually won another raffle, which I again didn't claim because it was ugly. Why can't they give away attractive stuff? Probably too expensive. Over the three days there were definitely things I would have liked, but they were always too expensive for me. So much for fine art; I'll stick to art posters, I think.

That night I packed up, which required putting the bag on my bed as there is literally no other place to put it in that little room. That said, it's a great deal, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I slept well, but I woke up early. This was actually nice, because I wanted to see how the ship docked in Miami. So by the time I was dressed and up on the highest deck, we were headed down the channel. It was dark, and cool, and quiet, and the lights were lovely. We went past the dock, and then did a pirouette in a “turning basin” just barely longer than we were. For being a big ship, these things are pretty damn nimble. I also decided to drink my Pepsi while watching this, both to wake up and to celebrate our return (although I would have been happy to have kept going—I seriously need to book a repositioning cruise at some point, or maybe a back-to-back cruise).

I then went and ate breakfast and left with the first wave of walk-offs. I got asked by two different officials whether I had all my luggage; I think I was the only person who wasn't dragging a wheeled suitcase of some kind (I didn't blow their mind by telling them that if I hadn't brought my snorkel equipment, I could have packed everything in a daypack!). And then I walked back toward the bridge.

I marched past all the people waiting for ground transportation, and then realized that the Pepsi was fighting back. So I went to the Carnival terminal (two Carnival ships were there that morning as well) and used their restroom, and then continued the march. It was still cool, and the sun was behind clouds, so the walk was much nicer.

When I got to Biscayne Boulevard I sat at the bench at the bus stop and waited. And waited. According to the website, the bus I needed should come every 15 minutes. After half an hour, I began to get worried, as the only bus that was passing me didn't go to Miami Beach. Eventually a bus that did go over the causeway stopped and I got on, although this bus required my getting off and walking a fair distance to the car rental place, instead of being dropped off a block away. Oh well, all in a day's walk. But now I know not to rely on Miami buses!

Once I got to the rental place, I got the car no problem. I'm glad I had a reservation, as there was a group of people waiting for a car, as there were none available. I got into the car, which was a cute little Mazda 2, and drove out of the garage (which took forever).

Once I got out on the roads, I noticed there was a thumping noise every time the wheel rotated. I thought it might be the road, as there was construction going on there, but the thumping continued over the causeway and onto the highway. This worried me, because when my own Mazda made a sound like that, it meant I had a really bad tire, and when the Subaru sounded like that, the CV joint was broken. I don't need to be driving 600 miles with either of those conditions.

In a rare flash of common sense, I decided to stop a bit up the road at the Ft. Lauderdale airport to get a new car; I figured a huge international airport would most likely have spare cars. I pulled in the car return and explained what was going on, and they gave me a nice little Ford Fiesta, no problem. This car drove like a dream, as my other Ford Fiesta rentals had (if I buy a car again, I need to consider that one), and I got most of the rest of the way home no problem. There was quite a bit of traffic, but the traffic never slowed down or stopped, so no problems.

Until I got just to the west of Tallahassee. Traffic stopped dead. The more adventurous of those among us escaped by going the wrong way up an on-ramp that we had just passed; I wasn't quite brave enough to do that (which probably would have saved me some time, as that was an alternate route home). It took about a half hour to go six miles to the next exit, which was the one I planned to take. I never passed anything that would explain the backup; I'm wondering if it was due to a really heavy rain shower that had passed over the highway just before.

I ran into another of those rain showers a bit later. It rained really, really hard, and I was considering pulling over (although quite frankly there weren't many places I could have pulled over on that part of the road—very rural through a forest) when it began to lighten. That happened once more before I reached Blountstown, but after that other than a bit of drizzle, the rain stopped.

I got home just fine, and the next morning went to pick up Nell. She seemed very glad to see me; she was meowing like crazy, although it might also have been that she was afraid we were going someplace other than home. I let her out at home, made sure she had water, then went to return the car. I was in a hurry, because I wanted to catch the trolley back to the condo so I could ride my scooter to work. Except I found that when I tried to pump up my front scooter tired that the pump was broken and caused the tired to deflate pretty much entirely. So I had to stop at WalMart and get a new pump before I got Nell.

I returned the car and called my cab company for a ride home, because I thought I had missed the trolley, but they didn't have anything available for an hour. I wondered if maybe I hadn't missed the trolley after all, and then of course the trolley drove past at that moment. No more trolley for another hour, and no cab either (I called another place, and they were also busy). I began to walk home, but soon realized (in another rare surge of common sense) that it was just about as far to walk to work as it was to walk home (about three miles). And since my scooter tire might have had a puncture or something, I figured I'd just walk to work and take the trolley home. I didn't need anything I had left at home, and I had on pretty comfortable walking shoes (heck, most of my shoes are that way), so I walked to work.

Luckily it was mostly cloudy and there was a nice breeze, although it turns out there was a swarm of bees at the top of the bridge and I had to hop the safety barrier and walk in the break-down lane for a bit to avoid being stung. And I was a bit sweaty at work, and tired as well, but rode the trolley home no problem, did laundry, found the scooter tire was fine and the new pump worked like a charm, and here we are!

It's nice to be home, but I can't wait to go again!

Christmas Cruise!

