Fin Former Curmudgeon

Fun With Stereotypes Redux

2012-01-27T16:14:00.001-08:00

First, a repost of a JS blog entry from six years ago:

Fun With Stereotypes
posted Thu, 03 Feb 2005 15:30:29 -0800

My weekend in Europe reminded me of this, which gives me a smile>

In Heaven: the cooks are French,
the policemen are English,
the mechanics are German,
the lovers are Italian
and the bankers are Swiss.

In Hell: the cooks are English,
the policemen are German,
the mechanics are French,
the lovers are Swiss
and the bankers are Italian.

And then, from a cruise related website, bringing it up to date....

On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of the Pacific when an international cruise ship sank, the following people are stranded:

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman
2 French men and 1 French woman
2 German men and 1 German woman
2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman
2 English men and 1 English woman
2 Polish men and 1 Polish woman
2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman
2 American men and 1 American woman
2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman
2 Australian men and 1 Australian woman
2 New Zealanders and 1 New Zealand woman

One month later, the following events have occurred;

One Italian man has killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together as a threesome and having loads of sex.

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule when they alternate with the German woman who has twisted some palm fronds into strands for making ropes and whips.

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning, cooking and ironing for them.

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

The Polish men took a long look at the endless shark infested ocean and then a look at the Polish woman...and started swimming!

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving.

The two Japanese men have emailed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

The two Irish men divided the island into North and South and have each set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is an alternative because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whiskey.

The two Australian men got drunk and beat each other senseless fighting over the Australian woman, who in turn, is checking out all the other men, sure that she can do better than 'Bloody Australian Wankers!'

Both New Zealanders have disregarded the New Zealand woman and are searching the island for …..?

In the tradition of one of my favorite bloggers

2012-01-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

The following phone exchange just took place. They said it would be recorded and used for training purposes. I HOPE so!

He: This is Verizon and

Me: Are you calling to sell me something or is there a problem with my service

He: Oh, no problem. Verizon is in the area, and we just see you are long term customer and thought we might lower your rates with some of our…

Me: I pay fifteen bucks a month. Are you going to lower that?

He: Oh, no sir. Sorry about that.

Me: Are you involved with FIOS at all?

He: yes

Me: I’ve had opposite opinions from verizon as to whether it is available to me, here now.

He: What is your phone number?

Me: Um…you called ME, remember?

He: stutters…mentions something about H***

Me: I don’t live in H****

He: More mumbling, F****. Yes, phone and internet available

Me: If I go away…..

He: Reconnect charge of $29.95

Me: Sounds like a deal breaker to me

He: We have vacation package where you pay $15 a month

Me: For service you are not using?

He: Mumbles

Me: BTW, saying you are ‘in the area’ sounds a lot like the gypsy home improvement scammers. You might want to try for a better opening line.

I Wanna Go Back To Dixie

2012-01-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

I Wanna Go Back to Dixie

That was the title of an irreverent song (as were they all) penned by one of my heroes, Tom Lehrer in the late 1950’s. It is not simply the choice between temps in the low seventies versus wind chills close to zero, though that IS an additional incentive.

But, truly, now I have one home and two houses, and it makes me unspeakably sad to see the look in four beautiful eyes on Skype.

And darnit, I miss my good lawnmower too! Just inside trying to regain feeling in fingers that were wearing insulated gloves while I re-set the gutter drains and picked up forearm sized branches from the 16 Oak trees which have little purpose in life, seemingly, other than to dump garbage on the ground twelve months out of every year.

Guys- I’ll be back as quick as I can.

Trust me on that!!!

For Ben B mostly

2012-01-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

When is enough enough?

For years I have defended the customer service of Direct TV, because it has always been good or better.

Today, returning to my lair in the cold north, I found no service, so I called their eight hundred number.

Shortly after nine AM. I got a recording basically with three messages interspersed with mellow piano music.

I have gotten pretty familiar with those three messages, having now heard each of them well over ONE HUNDRED times.

It is coming up on two PM. When it has been five hours, I will disconnect and see if I win a prize for the longest hold they ever got. Even Dell at its worst was better.

I have actually managed to do quite a few things while using portable phone to listen. One was to call on a letter I got about FIOS, using a cell phone to call while listening to the recording on my home phone.

FIOS has the good grace to answer with a recording saying they are very busy, call later. A bit more honest, n'est-ce pas?

Ben, when (if) I DO reach them, I will definitely take a page from your playbook and suggest that they owe me a free month for my five hours.

My fallback position is pretty strong actually...they can lose a good customer of many years.

So Dear to My Heart

2012-01-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

Once Upon A Time, Walt Disney, way back when he was alive, made movies which were quite beloved by children of that era, but which apparently do not get much play these days.

One such was about a little black goat, and starred the same boy star who had been in Treasure Island, Bobby Driscoll, who was perhaps about my own age. I suspect that I may have been a little jealous of his fame and fortune, and was somewhat brought up short some time later on, when I read that he died alone and undiscovered for days in a tenement in a ghetto in NYC somewhere.

Anyhow, Blogger Girl and I went for a local bike ride and found this little fellow bleating up alongside the fence in a herd of Longhorn cattle, lots of other goats, and an emu. It reminded me of that movie, and a simpler, gentler time that I suspect many of us older people miss.

'Tis The Season

2011-12-13T13:07:00.001-08:00

But I don't WANNA be Santa!!

But I will, 'cause I WUV You!

Looks Like Someone MISSES Howie!

2011-11-30T08:07:00.001-08:00

Howie Says Hi

2011-11-25T08:52:00.001-08:00

Hi.

My name is Howie, but some people call me black Benji, because that is who I look like.

I am almost one year old, and I live in a nice house in Dixie, with lots of woods out back, and three loving people to take care of me. I am a very happy dog.

One day though, I was playing on the side of our house away from the woods, and suddenly out of nowhere, a big car came by and before I knew it, I was rolling and rolling sideways and I hurt from where the car hit me.

I was very scared, but my people were not around and I could not get inside, so I crept into the deep, dark, scary woods and lay down to sleep. When I awoke, it was still very dark and I could not remember which way was home

Although it hurt to walk, I wanted to find my people, so I walked and walked in the woods to find my home. After a long time, I came to a clearing in the woods, and there I saw a house, but it did not look like my house. Still, I walked up to it and found a little-dog-sized place to get inside just under a hose.

But when I got inside, it was still very dark there, and the little strip of metal that let me inside closed behind me, and I could not get out. It was very dark, and I was cold and tired and scared and hurt where the car had hit me, and now I was hungry and thirsty as well.

So I went to sleep, because it was all I could do.

After a long while, I heard a car drive up to the front of the house and people got out, and they had a dog with them. As they went to go inside, I heard their dog come up to the wall right beside where I was lying and start sniffing and sniffing the wall of their house, just opposite me.

I could hear their footsteps above me for awhile, and then it was quiet and I slept some more.

This went on for three days and three nights, and I became very weak and of course very hungry and thirsty. I could hear them walking around and coming and going in their car, and every time they went out with their dog, he would stop and sniff the house where I was resting.

And then finally, one of the people walking the dog on its leash let him sniff his way around their house to the little hole though which I had pushed my way days earlier, and suddenly, there was the head and then the shoulders of a big brown hound sniffing inside under their house.

A few minutes later, a Nice Lady with a flashlight and a lantern came crawling under the house where I was lying. “There’s a dog under here” she cried out. “Alive” she answered the question yelled from outside. And so she came back with some hotdogs and a little leash and very slowly and patiently she tried to get me to come out of my hiding place. It took close to half an hour before we were out.

She made a nice little bed on her porch for me and gave me some food and water, while the Big Dog Who Lived There tried to play with me, only the man kept him tight on a leash so he could not reach me more than nose smelling. For several days, the Nice Lady fed me, and looked at the place where I had been hurt, and then she even gave me a bath! The Big Dog Who Lived There wanted SO much to play, but the man on the other end of his leash never quite let him do so.

And then, on Thanksgiving Day, a car pulled up and My People were in it! I was SO excited that I jumped and wagged and even barked a little bit happily. They hugged me, and hugged each other and hugged the Nice People That Found Me, and I went home for Thanksgiving. Seems that while the Nice Lady was feeding me and bathing me, the Man Who Lives There had a picture she took of me, and he was walking up and down the long street, knocking on doors and asking if anybody knew who had lost me.

And on the second day of doing so, he stopped a passing car who knew just who I was, and they called My People who came very quickly, stopping at the little General Store to take down the little sign that he had put up there with my picture on it, and we all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

I hopeY’All did too!

Sigh

2011-10-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Home, Sweet

Home

Tracks

2011-10-22T12:17:00.001-07:00

Today I took advantage of 64 degree temps to walk, alone, along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean amongst the tracks of people and vehicles which had gone before me.

As I did so, I watched the incoming tide begin to erase them gradually, and I wondered how many times since ‘the beginning’ had the tide crept slowly over that very beach before receding to prepare to do it all over again

Weekend crowds were manageable.

More Coast Cruisin'

2011-10-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Went with BG to another iteration of the assemblage of classic old cars in Dixie. Saw many old friends there, but this one was unfamiliar.

Anyone know what it is?

We do, now. Nice ride.

Ten From the Trip

2011-09-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

From the thousand photos which I took in the last two weeks, I am going to post ten.

I will gladly answer questions about them and certainly willing to post more--if interest dictates. Remember, they can be clicked twice for more detail.

Been VERY Busy (Well, comparatively anyhow)

2011-09-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

So I have been WAAAY underdosed on my internetting. Real life took hold here for a week and two adjacent weekends, and a lot of good things happened.

Blogger Girl got a vacation, and since Fin had neglected to bring his passport from Yankeeland to Dixie, he and then we planned a substitute trip in the USofA, where the value of the Euro is not a constant irritant and customs and passport control are not added to the already intolerable idiocy of the TSA.

We got all our irritation and bad luck out of the way on our first night, when arriving after a trip which took us from the Gulf Coast to North Carolina, and then to Phoenix and then to Flagstaff, the rental car which we had reserved was not there. We had been up since 3AM to begin this oddysey, and it was now six PM and we were not in the mood for corporate shenanigans.

Their position was here is what we have; take it or leave it. There were NO other car rental agencies open, so their bargaining position was pretty strong. The photo shows what they gave us on the right, and what Fin pounced on like a jungle cat the following morning, and in which we spent the next two thousand miles of motoring.

"A Little Travelin' Music, Ray"

2011-09-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

As Jackie Gleason used to say on his television day, back in the day of 7 channel television.

One of the most enjoyable of many enjoyable aspects of being with Blogger Girl is sharing with her some of the places that I have visited and enjoyed in my past. These have included the North Island of New Zealand, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Maui and Mt Haleakala, the enchanting island of Bermuda and the mystical pyramid complex at Xuantanich in Belize.

She has shared her fun places with me as well, like West Texas, New Mexico, San Antonio, Austin, Lukenbach, TEXAS, and New Orleans, as well as the gorgeous barrier islands in the Gulf, from Dauphin to Deer Island.

One of the places I very much want to go with her is Banff, but I cleverly forgot my passport this trip, so instead we are going to see a little more of the US together. Next week we hope to visit the Grand Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite in a car trip beginning in Flagstaff and ending in Sacramento. We are also looking forward to meeting an old journal space friend that we have never seen, and another that we HAVE seen, several times, several places.

I lived in California for almost two years, but have not returned, for more than a day or so, in almost fifty years. I am hoping we can manage to visit San Simeon, Monterey, Carmel and San Francisco along the way.

This Fascinated Me

2011-08-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.dover-kent.com/Extra/Unknown-help-9.html

I'll add the reasons why tomorrow, in comments.

Da Hood

2011-08-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Quite the range of neighbors, here in Dixie. From this:

to this:

and this:

Mr Ed sez LEMME IN!!

story can catch up later

2011-08-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

Dateline - at sea
A day of sunshine, and pools to play in, changing vistas when we near shore, blackjack and internet on demand (either for a price or sometimes making money on it – my last session with Laura got me a quick four hand streak or twenty up for the session).

Up one flight of stairs and forward to the spa, and a man with the age and physique of Bert K (Katmai) and his equally elderly bride were ensconced on the only two exercise bikes in the gym and showed no signs of flagging. I took a glance at his time the second time I went by and he was up to a half hour. No matter, I went up one more floor (deck) to the sun deck (I think) and there I found the usual collection of speed power walkers and joined in for two quick laps, or about a fifth of a mile, before descending one more level to see if the ex bikes were free or not (not).

Descending by foot again, I found to my delight, a chart on the doorway leading to the pool deck (Lido) where nautical map of Los Angeles was placed (the ‘other’ island by Santa Catalina is called San Clemente) and better still, a map of the entire route of the voyage with lat long lines thereon, so from now on I shall be better able to locate our position after taking a reading with the gps. In the main, I am content and perhaps happy.

Movie of the day is Charlie Chan in Panama. There is a movie scheduled for 11am regarding the canal, which I shall endeavor to attend. Meanwhile, let the record show I skipped breakfast(s) and had only a banana so far. .

I have now collated all the lat/longs for the journey and am going up to take another reading and plot our course on the wall map. Have also been walking down all stairs for awhile.

My next foray into the gym was a much more satisfying one than up till now, because I got onto the right hand exercise bike (aft) and rode it for a 101 calorie burn in 4.25 miles in twenty minutes or a little over an average of 12.5mph. this is much more in tune with my belief in my own abilities to date and the only drawback was that looking at the clock it said quarter past eleven am which it should have been quarter past ten, and so sometime during the night without my permission or even knowledge, they have switched ship time to Central time. There came an elaborate announcement from the captain at noon (well noon plus a minute according to my gps set clock) giving our lat, temp, dist from Long Beach, dist to Acapulco, swells (five feet from the west) sky cover (scattered tho he didn’t use that expression, air temp (didn’t hear it) and a sea temp of 88 degrees f.

Finished with the ex bike, I then made my way to the tail end of the movie on the Panama canal which I would dearly like to have seen, it being about the only interesting on board ship in the past two days other than the blackjack dealers from around the world. I caught about ten minutes of it and left before it ended to avoid what looked like a mass of a thousand people inside watching it.

I took my 101 calorie lighter body aft for a hamburger (w/o bun this time) but they were not quite ready – so I am now even – too early for lunch and too late to see the movie, and so I had a light breakfast instead of a tiny bit of scrambled eggs, pancake and two pieces of ham and a hash brown. I ate it out on the deck on a bench which is probably a no-no but took my plate back inside almost at once and handed it one of the over thousand crew members. I chatted a few minutes with the security guard who is basically having a paid holiday with all the senior citizens aboard as opposed to the usual drunken fight filled trips to Catalina and back overnight. He was happy. I am content. I took my gps reading N 19 15 W 105 15 and noted our position on the map which I have found on the lido deck at the exit to the pool and slide. Nearest airport is MMZO and Acapulco lies 400 miles ahead on a course of 115.

While walking by the pool, I marveled at how people can BAKE in the BROILING sun with no breeze anywhere in a sun that must be approaching 90 degrees or more. Even on the top deck with the most sun, it is a very warm wind that is blowing, but hell, we are approaching the equator and the cliff divers that have been in my consciousness since forever. Will quite apparently need to set my alarm to see this all happen.

The local time now is quarter to one in the afternoon, and there is a gentle rocking to the ship. I am in a leather chair with large table in front and bench under a five foot window, and it has turned out to be one of the better places to input stuff. I can hear the constant racket from the casino, but the people here are quiet, reading or just staring out the window or even dozing. It is not a bad way to live.

// Coming up on 1600 local now. Have walked length of ship several times, and swum in the top rear pool where the water was very warm and I was youngest person in pool and only male. Felt delightful. Followed by drying in sun on rearmost deckchair port, taking second picture of bare feet framing wake. Quick hello to A*** in internet room who said it was a good day for me to break the internet habit, cuz the isp was down most of the morning. I did about two tenths of a mile on the exercise bike (second time today) . Moved some more pix into the computer from the camera, but they are all still in the camera as well.

L*** is at a 25 cent roulette wheel and super busy. Don’t know how long it will go on, but it is a real crowd drawer. Am looking for a cabin steward because I just discovered that my bottle of water in the room is $3.25 and I want to make sure that they know I have only used the one. Discovered this just before thinking about having a coke in the room, which is probably free on deck and several bucks here in room R11. Also have questions about luggage and laundry.

Whilst seated looking out the starboard side, writing on the computer and enjoying the view, I was stunned and surprised to see a very small rowboat with a single occupant drifting past our window at I suppose 18 knots. Did another ten min on the ex bike, but it was the forward one and not the one I prefer. Spent a few min on the sun deck temp 95 degrees, taking another gps reading: N 18 18 w 103 54 with sunset at 2053. We are now about 275 miles from Acapulco and I shall need to set an alarm to awaken me from whatever dreams befall me tonight.

Supper was a rather chewy stringy piece of filet mignon. I skipped appetizer and salad and desert as I have most nights, and elected instead to have ice cream later. Lost a quick twenty (theirs not mine) as I passed the blackjack table, and spoke briefly with the South African. now to walk the decks and look for a sunset shot. Days and nights are almost the same length here now, and the sun sets almost exactly in the west, either due to the location or the date or both. Wandered back and this time got a dish for the ice cream which dripped out of the last cone. I sat on the back deck and took shots of the sun as it dropped into the sea precisely as foretold by my gps and directly due west, whether due to the latitude or the time of year I dunno. The equinox is upon is almost and the days and nights are each twelve hours long now.

Ran into m** who eats at our table (except last night when he wouldn’t get dressed up) and he won eight thousand nickels in a slot machine today, and further won another thousand on another slot. He came down to the cabin to see the photos taken on the trip so far, now more than hundred including the ones of the sunset hitting the ocean tonight.

Having found out that my tour begins at 0730 tomorrow morning (I did NOT sign up for any specific time) I asked for a wakeup call, and after accompanying Mike back to the casino, and having only Kiwi to talk to, and him then being moved to a roulette table which takes a good deal more concentration, I returned to the room, took a chocolate from the steward and commenced to turn in for the night to see what dreams I get tonight and to get everything as ready as can be for the cliff divers of Acapulco tomorrow. As of now, I have caught up on all the little notes for this trip so far.

The Trio

2011-07-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Frankly, I was very surprised to go looking for some photographs for my last entry and found almost NO good photographs of ANY of my three airplanes.

It is possible, maybe even likely, that a large number of print photos exist and will come to light in time, as I work my way through decades of such photos.

So these are not good quality, but were all I was able to find even searching external drives in case some had gone missing.

My first, over the Atlantic shoreline

second

amd finally, most recent

2011-07-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

For over half of my adult life, I have somewhat mentally classified people into two categories: Airplane Owners (lucky) and those who do NOT own airplanes (perhaps equally lucky in some ways). Owning an airplane has been a sort of cachet, and although the three which I have owned have always been of the quite modest variety, it was still entrée into a world which I enjoyed and in which for the most part I felt at home.

There is an old joke -- that a plane only gives you pleasure two days: when you buy it and when you sell it. It has also been applied, equally applicably one supposes, to boats, and in fact it was demonstrably & undeniably true in the instance of one’s Divorce Present Eldorado, with its elegant ride and 8 mpg thirst for highest octane gas.

But such was NOT the case with my beloved Cessna 152. I owned that little bird for close to twenty years, and it only failed to start twice:…once for my Uncle’s funeral in Rhode Island, and once when I had undertaken to fly a photographer onto the airport itself at JFK airport. Both of those instances were colder than usual mornings and the failure to start was likely as much my own unfamiliarity with her cold weather starting needs, as any failing on her part.

