May 1

 First of all, we went ashore in the Royal Naval Dockyard, Sandys Parish, Bermuda.  The big deal of the day (and we stayed out for 4.5 hours) was miniature golf.  The course has 6 holes based on Bermuda courses, six on American, and six on British.  Number 12 is Number  12 in Augusta, and I got a birdie!  Take that Rory!  On one particular hole, my playing partner  pointed to a four-some of beautiful young ladies to distract me and cause me to mess that hole up.  I fooled her and birdied that one too.  When we were on the tee on number 1 there were five handsome young men in front of us and I asked  them if we could play through  because they  were playing slowly and carrying some liquid refreshment with them.  And I wanted them behind us so as not to be a distraction to my beloved wife.

Views from the  golf course

It was a beautiful day.  I’ll put some pictures in the blog [ look above, I just did] when Bonnie has finished – and she says she has a lot to tell you, so go get a drink and a snack.

I don’t have another talk until Saturday, so we will just  roam around the ship, maybe do a trivia, play some cards (I won the first game: 1-0 me, but I know she’ll come roaring back).

We bought 3 books about adventurers who have cats (“Twelve Angry Librarians” and “The Pawful Truth”) and those will be going to 2042, and the other is a detective story from 1978.  I got that one just in case I finish the Bill Bryson I brought on board.

Coming out of the dining room tonight (bourbon glazed salmon for  me and chicken pot pie for  mom) we met a couple coming in who were on our spring transatlantic last year on Explorer of the Seas.  Small world.

I have some other pictures to show you, but email is being cranky.  I'll try again tommorrow,

Well, I’m going to let my cruise buddy take over the keyboard, so TTFN.

We got up and dressed in our going off clothes and went to the dining room for breakfast. I got a breakfast burrito and it wasn’t much but the fruit cup and tomato juice were great. You can only get tomato juice in the dining room not in the Windjammer. The couple sitting beside us said hello where are you all from. When your Dad told them the lady said oh, you’re the speaker. I recognized your voice. We really liked your talk. They were from Harrisburg PA. Had a nice chat about PA and they had been to Bermuda on their honeymoon. Nice couple and conversation. They said they would see us at his next talk [truth in blogging – I reminded her of that].

After breakfast we returned to the room, got our going off Pirate backpack, hats, money, passports and sea cards, etc  and headed to deck one  which is just a few steps from our room.

It was 9:30 when we left and 2 when we returned. 4 and a half hours is a long time for an old couple. We walked MANY steps, dragging when we got back! First we headed to the putt putt golf, but it didn’t open till 10 so we decided to shop first and come back later. There was a strange phenomenon in the little tunnel that lead to the putt putt entry and the small beach. Growing from the ceiling were soda straws like you see in caverns, and they were dripping and growing. Dad said it was because the tunnel’s ceiling was limestone. Cool.

First we went to the pharmacy I wanted to get a bottle of Oil of Olay and a new strap to hold on my glasses. Didn’t find the strap but in the next shop which was kind of dive shop supplies I found a really nice strap for my glasses, it wasn’t cheap, $15,  but it was made in the USA not China, Cool. Following this purchase we headed to the “mall” to shop the stores. He wanted a pair of Bermuda shorts, he got a pair of blue ones. While shopping I found a cool jacket and I bought that.

While looking for the stuff we bumped into, literally, a mother and teenage daughter shopping. We started a conversation and found they were from Canada. They were traveling on the MSC ship that was also in dock. They had been in dock since Tuesday we found out from another couple we were talking to at the golf course. Anyway, the lady was a police officer and so is her husband and we had a cool conversation about, elections, tariffs Trump etc. They were a lot of fun to talk with and laugh together about all the craziness going on in their country and ours. New friends! While we were shopping in the stores in the hallway was a bookcase filled with paperback books and hard cover. The jar in it that said help yourself and leave $1 to $5 if you wanted to take some. We  took 3 and left $5. We  bought a few other souvenirs to be given to others. We had a really fun time shopping.

Now on to putt putt. When we got there it cost $20 each to play. Dad asked the guy if there was a discount if you played because we had been there 8 or 9 times over the years. He laughed and said it would be $24 for us to play. WOW! Well, a lady standing near us heard the price and said is there a discount and he said no. She said she thought there might be because she heard what we were having to pay. OOPS!  Well, I had a miserable day of golfing I was 7 over par and he had a fantastic day and was 6 under par. Par was 65.  I don’t think anything has been changed on the course since the first time we played. He always tells people in his talks about the putt putt and tells the audience about it and to go and have a great time.

After playing a round we were pooped. So we started dragging back to the ship. Had to show the sea pass card and a form of picture ID to get through the Bermudian guard and then show sea pass card and have it scanned to get on board. Please remove your hat! Now put cell phones, bags, canes etc on the belt to run through the scanner. Then, walk through the scanner. BeepBeep!! So go and have them pat me down and the lady said I need to touch your knees and hip after she scanned them, really!  What did she think she was going to feel. I was too tired to care. Your Dad picked up the wrong cell phone and I said that’s not yours. And  he put it back and he got the right one.

We were on deck 1 and only had to walk up one deck. 

We headed to the room and unloaded our stuff and headed up to deck 5 to get my drink cup filled and get some pizza. Luke, we had 4 pieces, and I ate 3 of them.  Then, we headed back to the room. I put stuff away and we laid down at 3 for a nap. Taking Tylenol first, haha! I didn’t think I would sleep but we were both out like a light and slept to 4:30. Then, up and dress and off to dinner. Afterwards we went to play some cards for about 1 hour. Clocks have been turned up and now we are 2 hours ahead of you and I will take my pills in a minute and we will be off to bed. No alarms tomorrow. But I am going to take a shower and wash my hair in the morning. I have hat head !

Jenn I am glad you are safely home and it sounds like you had a good time. And Tate you got to play at Chick fil A and take your shoes off, how cool. And Emma have a great time at the prom tomorrow!!

Well, hi to everybody. Love you all. This has been a good cruise so far. Next talk is Saturday and we have to turn the clocks up again on Friday night. Then we will be 3 hours ahead!

Mom, Granny and Bonnie