I woke up bright and early on Saturday, December 17, to head out to the bus station. I had decided to take the bus when it looked like Fran needed my car to come over and feed my cats, and besides I don't have to 1. drive in New Orleans, and 2. worry about my car parked in New Orleans while I'm gone. We got to the bus station in plenty of time, and I was second on the bus, right after the guy who had just been released from jail. I knew his prisoner status because there was a guard there with him until he got on the bus, which didn't really help my confidence in my safety. But he turned out to be a nice quiet guy, who was only going as far as Fort Walton Beach anyway. The bus was coming from parts east (I'm not sure if from Jacksonville or from Tampa/Miami), and was mostly full of sleeping people, so I sat right behind the driver, and had my own seat all the way to Mobile. It was mostly cloudy, so the temperature was nice, and it was neat to be able to look at the scenery rather than concentrate on driving myself. We stopped in Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola before reaching Mobile. About the only excitement was the grumpy lady who kept looking for food near the bus stations (and was always disappointed, since these were more like shacks out by themselves than the bigger-city stations) and bitched about hoping to get back to “civilization” soon, plus the hypothetical ferret. So I was sitting with one leg down, and thought I felt something near my ankle, but discounted it. However the felon guy sitting across from me said “Hey, did you see that ferret?” I said I didn't, but the guy behind me said he did. Apparently someone had smuggled their pet ferret onto the bus, and it had gotten loose and was roaming free. I spent the rest of the ride to Mobile alternately worrying about the ferret and wondering if the bus driving would put the owner off at the side of the road when the ferret was discovered. It never was, and hence the term “hypothetical”. Besides, the driver was busy on his cell phone (!) and didn't notice us talking about the possible ferret. The Mobile bus station is not in too bad of a neighborhood, although it was still a longish walk to food unless you wanted to eat the station food (which didn't look too bad). I got off my bus and immediately got in line for my connection about 40 minutes ahead of time, which was good because this bus turned out to be completely full. I did get a window seat, and wound up sitting next to an overweight lady who had been on the bus with me from Panama City, and who with her son was going to Los Angeles. I was afraid to ask when they would get there, and was very glad it was them and not me. In fact, it was so crowded that when a bunch of soldiers wanted to get on in Gulfport, they wound up standing all the way to New Orleans. The most notable part of the ride from Mobile to New Orleans was going through Biloxi and Gulfport. Both of these towns got absolutely hammered by Katrina—we're talking 25-30 foot storm surge. I had been to Biloxi a few years ago (I took a casino bus trip, so it was cheap) and while walking around I was rather stunned by the number of “ghost driveways”. There were a lot of driveways and walkways that went off the road and went to nowhere—sometimes there was a cement slab where the house had been, and once or twice a real foundation (not many basements here due to the high water table), but often there was nothing but high grass and scrub. It was a bit eerie to see, and while there were still some of these ghost driveways present, many lots now had houses on them again—but usually well-elevated above the ground. Still, they are very exposed. Both downtowns were full of vacant lots, and signs that the water had been very high here. If it weren't for the casinos, I doubt there would be anything left of these towns. We didn't get into New Orleans until after dark, which was rather unfortunate since I was still interested in looking around. There was still quite a bit of damage apparent, with vacant lots and such. We got into the bus station, which is also the train station, pretty much on time, which was good because it is right next to the Superdome and there was a big football game going on that night, and our driver was worried that we'd get stuck in traffic. Nope. I got off the bus, put on my travel pack and started walking toward the hotel. I never felt in danger on this walk; because of the football game, there were people everywhere. I didn't have a map, but I pretty much knew where to go, and just walked. I ran into a marching band, which was playing some great music in an open area between two hotels, apparently ramping up for the game. They were the SD Aztecs, and to show you how I think, I was wondering why a band from South Dakota was calling themselves the Aztecs—it turns out they were from San Diego. They were playing a local team from Lafayette, and even though they eventually lost they had some great music. I decided to get dinner before going to the hotel, because I hadn't had lunch. Also, I wanted to eat at Mother's, which apparently has great po' boys. I got one with all of the fixins including what is called debris, which is the juice and bits and pieces left over after cooking the meat for the sandwich. It was delicious! And my hotel was just around the corner. I stayed at the Best Western St. Christopher, which was reasonably-priced, a block from the French Quarter, and was complete with original brick walls and a very fancy bathroom. I dropped off my bag and headed out to the French Quarter, to walk and watch. There wasn't much traffic on Bourbon Street, even though it was a Saturday night, probably because it was early and the football game was still going on. I suspect it got a lot more exciting later, but I was home and in bed by 9 or so. I did have a Hurricane drink, which was very strong (at least to me) and I figured I didn't have to drink any more. There was still some good people-watching, and I found that on the back of St. Louis Cathedral a statue was lit so that a huge shadow of Jesus was cast on the back of the cathedral. It was pretty cool, although since it kept reminding me of the logo for “Amadeus” it probably didn't have the same effect. I took a picture, but as usual it doesn't do it justice. Well, it turns out that my cool room at the hotel was also loud; I'm not sure if it was near the heater or what, but every now and again I'd have a machine start up rather loudly. I did have ear plugs, but I didn't put them in because I was sleeping pretty well anyway. I did wake up a few times, but I did get back to sleep pretty quickly. I woke up fairly early the next morning and went down for the free breakfast, which was really nice. I didn't get the waffles, but I did have cheese and poppy/lemon muffins, which were really tasty. I checked out afterwards, checked my bag at the front desk, and headed back out to the quarter. I wasn't sure what to do, but I had some time to kill. I walked along the