In short, it was faithful and trustworthy, and just knowing it was sitting there, and that it could, if I chose, take me to look at the tops of nearby clouds, or have me in New England in less than an hour, was enough to keep my spirits up on dark days. I was able to be an honest member of the Airplane Owners & Pilots Association, cuz I was one of each, and it was a good feeling.

But times change. People change. FAA rules change. Airspace restrictions change. Availability of 100octane low lead fuel may change, and has appreciated alarmingly in recent years. ELT requirements change. VOR maintenance may change. Towers are closed or go part time. Airports close. Insurance premiums, tiedown fees, mechanics labor and parts, oil, radio repairs…all have increased a good deal more than a comfortable margin for a middle class pilot/owner. Medical examinations become more of a challenge with passing years, {particularly if one is partially bionic but has not always been overly forthright about the fact}.

And there is a bit of the ‘been there, done that’ element too, when one is so fussy that one refuses to fly if the visibility is 8 miles instead of 12, or if one goes out and doesn’t start the plane because the pattern is full of students, whose first language is quite apparently not English and one may be wary of mid-air happenings as a result. If one looks at the sectional map of New England and can not find a single airport where one has not landed, the feeling may be similar to, if not exactly burnout.

But changing a lifestyle comes with some emotional tumult, no matter how obvious the decision may be to vacate the first and migrate to the second category of people. The words of Ecclesiastes 3:1 certainly seem applicable.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

I am so pleased that many of the people whom I love and who have been and are close to me have had the opportunity to slip the surly bonds with me. Those are cherished memories which I hope time will only burnish. We’ve had a good run, and been lots of gorgeous and magical places, and I would not trade those memories and experiences for anything.

2011-07-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

[EXECUTIVE SUMMARY---another longish entry and we did NOT get to Acapulco today, merely passed Cabo San Lucas, so it is also skippable, and quite similar to the one before it. One ate, internetted, interacted, gambled and walked.]

Dateline N 24 06 W 111 53 97 miles due west of MMLP LaPaz 768 miles from Long Beach

Today I woke and took the gps and camera only and went outside to see the remnants of hurricane Ivan. Sky black and lowering, sea really not rough at all, but obviously heavy rains had been at work. I grabbed one cuppa from the inside part of the restaurant behind the pool and went topside on the second highest rear fantail and was taking a reading when, just in the manner of the Katmandu Holiday Inn caper with the Royal Nepal Airlines airline captain, a man came over to ask what I was doing.

He is Bob D, retired from 31 years in the *** State troopers and now working for FEMA. Needless to say, we found a GREAT deal to talk about, and only quit when he went to find his wife who is a self employed insurance adjuster.
It is now 11am local. I am hungry. I used my own computer and a wireless card to get onto the internet awhile, browsing thru some of the ttbrapsoit thread, back comics, emails to s** and to L** tho neither of them were very literate, quick look at drudge and a few others.

Stopped at the blackjack table on my way to the lecture, and I was sure I put down twenty bucks, but I got quite a stack of chips back, which I promptly doubled down twenty bucks on an eleven, and the guy before me got my ten. So I took my remaining chips to the cashier and got back twenty, so I either gave him thirty or he made a mistake. We are singing happy birthday to Cheryl, who just called the bingo. I stopped off at the information desk (purser) and they will call Bob’s cabin for me so I can give him one of the *** cop patches.

/// didn’t stay long at the talk, because they told me all I wanted to know about the sub ride (very popular, sells out quick, goes down 100 feet) and I don’t care a fig about Jamaica. Found a soft seat with back and table directly facing the ocean and am going to do a bit more catching up before going in search of another hamburger. . Still grey and overcast but not raining and forecast for canal is excellent.

Now it is quarter three in the afternoon on Sunday in ny, but I am not in NY, I am out in the Pacific ocean and it is 1313 Mountain time. I just came back from the gym where I did another five minutes on the ex bike and Bob D was exercising beside me. Met my table mate coming out of the casino, quite dejected saying the blackjack tourney is postponed till the 25th and he has apparently lost some more money at poker. Came back to the room to get gps and hat and do the deck walk thing which I am hoping is a few miles, although not fast. Later still I need to go turn in the wireless card for the puter and work a few more sites, as I have no idea how many of my 250 minutes I have used up.

1400 or so – land ho. Off the port side, mountains. . I walked around the track with him, and people a decade older than I were passing by me like bullets, including the third iteration of Bob D who had his bride with him. Find self thinking it is really time to exercise a little more often and a little more vigorously at home. Ate nothing while I sat and looked over the pool deck. Everywhere you look, people are doing things they enjoy. Some sit in the sun and read, or write letters, or play cards or just sleep. Some sit in the shade and do the same. Some dance, many drink, many many eat constantly. Some swim, splash, play video games, play slot machines, take a sauna, shop, saunter, jog, play bingo. Some are surfing the net, some on their own computers, including me later on, because I am going to give back the card at ten PM.

Stopped by the blackjack table and watched a guy drop a quick hundred bucks in about five minutes to the pretty (well cute) little dealer from Romania who reminds me somewhat of a sweet M** if such a thing is possible. Just when I was wondering whether I could chat up the girl, he pulled out a second hundred and I walked away to come back and get my binocs.

Cabo San Lucas N 23 09 W 110 23 [or thereabouts]

This is some place I have for some always wanted to go but never have. It is at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, a long drive in a four wheel drive vehicle, popular spot for cruise ships stopping and sort of tricky to fly to because of the federales and the banditos who strip a plane in the time it takes to write this.

I found my way to the port railing amongst quite a crowd of people and with my computer, binoculars, camera and gps I was quite loaded down. A nice grandmotherly type babysat the dell while I took a gps fix in cabo san lucas,, shot up quite a string of pictures of the shore as it slowly rolled by and stared at the multiple new lovely dwellings and wondered (out loud) how many were earned honestly. But it was fun, it was a destination to cross off my to do list, another gps fix with happy memories, and I wandered around to the other side to watch the sun on the water, watch the mountains slipping astern and contemplate the beauties of life, even single on a cruise which is largely not.

Followed that up by sitting in with the piano player about whom I wrote earlier, a Scot named B who is friendly and he let me play a few numbers (I it took a painful five or more minutes to remember the name of ‘For you’ which I played, and then we played some four handed stuff which was really much better than it should have been.

This was followed by dinner with prime ribs and the little Bali waitress putting her arms around me etc. So I am developing a warm friendly relationship with some of the crew with whom I shall be in contact for the next almost two weeks. The dinner was the best of the three so far…prime ribs. I still have the internet flash card and so I feel OBLIGATED to get back onto the net and use it up…I have two and a half hours of time left for my hundred bucks. And sadly the little girl who runs the internet is not quite warm, but efficient and polite.

And who can forget going thru the line and getting my pic taken with the captain and chatting with him a few minutes as well. Pic taken with d***s camera, not theirs. So all in all a very pleasant evening, and I am looking forward to a sunset deck stroll and some more computering later on.

The rhythms of the ship./// following dinner I walked to the top deck where the jogging track is and there was not a single soul on the entire deck. Not one. The wind was very warm but blowing so hard I had to hold onto my hat again. Down one or two decks for a walk around the stern and same thing – not a soul in sight. Then down a deck or two to the promenade deck and it was so packed you could hardly get thru the corridors…many of the women in long dresses and more than a few men in tuxes. One looked just like the monopoly man.

So it is perfectly possible to have solitude and quiet any time you want to go against the flow. Most of the people were in seeing a show which had a rauchy comedian and was introducing all the staff members of the ship when I went by the door to the theatre. It will probably be on the tv tonight anyhow.

Walking back to the cabin, I got a compliment on my piano playing which was a rush and makes me smile to think about it because we were doing ‘what a wonderful world’ and we did a neato job of it and then I found I had left my key inside, which is stunning considering the lengths I go NOT to do this..

And for the end of the day, I won twenty bucks from the little Romanian and finally got the computer girl to warm up to me when she looked over and saw the fishers island pix running by in a slide show.

The computer worked pretty well on their internet but then it got real slow, and I couldn’t get to my usual msn screen to send email or pix, so I gave her back the wireless card, and then showed her basically almost every foto in the whole computer and she seemed genuinely interested.

2011-07-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

[Note- this entry contains 2,500 words, and basically nothing happened. It is merely an account of how a non-drinker, travelling alone on his first long cruise spent a day getting accustomed to a totally different life experience. Those craving more action will hopefully be more interested in the next entry, being prepared now, when the ship arrives in Acapulco, playground of the rich and famous in the 1950s.]

Saturday, September - At Sea

Dateline Lat 30 54 Long 117 05 Crs 155 Speed 22-23 mph Nearest airport MMES (65mi 025) MMES = Ensenada, Mexico

Today began quite early, even in NY time. I woke quite awake at 0535 NY time, which is 0335 local time, although up to now I haven’t been able to get the name of the local time zone[mountain]. As I lay there, I felt the unmistakable sensation of roll. I think that my cabin (R11) almost at the waterline, is probably less susceptible to discomfort than that of the Okie truck driver on the top deck with the balcony, but I enjoy it. I dressed in grey sweat pants and the hooded sweatshirt and hit the top deck with my GPS. It was not quite as windy as departure yesterday, but I had to hold onto my hat and was glad of the sweatshirt. It was warm however and the stars were pretty. I looked longingly into the bridge with the glowing instruments and thought about my good luck at the hotel in Kathmandu when the airline captain was interested in the same gps that I had with me now. No nibbles.

Walking back to the lido deck, it was a whole ‘nother world as I walked into people swimming, dancing, splashing, sitting in a whirlpool and lying on deck chairs with loud disco type music playing. It was quite a shock from the staid, air conditioned inside atmosphere from which I had just emerged.

A fellow passenger also walking around directed me to hot coffee in the rear of the ship. Finding a South African super in the casino, I asked him about the internet café which will cost a hundred bucks but is worth it. I should have gotten a wireless hookup however as they do not have them. [sic – they rent the wireless cards for ten bucks a day] T** was his name and he argued with me about the flying time from NY to Joburg and I went back to see him (happened to be wearing my cape point t shirt as it happened) and showed him my own backseat logbook which is going to have to be brought up to date, because I made an ink entry for yesterdays’s trip before filling in the trip from Warsaw to NY (God that seems a long time ago, but I got a real nice email from P*** just before leaving.

My next chore was to work on the photos. D*** had a death in the family and no time to spare, but he did give me the memory card for the computer, and I have successfully gotten many of the pix into the computer from the camera…about thirty six or so, some of them quite good, but am having difficulty in arranging them, and this will take a certain amount of expertise, which I may find aboard the ship.
The list of things that has been lost and found includes tickets, passport, water, pen, sweatshirt and wallet. However, I think the only so far lost and not found is the little maglite with brand new Duracell batteries in it, which could have dropped in the airbus I suppose.

What is worse is to open the zipper dopp bag with stuff in it and find a charger and not have F*** CLUE what it is supposed to recharge. It isn’t for the razor nor the computer, and the multi band scanner which I don’t know how to use doesn’t have one. It is lovingly wrapped up and I am a bit upset over not know what it is supposed to recharge. The missing flashlite is not expensive and easily replaced and not needed, but I am so trying to be careful and it is still upsetting when these things happen. Going for another deck stroll I think.

//Well as I prepped to leave the cabin, I spied my trac phone – and that is what the charger is for. I actually got a signal on in briefly but it was gone by the time I had dialed s**’s number. I caught a good breakfast on the rear deck buffet which is good till noon. Found out that we are in mountain time, and the time difference is two hours not four. Found out that bridge and engine room visits disappeared after Sept 11th.

If I didn’t mention it before, the coast guard came aboard in force to watch the life boat drill which I had been fixing to ignore but decided, wisely, to comply. Got some decent pix of it. I think I now have all the pix I have taken in the computer somewhere. Need to get some help sorting them out. As it turned out, the guy in the information desk had an identical camera and got it going when it had locked up again.

NY Time now is 1030AM. Located is 300 miles south of Long Beach airport heading se at 22 mph. weather is broken with temps probably in the sixties. Must bring room key along with thermo on it. I am presently sitting on the fantail with the wake streaming behind us between my feet, pic taken.

The computer does not work very well outside and not at all when the sun comes out, so I have read the first sixteen pages of my radio shack pro-95 handheld scanner which I’ve had a year in December and still cannot work.
I had an experience this morning akin to my hike at Katmai, where I went into the gym at 8am and found a bunch of young and old people working out. I rode ONE MILE on the exercise bike, burning off a total of 25 calories, heart rate of 122 or so and did a single mile in five minutes. The old guy next to me was cranking along at about triple the rate and was there when I got there and still going at 94rpm when I left. And forget about the ladies on the treadmills with 3,6 mph walking for what seemed like forever. Being that I DO live alone, I don’t have a lot of opportunity to compare my performance on a bike etc with anybody else, and it is sometimes a bit of a shock when I do.
Nevertheless, it is cool and pleasant on the fantail deck with almost no other people here. The ever present disco music cannot be heard here, nor in the bow either where my cabin is situated. My breakfast was scrambled eggs, one slice of ham, one slice of bacon, one slice of cantelope and one hash brown. And one cuppa. // ok, with the screen and sun conditions here now, I can create but not edit, and since I still have a lot of yesterday to fill in, and in fact brought along Poland to finish up, will close down the puter and read some more. Before returning to my cabin, will try to find an inside table with ocean view and do some refining. Played blackjack last night and down five bucks. Would dearly love to win enough to pay for the internet use which I have resigned myself is gonna be a hundred bucks or so.
Despite only burning off 25 calories in the early morning workout, I had a modest second breakfast and expect to have that hold me till dinnertime. The fellow at my table (R** from Wisconsin) wandered by while I was on the back top deck and we chatted awhile and then I came inside and had a second, modest helping of ham, hash browns and sausage, and one pancake with honey on it. I found a dark table with an ocean view between the ‘internet café’ which is two terminals, both in use, and the casino which has five bucks of my money which I want back. In just one hour I will go to the orientation speech ref shore leave. Last position (7 satellites) was 29 24 N and 116 24 west. Have now read about forty pages of the idiot instruction manuyel for the scanner, and managed to get it to scan the marine band, which, surprise, is mostly Spanish. Nearest airport is now 160 miles and is Mexican also. Course continues 155 or so.

Time – 1615 eastern daylight. Location – double porthole room R11, Starboard Ecstasy

Was thinking just now, what a diff a day makes, as I walked into the room, one handed my door key out of the kangaroo pouch and walked barefoot into the place as though I owned it. I had been down the giant two story water slide twice and had a much bigger lunch than two breakfasts would dictate…hamburg, hotdog, fries and apple turnover. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but each thing was huge and in fact I left most of the fries because at that rate the fifty or so calories that the stupid bike machine says I’ve burned off isn’t going to do any good at all. I didn’t swim, but I have walked extensively back and forth, mostly outdoors, enjoying the atmosphere.

I stripped to shorts on the rear fantail when I saw a beached whale doing the same, and while reading my scanner handbook, got the marine band to scanning, any by chance heard our captain, capt of the ecstasy, calling a Russian ship out of st Petersburg which had just gone thru the area where Javier is, first on channel 16 and then switching down to channel ten, which I have learned how to make the damn thing do, and they reported 5 meters per second wind (11 mph or so) and 5 meter swells, which I shall enjoy!! It was fun to hear the Rusky wishing me and all other 3000 people a safe and pleasant journey.

I have caught up on some of the notes from Poland and from yesterday, which is now seeming like a bad dream-- at least the ship boarding part. For the next two weeks, I should be care free. At the info desk I asked whether they had a spot where they posted their location, and they don’t. I asked if there is a bulletin board for fresh news, and there is not.

Instead there was a contest to judge who has the hairiest chest and a contest to guess 25 television theme songs (The Jeffersons??) and a wine tasting seminar.

Different stokes obviously, just like the golf on the plane tv yesterday. Now I’m stripped out of my wet bathing suit and headed back to the casino and internet area to listen to some live jazz and hopefully get to play a bit.

It is 1900 eastern so coming up on five pm here. “Here” is N27 42 W 115 41.7 with steady course 160 at about 21mph all day. They blew the boilers and I got some good pix of same.

The jazz band is much too modern for my taste, sounded as if they had never rehearsed together, were too loud and it just didn’t work for me to try to sit in. Went further aft and sat in the shade overlooking the pool and the water slide and enjoyed another live band out there when they did Marguierita ville, but left them when they did Kokomo. Still a little miffed at losing my five bucks at blackjack last night (don’t usually lose) I sat until I was up a total of fifteen bucks and then spent it on the internet. I am paying 75 cents a minute plus a four buck activation charge. I couldn’t find my comics or e-mail anywhere, and the drudge report mentioned that parts of the northeast got up to five inches of rain. Oh well, I did what I could before I left and it’s in God’s hands now. There is nothing much to see outside the window but lots and lots of ocean, but I sense that we are pitching more than rolling and that the swells are quite small. No sense yet of the 15 foot swells mentioned by the Russian captain that he encountered last night.

I went to the orientation at 1100 about shore leave, and think my two choices are the correct ones. After two breakfasts and two lunches, I am really not hungry for much of a supper, but I am looking forward to telling the Bulgarian waiter that I was in Sofia and showing him the ID card I got from there. Like the logbook, the odds of my having it are indeed remote…both were in the writing case. Turned off the air conditioner in the room so that I can sleep warm tonight. I think tomorrow I’ll take my own laptop up to the internet room so I can at least look at some of my favorite websites. I should probably just pop for the fifty bucks for a package of minutes.

Back now from supper where I was perhaps the only person in the dining room wearing a jacket. Formal seems to mean no tank tops. The food, lamb, was decent but not great and the conversation the same. The only one of the three I like at the table is the old man who was in Korea. Two are diabetics. All are in single rooms and deducting, all paid a good deal more than I did for my outside cabin.

I had key lime pie and ice cream for dessert and on my way back to the cabin to get out of the turtleneck and blazer, i passed a cocktail pianist in white dinner jacket and bow tie who was so –well, not great -- that I asked for and got permission to play one piece (What’ll we do) and got a smatter of applause as well. The casino was totally deserted as everyone ate. Did not see my female dealer there from last nite, nor the south African. I am up fifteen bucks there and it was all spent on the internet and pretty useless at that. I think the swells on the ocean are increasing, but it is time for me to take my binocs, camera, scanner, short wave and perambulate here and yon.

I walked from the top deck to the cabin deck and along the way I met a woman from Minnesota married to an Italian and living in Italy (pit boss) a young Kiwi living in Australia (poker dealer) a young guy from Bulgaria who cracked up at my Sofia casino id card, (which I showed to the waiter as well who is also Bulgarian) and a sweet young girl from Romania who took twenty bucks off me quicker n anybody cuz I upped bets to ten bucks when I shouldn’t have, but she was sweet and it was fun.

Lastly I went to the internet lady and said I’d be up there tomorrow with my laptop. One of the guys suggested going to an internet café in Acapulco where an hour costs a buck, not a hundred.

My Sea Voyage Begins [clickable pix included]

2011-07-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I am leaving for my ocean voyage. It is off to a little hickupy start. First off, I discovered that there had been a short in the plug of the computer, or it wasn’t plugged in properly or something, because the lights were not on for the computer or the plug itself, and the battery was almost fully discharged. Second, I had to pack a white shirt and two neckties due to L**’s urging, on top of S**’s. ‘Pack the shirt the way you think the laundry would do it’.

The digital numbers on the bose radio are going off and on, making it impossible to read the time or alarm. And the MSN web tv is unavailable periodically, so I have been unable to check Long Beach weather, or the distance there. Currently the puter is charging but 61% battery is not going to last the length of this day. Glad this stuff all didn’t happen upon my return. And the coffee looks funny but tastes ok. Got emails from p** and M**. And the format on the computer here is funny.

