Ok, so where was I?...

I've been away from the computer for a while, I know. Partly because I'm still trying to get back on my shift schedule, partly from computer problems, and partly because with my rekindled interest in hunting and the outdoors, I've spent my time on the computer mostly on hunting sites and perusing the Cabela's catalog online. I SOOOOO can't wait until I can get back out in the woods with a loaded weapon. Right now in Georgia it's turkey season. One of my favorites but unfortunately, my shotgun is resting comfortably in North Carolina and I'm in Bakersfield, CA. Meaning that even if I was home I couldn't go hunting. Ah well, the anxious anticipation is just as titillating as sitting with my back to a tree in the woods at dawn awaiting the soft crunch of leaves somewhere close by.

As for the cruise, I was on day 5 I believe. I awoke about 5:30 a.m and looked out our balcony door to take in the shining jewel of Aruba. Oranjestad to be precise. The cruise ship was not farther than a quarter mile from the main drag. In fact, the only thing between the ship and shopping was a local marina. Beth and I got up, dressed and headed for breakfast. The stewards usually leave some information about the next port of call the night before you get there so you have a chance to familiarize yourself a little. I prefer to do this over breakfast. It's fresher on the mind that way and it also avoids that awkward eye contact thing from the people at the next table. After breakfast, we headed back to the room to gather our excursion gear. We decided to take our own snorkel gear and man was that a blessing! We disembarked and caught a local bus to Malmok beach on the other side of the island. We spent most of the morning there in the water and walking around the quaint neighborhood. By noon though, we were both getting hungry so we caught the nearest local back to town. Roundtrip...$2. We found a great local hangout downtown called Iguana Joe's and had a wonderful lunch. These Caribbean towns are known for their duty free shopping so we had to do a little of that too. We bought some local artwork, a wedding band for me, and I bought 3 cubano cigaros.(a Monte Cristo #2, a Cohiba, and a Romeo y Juleitta). It was getting late and while Aruba is also known for its nightlife, we on the other hand are not. We headed back to the ship with our booty and after dinner sat out on our balcony for a while to watch the partiers head for town. It was another early-to-bed night but that was OK because day 6 was the one I was waiting on...

Willemstad, Curacao. From the pictures we saw before the trip, the storefronts on Handelskade look very much like the colorful Rainbow Row of Charleston, SC. While it was similar, it was very obvious we were worlds away from the low country. We had a paid for excursion here so we met our transportation and headed off to the snorkelling hole. Our guide took us and 3 other couples on a speedy tour through the city and over the bridge towering above the waterway. We were the only excursion going out that far but it was well worth it. Our first dive was a good introduction for the other couples, but evidently Beth and I won the confidence of the guide because she said, " we're heading over there to that pylon so if you want to go on ahead, we'll meet you over there." We did and enjoyed all the wonderful coral formations and tropical fish and the rest of the group wasn't that far behind us anyway. One drawback, however, was that Beth and I were the youngest in the group and while we could have stayed out there all day, we didn't want to be the ones everyone was waiting on so we all stayed and played together. On the way to the next spot, we stopped at a hospital that was used in the 1800's as a quarantine hospital and later during WWII as an allied hospital for wounded military personnel. Then we were taken to the fort that was built back in the 1700's and which most of is still standing and in fairly decent shape. I commented on the odd yellow bricks used in some of the buildings and the guide said that they were all imported from Denmark (it is the Dutch Antilles after all) and that at the time the fort was the most expensive of its kind in the New World. Our second dive spot was also spectacular and with the bonus of a sunken tugboat to dive. I believe I was the only one not staying on the surface and it was getting pretty crowded by that time because there were other excursion boats gathered around. We got back into town a little before 1:00PM and asked our guide for the best local lunch fare. After she dropped us off, we made our way to La Gouverneur and had a great lunch over looking the waterway and on the other side, the colorful Handelskade. An interesting note: Willemstad is on the waterway between an oil refinery and open water so a couple of times during lunch, there were HUGE tanker ships heading out to sea and looming so big and so close that we couldn't even see the tops of them from our seats without craning our necks down. After lunch we hit the markets and walked across the foot bridge to traipse across Handelskade. There were some local crafts people set up and we bought a couple pieces of local handicrafts then walked through the more commercial shopping area behind Handelskade. The ship was leaving at 5:00PM so we hurried back to the boat. Beth was tired and stayed in the stateroom but I went up and out on deck 12 to watch the whole operation of un-mooring and leaving the dock. From where I stood, I could see officers up on the flying bridge and the tenders down below. Very neat operation that. I would have loved to stay there a little longer but there's always the next cruise. After dinner, we met some friends and played some pool on the auto stabilizing tables. You'd be surprised, but on tables like these, it's actually EASIER to hit the ball after having a few drinks. Hey, tomorrow's another sea day, I can sleep late..