river and sat on a step and watched the river go by for a while; it's not that wide, but it moves really fast. Then I walked to the Cathedral and went in, standing in the foyer because they were about ready to have a service and I didn't want to disturb them. I walked up and down streets looking at the architecture (I really like these older parts of town, and the iron balconies are great), and decided to take a cemetery tour. I had taken one before, but it was in August and all I remember is nearly passing out from the heat. This wasn't going to be a problem on this day, so I went to the Basin Street visitor's center. If Dad ever makes it to New Orleans, he has to come here: it's set up like an old-time train station, and has much of the history of trains in New Orleans. It's right next to the closest cemetery to the Quarter, and the tour was quite interesting. One new thing there was a pyramid crypt built by Nicholas Cage, who apparently really likes New Orleans, although he doesn't live here anymore. I asked the guide if anyone was buried in Nic Cage's tomb, and he found that very amusing (and the answer is no, not yet). After the tour I headed back to the hotel, grabbed my bag, and then started walking toward the cruise ship port. Or at least, I though I was walking there: I was on a sidewalk at the Riverwalk right on the river, and I figured there must be access somewhere. Nope. I had to walk all the way back, and then around on the other side of the streetcar tracks, and then found a sign saying “Cruise Ship Access ¾ mile”, and swore a bit. There were people coming out near I was standing, so I figured what the hell and walked that way, and found the pedestrian access—I'm glad I didn't trust the sign! It was about 1pm by then, and there was pretty much no line to get in. I waited a short bit of time to go through the metal detectors, but otherwise I just walked on. Foreshadowing: There were workers wiping down all of the handrails, and I had my hands sprayed twice on the way up the gangway with an alcohol solution. More about this later. By the time I got on board (avoiding all of the picture-taking that was going on—I'm not going to buy a picture of my embarkation, why have it taken?) I decided to see if my room was ready. It was! I quickly unpacked and then headed to the buffet for lunch. I wasn't really impressed with Norwegian's buffets; there didn't seem to be as much selection as I had seen in other buffets, and some of it just wasn't very good (I only tried the baked pasta once, for instance, because it was incredibly dry). But I found enough to eat anyway (not a problem—there was usually some sort of stirfry and fried rice, which I ate a lot, as well as sandwiches and hamburgers and salad, which were quite good). It was a sunny but cool and windy day, but I did manage to be on the upper deck by the time we left. The ship is parked right near the US 90 bridge, and wouldn't fit under it, so we went sideways a bit, then pivoted and headed down the river. I wish the sun had still been up, because the view would have been amazing of the Quarter and the other areas on both sides of the river. As it was, we did pass a number of what I guess were oil refineries, which were lit up to the point that they looked like the Emerald City (if the Emerald City has fire burning off waste gas). It was, however, really cold up there, between the wind coming from the south and the speed of the cruise ship, so I didn't stay too long. I did notice that there was another cruise ship (I think the Carnival Celebrity) behind us, winding down the river. My room turned out to also be noisy. It must have been above some machinery or something, because there was a constant sound like an engine (although I was too high up and too forward to be the ship's engines, I think); since it was constant I soon got used to it and it didn't affect my sleep at all. Being forward, it was also a bit bouncy with the waves, but I rather like this as well. It reminds me that I am indeed moving, and I find the moving around enjoyable. I doubt everyone did, but I'm lucky. In addition, the bed and the pillows were both quite hard, but I still slept well. The next morning I got up and had breakfast at the buffet (breakfast there was great—a couple of different kinds of eggs and potatoes and bagels and all sorts of great stuff), then decided to go swimming. The air temperature wasn't bad, but the water was a bit cold (I suspect they filled it in the northern Gulf, where the water temperature is about 75 offshore). I really liked the pool: it was small but deep, ranging from 5.5 feet to 7.5 feet. And when the ship was rolling the water swished around as well, which was fun. It was nominally adults-only, although “supervised” kids were allowed in. I suspect many of them were not impressed by the cold and the depth, and since there was a kids pool at the back of the ship that had slides and spray guns and such, and was probably warmer, kids tended to not stay long. I definitely stayed away from the hot tubs: they were constantly full of people and thus had enough chlorine in them to turn my hair green if I merely stood downwind. No thanks. After swimming I joined a trivia contest midway through, and was appointed to a team consisting of two teaching plus another guy. It turns out we won, and I feel good because it was my answer for one of the questions that caused us to have the most points (why yes, I know that Selene is the goddess of the moon—I read science fiction, after all), and we all won the wonderful prize of: two Norwegian key chain lights! I was hoping for a massage or something, but I guess that's for the evening contests, which I skipped. I spent much of the day reading, wandering around, watching people (there were quite a few deaf people on board, and I tried to understand what they were signing, but no go) and watching for flying fish (who would take off trying desperately to escape the ship, and were fun to watch). And eating, of course. I also took a nap, since I woke up early. I did go to the show that night, which was called “On Broadway!”