Looking ahead, I think my biggest concerns now are missing the flight because of a foul-up of some kind and whatever hassle is involved in getting my suitcases to the ship and to the cabin. Have done what I can to take important stuff with me so that if stuff gets lost or pilfered I won’t be helpless. Long Beach identifier is KLGB. The distance from JFK is 2136 NM. Temp in Celsius is 20 and dew point 17. I decided to throw in the instruction book for the new handheld scanner and see if I can work out how to use it in a half month.

Hurricane Javier is headed toward Baja. Charge is now up to 61%. The alarm is set for 0400 and will be going off shortly, but I woke at -0300 and decided it was useless to toss and turn, so I made the coffee and turned OFF the dehumidifier. It is currently clear in Long Beach and 68 degrees with a lite NW wind. Javier may impact our route. // checked and the puter is now up to 90% battery capacity…much better. The shore excursions for Aruba include horseback riding and tank diving, but also show a submarine ride, which I caught a quick [two second] glimpse of as I left Aruba last time, on my way to Caracas, and would like to do that. It is gonna snow in Colorado. Gonna have some toast and jam and put the little remaining bread in the freezer. Checked last websites for awhile if it costs 75 cents a minute to surf aboard. Think I will call limo service at 0500 just to be double sure.

// 0445 had some toast and jelly and dumped the dehum and left it turned off - doh. The puter is back up to 97% charge. . One of these times when I am looking at old diary, gotta figure out how many times I have crossed the country, including ocean to ocean. It’s a lot, as I prepare to put the puter into a case and connect the phone. Just 0500.

Dateline jfk airport, jet blue terminal, gate 17.

so far, fairly routine trip. The limo had the usual trouble finding me, but I was the only passenger and I was at the airport way early. The limo was pitch black inside and stank of gas. He was a very jerky driver and I almost actually fell twice as I sat in the third row (2 suitcases in row 2) and the seat wasn’t as long as I thought. There was almost no traffic at all, and he took sunrise to robt moses and didn’t hit his brakes till he was a quarter mile from jfk. I tipped him *** bucks. We argued before leaving over whether the fare was $45 or $49 and I won. He wanted me to pre pay the return and I refused, as I didn’t want to strip half my cash before getting out of the driveway.

There was nobody in line at jet blue and I checked in quickly and without hassle. When I got up to the security line I realized I had left my water bottle at the checkin counter 25 and went back to get it. Security was the longest delay to date, with four lines but over a hundred people waiting. It was very slow and the computer had to come out of its case and go thru on its own. They checked my other bag for residue and put d**’s camera thru twice.

When I got to the waiting area I sat where I could see the tail number of our bird when she came in, and got it. I asked another passenger to watch my bag while I tapped a kidney and topped off the water bottle. We have an hour to go before departure, but I am calm and relaxed and everything so far is under control.
My seat was 4F for Jet Blue flite 221 nonstop from JFK to Long Beach, Calif.
Captain was E— and FO was R---. Totally full flight. I had a young couple sitting beside me who held hands and absolutely STARED at a golf game the entire trip…transfixed. We hit clouds immediately on takeoff, and were in the soup till Gary, Indiana, when suddenly I saw and pointed out first lake Michigan and then an absolutely thrilling view of Chicago with both remaining airports and the sears tower clear thru my binocs. Although the moving map display is crude and totally inappropriate for aviation use, I did the best I could to keep track of our progress across the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and Iowa and Nebraska.

------------Chicago and Lake Michigan

To my surprise, I caught sight of Longmont Airport and the diagonal road, following it up to the school which is located just about where B Drive is and couldn’t wait to tell S**, although she did not pick up after four rings, (or $1.10 in minutes). I also rang L** four rings for another 2 units. I also got great views of Las Vegas and so much of the countryside – shots of Interstate 70 running thru the wilderness of Utah etc.

IN short the flight was a great one, with sensational views, Saw several eastbound jets but not in time to take pix of them.. I ate blue potato chips and a bit of the snacks that I had with me, and half finished my bottle of water. I was as excited at seeing the mountains etc as the first time I saw them, and didn’t bother my seat-mates a third time. Almost sure I saw the same Cedar City, Utah motel where I stayed two nights, including coming over the mountain with the elk in the roadway after about an 800 mile day and they had power out.

Sign on the tv: “Without you, we’d just be flying a bunch of TV’s around”

At destination, we hit some clouds and the approach had to have been ifr. I used the bathroom and filled my water bottle before going to baggage claim which was OUTDOORS, and HOT. I was wearing the blazer and a cashmere there was nobody there from the cruise lines, and a taxi cost twenty two bucks to get to the ship. I balked and tried to find a shuttle van that would do it cheaper, and just wasted time because I got my suitcases fairly quickly but there was a lot to handle and it was hot and I had been up since 0300. On the plus side however, my bags came off the belt fairly promptly and I was somewhat mobile without a cart or porter. Carts were for rent, didn’t see any porters.

Finally I decided on a taxi and they helped me with the four bags and took me along the interstate to the pier with the dozens of cranes, past long flatcars loaded with containers, many of them coming in on Chinese ships, which reminded me of New Orleans and the grain going to Russia on eastern bloc countries when j** and I were there in 76. Or the steel mills in Bethlehem with the acres of empty parking lots.
He let me off in a parking lot ($25) and I walked toward the ship past dozens of guys standing around with vests saying ‘security’. They were apparently porters and they ignored me, and as a result, plus my own innate cheapness, I ended up on a line with two thousand other people in the broiling sun and I was the only person who had ALL my stuff with me. The rest had just carry on stuff. There was a group of 47 pushy Asians behind me and young couple in front of me smoking – tattooed truck driver appreciaters. And that is when D**;s camera decided to act up as well.

Many of the people are a good deal older than I, and they didn’t appreciate the hour or more standing in line any more than I did. It was also at this time that d**’s camera decided to stop working and give me a yes/no screen which none of the buttons had any effect on,. The only way I was able to resume was to take out and re insert the memory card.

When we got inside, it got worse, as it appeared that my big suitcase would not go thru their security screening. We were all forced to go thru airline style security screening, with scanners and baggage exrays. When I got up there, between the computer, green knapsack, H’s bag and my two suitcases, kangaroo pack, I had about six separate items on the belt. Guy told me to take the big suitcase back outside, and I said , look – I’m **** years old and have been traveling for 14 hours, and he lifted the metal gate and put the bags thru.

I then managed to lose first my tickets and then the passport. I was really low. I kept going thru the kangaroo pouch, the green knapsack, zipper pockets on the leather bag etc, but I had put my suitcase down on top of them. [Note-I have some good pix of this stage, but do not want to post any photos of people with identifiable faces on the internet!]

Next stop was a huge long counter and I was behind a very jovial and chipper employee dealing with a pair of Asians who understood not a word. It must have taken ten or more minutes. Finally I jumped to the line beside me and a nice lady filled out a credit card receipt for onboard purchases and some info about my return flight, and I then dragged all the suitcases to a shot taken by a camera, and then an on-board ID card (which I was subsequently to find was for late seating)then a room key (don’t lose it –ha) and then, after what seemed like hours of stress, heat, sore back, sore neck etc, I struggled across the gangplank and onto the Ecstasy.

As everyone else had had their stuff taken to the cabins, I got to crowd onto a tiny elevator with one young girl pushing a wheelchair with my collection of junk, down to the Riviera deck which is the bottom one except for crew. As I knew, my cabin is all the way forward, starboard, and the final last straw when I got to the front door is that I couldn’t work the key! Finally I got it sorted and came inside and was quite pleased to find a PAIR of portholes above the waterline of my very own. The room has a tv and two beds and basically resembles a room at a holiday inn somewhere.

Minutes after I arrived, an announcement said to hurry up and book your shore tours on the Empress Deck, when I got there, surprise, there was a long chaotic line but a dynamite looking British chick blond and very overworked. I asked for the cliff divers, the jungle walk and the submarine in Aruba. And got all three although I didn’t know this until much later.

Met L** B** in the only sunny spot on the deck with a chair, and we noted that even tied up (by the Queen Mary) the ship was doing a slow roll if you looked across the rail to a shore point. Then I found out I am scheduled for late meal, and surprise, yet another line to see the maitre D and the line was not moving, as it turned out a bunch of people all wanted to be seated together.

However, in the manner of the time when I swapped a aisle seat for a window seat while waiting to fly from Calgary to Denver, I found myself behind a pair of people who wanted to switch from early to late, and so one other man and myself sort of followed them up to talk to the maitre d when the line finally moved, and I was assigned early seating for meals, and that is a good thing.

I had happily settled onto a place topside where I could watch the hawsers cast off and the gangplank pulled back, talking to the Ok truck driver on his second honeymoon when the announcement of the lifeboat drill was made. So instead of watching the pelicans, I had to go back to the cabin, a ten minute trip, get my lifejacket and go to a huge theatre with hundreds of other upset and bewildered people.

We sat there till we were mustered to a station which has life rafts only. I was, however, glad to see that we had not cast off, and in fact my muster location was almost exactly where I had positioned myself before I (very wisely) decided to conform with the request to play lifeboat drill. The power boats are for the rich people topside. Got some pretty shots of the Queen Mary, a relic from my childhood but still magnificent in the manner of the old steam engines and constellations. Heard her blow her horn and it was splendid.

It is now 1730 eastern daylight time, and I am in my stateroom, room R11 on the Riviera deck with two portholes which are above water when the ship isn’t rolling to starboard. It has been 14 and a half hours since I woke and I am whipped, but content. We sail in an hour and a half, and I plan on going topside on the front deck to watch. I am pleased to see old dell is working so well after thumping around on my leg all day. Didn’t use it in the plane or much in the airport, but I have just dumped a few pix taken around the ship into the puter and they are fine. The air trip was basically perfect and the transition from getting my suitcases to getting to the door of my cabin was a bloody nightmare.

We steamed slowly out of the harbor about an hour late, accompanied by a tiny coast guard boat that reminded me of nothing more than a yapping dog, but I find myself wondering whether it is now a requirement, or whether there was a specific threat to our ship or whatever.

Notes say that there were perfectly gorgeous clouds over Catalina Island (another place that I have often fancied visiting) and I have four or five really nice pictures to prove it. While we were still relatively close to land, I tried calling S** and L*** but hung up after three rings apiece and a total cost of about two and a half bucks. My notes say I sat by the porthole and walked topside, and played five hands of blackjack.

Another Cruise Saga - Coast to Coast

2011-07-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Cruise from Long Beach California to Miami Florida
From September 17 to October 2 stops at Acapulco, Costa Rica, Panama, Aruba and Jamaica.
Carnival ship Ecstasy.

---------- INTRO

This time I am going to make some effort to intersperse photos in the text as I go to hopefully make the experience more palatable for those who choose to shovel their way through the verbiage.

Chronologically, this was the first of the three which I have posted. It was a different cruise line, and I was not offered nor expected any of the VIP perks which accrued to later cruises.

This was a cruise on which I had significant computer AND camera problems, and even as I begin the editing, I am not sure of what the continuity of the entire trip will be. In fact, one very kind gentleman who was attempting to help me 'find' sixty or so photos on my borrowed digital camera lost ALL of his own photos for the trip with one wrong push of a button on his own camera.

We both tried to find other cruisers willing to share some of their photos with us, but to their eternal shame, the cruise staff refused to make a PA announcement on the subject, preferring instead the inane babble about hairy chests contests and bingo.

Break from Cruising to Bike

2011-07-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks someone. After years of putting up with bicycle riding on roads such as this:

and this:

and--we have a WINNER here--this:

It was an almost indescribable pleasure recentlyl to encounter this:

Thanks someone.

Day Eleven -- The End It is Over for now

2011-07-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day at sea on the beautiful Norwegian Dawn, scheduled to dock in NYC at 8AM tomorrow morning. I woke at 0445, quite wide awake and thinking it was daylight, and vaguely remembered needing to go sign up to see J*** again about some details of the S America cruise on which I shall try to go, but perhaps skipping the Machu Pichu add on for another time. I was able to ride the elevator to the 12th deck, go to the swimming pool, swim quite a few laps, soak in the Jacuzzi, come inside and get coffee and return to my room without seeing a single other guest.

As I have said, the rhythm of the ship. Yesterday, there were mobs of people around the watch table set up in the lobby, to the point where it took awhile to make it to the table. The bollywod show was mobbed as well, and lines often form for some of the restaurants 15 minutes before they open, reminding me of the cattle call on Southwest airlines.

Below this entry I have a list of internet things to do when I get home, but I think I am going to forsake paying shipboard prices today, and probably stay out of the casino as well, since I AM money up for the trip, not much, but I AM ahead, and other than seeing J*** and taking my pictures to R*** to look at, I don’t have much of an agenda today. I have already started to pack, on the assumption that I am going to carry my own suitcase off the ship, so the cashmere turtlenecks can go therein. Wet bathing suit drying, or at least sitting, in the wind on the balcony. It is coming up on six AM and the gym is next.

//short. Knee hurt and rap music on the speakers, loud, others there. Discontinued almost immediately. Door still showing no enter to garden café, so I called for room service. My two waiters last night in the steakhouse restaurant (cover charge about what I won on the casino) were both Romanian, and one of them ‘neighbor’ of C**** on board…said there are eighty of them on the ship, including A** of course. The steak was so tender I ate it with no probs whatever.

It is now quarter to seven, and I have gone thru the slew of papers that accumulate on a trip and tried to throw away some, but have saved the good morning Mr F*** welcome to whatever descriptions of the islands, and the freestyle daily bulletins. I don’t know why…someday someone will throw them in an industrial sized dumpster in the front yard, or ?? Maybe I’ll sell them on ebay for hundreds of dollars…ha.

Still feeling a bit raw, unloved and unwanted, and definitely bummed out about the cruise ending. I filled out the comments card and was effusive and honest at the same time. For the second time, when the cabin door was opened and the sliding door to the balcony was partially opened, a whirlwind took all the loose papers in the room and put some of them in the hall, including the trip to Antarctica. But with 25 hours to docking, I am well and truly on top of the situation. Ordered juice and coffee from room service

//Well, quarter past seven AM and I have already turned in my effusive comment card and completed my customs declaration. Packing is half completed and I am feeling somewhat organized for a change. I am going to the lobby around 0915, in two hours, to wait for the sign up sheet for seeing J*** again, and hopefully R*** can look at the pix at about the same time. An added bonus would be if A** were there and chatty simultaneous.

//Well, not only was A** there, but the beautiful and charming C*** was sitting beside her, and I told them I had written to CV about them, said nice things about them on the comment card, that they had made my trip super and I hoped I had not intruded too much into their private space, and they politely and sweetly said I had not. They did not press to see the pictures of the flight to Tortola which I said I had with me, and I didn’t push the issue.

R*** found me and we sat on a cushion and looked out at an ocean which is certainly no longer tropical, but grey and whitecapped with swells to 15 feet. Officially categorized as rough. However, we had not a drop of rain on the cruise, and were told by the captain that it had rained on both the two preceding ones. We are currently off Cape Hattaras. R*** looked at many of my pictures and gave me her card with her internet address on it.

Announcement just now ‘important message for the gentleman who lost his gold rolex watch – the time is quarter past eleven. Got a smile out of me. But I am smiling anyway, because I have already booked another cruise, around the horn of south America, almost below decks in cabin 4112 of the Crown.

BOOKED ANOTHER CRUISE FOR NEXT FEBRUARY!!!

I had a very pleasant exchange with J*** who is also single, and says she does not like to shop. She declared me ‘fascinating’ and asked if I were a professor or something. She certainly would have been good company if I had known earlier….Anyhow, by cutting out the Machu Pichu trip and downgrading to a deck 4 cabin, we were able to make an affordable Antarctic Excursion for next February. I told C** and A*** first of anybody in the world, and wish they were going to be aboard her.

J*** said she worked till midnight last night, and was BADLY backed up again today, but she is booking a lot of cruises, and said to have at it as far as cruisecom getting me a lower rate. She was al;so visibly staggered to hear that I paid **** bucks for a room that costs 3600, let alone with private concierge service. For that alone, I owe NCL the next cruise, which should knock off any further desire to go to Antarctica.

Went to the cruise debarkation meeting, and on my way out of my room I saw some bright red VIP luggage tags for me, so I will NOT carry my suitcase off as planned, but will use the last of the good will that CV and R*** have created to lessen one small chore. I told R*** I was going on the Crown and she seemed more interested and pleased than the reservationists, who, I hope, are merely tired…and they have to turn around and do it all over again tomorrow night.

On the plus side, barring the unexpected, I have a safe, warm and comfortable house to go home to, whether there is anyone there to be glad I am home or not. Still feeling somewhat ragged and sad, but another quick visit to the Casino improved my mood with three straight wins including one double. In an uncharacteristic burst of generosity, I tipped the room steward and the beaming M*** from Philippines *** bucks apiece. Re reading the VIP disembarkation procedures, I am to meet in a lounge at 9:30 and be ESCORTED off the ship personally. Hot damn!

After the casino, I saw A*** again to ask if she expects Impressions (prime ribs) to be crowded tonight and she said she does. She looks pained…hope it is overwork and not over me. I will have to ask whether hostesses get tipped.

Given the new (and improved) set of circumstances, I guess I shall change plans back to NOT wearing dungarees home. Don’t want to be a VIP looking like a slob amongst the others, some of whom sport huge diamonds and are very very fussy about which stateroom they and their party want on their next cruise (poor J***).

Sun has come out again, but the sea remains rough. Going up top for a few hotdogs…first solid food today at 1215. Having done my second Jacuzzi in as many days, I then did my second walk on the treadmill in two days as well.

Dr H** Ph.D. O.M.D. LaA.) called and he and his wife came up and sat in the sun on the balcony (yes, it is out again) very briefly before going off to watch Spiderman II. I hope we can have supper together at Impressions. I want to see A** one last time and see if I can coax one more gorgeous smile out of her…have gotten a few this trip.

When Dr was coming, I hurriedly hid All the VIP luggage tags, and as a result could not find paper to write his name on, nor the description of the upcoming cruise the end of February, but they turned out to be in the well traveled satchel I got at Ed W**’s garage sale. // Took another stroll around the deck, noting with embarrassment that all the people who had positioned their deckchairs so that they were directly in the line of travel…were men. Enjoying the sun to the last, they are up there slathering on the lotion and enjoying the last rays of the trip. Forecast for tomorrow in NYC is supposed to be in the fifties, so we lucked out again, as we have the entire trip.

Sat in the over 70 degree sun till after 1530 and looked at affordable houses on St Croix, tho one supposes they are all in black neighborhoods. They still have some five digit condos as well. I wrote a blog entry about the story about the man in the Uniondale Museum who was shot down and captured by the Germans --- all ready for posting, and I edited P ’s name out of the account of my visit to Poland, so it can go up immediately I get home. I intend giving A** ten bucks for use of the internet and hope she takes it graciously….tell her I won it in the casino, which is true.

Made a trip downstairs and left R** a *** buck tip as I have never dealt with a concierge before and they said it was not a breach of etiquette. The asst concierge said I was ‘famous’ and that is how she knew my name without asking, but she wouldn’t say WHY I am famous. The sun is setting over the water right outside my balcony now, and I have taken a LONG hot shower and feel spectacular. It is still seventy degrees and 57%humidity and it is gorgeous, and yes, we are lucky lucky lucky!

