The Voyage Home

January 23, 2013


This will be the last blog entry for the Voyage Home on the “Vision of the Seas.” My internet package will expire with this posting, and as long as I stay on, they will let me have the extra minutes at the discounted price.

So a couple of pictures, I don’t think you’ve seen.  And if I posted them earlier, it was only because they were good, and are deserving of a second look.

We entered our cabin one night to find an elephant on our bed.

The guy in the post card reminded me of a Big Guy back home.

A view of our favorite spot in this itinerary – Bathsheba, Barbados.

And looking down from “Good Luck Hill” in St. Lucia.

“They say the sea is cold, but the sea has the hottest blood of all” – D.H. Lawrence, Whales Weep Not

And so do you.

See you at 233 or 7257.

TTFN!

Aruba

January 22, 2013

We went ashore in Aruba for about an hour.  The old people were tired, but we got the Bro a T-shirt.

On this cruise we visited the A and the B of the ABCs – Aruba and Bonaire.  We were in Curacao last year – our second and almost third visits (regular readers of this blog will remember we were on a plague ship, full of folks infested with the norovirus, that got within an hour of Willemstad and turned around, sailing back to Fort Lauderdale).

We were last in Aruba in October, 2010.  There is a T-Rex on top of one of the souvenir stands, but the poor fellow doesn't look like he's had a fresh coat of paint in the last 27 months, baked thin by the Caribbean sun.  This time we photographed a relative of Rex’s, a lizard named “Lizza” – she looks like a sickly relative of Godzilla, and has been reduced to selling fruit drinks.

I did stop and talk to Ludmilla, a tour guide from the Rodina who was waiting with a sign printed in Cyrillic, offering to guide others from Russia, through her new homeland.  After we walked out past a couple dozen souvenir stands, I said if she’s still there when we get back we will hire her for a tour, but she was gavarooing to a couple from back home and leading them to her vehicle and a trip around the island.  Oh well.

The “Vision of the Seas” is going next to the Western Caribbean, to Cozumel, Belize and ports around Central America.  Cozumel is one of our favorite places, and Belize is a stop on our list to visit.  Maybe another time.  And “Vision” is doing a repositioning cruise in April, going to the Baltic Sea, via France and England, eventually reaching St. Petersburg.  That would be a fun sailing, indeed.  Then she’ll go into dry dock for a refit, and when she sails again, she will go through the Panama Canal.  Another itinerary for our bucket list!

Well, this may be the last blog for this cruise.  Check back tomorrow just in case.  For now – TTFN!

Bonaire

January 21, 2013


In case you have not heard, the Super Bowl will be banned from 233 this year.  With the Falcons eliminated there is no one to root for.  And with the Dirty Birds from Baltimore, led by Killer Lewis, representing the AFC, we sure won’t watch it.  I’ll get the commercials via the Internet.

Our day started off with a bang.  Literally!

We did not dock until noon, so I slept till 7:30, did my morning ablutions, then woke Bonnie, and we went to breakfast.  I selected my usual – scrambled eggs, one biscuit and gravy, 6 tater tots, a small spoonful of hash, and a cup of coffee.  While enjoyable every other day, it did nothing to satisfy my breakfast needs, so after eating only about 4 bites total, I went to the egg station and had a fresh omelet cooked – JAMM Kids do your best Pappy Carter – deeeeelicious.  I went for a second cup of coffee as we headed for our spot on Deck 6 to read and wait for the call to go ashore.  Using the same cup I had earlier, I poured a fresh cup, took two steps, and the cup exploded!  The cup split down the side from top to bottom, and circled around the inside of the bottom.  Coffee went everywhere (except on me).  A most interesting start.  I got another cup and resumed my course with no more explosions.

I watched as the Pilot Boat came alongside and the Pilot – the man in the white shirt – climbed up a rope ladder to direct us to the dock.  Pretty interesting.

This island is home to 16,000 proud inhabitants. Our tour guide showed us a number of donkeys whose ancestors were released to the wild when human slaves were released, and they cannot be owned by anyone, or forced to do anywork.  They wander wherever they wish, causing 30-40 traffic accidents a year, he said.