. It wasn't bad, although one of the female singers was, to quote American Idol, a bit pitchy. I was mostly amused by the fact that, while the songs were relatively up-to-date (within the last four or five years, anyway) the backdrop featured the names of shows from 1997. And yes, not everyone would notice that, but I did. I also wondered why the only non-1997 show was “Crazy for You”, which was from like 1992. I suspect the backdrop was created for another show, and then reused. Also, the musicals picked were somewhat heavy on the already-known: Mamma Mia (Abba) and Movin' Out (Billy Joel), plus Wicked and In the Heights. It was also very, very loud, but given that as usual the average age of the audience was about 72, that made sense. The next morning, we were greeted with an announcement from the Captain that we had norovirus on board. He repeated over and over again that someone had brought it on board from New Orleans, but I have my doubts: I suspect, given the amount of cleaning at the beginning (which I'd never seen on other cruises), it was there before, but they didn't want people to realize that and be pissed about their cruise being ruined. What this meant is, we got our hands sprayed before we got into any restaurant, and also at the buffet we weren't allowed to serve ourselves at all. We had our plates and silverware handed to us, we indicated to servers what we wanted and they put it on our plates, and if we wanted salt or pepper or other condiments, servers had to give that to us as well, as the tables were bare. It was a bit of a nuisance, particularly the first day, but after that people stopped going to the buffet, probably because of fear of contagion or congestion and things got better. It turns out we also had the flu on board, which was also delightful. I do know that some people down the hall from me were sick, since I heard them talking about it, and also walked by while the on-board doctor exited and they cleaned the room. Ew. To end the suspense, I didn't get sick with anything; I credit my student-trained immune system, and my tendency to sterilize my hands at every opportunity (thanks OCD!). We docked at Costa Maya around 10am. It was created out of virtually nothing some years ago for the cruise industry, out of two small villages which are pretty much intact. There is infrastructure for a lot more (paved roads with lights and such), but so far, not much. I walked through the cruise port area, full of stores plus a huge pool (for those who don't like the cruise ship pool), out the somewhat-hidden exits, through the security gate, and then caught a taxi. Which was relatively scary; the driver spoke no English and drove like a banshee. Luckily it was a short drive and there was little/no traffic, and he dropped me off right next to the place I was going to. Majajual is about four blocks of stores/bars/restaurants on a sandy beach. I was going to the Tropicante, which I found online and had corresponded with the owner who had reserved a lounge chair under a tree for me. The place quickly filled up with tourists, both from my ship and from another (I think the same one that followed us from New Orleans). I went swimming, and found that although the water was comfortable, there wasn't really good snorkeling: too much human activity, from us swimmers to boats and whatnot. I did get to see some fish and a really impressive black sea urchin, and then just floated around the water for a while. I eventually got out and had some guacamole and a Coke for lunch, and I also got to deal with the peddlers. There were dozens of people wandering around with jewelry or food items (fried bananas seemed popular—no, I didn't try it), all trying to get people to buy stuff. The ages ranged from about 6 to who knows how elderly, and while I felt bad I didn't buy anything there either. Before going back to the ship I walked down the rest of the town, and had everyone asking me to see/buy their stuff, so it was with a bit of relief that I went back to the cruise ship port. I looked at the stores, although everything looked quite expensive. I was most impressed when I found some earrings identical to a pair I bought in Canada for like $5, but when I asked how much they were I was told $35. Um, no. I didn't even bother bargaining, since I doubted we would find common ground there. I also watched a guy create spray painted landscapes, with only a couple of bowls, some newspaper, and a hell of a lot of spray paint. They were really lovely, and it was indeed fascinating to watch him create them so quickly. At the same time there were some Mayan dancers, who were beating drums and jumping and dancing about dressed in fairly traditional costumes, and burning something sulfury at odd times. They actually didn't ask for money, which I thought was amazing, since I would have given them some; I suspect they were paid by the cruise port to create some “local color”. I did wind up buying a Green Bay Packers bracelet for Fran, as thanks for watching the cats, before I went back on board. No show that night; I ate, read, watched TV, and went to bed. The next day was Belize. We got there fairly early, but it took a long way to get to the mooring area, since most of the bay is very very shallow. There is an old river bed on the bottom of the bay, thousands of years old (most likely from the last ice age, when the water level was lower), which is deep enough to allow cruise ships to travel in it. But the river twists and turns, so we and two other ships were turning here and there and all around, following the river bed to the mooring area, which was itself pretty far away from the pier. We did have to tender, and since the water was a bit choppy it was rather interesting—although while waiting I did get to see a large manta ray jump out of the water nearby, which was cool. And the boat ride was fast and fun to the pier. Belize City is a lot like other ports: a nice tourist area at the pier itself, with lots of security to get in, and an extremely poor area right outside. I walked around the tourist traps a while (after a bit you don't even have to go to all of the stores, since you see the same stores time after time in each port), then went outside to a little market until I got tired of being hassled, and then went inside. There was a place offering unlimited internet access for $5, which beat hell out of the ship's rate, so I spent a couple of hours in there catching up. It was hot and humid and sunny outside, which meant it was perfect for snorkeling. It was still a bit choppy after the boat ride to the reef, which appeared to be the same snorkeling spot for everyone. There were some newbies on the boat who weren't too sure about this “jumping into the water” thing, so I jumped in right away and swam a bit while everyone else built up the nerve. I didn't have to, because the water was wonderful. I like jumping into deep water from high up (thanks Brookwood!), and this was fun. The snorkel guides were a bit less “mother hen” on this tour, or at least they were towards me (I'm thinking they could see that I knew what I was doing). I did my part by staying away from the shallow areas (both to protect the coral from me and me from the coral), and spent a lot of time on the edges of the group, checking out fish and coral. It was still quite choppy, but I had no problem with water in my snorkel or anything, and I got to stay far enough away from others that I only got kicked a few times (which is a hazard in a mob of snorkelers). I enjoyed swimming in the warm water, bobbing around in the waves, and the 45 minutes or so in the water went by far too fast. Then it was back on the boat, and I arranged to be one of the last on the boat, as I didn't want to get out at all. We then headed toward a “private” island for another hour of party. Well, the party got started on the boat, with some really strong (at least to me) rum punch; I