Walked forward to learn that they would ‘let it go’ for five hundred bucks – it being the painting of five bears. About ten times my top offer, and that was being ridiculous. The sunset is absolutely gorgeous, and the camera picked right then to be finished with the batteries, but since I had got replacement ones on Virgin Gorda, I kept right on shooting. I like to think it is a good omen, and that Dr H and his wife will be on time and that A will be happy with ten bucks to look at the internet. While she is melting the hearts of a new bunch of men tomorrow by the elevators, I’ll post the bit about my Poland visit, as I went thru the scratch pad and eliminated all names from it. May have already mentioned I wrote up a quick bit about the downed airman in Germany and his reunion in Belgium years later. Dist from NY 250.2NM at 1830.

Went to Impressions after a quick visit to the casino where I did not play this time – quite smoky. I got there and worried like a school kid over what kind of reaction I was gonna get when I gave A** her ten bucks, and needn’t have worried, cuz it was another light up the room smile for me. I hope she reads the account of the visit to Poland and responds sometime, somehow.

The elderly Chinese couple (hell, they’re two years younger than I am) didn’t show, so I didn’t wait a minute past 1730, but went to table 16 by the window and again skipped soup, salad, appetizer, bread and went for the prime ribs and baked potato, which were ‘ok’ but not great. Will supplement it with ice cream and cookies later on.

Went next to internet and used their special of thirty minutes for twelve bucks, and went thru it just on pprune and putting a one liner on my blog and reading s’s account. Yahoo news, comics and drudge report glanced at, but no email and no asf for days and days now. Hope I mentioned how very spectacular the sunset was. I have said my goodbyes to C** whom I will write and A** whom I cannot but will try to keep in touch via C***.

When I returned to my stateroom, R** had called thanking me for the gratuity and I was glad I had done it. Total tips is ** bucks and well worth it…** each for the cabin stewards and ** to A** and ** to R**. My pants feel tight, but I did go to the gym and use the treadmill and exercise bike fairly vigorously. Was up over 4mph on the walking there are two huge chess sets on the game deck but I only saw them in use one time. Seas still rough, 12 feet. Some suitcases have already hit the hallway and mine won’t be far behind. Going to wander down to the guest talent show and sit where I can leave in a hurry.

On this trip I did not once look at my 1954 diary, let alone transcribe any of it. I spent very little time at all in the casino, went to two or three shows, ate in two specialty restaurants, had chateaubriand, filet mignon, prime ribs and sirloin steak as well as my hotdogs. Experiences the Jacuzzi, treadmill and latte for the first time, and altogether thoroughly enjoyed the karma that flowed from the call from R*** : Are you the Mr **** who wrote to C? I said “not necessarily…is there a problem with that?” And she had replied, no quite the opposite, and she weren’t kidding.

So – this ship has popcorn and the Ecstasy didn’t. No ice cream dispenser, but it is available most of the afternoon and evening, not two hours a day. I set my new ten buck watch, and probably harvested a total of thirty five to forty bucks from the casino. I didn’t mess up too bad anywhere any time, being prepared for the tours etc, and even my Robinson Caruso foray onto the beach at Virgin Gorda had an OK ending at the marina. Nobody fell in love with me, but overall I would be hard pressed to rate this experience any less than a 9 on a ten scale. And, of course, I have treated myself to a really magnificent Xmas and birthday present all rolled into one, with a shot at Antarctica. Way down in steerage…unless CV should choose to intervene another time…..[ed-he did]

I was warmed by yet another dazzling smile from C*** as I waved at her for I suppose the last time and returned to my room to pack my suitcase and put it in the hall with a massive red V I P sticker on it, which they said would not even require me to put my name on it. We are going to be escorted off the ship first, and perhaps I shall prevail on Mr V to do that one little thing for me in Buenos Aires.
Sad that the cruise is over…last towel of a swan on my bed and photographed.

Finished a bowl of blueberry sherbert, and already had strawberry and vanilla ice cream and a cookie. No wonder my pants are tight. Put my suitcase out in the hall and brought it back three times as I found clean underwear and stuff in drawers, but I am five hours ahead of their 2AM deadline if not the first to get it in the hall. Still comparing this to the ecstasy – and it is a close call. The VIP treatment has definitely skewed the emotional balance in favor of this trip. 3703.9NM + 203.0NM equals this trip distance.=3907NM [4,499 miles, in real money]

Day Ten -- Heading Home

2011-07-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today I woke sometime before six, and by six I was down at the pursers desk ref a charge on my bill for discover scuba in st Thomas. They said I needed to talk to the tour desk at ten, and I opt to try to let R*** sort it out if she can. But otherwise, the morning has been wonderful. I went on deck and the swimming pool (and surrounding deck) were deserted, even of staff, so I had my first good long swim, many laps, many strokes, and followed that up by almost my first ever that I can remember visit to a Jacuzzi, with ambient temp of about 98. It is 76 degrees out now, but those bubbling jets fooled my old body into thinking it was in the thirties again.

Followed this up with a cup of coffee from the forward galley at the garden café (lukewarm) and one from the aft galley, just right for drinking back in my cabin, which I am. Wearing my new Virgin Gorda gym shirt and will shower and dress shortly, with no particular agenda for the day. Packing won’t be much of a prob, and other than a visit to the tour lady for a price of south America and machu pichu trip and a crew talent show at 1430, have a wide open day at sea.

There were a few lovely shots of a moon with the globes, but I already HAVE em from the Sea, and am really beginning to think enuf is enuf. OK, I broke down and got one t shirt, but I passed on them from almost all of the places that we visited, and even let go of the refrig magnets as well, as I have so many they fall off when I open the frig. Wind 22 knots. Pool 83 deg. Jacuzzi temp about 97 deg moderate seas, high steady barometer. Took my shower and finally figured out that the left handle does strength and the right one is hot/cold. Works better when you don’t think they are respectively hot and cold.

Wrote letter to J**, the South African NCL rep aboard and asked for package for S America including air and Macu Pichu. Sat on my balcony and proof read trip so far, pasting parts into the trip diary and into scrap for posting on my blog. Comfy in my new gym shirt and shorts, but nobody has called (R*** or anyone else) so may take a bike ride awhile, or just stroll around the deck in the warm sun. I got noticeable color yesterday while stranded on my Robinson Cruso beach.

It is ten thirty now, and I am back on my balcony. This has happened since I last wrote. I went to the gym and rode for twenty minutes on the recumbent exercise bike, burning off about 80 calories. Then, having had one first already today (jacuzzi) I had a second, finding an empty treadmill with nobody waiting, and walked on it for ten minutes, at speeds ranging for 1.1 to 4.mph and with a little incline for part of the time. It occurs to me that such a device might be a good thing for me to use regularly.

Followed that by a walk around deck (probably 2.5mph I should think) and thence down to deck seven, and there I stuck a note under J’s door re a quote for a South America trip and Machu Pichu add on, and set myself up for a 3:30 appointment as well to talk to her. That is an hour after the crew show.

Then I saw R*** who told me she had taken care of the erroneous charge on my bill, and so I asked her for a cuppa in the same place where we had our first one, and we repaired to the same table and talked, and I had my first ever latte, which came in a huge square cup and was sort of lukewarm. Most pleasant visit and she told me about her visit to Machu Pichu, and about the Crown which is the vessel which makes the transit. I fell into conversation with another disgruntled cruiser who had paid $150 to upgrade to an outer room (deck five) and she was, I think, unsettled to hear of my gratis upgrade to a balcony, which I took great pains NOT to tell her how I did it.

So – three firsts in one day…Jacuzzi, treadmill and latte. Now I am off to look at designer watches half off and try my luck in the casino again…twenty dollar stake.

// And that turned out, for the second time to be a mistake, as I drew a pair of eights and had to hit it instead of split it against a six showing. So I lost my twenty real quick and then walked by the entrance to Impressions and saw the big piano empty and the room empty, and so I asked R*** for the key, and she made a quick call and sent me up to the 13th deck opposite the steak house. There, the Yamaha was unlocked but has a cracked sounding board for which I do not intend to take the blame. I drew a spattering of older people who stayed,, listened, made requests and left. I had only half brain freeze and was able to pull up some of my favorites from memory.

The designer watches, btw, all had expansion bands and nobody to size them for me, so instead of saving hundred, I saved eighty.//Flashing light invites me to go up and see Don in 11626 which has lounge chairs on the balconys and almost an extra room…quite nice, but more than I need. I showed them and then just him some of the pix from the last two cruises, and he even seemed to want to see bears and Kuwait, but I didn’t stay long, but went to the crew talent show.

Instead it was so jammed that I sat in the very very back and heard three ok vocals against the non stop muttering of a pink old dowager next to me. I finally said to her, quite loudly. “Are you going to talk throughout the entire concert?” She looked like she had been slapped, mission accomplished. But then they began the PC version of Old Man River, and I had just read it on line anyhow, so went to the art auction and did not see the bear picture going. Some pix went for $40 and some for six or seven thousand. Je ne compred pas.
Next stop was J***, from Durban, and our exchange was rather brief but pleasant.

The 14 day cruise from Valparaiso to Montevideo is $5200 and there is space available in February. It is the Norwegian Crown and leaves the end of February. Adding in Machu Pichu and airfare to Chile and from Argentina brings total cost up to around ten thousand, but look what mileage I got out of the supersonic jet fighter [electric lightning] ride for about the same price. It is a big temptation to leave her a deposit tomorrow.

In fact, I wrote to C*** and told him his fairness and generosity had turned out to be a good business decision, as I am probably going to go for a cruise at quadruple the cost. My supper was all cashmere and again, I said no to bread, wine, appetizer and salad and desert, opting instead of filet mignon, onion soup and a baked potato. Top notch. Solitary table by the window. Watched joggers going by as I ate my steak.

Went next to the internet cafe where I checked on LI wx ( 33 low 49 high), but no precip in fx for tomorrow or Thursday, when we get home. Wrote to CV as said, and quick look at my blog before time ran out. If a special presents itself tomorrow, I may buy some, but as it is, I can go a full day without internet….I think.
The show dollywood is scheduled to begin in less than a half hour, and I intend to remain dressed up and go to it

// And I did. On our first day aboard, I sat in the very first seat in the first row. Tonight I sat in the very last row, second floor, in the corner. It was a lot of dancing, with smoke and loud music. The theatre was fairly full a full 15 minutes before the show was to begin. It was fine, but not my thing, and after about 40 minutes, I was in the casino where I played three hands only, winning all of them, and feeling better as I left. I went to the desk to ask about express debarkation, and while they do not have what the Sea did, they said it is fine by them if I want to carry my suitcase off myself so I don’t have to search for it on the pier. So I began packing.

I got a real nice smile from C*** as I passed LeBistro and a wan wave from poor A*** who is still feeling punk. Cannot deny however, that during the performance in the theatre I was feeling pretty raw and borderline teary, thinking of my dead parents, far away children, Xmases past and empty house present.

Don’t know if I have specifically mentioned it, but there are a substantial number of very handicapped people on board, in wheelchairs and seemingly palsied as well. Blind people.

Funny, but while I was watching the bollywood in the theatre, I found myself wishing that I could watch a good spy movie on tv instead, and that is JUST what came on tv tonight.

At Sea Lat 24 25 Lon 67 00 oat 76 deg

Day Nine - Virgin Gorda, British VI

2011-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

dateline Tortola, BVI

Today I woke at 0615 and went straightway to the 12th deck café for coffee, and saw on the stbd side a most gorgeous colored sky as the sun rose over a scattering of small islands and the sea and sky were lovely colors. This being the second time I had ventured from my cabin without the camera, I went back quickly and shot a half dozen or so different pics as the sun rose and yet another cruise ship approached the island slowly. I hope the many pics do the scene justice. [Judge for yourself; see below] The ship passed us and is a celebrity liner with no name on stern. The one with us yesterday in St Thomas was the Serenade of the Seas, and my taxi driver was taking a cruise on her next week, about his 8th.

Dreams last night were wonderful, and life ain’t too bad awake either, as I sit drinking my coffee and watching the celebrity ship approach Tortola with a half dozen officious little police type ships swarming round her (and us) like Chihuahua puppies lusting after a great Dane. They are making quite a fuss and I was just telling ‘fritz’ the cfi yesterday about them rolling the cfr trucks at all the stops on the way to Bora Bora, and now I find myself wondering whether they have received some sort of threat to the ship,. Certainly it [cruising] epitomizes the type of living that Muslims find unholy.

Well we are cleared to tender, and I have twenty minutes to get myself to the stardust lounge for my shore excursion, which is ONLY a ticket to Virgin Gorda. Time will tell if I have screwed this one up, but it will be foot on a new island…..

And so I made my way to the stardust lounge, arriving about three minutes before our assembly time of 0730. It turns out that the Highlights of Virgin Gorda thing was the way to go, and we had a double deck boat filled with people on their way to get off the boat and onto open buses. No room for me. The ride across the water was lovely, and so yes, I have been boating in the BVI so there!

When we got to the dock, however, there was a lovely welcome sign and not a lot else. There was a closed customs bldg and naught else anywhere. The female running the tour told me there was no room. Someone else said there was, and she came along and said no again. So I walked away from the dock and to my right, toward visible ship masts which I hoped would yield a sail.

Found a hole in the fence and soon felt like Robinson F Caruso on a deserted island, as the ship was not going back for three hours and I was left with the following resources: sunscreen, binocs, gps, raincoat, two towels, camera, bottle of water, paper and pencil, a quiet pretty beach and a gorgeous view. So I fell back on my own resources to amuse myself, and immediately began a journal of the kamikaze event, and wrote letters to A** and C***, inviting them both to dinner in NYC if they ever have any free time. God help me if they ever say yes!

Went into the water up to my knees, and basically had resigned self to look into things next time a little further, when I decided to walk a little further. Thinking of Princess Bride, I listed my assets and what I was missing:

Have: water, beach, sunscreen, gps, writing stuff, binocs, rain parka, towels, lovely view, sectional.

Don’t have-food,, taxi, sailboat, toilet, bike, internet, postcard, reading material Incidentally, I picked up eight satellites on the gps, which it had not done since I was on the river in Bangkok heading to the Royal Orchid hotel and another kamikaze lobby entrance in my sweats.

Finally decided to walk a little further from the ferry.

It was like a twilight zone episode, as I came to a tourism center with internet (which at forty bucks an hour I passed) postcards, t shirts, batteries and candy bars, and I got them all. They had begging chickens, some pretty music, a chair and shade to sit in, and the rest of the time on Virgin Gorda passed very pleasantly. The first wasn’t really unpleasant, just a bit of a surprise, and there were a few sprinkles of rain, but not enough for me to put on the parka.;

On the beach there was even a man Friday, although he said no more than good morning as he mended his lobster pots or whatever they were. There was a tiny sandshark on the grass and again, some substantial yachts at anchor and moored alongside. The one that I saw a location on was Roadtown BVI which I now know is the capital of Tortola. I got a postcard of Virgin Gorda and one of Tortola despite my visit to Tortola being about five seconds (as Fritz dumped the flaps yesterday and I put power on the skyhawk hee hee= touch and go on runway seven – perfectly done).

Time now is 1325 local, 1225 NY, and we are under way, with no more stops till we are in NYC. I am already thinking seriously of re booking the Dawn again, even understanding that a balcony is not necessarily in my next trip for the price I paid for this one. I fell in love with being waited on hand and foot aboard the Ecstasy and this trip has done nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for it. BTW, I went off and left my do not disturb sign on, and have quite a collection of dirty dishes, but all otherwise fine.

When I got back to the ship, the ferry was smashing up against the Dawn as we debarked, and I remarked to myself that this was the very last time that I was going to climb aboard this lovely vessel this time out. For sure will keep an eye on prices for upcoming cruises on her, maybe even Xmas. I already spoke to R*** about same. As I wandered around, I felt again that there is just something for everyone here. Little kids were splashing in the t rex pool. Many others were at a poolside barbecue, and the garden café was also filling up, with all kinds of exotic food for every taste. Even mine, as I went to the Bimini deck for two hotdogs and some fries.

As we steam away from Tortola for NY, I have elected to remain on my balcony and catch up with the mornings activities, and won’t budge till we are out of sight of land.

For fun I just looked at my diary for a year ago, and I was dealing with nine inches of snow with the camper etc. Obviously, I have no idea what wx has been going on back on LI. But this is quite a bit more pleasant, with the warm trades blowing across my balcony and a succession of lovely green islands and white sailboats filling the gorgeous waters of the Caribbean. With the cabin gps and my TCA chart that I got yesterday, it is a cinch to see just where we are. I ran into Dr Ho earlier and asked him to telephone and come on up and share the balcony.

The British Virgin Islands are falling astern now (Jost Van Dyk off my balcony) and I am openly and overtly lonely now. . This gorgeous, sunridden balcony overlooking the gorgeous blue Caribbean and the even more beautiful virgin islands falling astern is downright lonely with an empty chair. I even thought of wondering how much a condo on one of these islands would go for.

After reading the description of the snowstorm last year on this date, the idea of sitting permanently on a warm balcony overlooking the warm water appeals. So does another cruise, although it will be tough to do without the balcony for sure. I think it is time to wander the ship and watch some people. Called Dr Ho but no answer.

Wandered here and there. Got some ham and turkey sandwiches and brought them back to the room which I forgot to leave the sign on to make up, and it is filling up with empty dishes. R*** sent some more too which I haven’t even looked at. I gave my letter to A*** and got one of her “light up the room but unfortunately infrequent” smiles.

Went to the meeting on upcoming cruises and they have one that goes to both Machu Picu and the Antarctic which sounds ideal. The ‘dead cow’ in the impressions dining room does not sound appealing so I am going to wait and have another burger in the Blue Lagoon (for such is the name of the little place next to reception). I figure to time it for 1900 and listen to the Philippinos and then go internet a little.

I stopped off in the gift shop and was successful in finding instructions which enabled me to stop the alarm from going off on my watch. While I was there, a couple was looking at a watch which sells for thirty five thousand dollars. I asked the clerk if they sold many, and she said no, they do not. I pointed out that for that price I got a house, car and airplane and boat. Her rather plaintive response was “well, it is platinum”.

And I went to the casino with twenty bucks, saw a $25 table with a rich old idiot lady and a slow dealer who was milking her dry, so as soon as I won one hand at the five buck table, I went over, and got a 13 against a ten showing. But the old lady split fours and sevens I think, and got every low card in the deck, so I stuck and the dealer broke on his 16. Feeling chuffed, I left posthaste with thirty five profit.[well, $30]

Watching CNN now, as the vacation is over and we are heading home. Terrorists attacked the US Embassy in Riyadh KSA. More mayhem in Iraq and attacks by ETA in Spain as well. Stocks seem to be way down…will go on line later tonight. . Stood awhile on the balcony of the internet café on the 9th deck watching the dancing to the Philippino trio who hit some really bad chords in Just in Time.

On line I checked and got another nice message from Mr V***, some more funny messages from S*** in Colorado who has developed quite a cult following, and no wonder, as her turns of phrase are marvelous... kind of like Erma Bombeck on speed. Quick post on pprune and I was off, without checking email at home or comics. . The blue lagoon was busy so I came right back to the room to see a sea turtle on my bed (towels) and photographed it, and looked at the last bit of stuff from R*** and it was chocolates, so I am prolly gonna skip dinner altogether.

But I did find myself back in the internet café catching up on the few things I missed first time, and to listen to the romantic trio playing. Have been catered to, waited on, looked after for eight or nine days, have seen and photographed five new islands, have six or so new postcards for the refrig area, nothing unpleasant facing me at home, and actually still two more days and nights at sea. And presumably the resources to do it all over again, to South America, Macu Picu and Antarctica if I want to. None of which explains why I feel like I do.