Panama Cruise, day 2 and 3

Day 2 was a “sea day” meaning that there were no ports to visit or excursions to enjoy. That doesn’t mean it was boring, on the contrary, I loved sea days. There were lots of activities to do or you could just find a nice place to sit in the solarium and get caught up on your reading. Day 2 started out just like I had planned. I got up at 5:30 a.m. and went to the gym. I walked for half an hour and then lifted weights for another half an hour. By the time I got back to the stateroom, Beth was up and had already been to the coffee shop onboard (Latte-tudes. Cute, huh?). She noticed in the Compass (the daily activities list, etc.) that there was an art auction that afternoon with complimentary champagne. Now there are two words that should never be used in the same sentence! Free AND champagne?! What were they thinking? Add that to “art auction” and watch out, now you’re messing with nitroglycerine. (Come to think of it, I guess that WAS what they were thinking.) We did our share of free champagne, and theirs, and theirs, and oh yeah, theirs. And we even bought a little art for the house. Beth had the good sense to stop there with the alcohol. I, on the other hand, have never been known for my sense, good or otherwise. I keep telling myself, “live and learn”, but I keep livin’ without learning a damn thing. I switched to wine at dinner, then on to the Cuba Libre’s (that’s rum and coke to you land lubbers) after dinner. Well that takes us up to 8pm and that’s all I can tell you about day 2.
My head still hurts thinking about day 3. Day 3 was our first Port-of-call: Labadee, Haiti. A private section of the island owned exclusively by Royal Caribbean Intl. We had a kayaking trip scheduled, but I wasn’t up for it. In fact, I never made it off the boat when we got there. Beth did her kayaking and shopping and graciously came back to check on me (have I said how much I LOVE this woman?). I hadn’t moved. I was frozen in time with only one leg in my pants and both fists still wrapped around the waistband and slumped sadly to one side. She convinced me to get up and showered and to at least try to see some of Haiti. The shower did make me feel better and by the time we ate a little breakfast and caught the tender over, I was ready. She had talked to the kayak people and they had agreed to move my trip to the 1 o’clock trip so I wouldn’t miss out. We saw a couple of shows and did a little shopping and wading in the ocean and then it was my turn to kayak. Normally I like kayaking but I got my payback this day. The kayaks they use are tandems meaning 2-seaters. If only one person uses it, they have to sit in the back and since it’s built for 2, they are very unstable. The offered to seat someone with me but I had been kayaking before and figured I could handle it. It never occurred to me that I had never been in a tandem kayak, let alone by myself. When one person sits in the back of a tandem kayak, the front end sticks up in the air and acts somewhat like a sail. I spent the next 2 hours fighting the currents, winds, and aggravation. Yep, I’d say I got mine back in spades that day. We did a little snorkeling and then caught the last tender back to the ship. No wine with dinner that night and we were back in the room and in our pj’s by 8:30. We were both exhausted but I’m glad I didn’t miss out. Day 4 was another sea day and man was I glad. So much for getting up and hitting the gym every morning.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

We've been home for a few days now from our Panama cruise. It's taken that long just to get our gears meshed back in line. We're both still tired and dreamy but slowly we're returning to the normalcy of everyday life as a trucker. The trip was phenomenal and over the course of the next few days, I'll be recapping our trip as there is probably not a whole lot of new stuff going on between here and Seattle.

As I said before, we're both tired but...

We arrived in Miami about 11:30 on the 21st. We couldn't check in yet so we returned the car and walked back. It was only nine blocks back. We hung out in the lobby for a little while. I didn't want to move because I was lugging a 48 lbs. book bag around filled with our computer, money, and everything we didn't want stolen. I was eventually talked into finding a place to get a drink and since we were right across the street from the famous 'Bayside', that wasn't hard to do. Bayside is kind of like smaller, more expensive version of Myrtle Beach. Lots of boutiques, restaurants, and clubs. Beth and I settled at Bubba Gump's and started relaxing. We were to meet a couple, Steve and Cathy from Arizona, for dinner so we headed back to get ready. We met them through the cruisecritic website. Now by this point, I was feeling no pain. I don't know if it was from excitement or anxiety but I was passed my line. We met the couple at Bubba Gump's and had a wonderful dinner. Afterwards, Beth and I walked around the market and took in the Miami nightlife. I smoked one of my cigars as we walked and by the time we got back to the room, we were both ready for bed.

The next morning I realized it was anxiety that was knocking on my door. While Beth was napping, I had to call my support structure. I was feeling undeserving and even a little afraid of what was about to happen. I'd never left the country, let alone on a boat. I'd never done anything that required the involvement of so many documents and governmental regulations. I'd never been on a ship that size with that many people. There was so many things going through my head I wasn't even sure that I wanted to go. I only knew that I was going and the sooner we got going, the sooner we got back. I was excited but I was more anxious.

We showered and repacked and got a taxi to the port. We tipped our porter and went through the boarding process without a hitch. It only took us 45 minutes to get from the taxi to the lobby of the ship. Now keep in mind, I was still bogged down with a 50 lbs. pack, but we had to do a lot of stuff before I could unburden myself and relax. We had to check on reservations for the upscale dining room, Portofino's; we had to check with guest relations for the 'cybercabin' (internet) cables; we had lunch; checked on the 'wine & dine' packages. We were up and down stairs and elevators most of the rest of the morning which did nothing for my anxiety, but by 1 o'clock we could get into our stateroom. I was so relieved to put that bookbag down! We relaxed for a while then went exploring. The ship, at first, was huge! It was like a city on water. Movie theater, spa, gym, pools, casino, basketball court, restaurants, and bars, so many bars! We got back to the room and dressed for dinner. One of the few nights we could wear shorts to the dining room so we took advantage. Besides, our luggage hadn't arrived to the room yet. We were fortunate to have such wonderful tablemates. There was Bernie and Sandie from Colorado, Cynthia, Gussie, and Joanie from Florida and NY, Mike and Anne from Arizona, and Keith and Sue all the way from Kent, England. We later found out that Keith and Sue own Teapot Island in Kent and are in the Guiness Book of World Records for the most tea pots. Their website can be found at www.teapotisland.com. After dinner Beth and I were completely exhausted. We headed back to the stateroom and then to bed. Fortunately, the next day was a sea day so we could sleep in.