had a cup and then switched to Coke. But people were having a great time and drinking a lot, so between them and the scenery I was quite entertained. This private island was a bust. It was obviously man-made, out of dredged material: this was mangrove-island area, and there is little/no sand in mangroves, but this island was made of sand studded with very old, sharp shells. There were low wood seawalls around all parts of the island but the beach (which had a seawall out past the swimming area), with a few mangroves planted here and there for decoration and/or seawall support. There were some huts, which included restrooms and a bar, plus a sand volleyball area (I hope they removed the sharp shells from that area) and a lot of lounges by the beach. I went into the water and was really disappointed: the water was murky, the bottom was actually mucky (which gave me Lake Erie flashbacks that weren't fun), and there was lots of odd debris on the bottom. Some girls near me were picking up (with their feet) all sorts of bits of wood, plus one foot-long metal spring that looked like an ad for tetanus. I floated a bit, but then got out and wandered around the island (which took no time at all, even including looking at the parrot in the tree that had all the people with cameras entranced) until we left. I suppose some people had fun; I would much rather have spent the time snorkeling by the reef. There were a few kayaks that could be borrowed, but they went fast. On the boatride back to the ship the drinking was really underway, including loud music and singing and dancing, which I mostly watched, along with looking at the water (I was hoping to see more wildlife) and wishing I was still snorkeling. At least everyone made it back on the boat under their own power; rumor has it that on occasion people have to be carried off the boat from too much rum punch. We left third (this time last to arrive, first to go), and I got to watch the other ships twist and turn on their way out before we joined them. I also discovered that up in the 12th floor observatory/bar, there were some computer screens showing the same maps and information that the captain and pilots had, which meant I got to watch and see just how deep this river was compared to the rest of the sea floor, how fast we were going, all sorts of cool stuff. And then there was Roatan. This is, quite possibly, my favorite cruise destination so far. It's a small island off the coast of Honduras, and it's much more like the Caribbean than Central America. The poverty didn't look as bad (what I saw of it, anyway), and there were hills! Mexico and Belize are both flat and scrubby/jungly where we dock, but this was a nice hilly island. Again, there was a nice cruise port (although it only fit one ship at a time—there was another ship but it had to dock farther away). I had arranged a ship's tour to Tabyana Beach, which I had heard had wonderful snorkeling right off the beach (there were snorkeling tours, but I had my own equipment and didn't need a guide). I sat in the front of the shuttle van (there is sometimes an advantage to traveling solo) and had a great view of the drive up and down and through the hills. The driver was a bit out of his mind but only a bit, and I never felt in danger on this drive. Tabyana Beach is a large beach area at the west end of the island, with lots of resorts (and probably time-shares) being built. Norwegian had a separate area for its guests, with restrooms, a couple of gift shops, a bar (which had Pepsi!), and an included lunch. Plus many many lounge chairs, which were by no means filled by the number of tourists here today. There were also people offering massages, plus a lot of peddlers with booths set up at the property line plus people wandering the water-line. I didn't feel too bad about leaving my things on a chair, since there were a number of security guards wandering around. The water was amazing. It sloped gradually out before the coral began, and thus was great for kids (there was also an inflatable mountain thing that the kids were climbing and sliding down and such). I swam out from the beach and was directed (by some guys—lifeguards?--in kayaks who patrolled) toward the pink buoy to see fish. I headed that way, although I had seen a few fish and some coral. It turns out the pink buoy marks not only where there is a neat “canyon” through the coral with a white sand bottom, extending from, say 6 to 15 feet deep, but where a really bored guy in a kayak was occasionally feeding the fish. So there were SWARMS of big fat fish lurking around here, that would approach everyone hopefully. I kept swimming out toward the ocean, and continued swimming over canyons of all sorts of coral, plus more varieties of fish (if not as many). It probably got about 25 feet deep by the time I found myself between this inner reef and the outer reef, over a sand bottom with coral cliffs rising up 10-15 feet toward the surface. The visibility was wonderful, and it was all lovely. I watched fish, dove down to see some coral closer, watched a few jellyfish swim, and generally had a wonderful time. I even dove down to say hi to a couple of scuba-divers; I should probably re-learn how to scuba dive, but I much prefer free-diving. Particularly if I lose more weight, so I sink easier. I could have stayed there all day, and with a few interruptions, I did. I was at that beach for 5.5 hours, and probably spent 4.5 hours of it in the water. I did get out long enough to eat lunch (it was basically hamburgers/hot dogs/BBQ chicken, so I had red beans and rice, along with a couple of bottles of Pepsi (No, I'm not back on the demon drink—I actually think I prefer the taste of tea with Splenda now; besides, I don't think my body likes all that straight sugar any more). I swam, snorkeled, floated, watched people, and even grabbed some floating bread that kids were trying to give to fish and swam out to the pink buoy where the fish were. Now I know why you're not supposed to feed the fish: I let loose a couple of nibbles, and not only was I swarmed, but a big parrot-fish type thing came up and BIT ME. Right on the finger with its big sharp beak. And not only did the bite hurt, but it bled. Yes, fish have teeth: I had five parallel scrapes on my left index finger, and was worried a bit about infection (it's fine). No fish rabies, either. It's the second time I've been bitten by a fish to the point of bleeding, and both involved food; you'd think I'd learn by now. I did swim out over the outer reef, and found that, like many islands, there's a sheer drop-off there. The coral vanished down into a deep blue blankness, and since I'm a bit freaked out when I can't see the bottom, I went back in to the outer part of the inner reef, which was prettier anyway. I wish I had taken pictures, but they probably wouldn't have turned out anyway. It's probably the most gorgeous snorkeling since the Grand Caymans, although Roatan has the advantage of hills! After I got back to the