----Tortola Sunrise

-------- My Robinson Crusoe beach

Day Eight - St Thomas, USVI

2011-06-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Dateline St Thomas, USVI

Today I woke shortly before six thirty in stateroom 10*** of the Norwegian Dawn, and channel 14 showed a lovely view of St Thomas ahead. I feel good, excited, happy and at the same time calm and controlled. I barefooted up to the garden café and back with a small cup of coffee to hold me till the room service pot arrived at seven, and by then I had the identifier for Tortola airport plugged into my gps, had taken a photo of the police boat AND the bow wake together, a welcome to st Thomas sign on the deck together with Xmas ornaments which still strike me as incongruous given the 78 temp and 74% humidity.

Sky is scattered with apparent wind from the east, so flying is DEFINITELY on my mind for the day, and my hope is that Ad*** and/or Ag** will be a part of the occasion. I have filled out an embarkation card for Tortola (have sorta memorized my passport info – issued 8 Dec and no****. Next stop is the auditorium on deck six in exactly a half hour for US customs clearance, which will speed things up in NYC, unless we have to do it all over again because we are supposed to be going to the British Virgin Islands tomorrow. We shall see… mox nix.

Flew N***CH from St Thomas to Tortola for a touch and go and a low pass over Virgin Gorda where single engine planes are not allowed. The taxi driver took me for an hour ride first, so I got yet another pic of the cruise ship in a harbor, and lots more shots of pretty islands in the sun. We found Ace Aviation, and the CFI, F****, was nearly my age, looked and sounded just like Wilfred Brimley and we took another brand new fledgling CFI along for a ride in the back seat.

Nice long pre flight briefing, and I got a chart for the ride, and then we took off to the east ahead of a citation in its way to Palm Beach. We saw where Bill Gates lives, and Sir Richard Branson, and did a touch and go on 07 at Tortola. The entire flight was 1500 feet and though the winds were strong, it was not too turbulent and I enjoyed very Aspect of it. My log book was filled out and signed, and by the time I had finished the visa bill for the trip, the taxi was here to take me back to the ship.

I walked to an internet place and it was a virtual tower of Babel, as Orientals, Spanish, Turkish, polish, Korean all were jabbering at once on the phones. I found a cable car and took it up and back without getting off to ‘shop’ at the top, and got some nice views of the harbor and the two ships therein.

Thence to an internet which was five bucks an hour, and there I stayed for two hours, content.

I found R** in the internet café and together we sent off to Mr. V** a copy of my praise to NCL which I posted (as promised) on cruisecritic. I said a long hello to C*** and told her that I was going to leave it to her to find me and let me know when she has time to look at the pix. She seemed to genuinely hope that we could chat.

I dined alone and rather rapidly by the window in Impressions on sirloin steak, and then later had ham, mashed potatoes and pineapple up on deck 12, and two things of popcorn and two bowls of strawberry ice cream. The day was really a huge success if you count the two new airports, a new island, a beautiful flight with two good landings etc. The wx was just fine, the plane ran well and I didn’t fuss or cringe over the price.

The ship has now allowed itself eleven hours to go thirty miles, so I have no idea how it is going to spend the time. I do not remember a great deal about what J*** and I did on our first visit to St Thomas, but I vividly remember going over on the Grumman goose belonging to Antilles Airboats.

More food from R*** which I haven’t even looked at yet, as I am quite full. One of the taxi drivers said they have had as many as 13 cruise ships in the harbor at once. I have seen no seagulls or any other evidence of wildlife in the harbor at all, and in fact, seagulls have been notably absent from most of our ports of call,tho I think I saw a pelican at Antigua, which now seems a long time ago.

There was a bunch of perhaps Japanese enjoying karaoke while I was internetting, and they were quite good and I enjoyed listening to them. First time I ever saw it up close and personal.

Taking a Break from Cruise Posts – Life, Goes On

2011-06-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

gThis Sunday morning, a pharmacist who works a block from the Elementary School once attended by my children went off to work as did a young girl who also worked at the pharmacy, with no idea on earth that everything they ever wanted to do or be, had happened.

At twenty minutes after ten, a robber shot and killed four people in the building. The police officer who discovered what had to be an awful and gruesome and bloody scene, reported it to dispatch in a totally conversational tone of voice, leading me to believe it was a Sunday morning drill.

A mile into a random local bike ride, I discovered that it was not, as I stumbled upon the scene in real life, not television or internet.

I am not particularly proud of this fact, but my very first reaction upon seeing this scene was the line from “Alice’s Restaurant” that ‘they had all kinds of po lees equipment that they was using up”.

The media was there

As were the gawkers, which briefly had to include me, although I left rapidly.

Here’s the thing that struck me. A block away, people were cutting their grass. Kids shot baskets in the street. Birds sang loudly in the trees overhanging the street on which I rode. A stream of vehicles passed me, occupied by people who had no knowledge of what had transpired yards from them.

It IS a good idea to enjoy life while it lasts. Sometimes it is well to remember.

Day Seven -- Dominica

2011-06-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

Dateline Dominica---day seven

Today is full of big and little pleasures. Big pleasure is sitting as I am now, on my balcony of stateroom 10*** and watching Roseau, Dominica approach, close enough now to hear roosters. Little pleasure is setting my new watch seconds to the correct gps time. Of course, it as an HOUR off, but that is my usual custom when traveling outside my own time zone. Early morning temp in the seventies, low humidity and I have a good long tour for the day.

Made barefoot trips to get coffee twice and oj once. Filled water bottle and moved stuff from the old ripped green backpack into the blue Norwegian Cruise Lines one that I got last night at the Shore Excursion desk where nobody would admit to putting the ‘ship and ‘taxi’ labels on the photo by the desk. Still smile each time I think of it. Forewent breakfast and returned to pack up everything. Was by the pool when they called all clear to go ashore, and it was an hour before I think my tour is to begin. I would be a tad upset if I missed it, but I believe I still have a good half hour to go before I need be on the pier. Wx, as stated, is sunny and pleasant.

I was on the dock maybe fifteen minutes before the 0845 assembly time, stated to be on the pier by the gangplank, but twas not, twas on the shore by the pier. There was a Welcome sign and a sweet Canadian girl from the ships company took my obligatory picture there. Very tall, glassed man was the tour guide, and he told me to go wait somewhere, and then promptly forgot me, so I was the last one on the bus. Small bus, seated perhaps 12, half of whom were polish and two were black Americans.

Road was narrow, potholed and soaking wet as we drove up several thousand feet above the boat to the rain forest, which really was one. I’ve seen them in St Croix, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and I think in Bali and Malaysia as well, but this one well and truly was a soaker. After quite a long ride we came to a cable car which held ten people and a tour guide, with a plastic roof and open sides and seats. We rode along thru the branches of the ferns, trees, bamboo and flowers in a rain that varied from gentle to torrential and several of the tourists had got themselves six dollar souvenir slickers and I had my Patagonia jacket, but several travelers were noisily soaked, as apparently they did not know why it was called a RAIN forest.

At the top everyone opted to go for a walk thru the rain forest and across another very high suspension bridge similar to the five in Costa Rica. Was struck as much as anything by the ABSENCE of bird and animal life. We saw only a butterfly the entire hour and a half that we were on the tram…not a single other living non plant thing. No jungle sounds, nothing. One humming bird.

Still, in my experience it was the perfect way [for me anyhow]to see the rain forest – up close and personal but zero effort and zero risk…no hacking thru with machetes. Very pleased. Passed up the free rum punch and we were off to the gorge which was, not surprisingly, running very high due to the extraordinary amount of recent rains, so the split was pretty much between the Americans and the Europeans, with the latter taking the plunge, and me and the others taking a pass. I went in up to my knees, but was not altogether pleased with the arrangements for security for passport and wallet and stuff left behind, and was content to return to the bus as soon as it was permitted.

Next stop was a botanical garden with two parrots in cages which I never did see nor hear. I was so impressed I left my camera in the van for the walk, but would have taken a picture of the cannon ball tree which I had never seen before. And last stop was an overlook where there were rows of vendors and a pretty view toward the south end of the island the the Norwegian Dawn lying at pierside and this time we are the ONLY ship in the harbor, a first for this trip and unlikely to be the case tomorrow in St Thomas. I took the picture and tried to get a pic of the sign that said unauthorized vendors are not allowed, but don’t know yet how it came out, because tonight I am doing text before pictures, hoping for better continuity.

Back at the ship, I headed for the snack bar by the pursers desk and sure enough, Ad*** was there and smiled at me, but is herself working till after four and we sail at five, so no shot at going ashore with her here. A** was at the reservations desk and gave me a very wan smile, and she is still not sleeping well due to her cough and God could she use a few days rest which they ain’t gonna give her soon.

So I went back out to shore with Dr H*** and his wife who came by the reservations desk while I was there with A***, and when she asked them their stateroom I gave it for them. We walked to the first vendor stand where I said I was only going for a postcard and the internet, so we split up and I struck off on my own. I was approached several times for money by at least two or three different people and said I had only the return to Dominica coin (pronounced DomEenEeKa). The west coast of the island is washed by the Caribbean sea and the east coast by the Atlantic ocean.

Usually I can find these cafes by asking two or at most three people, but this time, I never found it, and further, as I got four or five blocks away from the ship I hit the edge of my comfort zone, and while it was a bright sunny day, and the vendors and salespeople were polite, there were a crowd of loiterers in their big hats and sullen glares that made me, while not afraid, or even uncomfortable – they made me NOT comfortable. Slight distinction there, perhaps, but I returned to the ship without regrets.

Here, I settled onto my balcony with three cookies and some ice water to daydream. C** is NOT going with me tomorrow, having off only an hour and a half while we were in port. A** wants to go and A** is still insisting that she doesn’t even know what her schedule for tomorrow is going to be. Doc H* is going to Coral World (which is HELL for a Chinese to say, trust me on that), and so my flight tomorrow may be with two lovely young ladies or alone.

However, for the moment I remain shirtless, shoe and sockless in my bathing suit with my binocs around my neck people watching in Roseau which is a football field away from my bed, and listening to guitar music on ch 14 which also has our distance travelled since leaving NYC in nautical miles which is 2158.1. And it was shirtless that the Philippina maid found me with the candy from R***.

A little later I went thru the lobby and was surprised to see A*** already on duty, and as near as I can tell, unable to leave till 2200, having had twenty minutes to get out of a waitress uniform and out to her chair in the lobby. I told her I’d be back with the pix from today if she wanted, and she said fine.

Went to internet café and posted on pprune, a tiny bit on my blog ,glanced at asf, drudge, ap breaking news and newsday, but didn’t check my email this time. I have about an hour and a half internet time left. Back I went to Ad** to show her the thirty or so pix from today and to learn that her father is going to slaughter a pig for Xmas. Although the ship has pretty decorations, the temps in the eighties and palm trees have sort of pushed Xmas into the background, and it is hard to believe it is three weeks away. Will hunker down and remember the warm beaches and tropical rain forests when the kids are having their Mom up to see them upstate..

Supper in the hamburger place by reception. I chatted with Ad*** just a few minutes more and left around 2130, making sure to call reception and tell them to let her know when it was ten, because her battery had died. I checked the camera shop and they had only aaa duracells and I need aa for D***’s camera if they should go belly up tomorrow. The music behind the reservations desk was again the Philippinos, who played quando quando, try to remember, and other nostalgia early sixties stuff.

Back in the room, filled water bottle, ate cookies, and called for room service for coffee in the morning and also a 7AM wakeup call (automatic). My flashing message this time was the room steward explaining that I had left the ‘do not disturb’ sign on and he couldn’t make up the room, which except for the towel animals is fine by me…they turn off the tv and I have a devil of a time getting it back on, and steal my bedspread which I can’t find. BTW, I pushed the heat up to the MAX and then went off and forgot it, and it was a sauna when I returned.

Day Six-Barbados

2011-06-16T18:54:00.001-07:00

dateline approaching Barbados

Today I woke at ten of eight. The automated wakeup call was set for eight, and before then I had called room service for coffee and oj. From my balcony I could clearly see Barbados which is about twenty miles away. I have declined to photograph it however, as while showing the pix to A*** last night, I became aware of how overwhelming the numbers are becoming. It looks like St Thomas which looks like St Croix which looks like Antigua which looks like etc. More and more I can understand how S*** doesn’t know where she has been, especially a drinker who would be nursing a massive hangover now as she prepared for whatever they were going to do. Mine is Best of Barbados tour commencing on the dock in a little over an hour.

This was a pleasant and well planned arrival, with my shower, slathering of sun lotion, packing for the day and everything nicely coinciding with our arrival just at 9am. Two other ships precede us that I can see from balcony portside – the Adonia from London and the Crystal Serenity. . I think I pretty well have it together for this one, with expected trip beginning in ten minutes and no cabin announcement made yet.

They finally announced that the delay was caused by tired linesmen on the dock, which I interpret to mean unbribed. On the horizon was a strange looking ship and I asked R*** to find out what kind it was, and she tried. Our driver Larry said it was a ship with Buses and cars from Japan. By the way, there is a 100 % duty on imported cars, so every car is double .the usual price. The number of cars on the island has grown from 15,000 to 115,000 in the past few years. And they have agreed to host a world cup cricket match which will bring a half million visitors.

I had less than a 30 second wait to debark. Had my bathing suit with me but we went nowhere near a beach. Like St Croix, they took us off the pier in shuttle busses, but unlike St Croix, they knew what they were doing with over six thousand people coming and going amongst the ropes and cables and freighters, fireboats police boats, more zodiacs as constant painting apparently takes place in every port, as well as bunkering.

So the buses were big and ran frequently. In the terminal I found a fine welcome to Barbados sign and got my pic taken by same and it is good. Was held up from getting on one tour bus and ergo was first one onto the one that pulled up next, and sat behind Larry whose Moms family came from Wales and his Dad’s family from Ireland, but he had been in Barbados for three hundred years, or six generations. He was white and had an accent that could not be pinned down. He said no probs with being such a minority (4% whites now) and low crime etc etc. He also rides a trek bike and has ridden competition. He was taking the place of a missing tour guide as well. One had the impression that he was called at the last minute. But he did fine.

The island itself is pretty, but again, I am beginning to see where S*** is coming from in that they all look alike, as they do. This one is not volcanic but coral, and the weather the last two weeks has been non stop rain, and he told us several times how lucky we were to get right onto the tour at Harrison Hill, and how very lucky we were with the weather, which spit a bit but was basically bright and sunny and stayed that way all day.

From Bridgetown we went right to Harrison Cave which is on top of a mountain but 160 feet deep, riding on an open electric tram amongst the stalactites (hanging Tight on Top) and stalagmites (which Might grow) and hidden lakes and waterfalls. It was lighted subtly and was very well done. Reminds me of another nice place where these things were similarly nicely done, but right now I can’t remember where.
Carol was our tour guide and Richard was the driver and I fell into conversation with D*** from the 11th deck who may or not contact me to look at his digital pix.

Following the cave, we drove to an orchid farm, and there I remembered it was Singapore where I had seen the orchids before and had thought then of LM as I did today. They are raised with their roots out of the ground, hanging in mid air.

Started seeing pretty views from there, and continued to the Gun Hill Signal tower where the views included our ship and a good deal of the island, which is about 160 square miles. Then back on the bus, just missing a good shot of the Barbados flag as the bus passed a tree branch.

SO- Barbados is history now. Highlight – 4 hour bus tour with underground cave, orchid plantation and Gun Hill Signal Tower. To ship and back out again for a solid hour of internet and then three telephone calls – self (no messages!!) S** and C***, left message. Posted on pprune and couldn’t find Dorrie’s site.

On my return between shore trips, I discovered that the little place by reception where I’ve been getting my ice water and where I got the cookies last night has the best damn burgers aboard, almost as good as the Ecstasy, and even tho A*** was not there, I ate a delicious cheeseburger with onions and tomato and had some fries, and then took a plate of six cookies out to A*** who cannot help but smile when I carry on like that. There are four security cameras there and she is not allowed to eat, but when she left, she had carefully secreted the cookies and was going back to her room to enjoy them, and the smile was worth it.

This minute I am on the balcony overlooking two other cruise ships and a few rather rusty looking freighters, one called the sea cloud. I am going down for some more steak at A***’ restaurant in an hour. Sailing is supposed to be at seven, so I should be thru eating although it will probably be dark then.

And so it was, I walked up to A*** at 5:30 and said party of 30, and got her great smile and dimples. She sat me alongside the wall again, and this time I didn’t fuss because we were docked. I had steak to complement my chateaubriand and filet mignon of the last two nights, this despite my finding the really great burgers down by reception. Finished off a second dish of strawberry ice cream and walked up to hang out with A*** again, showing her the pix from today, and then taking the puter back upstairs in a new backpack which I got at the tour desk.

Returned to cabin and labeled photos, and catching up on day’s diary (a little choppy I suppose) and lites out by 2300. Hooked three cookies from upstairs.

--Signal Hill

----Fireboat in Barbados Harbor

Day Five- Antigua

2011-06-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Date line Nevis/St Kitts off Starboard beam Time 0500 NY 0600 Local

Today I woke in my room 10*** about 0500 local, and fussed a bit with the stuff I intend taking ashore at Antigua, which is scheduled within a few hours. My primo tour may be sold out and I am on standby, and would therefore be going 4 x 4ing which I have never done but expect I shall enjoy.

It took a few minutes before I became convinced that I was not going to be able to go back to sleep, so I called room service for coffee and corn flakes and took a barefoot stroll on the deck, with the coffee and binocs and saw Nevis and St Kitts off the right side of the ship falling astern, lights along the shoreline.

In the spirit of my pic of hamburger and Acapulco, I just took a shot of sunrise and cornflakes, ‘life is good volume ten thousand’ or ‘gotta love those upgrades’. The sun is JUST rising above what I presume is Antigua at 0524 eastern standard time. It is 76 degrees with a lovely wind blowing across the balcony. The coffee is excellent, all my parts are working ok, and I am pleased to be here.

Sometimes my kamikaze touring style DOES do me mischief. About an hour before I am to start the tour of Antigua, I look in the descriptive literature and note it is one that I had crossed out. It also includes a swim, so I have put on a bathing suit now and will not know till 8AM whether I get to do this or my first choice which was sitting on a bus all day.(Antigua Highlights) Again, I have nobody but myself to blame for waiting till the last minute to book the tour. I put in for the best of Barbados as well, and have no idea whether it is sold out or not.

Out on deck 7, I saw a young woman washing windows. From St Petersburg and delightful. She is going ashore in Antigua all day and couldn’t be happier. Here aboard for 5 months. Took a photo of Guadeloupe, and realize as I did so that they ALL LOOK ALIKE and nobody much is gonna care, and even I won’t remember if I don’t keep abreast of the labeling…which so far I have done.

In fact I was so busy putting the pix on the hard drive I missed the approach into the harbor, where the Oriana London and Golden Princess (Hamilton) are already docked. Wx superb. Quick trip to the shore excursion desk yielded opposite info from last nite (tickets could be changed etc) but I am now content with the way things are set up, and will enjoying the day on Antigua I am quite sure. Am prepped for rain but not cold, and have info for internet addresses should I come across a place to surf. Also wearing bathing suit, and setting to shut down puter and lock it in big suitcase under bed, and money is locked in room safe, together with flight logbooks etc…passport with me.

Ok – LONG day in Antigua, or so it seems. Time now 1600 and am sitting on my balcony looking at the Golden Princess which is at least 16 decks I think. Popcorn in my teeth, as they began serving same in the sports bar by reception at 1600. Until then I was talking to A*** who was working alone in the lobby at reservations and just utterly exhausted. She has a cold or something and cannot even go out into the lovely tropic sunshine for the vit D.

I hit the pier minutes before my assigned 0845 muster time, and one of the people on my tour was an unattached Swiss woman living in Amsterdam, attractive but quite obviously uninterested in me except as just someone else to talk to. Asked her if she was aware of any other single women on cruise and she was not. We walked out to a land rover with eight seats in the rear, and our driver, Binky, who proved to be nuts, had us all buckle in and we crawled out of the traffic in St Johns and out into the countryside where we saw bananas, mangos, bamboo, papayas, lemon grass and the wildlife was egrets and cows, asses, horses, and lots of goats.

