THE LAST ISLAND

January 17, 2019

And so we say a fond farewell to 80 degree days, 70 degree nights, beautiful blue skies, green mountain paradises, even white sandy beaches and head for SNOW!  My weather prognosticators tell me that there is 8 inches on the ground in the area where we will dock Sunday morning with more on the way.  Good googilee-moogilee.  Captain, turn the ship around and pick out another island!

I have frequently remarked how blessed Bonnie and I are to travel like we do, and there is probably something wrong with someone who has been to so many neat places and can’t remember if he really has been somewhere.  Grand Turk is like that.  I have a couple of photographs in my photography talk that I have labeled Carnival Pride in Grand Turk.  Even my cruise buddy agreed with me – although she may just have been going along for the fun of it.  But this morning we stood out on Deck 3 Starboard side and watched as we sailed into the dock.  And nothing, absolutely nothing, looked like anything I’ve seen before.  Nothing!

The beach I walked along to take the picture of the Pride using my selfie stick with the phone turned upside down isn’t there.  The fort whose window I took a picture through, using the window as a frame for the picture isn’t there.  The cannon that I lined up in another shot with the ship isn’t there.  There isn’t there.  So I have no idea where those pictures were taken.

But there was one thing that convinced me we have been to Grand Turk.  It is the display honoring John Glenn and his Mercury space capsule, Freedom 7.  That I remember.

As regular readers of this space know, we like to wander around on our own, exploring the towns, the forts, the churches.  There was no town to explore.  There is nothing close to the dock.  Nothing.  Out the window on the Lido Deck while we were having lunch we spied what I think is a salt flat – an area where sea water is let into the land, then dammed up and the water evaporates, leaving behind the salt.  That’s it.  We could have rented a golf cart or taken a local tour, but declined, choosing instead to stroll through the tourist trap shops looking for stuff.  And we found some stuff, including a t-shirt for my beloved that changes colors in the sunlight.  We did buy a box of fancy chocolates as a thank you for the ladies who take care of us every evening at supper, guaranteeing that we get a private table.

Back on board I had a salad and a bowl of fruit for lunch and then we played some Yahtzee.  I won one game, now trailing 2-1 in this tournament.  Then we broke out the new dominos we bought in San Juan that replaced the old set of dominos we bought in San Juan and couldn’t find when we packed.  The old ones, and the new ones, are small, light weight, perfect for packing to fly, and obviously easily lost.  The old ones were in a white string tie bag.  If anyone sees them, kindly let me know.  Oh, I lost 105-94.

Okay, enough from me.  Let’s hear what my cruise buddy has to say about these and other events of the day.

TTFN

I shall take a break from killing the storm troopers in the Ewok forest while the Ewoks jump up and down for joy in my Star Wars angry bird game. Well some times you just need to relax and play some silly games.

Well, tomorrow back to the real world on a cruise ship on sea days heading home. He has 2 talks tomorrow: one at 11:15 in a room that will be filled to the edges with all the art stuff for the final gigantic art auction at 1:15 and one at 5 pm, hopefully not filled with art stuff. Maybe they will sell all of it, NOT!

I will get back to my crocheting and hopefully over the next two days I can finish my Valentine Day projects and get to work on Easter and finish when I get home. Oh by the way I need some 9 inch plastic Easter eggs. If you see any let me know so I can get them when I get home.  I will try and look for some while we are at Kyle’s.  Our supper will be delayed tomorrow night because of his 5 pm talk , so we will have to go to the 9:15 show. And it is elegant night again. So have to dress up extra. We dress every night but most people just come in shorts and t-shirts, which you aren’t should to do.

They haven’t had any real good sales on t-shirts this time or I have missed the sales. Actually there haven’t been any sales that are much.

Well, tonight was the Consuela Ivy show. We have seen her twice before and though she has a lovely voice she does too much other stuff rather than sing. The other stuff is not very entertaining to us. In a 45 minute program she may sing 4 songs. So we opted for 2 PG comedy shows, one at 7pm and one at 8:15. Both comediennes were good but we liked the second guy better. If they do another PG show we may try and go.

I actually slept till about 6. We didn’t get to Grand Turk till 10:45. When we left San Juan we were over 40 minutes late leaving, because two couples were very late. All aboard was at 2:30 and one couple got back at 3 pm and the other at 3:10. The ship had pulled the gang plank and was leaving when the second couple finally arrived. The crew had taken the pass ports of the first couple down to the dock and were going to leave them when they had arrived at 3. There were people standing out on deck yelling “leave them”! They did put the gangway back out so the second couple could get on the ship. I sure hope they had a serious talk to both couples.

Today was not much. Just a port complex with all the normal tourist shops. We bought a couple of things. But really nothing of the island could you visit unless you traveled away from the port. The ship only stayed from 10:45 to 6. They did have a nice beach area right off the ship so maybe next time we could do the beach thing with LOTS of sun screen.  My spot of red is much better after using your Dad’s cream.

I had bought a real pretty beach cover up that I am wearing tomorrow night with a black top (because you can see through the cover up) and black slacks. We will take a picture. It is decorated like a peacock. I think it will be pretty.

Well, we don’t have to get up real early, just about 7. I want to do my walk in the morning but I will go after breakfast. It shouldn’t be too hot because we are headed back home where it is colder. I can always wear a sweater if it is cold in the morning. That is one bad thing about the ship’s bulletin it doesn’t tell you the projected temperature for the next day or any day. Even the ship’s TV channel doesn’t tell you. Bummer Dude!

Well, nothing much happening so I will be take my pills, floss and brush my teeth and ... (for all you Mamma Mia fans!) Haha!!

Love Mom, Granny, Bonnie