boat, I did some shopping at the port stores and just sat and watched the traffic go by for a while. It was such a nice day, at least until we left and the rain began. Well, it had to rain sometimes, and other than some showers in the distance at Costa Maya (which resulted in a pretty rainbow and one spectacular lightning flash after dark that lit up the sky) the weather had been great so far. Cozumel was next. This was my third trip to Cozumel, and since I didn't want to go snorkeling (I hadn't been impressed with the prior two trips) or go see Maya things, I decided to shop. The ship docked at the downtown pier, right at San Miguel. When you exit the boat here (down another long pier) there's yet another tourist area, although this one is huge and directly connected to the rest of the town. I walked down the harborfront drag, checking out the tourist traps and trying to avoid the barkers. I was looking for the Cariloha store, since I wanted a set of bamboo sheets. I found the store and bought the sheets, which as it turns out were shipped to me from the US so I didn't have to carry them home (I received them Friday, and it turns out they are defective, so I have to send them back and get another set—I hope they're worth it; they seem to be an interesting cross between cotton and satin, in that they are very light and a bit slippery like satin, but soft like cotton). I also got a free bamboo lei, which I immediately took off in a (futile) attempt to not look like a tourist. I walked around streets off the waterfront, which seemed safe enough, although given the number of bars on the windows and glass on top of cement walls, is probably not that nice at night. There were a couple of stores I went into, including a music store that was pretty neat, with handmade instruments. I then walked back to the main square and sat in the shade for a while, watching everything get set up. It was nearly lunch, but it didn't look like things were really up and running just yet. I decided to buy the few things I liked and headed back to the ship: it was hot, I was tired, things were crowded, and it looked like rain. Which it did, right after I got back on the ship (good timing!). But like most tropical showers, it just poured for a few minutes and then stopped and the sun came back out. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon sitting on the ship in the shade and reading, although I did try to get wifi access on my cell phone from the Starbucks on shore (nope, didn't work). I also enjoyed watching people scurry back to the ship right before we left, and I was envious of a bunch of people on a large boat near our ship, who were jumping off the boat and swimming around the harbor—even in the harbor the water was clear enough that the bottom (which was at least 40 feet down) was visible. The next day was spent traveling north, and it was almost amusing how the weather changed. It was warm and sunny in the morning, and I was sitting in the sun or watching flying-fish, but around 3pm the clouds came in, the wind grew chilly, the water turned from a luminescent blue to a dull gray, and we were no longer in the tropics. I'm not saying much about my activities on the ship, mostly because I didn't do much of note. I read a lot, either outside or in the library (which had comfy chairs and was relatively quiet), I ate far too much, I looked at people. I did watch a bit of the comedian's show, but he wasn't particularly funny, so I left. I guess I was really anti-social, but oh well, it was good for me. New Orleans the next morning was rainy and chilly—well, 50's is chilly when you've been in Central America. I got out early with my bag and took the streetcar to near my hotel. The French Market Inn was really quite nice: it's a converted warehouse on the outside, with lots of rooms on different levels around a central courtyard inside. I had reserved a room without a window, but was given a room with a window, probably because the only windowless rooms I saw had two beds, and I only needed one. It was a bit old and worn, but the only real complaint I would have is that the walls were really thin. I could hear conversations in the next room, and when the Bourbon Street partiers came home at 2:30am, I could hear them come in (not that they were trying to be quiet or anything). But for $60, with a nice room and my own bath in a nice area, I wasn't about to complain. I actually got to check in at 9am, so I dropped off the bag and headed out with my jacket and my umbrella to see the Quarter. And promptly slipped and fell; it turns out that my Teva sandals have no traction on wet New Orleans sidewalk utility covers. It still hurts a bit; I don't know if I sprained it or tore something, but it didn't slow me down much, except when I was walking on metal. I spent much of the day wandering around the Quarter, sitting where I could when it wasn't raining. I did take the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden district, and got to see lots of amazing houses complete with decorations, plus Loyola and Tulane University. I thought about going to the Audubon Zoo, but I wasn't sure if it was open and it was a mile walk from the streetcar line, so I decided to do that another trip. There wasn't much open on Christmas, so I wound up eating both lunch and dinner at the same restaurant, a place called Daisy Duke's. Despite the name, I had some wonderful jambalaya for lunch, and later took a shrimp po-boy back to the hotel for dinner. Both were very tasty. I did make sure that I was on the riverfront to see the ship leave. It was just huge, even in that large river. I waved. And on the way back to the hotel, I stopped to watch a swarm of birds (starlings?) who were flocking in a huge liquid-like mass through the air, spreading and grouping and flowing. It was amazing, and I watched for about 10 minutes with a bunch of others on the sidewalk until they had finished. Quite lovely. The next morning I was up early to head back to the bus station. It was a foggy morning, but at least not actively raining. It seemed a much longer walk back than it had been to get to town, but I made it in plenty of time, whereupon at the bus station I once again got right into line, even though it was an hour until the bus was to leave. It turns out I didn't need to; the bus was beginning there, and it was far from full. However, in Mobile, the bus was indeed full and I wasn't near the beginning of the line, so I wound up sitting next to a very heavy woman, which was a bit uncomfortable. I moved at Pensacola, where I had the window seat and a nice skinny guy sit next to me, and she had a mom with a baby in her lap; I only felt a little sorry for her. It rained pretty much all the way from Pensacola to Panama City, but we still got in pretty much on time. And there it is! The next trip will be in May (I think I'm going to get my condo painted during spring break rather than traveling, particularly if my shoulder is still not working right), so tune in then!