The hook was the off roading, and the land rovers are tough, and we bounced along roads that would have stunned the typical SUV back home, thru streams, huge ruts and up a rather steep hill. All in all I enjoyed it very much, especially as it was number two choice. Binky beeped his horn and demanded that we yell at everybody we saw, made running games with the other of the two land rovers, stopped to talk to women along the route, and in general just carried on. Once he hid and when the second jeep rolled up, he jumped out to scare them, which he did.

My biggest thrill was seeing the volcano on Montserrat, yet another island which I have now seen but not been to…and there are a LOT of them. I was neither sad nor sorry nor happy when the three hours were up. The Swiss lady (Maritina) took a very good pic of me by the Welcome to Antigua sign which is a keeper. We met and had a brief chat with Dr H*** and his wife as we boarded. Came back to the room, dumped my stuff and climbed out of the wet bathing suit (we stopped at a beach at the end of the tour for a swim) and went back into town for postcard and internet, both accomplished.

The cafe charged three us dollars for 15 minutes, which is six times Costa Rica and four times Cozumel. I was on for 45 min and posted on pprune, a quick entry in the blog and returned a PM to D*** (who again made me smile), looked at a few back websites and tried to catch up a little on the trrbpsoit thread. Got a postcard from a sweet white woman who was very chipper, but I knew she had to be exhausted with eight thousand tourists in the place at once.

The C Columbus is to our right and the Golden Princess to our left, and there is one behind her which I don’t remember. Folks come and go in small boats, and zodiacs. They were painting the anchor on the C Columbus and they just went by my balcony with some device which was cleaning the outside of this ship as well.

My overall impression of Antigua is very favorable and I enjoyed it entirely. I am going to be eating supper when we leave the harbor, as A*** has advised me to be there by 1730 and by 1800 it is going to be jammed. She had HUNDREDS of people at once last night, and both C*** and I felt sorry for her, and especially since she is feeling sick.

So I went down to the area near where A**** was going to be the hostess, and listened to some blowhard in a pink flowered shirt complain about his family, and listen to the cocktail pianist (there are a few aboard and they are all good) and I was promptly seated at 1730 at a table by the window, and so I was able to watch Antigua harbor slip away. Funny bit – thousands of flashbulbs were going off on all the decks of both of the huge ships still in the harbor as they took a pic of us doing our pirouette out of the harbor and off to sea, where we passed Guadeloupe (not a second time, the first one was not).. Supper was called hanger steak, but I thought it was more like roast beef. The service was quick and professional and I skipped salad, soup, appetizer and had a bowl of strawberry ice cream for dessert – my second of the day, as I had one up on the 12th deck upon my return from the land rover ride.

Following supper, I went and hung out with C*** at the entrance to her restaurant awhile, eating a piece of candy she gave me. She got called away to a meeting and I wandered up to the lobby where another good pianist was finishing and being replaced by the mariachi type guitar players from the Philippines. A*** was there again, and I spent much of the evening talking to her. It was she who had given me such a warm welcome in the little coffee area as I came ashore earlier, but I had simply not recognized her because she was wearing the waitress outfit that is usually Philippinas. Funny how the mind works. I apologized to her. She has a boyfriend on another boat and the photographer is also kinda proprietary as well. R*** came by and we exchanged our usual pleasantries.

When she had a meeting with a maitre d, I passed by her daytime work station and asked for a cookie. Saved myself a trip to 12th floor as they gave me a tray of six of them with plastic on top. Returned to the room, sorted and corrected some of the pix (what I thought was Guadeloupe was Montserrat etc) and just enjoyed a quiet evening without the theatre or any entertainment other than the tv. Put some of my laundry in to be done.

At 2300 I saw lights from my balcony, and THAT was Guadeloupe. Nearest airport was 18 miles away to the east TFFB, followed by TFFR[38 miles] and TFFM [47 miles]. The cabin has 19television channels. The Ecstasy had 3. And the Dawn has popcorn, and ice ceam if you search it out.

Antigua Countryside

Day Four - US VI

2011-06-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today, as happened last night, I went to sleep around 2200 and was awake again two hours later, thinking it was much later, possibly around 0500. Totally unknown why I should get jetlagged with a one hour time change, twice now. As I was tired all afternoon, I am quite wide awake now at midnight.

Anyhow, I walked upstairs and filled the water bottle at the gym which is two decks up and there was only one person there, and then I walked thru all quadrants of the garden café and it is closed tight and being cleaned assiduously. I set up an automated wakeup call for 0830 and then decided to call room service for a ham and cheese sandwich…same as I took to Xuanantinich from the NCL Sea, asking them to hold the cold slaw and pickle but bring on the chips, and it is on its way.

On the news, I see that Ottawa rioted when Bush visited. I am sure B** is not thrilled over many of Bush’s policies, as are many Americans. Dr H*** is seemingly conflicted about going with me on the upcoming flight, scheduled for thirteen hours from now, destination Tortola.

The sandwich really hit the spot and I went to sleep happily, waking a second time minutes before the automatic wakeup alarm call came at 0830. I went to the Garden Café and got two cups of coffee and retreated to my warm, sundrenched balcony without spilling a drop and picked up mail by the door. Imagine my total surprise to see a revised itinerary which has us docking today at……Saint Croix!!!

I am reminded of the expression, “I make plans and God laughs”: as the changes completely negate the careful planning (up at 1AM putting my passport in the green knapsack, filling out the Tortola embarkation card etc)

So now Grenada has been cut from the itinerary. I had NO plans to do ANYTHING there, did not want to go there (S*** had been advised not to set foot ashore when she docked there) and – get this, we are going to Tortola. So I have saved another two hundred bucks by not having to fly there. In all respects it could not have worked out better, for me. The ship is running on one engine, and as luck would have it, they have shut down the port engine which is directly below my cabin, and the noticeable vibrations which had struck me as the only downside to this little piece of heaven where I presently sit-- are gone.

The sea has calmed, the sun is intermittent, the balcony temp is mid seventies, dry humidity, all the food and drink in the world within reach (apparently room service is free) and my physical health remains good.

The room temperature and the telephone system on this ship are superb. Many of the crew have cell phones and are accessible anytime anywhere, although I have been unwilling to do so. The room steward has shown me where the do not disturb sign is, and I intend not to be disturbed for the balance of the morning. My schedule includes seeing about telephoning the fbo [fixed base operator] at St Thomas airport and getting onto the internet long enough to post an effusive praise of NCL on cruisecritic. The captain made a very long and detailed announcement in English and German regarding the shutdown of the port engine and he lives in NYC with his family.

// 1045 Ship position N 19 05.6 W 65 22 course 165 speed 21K rain to stbd sunny my side

Just noticed that at this level, the printed announcements explaining what to see and do in Port are customized with my name upon them. Perks of the top deck I guess. I wrote a nice thankyou note to R** and thanked her for the tarts and gave her the URL for the Kitzbuhel cam. Perhaps because of this timing, the nice lady at the pursers office allowed me into the back room to place a courtesy call to the FBO in st Thomas to inform them I would prefer the rental at ten AM on Sunday.
Stopped at the reservation desk to see the Polish and Romanian hostesses. Both seemed happy to invite me to supper at their respective restaurants, which tonight include filet mignon.

So to recap – no Grenada, scheduled stop in Tortola, and no need to rent a plane today.

Dr and Mrs H*** stopped by my room at my invitation, since I feel I am no more entitled to the balcony than they are, having made similar timely complaints, his prolly being ignored due to his abysmal English. They showed and we saw two birds go by, one gull like with orange beak and black wingtips and suddenly, to my actual surprise, I saw st Thomas way up ahead.

We are currently just at lat 18 and passing abeam of Vieques, despite the arguments I got from several people who did NOT bring 1944 vintage National Geographic maps with them, nor watch the in-cabin moving map display. I am 100% content that we also saw the outlines of Hispanola in the distance with the mts disappearing into the clouds and Puerto Rico off to starbd. From my balcony I can now clearly see St Croix, with the eta shown as 1600 but a distance of 30NM. They are nursing this puppy thru the seas with one engine shut down entirely and the other one the only thing between us and an extended vacation, which would delight some of us and utterly freak out many of the others, whose grumbling continues at arriving at St Crois an hour before dark.

Came back to cabin and had call from R***. I told her how much people were doing to make my ride pleasant, like shutting down the engine under my stateroom and cutting out the island I didn’t want to see anyhow. I said that everyone really seemed to want me to have a wonderful experience, unlike the NCL Sea, where they wouldn’t have cared if I fell overboard. She laughed and laughed and allowed as how she was pleased with the link to the Kitzbuhel webcams.. I tried to get her to quit sending food to the cabin, but hell, one out of two isn’t bad, The little tarts were sensational and the herring I flushed.

Now (2PM give or take) I am energized enough to roam the decks some more rather than laptopping on the balcony.

One more slow turn around the deck barefoot in bathing suit and grabbed another hotdog and fries on the Bimini bar up top forward. Made my way aft past some contest or other drinking beer poolside, thru the children’s’ play area, sipped some water at the litely used gym and just as I arrived back at my room, ‘important public announcement’ was pina coladas, rum punch and margaritas all free for awhile. This is gonna make as many people happy as I have been, but it is a good incentive to stay by my balcony and watch St Croix arriving slowly to port and enjoy my ice water; the rooms have refrigerators and safes unlike the Sea which had neither.

It is just 1500 now and the mighty ship has come to rest off shore of Frederiksted, US Virgin Islands, St Croix variety. From my balcony I got good pic of the tender coming alongside, only it passed astern. The stern thrusters kicked up some gorgeous green water which made yet another terrific shot. It looks very much as if we are going to tie up with the port side along the dock, which means I get to watch from the comfort and security of my own cabin, and it is SO good.

Did I mention that I told R*** that it was very nice of NCL to shut down the port engine to reduce the vibration in my stateroom, but that was a bit over the top? She definitely likes my sense of humor. A second pilot boat has come by but did not stop. As all good drinks are on the house, I suspect most people don’t care a whit, and I think back to the people in the casino when we went thru the canal.

// how cool is this -- all along the ship people like me are leaning over their rails like me, to watch the activities associated with our arrival.

In the end, after all the running around of the locals in the pilot boats etc, they berthed with the bow forward and quay alongside the starboard, so I walked over and watched. The announcement said not to go near the gangplank until the PA announced it was ok, and there were two ambulances on the dock, but I soon became aware there was also a solid stream of people leaving the ship, so I worked my way down with a mob of people to deck four and debarked.

There, a local person was stopping everybody and trying to get them into a 15 passenger van to make the trip to the head of the pier. People were already getting rowdy and antagonistic when I pointed out there were 2,000 people to get off the ship, and one other man and I began walking past him. We were yelled at to return, and just as we did, a young but very official looking Scandinavian or perhaps German officer from the ship told the officious local in NO uncertain terms that 2,400 people were not going to leave the ship by one van.

Ahead of us, another self-important local in a smokey bear hat and a pfc stripe had a gate chained shut, but fortunately, ahead of me was a very vocal and loud and pushy similarly endowed group from the ship, and he told the cop to open the gate, which the cop did, and the rest of us poured through. My mission was to try to find an internet café, and I did not, but I ended up meeting a lovely woman from Wyoming who had moved down there, and we chatted awhile, and basically I ended up at the public library, and that just minutes before it was to close. I checked my msn email account and one or two quick websites before logging myself out and thanking her profusely.

Inflation has taken its toll, because a scroungy looking woman on the street accosted me and wanted twenty bucks. Gone are the days of brother can you spare a dime I guess. Anyhow, I thanked the ladies at the library, walked a block up and back to the ship. The entire main street of town with the arched walkways is torn up and under construction, so I couldn’t even get a good pic of the ship at dock, tho I took one showing it with a payloader in front of it.

I was one of the first ones back to ship, and enjoyed watching the crew go thru their drill, with a simulated fire and finally abandon ship. They tested the fire and water tight doors and I guess somewhere they swung a ship over the side as well. I became gradually aware of the fact that we are going to be in Antigua in 14 hours and I have no plans yet, so I signed up for the ‘best of’ trip which lasts six hours, and then fell into chat with C***, who was alone and lonely at the reservations desk, and before I knew it, had signed up for dinner at her place (with a twenty buck cover charge, which, as she said, was worth it.)

So I have dinner at LeBistro at 1830 and will cashmere up and put on long pants for the occasion. Perhaps I will eat more and more slowly than I did when I ate at A***’s place-Impressions.

//
And so I did. Not only did I not blanche at the $15 cover charge, I added five to it as a tip. What else to do when one dines in cashmere between Monet and Renoir…originals. Actually had photo taken of me by the Monet and another pic with the hostess, who is also an attorney in Romania. For supper I had asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and half a bowl of really good onion soup, but when the waiter, who by then totally had my measure brought over the silver dish (presentation IS everything at LeBistro) he said “and here is your cheeseburger”. Best filet mignon I’ve had today! Ok, in several years, and for some reason, the original artwork given to the ship by a former owner of the Star Cruise Lines gave the atmosphere a little something extra. Not that it needed it.

Got to my room and found a note that the tour I had picked for tomorrow for Antigua is sold out, which was not total shock since I booked it 14 hours before it began, so I went down and booked a 4 x 4 tour to tear up the environment and drive S*** nuts with a clear conscience.

We are incidentally under weigh once more, with a new island for tomorrow and a new adventure. Got a phone message that they couldn’t make up the cabin because I left the do not disturb sign up, which I did. In fact the alligator is still on the bed under the spread.

Day Three- Many good things

2011-06-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today begins early, in stateroom 10*** aboard the Norwegian Dawn. Position N28 58 W68 57.

Although I have my gps with me, and now have a balcony with a table and two chairs from which to take a sighting or position fix, the fact is, channel 14 on the tv has a really really GOOD position and weather and sunrise etc channel which does naught else day and night but crank out this information. By the way, the clocks have been moved ahead an hour, and we are roughly at the latitude of Tampa but out to sea.

The ships time is now 0530. Last night, I cut and pasted some of my description of Poland for A*** to read before looking at the pictures. And it can go onto the blog without much further modification. However, R***, the guy running the computer café has advised against using the wireless card in order to avoid confusing the computer which is used to dialup. However, dialing hotmail.com gets me to my msn email nicely, and that is how I was able to thank C V again.

One of the tv channels has tapes of the on-board live show that I missed. Some channels are kid cartoons (Yogi Bear) one is a James Caan movie, there are some that are CNN shows, one channel looks like friends, there is now one describing various land tours available. My first order of business when I got moving was to go to the 7th deck and visit with the Polish lady. Luckily, I passed coffee on the way, and found her very quickly and returned to my cabin for the dell.. Next we passed a most pleasant hour or so, with her and her colleague from Romania [C***, attorney at law] looking at pix from Berlin, Poland, Aruba and this morning’s cruise..

Following this, I said hi to the Turk as he came by and then invited Dr H** and his quiet but highly intelligent wife to come and visit me in my stateroom, which they thereupon did. He is a PhD and has devoted a lifetime (he is two years younger than I) to trying to figure out scientifically how acupuncture works. He is fascinating but requires attention to understand. Surprised to hear he and his wife have no health insurance. I showed them some pix from Belize and then we set off in search of food, but ships time was by now 1400 so the Venetian and several of the cafeteria lines were closed, and I ended up in the garden café again where I had pork, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rice, pizza and rainbow sherbert ice cream. And went back for another big oatmeal raison cookie.

Catching up on today’s diary I am sitting on the balcony of the stateroom with whitecaps rushing by just under my left elbow, and some blue sky showing amidst some dark looking rain clouds. I am totally relaxed and without any ‘gottas, oughtas or even wannas’ to deal with. In fact, surprisingly I find myself almost ready for a nap. Ships time is ahead an hour of NY, and I should not really be tired, but other than internetting, deck walking or casinoing, there isn’t a lot I need or want to do. I have made no ground arrangements for any of the four islands we are going to visit, and frankly was hoping that A*** might be able to join me on one of the tours. Dr and Mrs H*** also might join me.

Local time now 1900 exactly. I feasted on oatmeal cookies and ice water and smiled as I rode the elevator with a young couple who also had their hands full of oatmeal cookies. I am a tad hungry (should check the thing that R*** sent up) but I think entertainment and otherwise I am pretty much through for the night. I won a whopping two and a half bucks in the casino.

I saw the two European ladies at the entrances to their respective restaurants minutes ago, and I told C*** that I had sent her an email and that as soon as she responded I would send off the pic of the sunken boat in Aruba. A*** was explaining to the H**’s who were there (by coincidence only) that shorts were not allowed, and looked up with astonishment as she saw the legs belonged to me.

Sea conditions have moderated from rough to moderate. We are 400NM from St Thomas with continued scheduled docking of 1100AM> N 24 22 W 67 16.

The food from R*** is sweet little tarts with strawberries, blueberries and kiwi’s and they hit the spot. Got a final email from C V saying thanks for the kind words and bon voyage.

Ended up not having too much in the way of supper, but scarfed up a few cookies a few times. I went down to the Spinnaker Lounge (forward Deck 12) and listened to a small but professional band play Glen Miller, Count Basie, Dorsey etc. A pair of Philippina sisters sang Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and the accent sounded Japanese. The waitresses wore floor length black dresses slit halfway to the thigh. I had a towel croc on my bed when I got back and took a pic of same.

Opened the door wide and there is almost a full moon shining on the water. It is currently 9:30PM local time and I have a big day tomorrow. I thought it was spitting rain as I walked back past the pool for my cookies, but the moon is bright in what looks like a largely cloudless sky. I have signed up for one tour only, and until the tickets come, I don’t remember which one. It was for the island of Antigua (I think) which is the second stop. I think a tram is involved, many hours and a cost of a hundred bucks. I have two hours left on the internet from C***, and will look around for an internet cafe in St Thomas tomorrow between the plane ride and the sailing, to see if I can catch up on things like my e-mail and other favorite websites.

Day Two -- Between Carolinas and Bermuda

2011-06-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

Life is good chapter one hundred and twenty.

Today began as I dropped off to sleep in the warm, spacious and comfortable stateroom 90** aboard the M’V Norwegian Dawn. I have a written intro to the internet guy and a written invitation to a VIP party to meet the Captain tonight. I showered and put on t shirt, shorts and a lite sweater and made my way to the Garden Café (same name as on the NCL Sea) and had a bit of scr eggs, bacon, ham and sausage, some oj and some really good coffee. Scoped out the gym and it is, again, somewhere in size between the last two ships, but has a drinking fountain with a filler for water bottles, one of which I have opened and enjoyed.

After breakfast, I checked on the steak house, as I am in the mood for at least one monster steak meal this trip, and the twenty buck service charge can come out of the money I save on the internet. I suppose I am going to get the fifty buck package, but I will not be disappointed or totally stunned if he comes across with the hundred buck one, as the man (C**) has more than a bit of class and then some.
R***, the head concierge has phoned me and asked me to meet her for coffee in a few minutes, and so I shall.

// Time 1315 That memorable letter has had nothing but positive ripples since I wrote it. R*** was in the stairway when I headed down to meet her for coffee in the lounge opposite the purser desk. I find that she is the exclusive private property of the people with huge suites of rooms and the owners suite etc (and a select few complainers it would seemJ) and while we were having coffee we were joined by three other ships company – the director of hotel services, his assistant the the man in charge of food and beverages aboard. I told her I felt like I did in Kuwait when dining with the ambassadors and billionaires, but thanked her.