The biggest building on the island, our guide said, is our cruise ship.  And it has the island’s only movie theater.  When we sail away, the theater goes with us.  And the biggest building.

We saw a number of pink flamingos, the island’s bird.  Pink is one of the major colors on Bonaire.  Even the international airport is painted flamingo pink.  Flamingos, you will be pleased to learn, are not born pink, but a dull grey.  They eat only shrimp and after five years of this steady diet, they turn pink – who wouldn’t?  And flamingos mate for life – if a bird’s spouse dies, he or she pines away, never remarrying.

Speaking of death, when you die on Bonaire, you are buried in a small mausoleum.  They do above ground, not in ground.  After 5 years, your body is removed, whatever remains of your remains is returned to your family for cremation or burial, and your old spot is rented out to someone else.

We toured, literally, around the island, from the southwest side from the capital city Kralendijk, to the northeast side where the winds blow hard off of the Atlantic and nothing lives there but cactus, donkeys, and Divi Divi trees bent over by the wind.  There are a few iguanas there as well.  Our guide said that chicken tastes like iguana.

The spectacular white pyramids in today’s edition are mounds of sea salt processed on a 9,000 acre salt mine, and run by an American company. The salt is variously processed to serve from your table to making roads safe in winter.

I will close with reference to Fort Oranje, in downtown area.  Built by the Dutch in 1639, it has never been attacked.  With thanks to all of those who are serving or have served in the Armed Forces, may all forts be so fortunate.

See you tomorrow from Aruba.

Oh, my brother, the Harley shop here on Bonaire was only a repair shop – no shirts for sale.  Maybe on Aruba.

TTFN!

Grenada

January 20, 2013


And as Grenada fades into the east, we set sail for Bonaire and Aruba.

Fortified by a hearty cup of black coffee and an English muffin covered with peanut butter, I led about 40 folk in the morning worship service and served communion.  I’ve never done intintion with wafers and wine, but there was a good Spirit in the “Some Enchanted Evening Lounge.”

Then Bonnie and I went exploring.  We walked off the ship, passed all the jewelry stores and started the climb up to Fort Toad (actually, it has another name, but there you go).  Someone should count the number of steps, but if they posted them before heading out, most folk would say, “Uh, I don’t think so!”  There’s a long, long trail a winding to the top of the Fort, but the view from up there is spectacular – all four pictures for this posting are from that vantage point.

Going back down was no easier because the treads were not the same height, but we did it without calamity.  Bonnie and her cane will not be slowed down!  Next we walked through Sendall Tunnel which was dug through the mountain in 1894.  Our destination was the Grenada Museum.  The sign out front said “Closed Sunday,” but with two cruise ships in port, it was open.  A small and rather dusty museum, but a couple good ideas gained for future cruise talks.

Back through the tunnel we went – which is barely wide enough for one motor vehicle, let alone a motor vehicle and pedestrians.  Kind of scarey, actually, because the drivers enjoy zooming down the road scaring the bejeebers out of walkers.  Since my bejeebers were scared out of me one night in Samara, Russia, I was okay – raise your hand if you’ve heard the story.  They did terrorize Bonnie.  But it was either do it, or stay over there and miss the ship.  We chose the danger.

Great show last night.  There were two acts.  The first was Florescent Art, done with black screen and black light.  Very inventive.  Very clever.  The second act was two Argentine guys with long hair and pants with ruffles around the bottom, dancing with whips and boleros – it was quite hilarious and very good also.  Matt, they probably would have been good with birch branches, too.

Well, let me get to the internet and post this edition.  More tomorrow from Bonaire, then Aruba, then it’s pumpkin time.

TTFN!

Barbados

January 19, 2013

   
From where I am sitting on Deck 6, looking across to the starboard side of the “Vision of the Seas” I am watching the sun set in the Caribbean.  What a beautiful sight!  I snapped a picture, but it does not do it justice. That's not the sunset pix.

We were supposed to sail almost an hour ago, but there is quite a traffic jam in Bridgetown harbor this evening.  There were six cruise ships in port today, two of them sailing vessels, each with five masts.  Bonnie called one of them a Pirate ship.  I hope they have a winning season!