Back home again

August 4--Panama City Beach, FL

I didn't go to Shoneys; I went to Outback Steakhouse instead. I had a very nice shishkabob, plus a chicken and bacon quesadilla. Then I waddled back to the motel.

Sleeping didn't go well, because there was a lot of activity outside. I don't know if it was prostitution or drugs or something innocuous, but there were people talking and knocking on a door and the door opening and closing all night. Combine that with the air conditioning apparently going out for a bit and the cats escaping and going under the bed, I didn't sleep well.

We headed out about 6:15, when it was 82 outside (and 87 in the rig). I stopped to get diesel, and then stopped at McDonalds, where I let the cats out in the RV (they could use the exercise) and I got breakfast and ate it while the cats ran around. Then I began to drive to Panama City.

I took my time, because it was only a few hours and I didn't want to be too early to the campground. The weather was OK; rather sunny and hot, reaching the low 90's by the time I got to PCB.

I'm in the same campground I stayed in last summer. There's a bit of shade, but I'm hoping it's cloudy while I'm here (I may be renting an apartment tomorrow and hopefully will move in (at least to sleep) on Friday). I met with Fran to get my car and had lunch, then I visited four or five apartment places, checked in at work, bought cat food and a sandwich for me, and then looked at the new library.

Now I'm relaxing, enjoying not having to drive far anymore. And I have a new trip to think about: my mother and I are taking a cruise to the other Panama City over Thanksgiving! We're going to take an excursion to go through the canal, which ought to be great. I'm looking forward to snokeling as well, and having a room with a balcony. I'm sure I'll update this blog more then!

Thanks for reading.

SMOG!

August 3--Montgomery, AL

I slept OK last night; I kept waking up to make sure I didn't oversleep. Well, I didn't; I was up at 5:30 eastern time and out by 6:45 (subtract an hour for Central time, where I am now). I filled up with diesel, bought some McDonalds breakfast burritos and a sweet tea, and headed out.

Lots and lots of hills, for most of the day (until after Birmingham, really). It wasn't too hot for the first hour or so, and actually it was rather foggy. I did notice that my gas mileage was rather bad--I blame the hills. I stopped right over the Tennessee border to fill up, and kept going (after turning on the air conditioner, since it was 84 or so by then--8am local time!).

Nashville was rather smoggy, although the construction/traffic wasn't too bad. The temperature really ramped up when I crossed into Alabama, leading support to my idea that Alabama is a suburb of hell. We hit the 90's in Decatur, and by the time we got to Birmingham it was flirting with 100. I hate driving through Birmingham, between the traffic and the lousy roads, and this was no different. But we made it! I did lose a couple of years of life when some cars that had apparently had a bit of a fender-bender were stopped in the middle of the road, including my lane, and others were dodging around them and I slammed on my brakes and still don't know why I didn't get hit by someone driving like a maniac, since everyone drove like that all the time. But I'm feeling much better now!

I was going to stop in Birmingham, but decided to keep going to Montgomery; it's only about an hour and 15 minutes longer, and it had a pool. So I kept going, and got to the Motel 6 around 1:45pm. I'm in a handicapper room, which was the only single on the first floor. I got the cats unloaded, but not before the temperature in the RV reached 92; I shudder to think what the temperature must be now, but since I forgot to get clothes for tomorrow, I may find out soon. And I might need my umbrella as a parasol to go for dinner!

The room is nice, with a wooden floor, although when I let the cats out Nell discovered that she could indeed get under the bed, so I lifted the bed up to try to get her out, and nearly cut Puck in half when I lowered it, so after a few more misadventures they're both back in the kennel. Nell is meowing, most likely because she's hungry (too bad, so am I), and I suspect Puck is just glad he's not in that hot RV and/or cut in half.

I just went out to try the pool, but 1. it's somewhat dirty-looking, and 2. when I put my feet in I found out that the pool is about 95 degrees, and the water almost feels a bit slimy. So no pool for me. Which is probably good, because the sun is strong enough to reduce me to ashes in a very short period of time (and I'm not even a vampire!). It'd be nice if we got a thunderstorm and cooled off a bit, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm planning, when it gets cooler or I get hungrier, to walk to the Shoney's across the street. Yay Shoneys!

Only about four and a half hours to Panama City, and the weather there looks normal, which is damn hot enough--highs 90, lows 78 or so. If it doesn't get much hotter than that, we'll be fine until I can get an apartment (hopefully by this weekend).