Following the meeting, I went and watched the first hour and a quarter of ‘The Alamo’ with Dennis Quaid and Billy bob Thornton. I was struck again by how there seems to be something fun to do for everybody aboard. Last night at the barbeque while still docked in NYC, a man was happily soaking in the jacuzzi in the middle of the Hudson river. I have mentioned before about the slot machine pullers happily ignoring going thru the Panama canal. Others virtually never quit playing bingo. There is a delightful reading/writing room here, where other old people are enjoying a quiet read of a book (they do not have the Davinci Code) and here I sit with my dell, the grey, stormy, wave tossed ocean and just a flood of nice experiences to write about.

When I got back to my room, my next door neighbor, H** (an acupuncturist, and perhaps a doctor at that)had sent me a letter to come visit. He was busy planning his shore excursions, and he very much wants to go with me on the fight to Tortola, and more so if we can move it up or cut it short just a little.

Then I used one of the new cards given to me to contact the director of food and beverage aboard, and he is going to try to track down where the Polish waitress is working and let me know. They were having a latitudes party to which he invited me, and which I politely declined. My bottle of ice water is full in my stateroom, and I am well content with life in general just now. In a short while, I will make my way to the internet café and see what they have for me, scoffing up a bit to eat along the way.

The room tv has replaced the digital display of information with a live camera shot of the ocean, and I am hoping that when it gets dark they will resume the flood of interesting information that was there last night, including wind speed and direction and a visual of how it was hitting the ship (quartering starboard).

It is 1545 And I have seen some of the rest of the Alamo movie, but not to the end. The ship is 33 deg 20.85min N and 70 deg 37.21 west. We are in the Saragossa sea off the south tip of south Carolina. I have sat with Dr H*** and discussed our plans to fly to Tortola.,. Heading 161 speed 21.3 knots. We are passing off Bermuda to the port side, but many miles away.

// I wandered over to the internet café and caught up with R***, who advised me the internet package offered me is the one hundred dollar one, so very naturally my first act was to send what I think was an effusive message of thanks to CV, thanking him for his kindness and generosity.

Then I posted a tiny blurb on the blog, cracked up at the S**’s blog (“the handyman hated me for my pursuit of a dream to own a functioning bathroom”) and did a quick read of pprune. I also got a hamburg, hotdog and fries up on the Bimini top bar, and was the only person there. Burgers still are nowhere near as good as they are on the Ecstasy, but measurably better than on the Sea. So, this cruise is really turning out to be a good one. I am invited to the Captains Party tonight, friends with the acupuncturist and his wife from the Bronx, prolly gonna take them flying, enjoying the computer, got cold water in the room frig, etc.

I went to the casino, got one of those buy ten get fifteen chip deals, and played blackjack till I was up forty, and quit. Watched some very attractive Germans playing the sliding coin machine game until my back could no longer stand it. At my room, there was a knock and a lovely Philipinna delivered a dish with the compliments of Hugo, the Hotel director. Presentation is everything, with silver dish, sliced onions etc, but all I recognized was onions, and I think the rest was herring. Oh well. Captains cocktail party at 1900, one hour from now

This is true. I had JUST taken a picture of the little stateroom 90**, two actually, put them on my hard drive and labeled them ‘not too bad’ when I noticed a little light flashing on my room phone. It was a recorded message from R***, the lead concierge asking me if I would be interested in an upgrade to an outside cabin with a balcony.

That was one time I didn’t need begging to work, and by the time I made it to the captains cocktail party, where I buttonholed him and the chief engineer on the reception line where they couldn’t get away, I had packed everything up and ten minutes later, having finished a tonic water with a twist of lime, I was on my way to room 10,*** which is portside, near to the aft end and has a double bed, couch, table and a balcony with two chairs.

At the captains cocktail party, the Food Service Director told me he had tracked down the Polish waitress and she was in fact the receptionist/hostess at Impressions restaurant, to which I repaired rapidly and found her busy busy and people waiting upwards of 40 minutes for a table. I don’t think they were particularly happy when I was seated within seconds. And we have a date to meet tomorrow to look at my Poland pictures..

So now, I am in a much nicer stateroom, and I had chateaubriand for supper rather than another hotdog by the pool, I have a date with the Polish woman tomorrow and amongst the top echelon of the ship, there is nobody who does NOT know who Mr B** is, and they are definitely giving me the VIP treatment.. I intend to repay by saying many many nice things about NCL on cruisecritics. And another letter for C** for tomorrow.

Another Cruise Saga

2011-06-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Today --I begin my third cruise in as many months, destination Caribbean. I woke without external help around 7, and pushed up the heat and slowly surfed my favorite sites. The weather is setting out to be atrocious, and weather delays are going to be widespread. With M**, LIRR and a cab as my means, I should be OK, but air travel is going to be horrible due to wind, rain and in some places, snow.

Time now is 1120am. I am aboard the train to take me to NYC. . Wrote a PM to A** who is aboard an NCL ship in Hawaii. Called the tour outfit in UK and hung up after the third time of getting put on hold. And lastly, I reached S** who talked me thru the outbound checklist of her own, tickets, passport etc. She is in the midst of a gale, and it is raining in my place as well, but not particularly hard. Pump rigged however.

As it turned out, I called W** and asked if they would like to take me all the way to the pier, but they would not, so back to plan a, just to the rr sta in Ronkonkoma. Car safely locked in garage and not running up parking charges or subject to vandalism, theft or other damage. No planes to worry about, and it is a good thing too, because there are nationwide delays all over the country, and it would be easy to miss a connection today…wind, rain, and in some parts of the country, heavy snow.

M** came with an umbrella and was most attentive to my needs. The first ATM at the bank did not work, so he got on a line of cars and the second one, at the drive thru, did, but I had to get out of the car to use it, and this time I got rather soaked It was a routine and pleasant ride to the rr sta, and I found myself in a jam packed ticket office because the eastbound train to Greenport was cancelled and the room was full of people waiting for a bus to take them there, typical bus riding Greenporters.

I am wearing my standard dress up outfit, cashmere blazer and turtleneck and dress slacks and wingtips but I need the yellow parka over top and it looks strange. 40 min wait for the train to leave, but was aboard for maybe ten of that. A fair more number of people than I remembered are with suitcases, and I got both of mine overhead without problem and got a forward facing seat portside. All I need to do now is catch a cab.

Well it is now 1800 and I am comfortably settled into my cabin 90**, which is twice the size of the one on the NCL Sea and nearly as big as the one on the Ecstasy. The color tv has a digital gps and clock built in and I have the heat quite a bit up after being on deck to watch a tug pull the fuel barge away, the pushback, the statue of liberty and the Verrazano narrows bridge go by.

In NYC, I used the bathroom in the Penn sta, took the escalator up the stairs and walked basically right into a waiting cab. The rain had quit. It was a seven and a half buck ride to the pier, and I was deposited right in front of the porters. Minutes later I found myself in conversation with a pleasant Chinese man from the Bronx who ended up in the cabin immediately beside mine. Like me, he had complained bitterly about Tortola, but unlike me, he complained to the cruise company and got no satisfaction. Perhaps he will fly with me to Tortola. The lines moved quite rapidly and within a half hour I was aboard.. In fact from out my front door to inside my cabin was just under four hours.

The lifeboat drill was conducted without benefit of going outdoors. The girl who had our sign J10 was American and works in the show. The views of downtown NYC as the sun set were quite gorgeous. The empire state bldg is red and green currently. Parts of NJ with the sun setting behind it looked more like Istanbul than Hoboken.

I fell into a long conversation with another worker, named something like A**, college degree and working as a waitress, missing two successive Christmases. I offered to show her my pix of Poland. Instead of the mobbed barbeque, I went upstairs to a smaller hamburger place and got one which was again, midway between those on the Ecstasy and those on the Sea. With a few French fries and a few cookies, that’s about all I’ve eaten, or want to eat. My suitcase made it to my room quite schnellish – and many of the announcements are being made in German as we have 150 aboard, tucked into the breezy cold places to enjoy the good views.

I have not found a water fountain yet, but I did find a ‘water station’ on the 7th deck which will do. There is a show at 2130 tonight, but again, I am prolly gonna be too tired to bother. I made a quick stop at the Pursers Desk (five on duty) to ask about the internet, but they had no info on it The tv has lat, long, time, dist to go, distance traveled, sunrise and sunset times etc. I am slowly unpacking and will be done with that by tomorrow for sure, and it will not have to be done again for ten more days. I like the Dawn a LOT better than the NCL Sea, and the crew once again has a lot of Europeans in it, including some pretty ones.

When I was settling in my cabin and unpacking, a phone call came from the head concierge. She asked me if I was the Mr B** who wrote to C***, and I said “Not necessarily. Is that a problem?”. Quite the opposite, she was gonna send some things up to my cabin and invited me to the Captains Cocktail party tomorrow night.

That email seems to have been a pretty good idea all together. I went down to see her and she is a big fearsome looking Austrian.. The cabin steward came by to introduce himself and take away a stowed bed, and I basically blew him off as I was trying to remember how to get the ten pix from d**’s camera memory card onto the hard drive. It took awhile, but I have started a new folder Barbados and have saved some but not all of the pix I took as we backed out of the pier and headed out under the Verrazano narrows bridge.

The movement of the ship is quite noticeable tonight (8PM) but I don’t know whether that is sea conditions or being on the 9th deck up. As I say, the stateroom is about double the size of the one on the sea, and while a window would be nice, a balcony nicer, I am quite pleased with what I paid and what I got. While standing on line, there were about four different prices quoted for what we each paid. The outfit I use seems to have had the best prices.

I think the cabin is going to be a quiet one,. The doors seem much solider than on the Sea, where I could hear everyone going by. At not much after 2000, I closed my eyes, asked the steward in the hall where the light switch was (under the tv) and listened to Mario Lanza singing ‘be my love” and wondered how I could instantly remember his name and know all the words to a sing I haven’t heard for probably 40 years. I expected to wake up around 4AM and perhaps go to the gym.

Well, when I woke it was just after 2200, to my surprise. I put on a sweatshirt and dungarees and went topside to see what I could see of the waves which are up to 12feet high and definitely rocking this ship which is nearly a thousand feet long. The way the forward railings are fixed, you really can’t see much. They have plastic splash shields up and I think, like some other ships, the forward bow area is crew only.

I was also hungry however, and secondary reason for being out was eating, and I found a midnight buffet in the rear dining room, which is similar to the ones on the last two ships, only this one was closing down shortly and I barely made it in for some hamburg with cheese, a hotdog, some fruit, French fries and three oatmeal raisin cookies and sev. glasses of water. When I got back to my room I had an invitation to a VIP cocktail party with the captain for tomorrow eve and the letter saying I had an internet package and to go see R** in the internet café, which is on the same deck as my cabin. So -- life is good again!

I love the moving map display with time, temp, water temp, seas, distance traveled, distance to go, eta, temps in all the pools, plus a moving map display which shows us off the south coast of NJ, with course 140 and speed 21.3 knots. And it looks super accurate as well, and tomorrow, for the first time since the Norwegian Sea, I’m going to try to set the seconds on the $10 watch I got aboard it.

The shops and casino on this ship are huge. The casino looks to be half again as big as the Ecstasy. Thanks d** and c** v for a nice glow. I even put my three dollar bottle of water into the room refrig so I can fill it in the future at the spots I have found to do so.

This is NOT the one I flew on the year before.

For Low and Slow Texans everywhere

2011-05-29T13:08:00.001-07:00

As a reward for wading through thousands of words of text, some pictures.

Fifi is from Texas!

The ONLY operational model of the plane that ended the Second World War.

to be cont'd

One of my favorite parts of looking down is seeing our shadow!

The Commanding Officer of the Cheap Seats in the open-air part of the ride.

And So the Journey Ends--this time

2011-05-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today I woke from a pleasant and interesting series of dreams to find a breathtaking sunrise in a very beautiful port which has captured my imagination from tothood. Found my shorts and hoody and went straight away to the restaurant for zwei kafe bitte and out onto the deck where I took a series of pix of the mountains surrounding the harbor with the lights still on, two other ships (freighters, Esmerelda and Peggy) and the pile of thousands of suitcases on the dock with a stream of worker ants toiling to arrange them somehow. The Chilean Navy has a fleet alongside a quay astern including a 4 masted sailing ship which I think I have seen in New England.

Actually, I woke around 0500 and heard the tv sound turn off around 0600 local time, which is now an hour ahead of my watch, not two or three. Back to the room for binocs and camera before returning to the deck for more photos, more coffee and a scan around the town.

Time 0715 Second foray around the dock confirms first impressions that Valparaiso is a beautiful and prosperous looking port. I love watching the containers being manhandled by the many types of specialized equipment to do this, and got pic of the church on the hill, more of the Chilean Navy and four master and remain fascinated by the number of worker bees that are attending to the luggage ashore. It is truly a monumental task they address.

As they were out of coffee at two locations in the Yacht Club, I returned to my stateroom and used room service for the final time. I wrote Hannah a note asking her to send me the time that the Crown will transit the miraflores locks so I can try to take a webshot thereof. Now to download a few more pix onto the puter to arrange later.

Time coming up on eight am. Turned in the adaptor for the computer plug and was wished a warm goodbye by the desk crew down there who wanted to know if I got the message about southernmost latitude reach…they hoped it was efficient. LOVE EM. I kissed my room stewardess goodbye and got her email addy and showed her the pic of my trophy;. I wrote and delivered a note to Hannah and said if she got me the time they went thru the Miraflores locks I’d try to send her a webcam shot thereof. Now I have pushed the room cabin temp down as I pack my shorts and don long underwear and long pants. I copied the entire series of pix from derfs camera onto my desktop which took several minutes, but I can now arrange them at my leisure, provided I find a plug that I can use. I’m thinkin’ that the Sheraton may have a wireless area as well which would be fun.

Time exactly 7am watch, 8 local. Chatting with my cabin stewardess some more – she has a three year old sister. And lives in Manila. I wandered out onto deck seven to stretch legs and kill time, and sure enough I got ‘caught out’ with the call for the dark blue tags to debark. As I had everything ready to go, it was no big deal, but I ran to the room and snatched up the leather bag with my coat folded into the handles thereof and the NCL knapsack with my puter and stuff therein. Had my passporto and immigration stuff and NCL card in my kangaroo pouch (recovered from the Scott tower in the not too distant past) and out the door of my room I went for the very last time. Did I mention that my stewardess looked up my birthday on the manifest and hers is three days later.

Down the gangway and onto the bus, settling into a seat comfortably without curtains in the way and an empty seat beside, and before too long, it took off. The bus stopped suddenly, and the argentinian from shore excursions and from the Sea boarded and extracted four senile citizens from the bus for a city tour. However, joke on the rest of us, as we ALL had to get off the bus and clear customs, which was a walk thru and then orders to board bus 7, which would not take me, and shunted me to bus 8, who took my last travel voucher and I boarded and waited and waited and waited.

On bus 8, I was reminded of Puerto Madryn when the old biddy in front of me pulled her curtains cuz of the sun. Interestingly enough, one of the people on the bus asked me whether I had my ‘trophy’ with me. The bus finally rolled at 0908 local time.

One of the passengers, a walking imitation of Dana Carvey’s church lady, loudly announced to the whole bus that she had had her pocket almost picked as she left the ship. She was quite certain and quite specific about the event, but it somehow seemed a bit far fetched to me, and I mentally had reservations. They were somewhat validated when a bit later when the bus had FINALLY started to roll, she loudly announced that she was NOT going to Santiago and must have been on the wrong bus, because she was supposed to fly out of Valparaiso. When it was pointed out to her that there was no airport in Valparaiso and that she had the same dark blue luggage tag as everyone else on board, she sat down and mercifully shut up for the balance of the trip..

…which was two hours or so, with a 20 minute rest stop along the way, surrounded by vineyards and a few llamas, one of which appeared to be 95% muerte. Leaving a very sleepy and shut down Sunday in Valparaiso, the bus climbed steadily and the vegetation changed.

We passed the lake which provides V with their drinking water, passed vineyards, occasional in shape long distance bike riders going up the hill, some shanties, and in the distance we were able to see the Andes with snow which fell on them yesterday for the first time this season, and awe inspiring they are too.. we were on a toll road for a good portion of the trip, and one old man decided to occupy the seat directly opposite me and figit for the remainder of the trip. As there were at least ten empty rows behind us, I could as easily have moved as not, but I didn’t. I got some nice shots which is tricky from a moving bus.

One of the passengers asked if we were on a toll road, and another asked if the lake we saw was lake Titicaca. Blush. Exports mainly copper and now sea food. Exports of chile growing rapidly. Saw a bit of logging. The Andes average 6000 meters in height..

My fellow passengers were largely Korean/Canadian and there was one couple that I had never noticed aboard the ship.

.After a ride of about two hours, we arrived at the Santiago Sheraton hotel, where we were met by two NCL reps (good to see them) who answered mine and everyone else’s questions. Yes, they had reconfirmed all of our flights. No, we would not need a voucher to get on the bus to the airport. Yes, we could check our hand luggage (I did). No, we would not meet our other suitcases until we arrived at the airport, and YES – they WOULD be there, as they had never lost a single one.

I was not interested in taking a bus to the shopping mall, so I wandered around the Sheraton and found I do have wi fi access, but need a code to continue. A tad frustrating. The voltage is 220 as well, so I can’t plug in. Laptop says I have three and a quarter hours remaining. Maybe I can recharge some in Miami.
As it is a full six hour wait until the shuttle takes us to the airport, the idea of riding the shuttle to the mall is gaining some luster.

Santiago is the 4th most polluted city following Mexico City, LA and Sao Paulo. It was pretty quiet and shut up on a Sunday morning. I saw but did not photo a few of the first McDonalds I’ve seen since Montevideo. [I have eaten at McD in Santiago previously]. We are closer currently to Honolulu than to home, bit of a surprise that. Santiago goes NOT siesta and they do not ‘bargain’ over prices. The guide seemed sad about both of these factoids. Saw a golf course and a tiny little airport with open hangers and maybe two tail draggers.

In the lobby of the Sheraton it is considerably warmer than I am dressed comfortably for, with long underwear, long pants, and two layers of cashmere. There are no drinking fountains to be found, but I have had a glass or two of water at various hospitality desks. No place here to refill my water bottles. All the people around me have gotten colds and are annoyingly coughing and sneezing all over one another.

Time now 1315. place is right back at the hospitality room at the Santiago Sheraton, where I am now alone with the coffee lady and the two luggage ladies. At almost the exact time that I finished transcribing the notes I made on the bus from Valparaiso to Santiago, the shuttle to the mall pulled up, and I was just shutting down the puter and so I ultimately climbed into the shotgun seat and we had about a twenty minute ride to the mall.

The driver did not speak English, and I had decided I had moved outside of my comfort zone and wanted to return directly to the hotel instead, and so he led us to a reception desk inside where there was a girl who spoke very good English indeed, but she was very busy taking reservations for the return ride, and soon it developed that the 3PM return shuttle was full and the one after that was at 1700, or an hour before we are supposed to go to the airport.
That was more than I wanted to do, and she readily agreed to my request to return directly to the hotel, which she told the driver and we did. I tipped him a buck and he seemed genuinely surprised and pleased, and so was I.

The ride over and back was nice enough with stunning views of the recently snowed upon Andes, bike riders on a Sunday and light traffic, but…I don’t like malls, didn’t feel like spending more money, was not sure there would be any place for me to sit down etc etc etc. so I was very pleased to be deposited back at the Sheraton where I wandered out to the swimming pool area and bought 1,600 cc of ice water with which I refilled both of the water bottles that I carry with me. It hit the spot.

Now I have deposited my knapsack, computer and water bottle in front of a huge screen tv with bbc world news on it, and am catching up on about a half months worth of news. The 85 year old pope is being discharged from the hospital as I write (1218 est).