We waited for a Celebrity ship to sail and a cargo ship to dock.  The tug is alongside now and we will be heading to Grenada in a few minutes, docking there at 7 a.m. tomorrow.  I will be leading the Protestant worship service at 8 o’clock and then Bonnie and I will go exploring for a while.  I want to be back onboard early to prepare for my 2:30 talk on “The ABCs: Basic Paradise” – about Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.

Today we met Sarah Taylor about 9 o’clock and spent the morning and early afternoon exploring my favorite island in the West Indies (the Bajans do not like it if you say they are in the Caribbean – they are in fact in the Atlantic).

Sarah has a tour company called “Glory Tours” and writes a blog about Barbados.  A very knowledgeable young lady, and justly proud of her homeland.  She toodled us around when we were here in October 2010.

She told us that she sat up late last night listening to a political debate.  They are to have elections every five years, but their prime minister will not fulfill his constitutional duties and call for an election – instead he is asking for a budget from each of the departments (must be related to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue).  I told her that’s not bad, because our president, in violation of our Constitution, has not put forth a budget in four years.

And that’s the report just in from FoxNews!

I asked her to take us to see the only intact windmill on Barbados, one of only two intact still in the West Indies.  There used to be hundreds doing the work of processing sugar cane, but now they are all but gone.  This one, Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill, is only used twice a year, once a day at the opening and then again at the closing of the sugar season.  It was actually rebuild a few years ago after a devastating lightening strike.

From there she took us to the most beautiful part of Barbados, Bathsheba.  Barbados is not a volcanic island like most of the Caribbean islands.  Instead if is a coral island and in Bathsheba you can see coral formations that have been carved out by the sea throwing grains of sand against huge coral boulders.

We then went on to St. John Parish where we visited St. John Church.  There is an interesting grave in the cemetery belonging to the late Ferdinando Paleolocus.  Rumor had it that Mr. P. was buried backwards.  Greek Orthodox folk, and he was one, are to buried with their feet pointing east and their heads pointing west, so that when Jesus returns from the east, they will be looking at him.  About 200 years later, the local priest, tired of the rumor dug him up, found he had been buried properly, and reburied him – properly.

And we found more cannons!

After sightseeing for several hours we went in search of a restaurant where I could sample the national dish – Flying Fish.  Sarah found a great spot and she and I had a club type sandwich of delicious FF and Bonnie had a tuna salad sandwich which she pronounced as excellent.

The next time you are in Barbados, contact Sarah to be your tour guide.  We had a great time.

Next blog tomorrow from Granada.

TTFN!

St. Lucia

January 18, 2013


I forgot to tell you that our entertainment Tuesday night was “The Drifters.”  Anyone born after 1965, go to Youtube and look for “Under the Boardwalk,” or “Save the Last Dance for Me.”  The last time we heard them we were Freshpeople at Frostburg State College.  They were the major entertainment during Home Coming Week.  Something happened to their band, and they did the whole concert that night accompanied by only a guitar.  They had the “Vision of the Seas” orchestra backing them up Tuesday night, and those old codgers did a great job.

Breakfast this morning brought forth an amusing anecdote.  No, Bonnie didn’t do it.  I had some standard breakfast fare from the buffet – scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage – and then went back to get some oatmeal (enhanced with a big pat of butter and several tablespoons of brown sugar).  Next to the oatmeal was a container marked “Grits.”  A lady – could have been from West Lake – spooned up a big helping of grits and then put brown sugar and almonds on them.  I said, “That must be an interesting taste: grits and brown sugar.”  In a very haughty voice she assured me, she was not eating grits, it was cream of wheat and she’d had it every morning.  I casually pointed at the sign and she said, “These aren’t grits!  I do not like grits!”  Whatever gets you going, lady.

We took a tour today to the Soufreire volcano, a 5.5 hour bus ride there and back over roads that would have made a snake envious of its twists and turns.  Kyle, you remember Route 50 going to Morgantown, or was it to Cheat, that had the two hairpin turns?  The whole route was hairpin turns.  Back and forth, forth and back.  And barely wide enough for two vehicles.  Our drive is a talented chauffeur, indeed.