I guess I slept well . . .

august 2--Shepherdsville, KY

. . . because sometime last night some guy decided to take a header out of the fourth floor window and smash into the sidewalk a few rooms down from mine. I headed out that way to get to the RV and saw all the broken glass and the dried red areas, and thought maybe someone had dropped wine and/or soda with a pizza or something. The broken window was then pointed out to me, and I was told the lovely story. You'd think the Motel 6 would block off that door, or that the police would, or that someone would have cleaned up the gore and broken glass, but no. Rumor has it he didn't survive. I shouldn't wonder, given it was the fourth floor and, from the glass break pattern, he went through head-first.

Eesh. The day got better. It almost had to. I checked my tires (all well), loaded up the kitties (after moving the RV so I didn't have to walk through the debris) and headed out. I got to Port Huron in about an hour and 15 minutes, and spent 40 minutes waiting to get through customs. Grrr. And then I got Mr. Wonder-Customs-Guy, who I think was trying to trip me up from my prior stories--he stated that "you have a pet" and I confirmed two cats. He asked me why I stopped in London, and I told him about the show (I should have showed him the program). He finished by asking me what year was my vehicle; I told him. I suspect he looked up my license plate to play 20 questions to see if I was Al-Qaeda or something. Given all that, he didn't bother looking through my rig, which everyone else has done.

The interstates in lower Michigan are awful. Horrible, bumpy, terrible. Even with all the construction, they stay horrible. Things improved when I reached Ohio, and got diesel and lunch (and let the cats out a bit--I told them it was going to be a long day, but I don't think they believed me). Then more driving.

I also hate I-75 in general. Whether you're in Michigan or Ohio or Kentucky (or Florida, for that matter), it's heavy traffic and wall-to-wall semi trucks. And every time a semi overtakes me I get pushed all around the road, which freaks me out, since I feel like I'm either going to be pushed into another semi on my other side or into a wall or something. I'm also a bit leery, since I almost got sideswiped by a semi in Canada, so I wasn't happy. Every city had construction: Detroit, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Louisville. And around Dayton it got above 90 degrees. The high was 97 here in Louisville, right before I stopped.

The Motel 6 here is old and tired, but clean. I got a room right on the end with a lovely efficient air conditioner, although I had to go talk to the desk to have them turn my water on (there's renovation here in the bathrooms, and apparently after they finished mine they forgot to turn the water on). I also can't let the cats out, because the bed is old and they can get up into the box spring and Nell, for one, will. I think tomorrow I'll take them out early to the rig and feed them there and let them stretch their legs. It's the real problem with going to motels with cats: they're often penned up in the fabric kennel, which is rather small. But I don't want to camp when it's 93 degrees in the shade. Oh well.

Onward south tomorrow!

And now it's over

No, nothing bad has happened, but I've thought of seeing "The Tempest" as the end of the summer vacation, and it really feels like it. Dammit.

The show was fantastic. I didn't sleep too well last night (I don't know why, but I've not been too successful sleeping in motels this trip), and I was out the door by 8:45 or so. I followed the GPS instructions to Stratford without incident (44 miles).

It turns out I was right, and there are nice shaded spots along the river--I'll remember that for next time (if there is a next time, although after looking at next season I'm tempted to spend more time here--or maybe volunteer!). I walked around Stratford, which has lots of older brick houses of two and a half stories that are just lovely. Also an old-fashioned downtown, and the park next to the river is beautiful--grass and trees and benches everywhere so you can look at the swans and ducks (very few geese, and no Canada geese, which seems odd). It appears to be the tradition to pack a big picnic lunch, eat it at this park, then go see a show. It even looks a little like Stratford-upon-Avon, although there's not nearly as much river current here, and instead of rowboats they rent pedal-boats.

The Festival theatre is huge, with a big thrust stage. I was in the orchestra, fifth row, all the way over on the side, but I could see most everything. The show was great, and Christopher Plummer is a god. But I kind of knew that before.

Due to my seat location, I got out and got to my car before most people had left the building. I know this because I had to drive through a bunch of people on the way out who needed to realize that while they had numbers, it's best to get out of the way of a 10,000-lb RV. I just went slowly and let them part around me, and got out before the worst of the traffic began. I do think some theatre-goers caught up with me on the way home, though, because there was a lot more traffic and I got passed a couple of times like I was standing still.

It's probably good that I got this room, as it is indeed hot out--84 with humidity to match. Not as hot as it is down south; I'm not looking forward to going back, for any number of reasons. Ah well. The next three days are long drives, and probably staying at motels due to the heat. I'll try to keep updated, but if you want to say hi remember that my phone will be working once I cross the border (about 10am tomorrow, I'd say).

And the award for worst showers goes to . . .

Toronto-West KOA!

Seriously, the showers frighten me. I was wondering yesterday whether taking a shower would leave me dirtier than I was before. Just ew. Hair, dirt, bugs, clogged drains, just awful.

The other thing about this campground is, they have firepits that, if the campground is full, burn about five feet away from other RVs. That's too close. The sites here are just crammed in. Luckily it hasn't been full, and I'm leaving today for a motel, where I can stash the cats while going to Stratford without worry.

I did enjoy the local harness-racing track. I watched some races, which were interesting, and did a bit of slot machine gambling, where I actually came out ahead. I also had a salad yesterday at the only walkable restaurant (other than the casino); I'm not sure my system knows what to do with healthy food!

The weather has been very nice: sunny but not too warm. It's only about 51 degrees this morning, and I had to use the blanket; the next time I need a blanket will probably be November, if we're lucky. It's been 94 with a heat index of 108 in Panama City; do I really need to go back?