The volcano last erupted in the 1700s, not with lava and magma but with steam and sulfur.  Miners took hundreds of tons of sulfur out in years gone by.  Some folks still bathe in the steam baths, and an aroma of rotten eggs is in the air.  But a very nice spot to see.

The main reason I chose that tour was to see the Piton mountains, a very characteristic geological formation on St. Lucia.  Alas the sun was behind them, so my pictures are not as good as I had hoped.  We’ll have to come back!

Well, let’s get this posted.  Travels and Tribulations will return tomorrow from my favorite island in the West Indies – Barbados.

TTFN!

Antigua

ANTIGUA

January 17, 2013


If this is Thursday, it must be Antigua (we are docked beside two other ships, the “Oriana” and the “Costa Luminosa”).

We slept in, then ate breakfast on Deck 9 in the Windjammer Care, filled our water bottles, grabbed our Pirates hats and headed into the island (where one native told me he liked the Steelers).

Then out through customs and ...

“No, thank you, sir, we do not want to hire a cab.”
                   
“No, thank you, sir, we do not want to take an island tour.”

“No, thank you, sir, we do not want to go on a safe, one-hour trip.”

Everyone who has been offered fur hats on Red Square raise your hand.

Having successfully navigated the gauntlet, and using our trusty map to find Socolito and two whales named George and Gracie, we went to Diamonds International where Bonnie got her free charm bracelet and charm.  She actually started that charm bracelet many cruises ago, and we’ve probably collected half of the available charms.

Next we bought some postcards and inquired as to the location of the Post Office.   “Down this alley, turn right, and it’s the blue and yellow building.”  It was like entering a Poychta in Russia, a time machine back 50 years.  The denomination of the stamps we purchased was 75 cents (East Caribbean Dollars).  We were charged 30 cents U.S. (should have been 25 cents, but oh well, what’s a nickle among friends).

Next we went into the Antigua Historical Museum, paid $3 U.S. and looked at some great historical artifacts, including pieces from the Arawaks who were the first people to settle on most of the Caribbean Islands (and as far north as Fort Lauderdale).  For you who are doing history research papers on indigenous people, they came from Venezuela in dug out canoes across wide spances of water.  Brave folk.  Sadly, the next group in, the Carib, killed them all.  But there is justice.  When the Europeans arrived with small pox and typhoid fever, they killed all the Carib – but not before the Carib gave them a nasty strain of syphilis (it’s called, and I’m not making this up, “The Columbian Exchange”).

Granny posed for Mac, beside her first cannon of the trip.

Oh, we learned at the Museum that in 2009, the Antiguans renamed their Boggy Peak as Mount Obozo, I mean Obama.

Then we went off in search of two historic churches: St. John the Divine Anglican/Episcopalian Church and Ebenezer Methodist Church.

St. John’s has a graveyard with tombstones dating from the late 1700s.  Many of the graves are raised, making them mini-mausoleums.

The building itself is undergoing a massive restoration.  A lady standing at the entry to the grounds has a collection box and solicits a one dollar donation from each entrant.   You can see from the pictures of the outside of the building that it has been a beautiful structure.  And will be again.  That’s the beauty of it.

Someone at Macedonia tell Tina I got her a seashell.  Picked it up near a tombstone in St. John’s cemetery.  Since we don’t do the beach, that will have to do.  Insert smiley face here.

We walked several more blocks to Ebenezer Methodist.  A local insurance company was having a job fair or some such on the grounds.  We wandered into look around and seeing an open door and beyond several ladies cooking, I went in, introduced myself as a Methodist pastor from the United States and asked if we could look around.

A lady took us through the church, telling us that one Nathaniel Gilbert was instrumental in bringing Methodism to Antigua.  He was sick and asked for something to read.  His daughter brought him a book of John Wesley’s sermons.  Impressed, he took his entire family and household servants to England and arranged a personal visit with Wesley.  After listening to Wesley preach, in the fashion of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, Gilbert and all of his household were baptized.

Returning to Antigua, Gilbert left his political and legal career to become a Methodist preacher.  Two of his serving girls also began preaching.  Within 30 years there were 1000 Methodists on the island.

The church building is beautiful inside, with a rich use of dark wood.  There is an elevated pulpit and a balcony similar to the Methodist Church we saw on St. Kitts.  Your faithful scribe climbed the steps to the pulpit and posed while his faithful companion learned how to use the zoom on the Canon 100 – “There are two buttons on the back of the camera!  Push one of them!”

Entering the pulpit reminded me of a quote from Frederick Beechner (wake up, Amy): “The preacher climbs the steps to the pulpit, turns on the lectern light, and deals out his note cards like a river boat gambler.  The silence in the shabby church is deafening.  Everyone knows what he has told them before.  Who knows what he will tell them this time.  Let him tell them the truth” (from “Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale”).

Back on the “Vision of the Seas” I am typing this blog entry and being tormented by my new Dell Inspirion 5520.  Would someone kindly google how to adjust the sensitivity of the keyboard and the touch pad so that WordPerfect will stop sizing and resizing itself, minimizing and maximizing itself, and generally being a nuisance.  And no comments from the Bro about getting a Mac!

I met Mike, the cruise director, for the first time today, having worked exclusively with Jennifer, the cruise program administrator.  He was very complimentary about my talks, commenting on the good crowds and the good comments he has heard.  Very nice.

There is no show this evening, but there is a “See It, Hear It, Say It” trivia contest and a program called “What’s That Big Band Song?”  We’ll do those, change for supper and join Bob and Marlene at the table to be served by Jose and Nik, both from India (Jose and Nik, not Bob and Marlene – oh my goodness!).  Bob and Marlene were sitting alone at a table for 10, as were we, and they asked if they could join us last night.  We were glad for them to come to Table 12.  Meeting new people and having folks who haven’t heard your stories – they can’t raise their hands – is one of the fun parts of cruising.

Well, that’s all until tomorrow and an exploration of St. Lucia.

TTFN!

Vision of the Seas

January 14, 2013


Sail away!

We are about 30 minutes out from Fort Lauderdale heading for Antigua.  Two talks then 6 ports, then 3 talks, including the Sunday morning worship service.  This is going to be a great cruise.  Trying to get a note out, and then a blog on Wednesday.

Later!

January 15, 2013

Okay, so no note out.  I could still text 45 minutes out from Fort Lauderdale, but 4G was gone.  And before all of you who have gone to the darkside, using Apple products, holler, “Ghetto phone,” let me tell you something funny.  I went to a class today on how to take better pictures with iPhone and iPad – I figured anything I could learn about taking better pictures would be cool, no matter what the device.

Well, we settle in the room and the hired Apple talker is huddled with the Royal Caribbean technician and they are trying to get her Mac to talk to his projector.  Nothing doing.  They switched cables, using official Mac cables, and nothing happened.  She admitted, “This happens frequently.” Not, I thought if you use a PC.  Ghetto products!   

When we sailed out, I went to meet Jennifer Williams, the Cruise Program Administrator, my contact in the Entertainment Department.  She gave me my schedule – 5 talks, plus the Sunday morning worship service.  While we were doing that, Bonnie was out on deck watching the sailaway.  A private vessel cruised past our ship, heading into Port Everglades, and as she drew along side the “Vision of the Seas,” a man walked to the rail, dropped his pants, and the “Vision” was mooned.  Bonnie said the smaller ship was too far away to notice any significant details.

My first talk, “St. Lucia: The Helen of the West,” was attended by 150 hearty souls, Bonnie said.  As part of my introduction, I told them all to wish her “Happy Birthday” tomorrow, and then gave them the short version of the story.  Raise your hand if you’ve heard it.

After the talk, there was one question from the audience, and a number of people came up afterwards to talk.  One man asked about our attendance at Frostburg College and told me he graduated from Northern Garrett County Junior-Senior High School in 1962.  I graduated from Southern High in 1965.  Mark that one down in the “small world” department.

Tonight is our first formal night on this voyage, and our first port of call is Antigua on Wednesday.  Hopefully some good photographs will be forth coming.

And hopefully our table will be better represented tonight.  Last night at a table for 10, we were the only guests in attendance and had the full and undivided attention of Jose and Nik.

Tonight is the Captain’s champagne reception.  We'll toast the Master of our ship with fruit juice.

TTFN!