Will amplify in a bit. Spent pleasant conversation with 86 yr old Brit with mind like steel trap, well traveled, great conversationalist. Walked around block four times and noted addit security which later was said to be govt official.. and went to pool area and wisely spend five bucks for lots of cold water. Spent most of the time chatting with the old brig who now lives in BC, and the time passed pleasantly enough.

Bus to airport, easiest luggage reclaim in my life – on carts alphabetized. So I had a white almost English speaking young guy as a porter, and he pushed the cart over to the AA line, which the old guy got on by mistake, but then wandered off to Delta. Checkin was a breeze and I got boarding passes for both flights. Met convivial ladies from Boston who had been on cruise – would have been nice company one thinks. She asked me if I were the talent show winner . She was miserable in the rough weather, hates flying and in general was polar opposite of me.

I boarded in the crush and settled into a window seat in row 34 starboard, and the seat beside me was filled with a nervous younger chunky Spanish woman who crossed herself when we took off. The supper, which was pasta, I could have as easily skipped as I tried to sleep, with some success but not comfortably. The seat just would not get comfortable for me, but I did fall asleep long enough to dream of P** playing the William Tell Overture and of Tuesday Weld making wild passionate passes at me.

Valparaiso, Chile

Wrapping It Up-ALMOST done

2011-05-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

Today I woke at seven, on my last night but one aboard the Norwegian Crown, cruising northward somewhere off the west coast of Chile. It is dark out and I have no idea what the weather is. The ship is moving contentedly and it feels soothing and comfortable. There is a decent movie in English on the tv, and I called room service for coffee and juice for two. A letter accompanied it with rehearsal times for the talent show.

Plans for the day will be packing, the rehearsal for the talent show, the talent show, one more session listening to the trio, use up the internet minutes that I have pre purchased. Prolly won’t swim due to not wanting wet suit in suitcase. Chuffed about going to the Sheraton for the day and glad I didn’t insist on the wrong luggage tags….Hannah was awful sweet about that.

Read my 15th birthday diary and transcribed some of it, still torn between doing it verbatim or extracting. I did the verbatim bit for now. Shaved, collected some dirty laundry and bagged it for home washing, and went up to the gym where I weighted a bit over 156 lbs, so I have my work cut out for me when I get home.

Yesterday, Hannah noted and commented on my Kathmandu t shirt, and today at breakfast, one of the servers was from Bali. Regretfully, I didn’t bring the Berlin one, as the trip has a substantial German population on board.

Went to the library and logged on and downloaded aviation info, posted on fav site, and checked email and hotmail without finding anything. S** and ** still owe and so does H** who hasn’t opened his.

Chatted with Jayson awhile who is from Edmonton and going aboard a dutch ship out of Valpariso next. He was pissed that he didn’t go to Antarctica when the plane was switched to a 767. he may borrow some of my photos for himself. It looks to me as if 15 minutes of my internet time slipped away somewhere, but then…. I read drudge, AP breaking and the comics and logged off again, with about a half hour remaining for this afternoon.

Then I decided to do breakfast, which was simply ham, hot ham, cold cuts and lots of bacon. Cleared my stuff out of the bathroom and resumed packing with quite mixed feelings. I don’t think I bonded with this ship the way I did with the Dawn, but it is sad to leave a pampered life and resume being alone and caring for oneself totally. I do have visits and a meal at H** to look forward to. Now to prep for the debarkation briefing. By the way, twice I have stumbled onto lectures in the stardust lounge that were not on the daily briefing newsletter.

I stopped by purser and got length of the cruise (4,119NM) and left a note for Pablo telling him rehearsal at 5 is prolly better bet for him to visit than show at 8. we shall see.

Went to the debarkation lecture and they were thorough but did not give the wx for tomorrow, which is in the fifties and sunny and overcast, and the poor girl at desk was too busy for a philosophic argument over that. I said goodby to the very nice and friendly Argentinaian guy working at shore excursions who had said he remembered me from the Sea, and who is going to Alaska next – a beautiful cruise that may be on some future agenda, depending on my band schedule and possibly someone to go with.

Lunch gave me the opportunity to say goodby to the food and beverage director as well as I waited for some strawberry and vanilla ice cream in lieu of lunch. Going back for some more, macadamia crunch. Back to the cabin where I did a decent job of packing and prepping for the trip home tomorrow. Will be more dressed than grubby, due to hanging out in the Sheraton.

Found my lightweight gloves on this, the last day of the trip, in a zipper pocket on the leather carryon, but I’ll be glad to have them in NY most likely. We are heading right for it, as it is due north of us, but still almost six thousand miles ahead. They did a ‘we are the world’ thing on the stage after the debarkation, and Hannah invited me personally to stay and watch, and I took a lot of pix, most of which I’ll likely discard. I misted up a bit as I have the last two times this was done on ships and I was there, but not as much as finding the internet signal is gone again (joking)…I still have a few unused minutes to dispose of, and will keep trying.

Lying in stateroom and someone is painting outside my window which is basically waist to ceiling triple. Perhaps the bottom quarter to a third is obscured by lifeboat four. I keep coming up with more things in drawers to put in the two suitcases, but I think I pretty well have it licked. I am packing the boots and wingtips and traveling in the good slacks, a cashmere turtleneck and blazer and carrying the outer coat. I have my card, agriculture documents, a few patches, passport, visa statement, and twenty six us bucks ready to go. Never did use the casino again.

Out the window is fog mostly, but those on deck risk a sunburn, as I could well advise them. The internet is still shut down, so I shall read aviation website which I again downloaded, and digest my macadamia ice cream. I have three more hours to the rehearsal and not too much to do till then.

Local time 1545. I have walked an honest two miles on deck seven, with no less than 12 laps and maybe one more. The sun has come out and the sea, tho with a gentle swell, is almost dead calm and even the hurricane force winds at the sides of the front have abated.

I walked thru the casino and stopped to watch a bit of the blackjack tournament and quite frankly, am glad I trusted my own instincts on that place and stayed away, because the winner in quotes of that tourney is gonna be the guy who loses his chips slowest. Even the good players were getting clocked, and I walked away and got two cookies at tea time..

At the internet café I used up my minutes and was posting on the blog of the Queen of Fried Foods when the time ran out, and I dunno if my post took or not. No PMs or emails that I found. Redownloaded trbbastsoit for reading later (well, maybe now). The rehearsal for the talent show is in a little of an hour, but I can’t claim to be nervous. Hope I can replicate the Iridium experience of the week prior to the sailing.

Just interrupted by knock on door by sweet Philippina with chocolate. THIS I will miss when I get home for sure. About three hundred people are staying on board for the trip up to Miami, but I don’t recall whether this was ever offered to me an option nor whether I would have seriously considered it. The one trip that I DID price out was $5500 for the trip stopping at Gibraltar. They were power washing the deck when I did my dozen turns around same, and as usual, there were people walking the wrong way, over and over. Never did pass them just at the sign with the arrow, but one has to wonder.

To do is closing the suitcases and putting them in the hall before midnight. Need a wakeup call I suspect. Need to turn in the adapter for the computer cord. Bill should be all set as I gave them a credit card imprint again. Hope the trio makes the rehearsal, but am not holding my breath. // Just in fact met Pablo and he will be there at 5PM anyhow for a different reason, but I forbore to ask if Paula would be coming..

It has turned into a perfectly lovely day out. I asked Jayson if he wanted to see the Antarctic pictures, and he was off to the bridge to see the Captain. Sigh. At least the social director, Soozy hasn’t been as obnoxious as most of the other CD’s in chirping constantly that they are speaking ‘from the bridge’ which is verboten to the rest of us.

//the rehearsal for “Indiana” went well. The talent show is pretty much what it was on the Dawn… A group of Texans are playing kazoos and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and another woman told a very old joke, and the third of four acts is a trombonist who fancies himself a lounge singer. He was quite interesting however, and blew me away with knowing B& B in Port Jeff, the Iridium where he had heard Les Paul, flying direct from Sacrament to Islip, knowing a good deal about jazz in general, and having properly remembered that I had tried to play Liza on the piano by the casino.

When the dust had settled, I am the cleanup act following the others. Nobody from the trio showed up, but I have a chance to go and whine at them one more time when they are playing in the Lido lounge next, in about an hour twenty. On this, my last day of the cruise, I figured out that they hang a menu on the wall of the restaurant where I have eaten 29 or more meals.

The weather remains fine, and I walked a total of about three miles now, as I did quite a few more turns around the deck while waiting for the rehearsal. Should be fun. May go walk the deck some more, as the weather, the sun and the gorgeous clear clean blue ocean will very very soon be nothing but a happy memory!

//Now it is quarter to ten, and I am sort of suffering from emotional overload. I just returned from the Lido Lounge and saying goodby to the Pablo DeLuca and Paula K and Christian trio. They play an absolutely hauntingly beautiful song about rain falling on roses, in which she almost uses her voice as an instrument , and Chris does very intricate and pretty things on the bass. I asked for it twice tonight, once when I left to go to the talent show, and once when I left for the last time, shortly after they began their set at 2115. They didn’t make it to the talent show because they had a reservation at a restaurant that they had been trying to get for three months. However, Paula did give me a hug and kiss when she found out that I had won the talent show.

So yes I reprised my triumph from the Iridium and did the exact song with the exact same arrangement – a slow rendition of On the Banks of the Wabash, followed, expertly by a rimshot and trumpet pickup which went swimmingly, and three choruses of Indiana. What I had not expected was that the show had three judges and that I would fill out a questionnaire which goes off to NCL Hq in Miami for consideration of God knows what. Twas a packed house but I could not see it. The guy who comes to Islip was better than I was, by a lot, but I had the band. So, I won the talent show.

So, said goodbye to Hannah and tipped her as well as the maid. Walked a total over three miles on the deck, looking at the pretty moon hanging over purple clouds that were on the western horizon just at sunset. Have taken so bloody many pix that have quit now, cuz again, overload. I managed to pack the second bookmark, the NCL coffee mug, the 14” trophy and something else into the big suit case and they are both in the hall now. I have checked and re checked and re re checked that I have everything I am gonna need from the time I wake up tomorrow until I meet my bags in the Sheraton sometime later in the day, and again at the airport.

Lots of people have asked me if I am staying on, and I don’t really know how I didn’t know it was an option,. Oh well, I belong at home I suppose. G** will be happy I am home, and S** and t probably will, and I am sure derf will be glad to get his wireless card back, as well as his camera and a look at all the pix, some of which I think are really good.

(This is not one such, btw)

All this and Antarctica too

Puerto Montt

2011-05-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Today, I would be hard to put to imagine a more peaceful, gentle awakening to begin a day. There was no PA announcement, no wakeup call, no knock on the door, no traffic, no aircraft noise, no waking with the realization that some chore must be done, but only the slow, gentle awakening from a dream involving bird nests with flower petals in it and a lovely lady.

Outside, it was a grey pre dawn, and we are docked in Puerto Montt, Chile. I have been here before, but only looking out an airplane window. The weather is clear, winds calm, and the forecast is for temps in the sixties. My feet hit the floor, pulled on shorts and sandles and patted down to the yacht club for some coffee (two black) served by the surly waitress who looks like Tyne Daly. The crew is gonna have a boat drill. It is 62. and we are here in Puerto Montt until 5PM.

Down at breakfast, I was reminded that old people like to get up early and eat breakfast, as the line stretched out of the dining room and down the hall, but the coffee line was short and moved quickly, and I spilled not a drop on my trip up one flight of stairs and down the length of the ship.

//Made second trip to yacht club and got two more cups of coffee to my cabin without spillage and saying a quick hello to Hannah enroute. She confirmed I will need USD 26 in Chile and that I will be getting the advance disembarkation. Back in cabin, fresh clothes and a shower before I go looking for the internet café which I am told is in town (by sherry). Was thinking as I gradually awoke earlier of how many nights I have been thusly pampered since September when I embarked on the Ecstasy….15+7=22, + 11=33+14=47 by the time Sat nite has come and gone. It is a nice way to live, but I don’t have the same feeling here that I did on the Dawn…namely that I’d sell my house to live there the rest of my life.

Time 9am. Lovely shower, cleaned teeth, ventured to casino and after a wait which seemed forever, got eighty bucks from their ATM which in fine tradition of fifteen dollar photos and three dollar bottles of water, hit me for five and a half bucks for atm fee in addition to any that the home bank might charge. But now I have enough for the internet café in town, the twenty six USD that Chile wants in cash to let us out of their country, and enough to pay the limo driver in the event that their records do not show that I pre paid, as the ‘receipt’ that I was given is problematic at best. Thanked the people at pursers’ desk for the rapid appearance of tv repair and laundry after my calls to them about it. Packed away the freshly done underwear sox and t shirts and actually began packing some stuff to go home. Saw Hannah and got huge Philippina smile to counteract tyne daily who isn’t getting paid as much to kma. Now my maid wants the room so I am hustled a bit to finish my pre cleaning cleaning thereof.

(At 1700) HAPPY! Yes, I spend a lot of time being ‘content’ and lots being ‘comfortable’, but today I edged over the line and was actually and truly happy. I was sitting on aft deck seven, waiting for the Dixieland band to play for another sailaway party. The deck thrummed as the engines came on, and it was exciting to think our next port of call is Valparaiso, which has illuminated my imagination since I was a tot. The sun was shining brightly, and I had just had a fantastic swim and my skin was all aglow. Earlier I had ridden the exercise bike for a calorie burnoff of 112 calories, so I was looking forward to dinner, looking forward to hearing the band, looking forward to hearing the trio later (1900) and my baggage tag situation was totally resolved – NCL is putting me up at the Sheraton during the time between docking and the flight, which is a 13 hour layover. All my parts are working well (the first time they played, as we left Buenos Aires, my middle finger was so sore I couldn’t DREAM of playing piano, and after being in the hot tub and swimming a few times, I can scarcely remember how bad it was.

The band played Indiana [nice thoughts of Dad] so that I would know they could do it, which is what I want to do in the talent show tomorrow. I got a bottle of Tylenol here on board but have not had to open it. There is a bowl of cut fruit in the room. My laundry is all done. The bed is freshly made and has clean sheets on it almost daily I think. If any tragedy has befallen my home or those I care for, I don’t know it. We have two more nights at sea and a sea day tomorrow. When I get home, lonesome though it may be, I have no obligations etc and no job or unpleasant relationship waiting for me. I should have enough money to pay the annual on the plane and trip expenses as well.

Not the direct cause of the happiness, but perhaps contributing to the overall sense of well being is the fact that I spent at the very least, four hours on the internet down in Puerto Montt today. I walked off the ship on deck six (which was nearly level with the dock) and when I came back the second time, the gangplank was on deck five and two additional were showing below that. Huge tides. I watched salt being unloaded from a ship called Wrestler I onto a line of waiting trucks and thought about BenB whose blog I glanced at but didn’t read in depth. Their hookup wasn’t bad and I was even able to look at my beloved comics [ including back ones] without feeling guilt, since the cost was a dollar an hour, the lowest I’ve ever seen. I read blog after blog, checked my private messages on several forums, posted on a few blogs and checked emails etc. I also was able to help another man get into his email system by the use of email anywhere. Very pleased I could do that.

Saw two police in uniform (brown) but by the time I dug out my patches they were gone and I never saw any more. Someone had a lama wearing a silly hat at the place where you walk off the ship. I internetted for three solid hours, returned to the ship to use the bathroom and get something to eat, and then returned for at least another hour, probably more, and boy did I feel caught up when I finished. That’s when I got into the gym where there was not another soul around and rode a bit over twenty minutes on the bike, doing 6.5 miles in 22:30 with the 112 calorie burn which I am about to go undo presently.

Supper was sliced pork, a couple pieces of meatloaf, another thing that was pressed white meat, but just what I don’t know, and potatos, with ice cream to come later on. The Lido lounge is presently packed so I don’t know whether I’ll be able to sit and watch the trio from my usual spot or not. As mentioned, I saw Hannah and determined that the blue tags are the right ones to use, because the luggage is going to be taken to the Santiago Sheraton to wait for the plane ride. They don’t use the VIP tags on the Crown, but this is the bit that ** had told me was going to be smooth. I had no idea. I have no answer from him, S**, A** or S** as of when I looked, but feel that I have done a credible job of keeping up my end of things here.

Now there is lovely scenery sliding by again, so I’m out of the room and back to the Lido lounge once again. // stayed for the first set of the trio. They did some very tasty numbers, very professionally arranged and orchestrated by Pablo, who says he has ‘passenger privileges” but didn’t say where he was for the sail away dixie music.

//The internet guy aboard declared it was ludicrous to go to an internet café and miss the glories of Porta Montt, but I said it might safely be called incomprehensible instead. And left out my opinions of him lighting a toxic, expensive Marlboro and going outside to poison his lungs. I listened to two sets of the trio and got a kiss blown by Paula when I left. I also had a nice chat with Pablo, and would love to run into him in NYC sometime, to go listen to Les Paul.

Following, went to the casino and got two cookies. Have only gambled there once in two weeks, losing a quick twenty and getting enough bad vibes not to want to return. Have thought about it, but tonight is second to last night, and I have even begun packing. The talent show is supposed to be sometime tomorrow, but have heard sod all about that since signing up. Also asked Hannah about the map of the Antarctic trip with our trip traced on it, and it is supposed to show up at the Excursion desk tomorrow (manana).

So – I still remain in a relatively good mood, and content to be going home after another wonderful experience. The flight to Antarctica was another of life’s peak experiences, and I feel good just looking at the screen saver of the flight over the Crown while I sit happily aboard it. At 2300 to the 11th floor for two more cookies and back to movies on tv.

-- The Trio I wrote about so often --

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

2011-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today – Puerto Chacabuco. A small fishing village on the west coast of Chile, it is of little interest to me frankly. I was awakened at seven local by the tri lingual announcement that we were here and were tied up at the pier and not tendering. The temp is 51.2 degrees but they did not say if it was raining. It is claimed that it is often clear and sunny as you leave the coast. From my stateroom window I can see dark heavy clouds and a green tree covered hill reaching above the ship.

My bill was on the door, and it is exactly correct to the penny. I got my credit for the fifty bucks and other than my shore charges, I bought batteries and aspirin (which I have not yet used). Went to the Yacht Club and brought back two cups of coffee, and will wander outside a bit when they are done, wearing the wet weather pants, and likely the yellow rain parka over the hoodie. Then I suspect I’ll go on-line.

It’s 11am and I’m back in my cabin after a walk thru Puerto Chacabuco of a little under an hour, in a very light occasional drizzle and following wind on the way out. It took me about four tries to get out of my cabin, coming back for camera, then hoody, then the camera malfunctioned so I returned to do the only maintenance I know – take out and reinstall the batteries and memory card, and it’s working again but uses a flash every time.

The town was psychologically reminiscent of Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland, but perhaps because of getting off a ship at a god forsaken ends of the earth kinda place. I was halfway envious of those who piled into little surreys to ride off to a sunny German town ten miles away over pretty winding roads bla bla, but as it was not an official NCL sponsored event, and because I hadn’t paid enough attention to whether this was considered an ok thing to do, I didn’t. I tried to rationalize that I am ‘excursioned out’ and have seen SO many lovely places around the globe, from Yosemite to the Southern Alps, Norway to Nepal, Banff to Bulgaria, that I really didn’t NEED to ride around and see any more.

A large tour bus pulled up just as I rounded the corner of the dock, and I SPRINTED to the gangway ahead of all forty or so of them, and went to the pursers desk where I said that I had come to NOT complain because my bill was perfect. They asked how the ‘sweater’ was and I got the idea that one of them had done it themselves.

/.Finding the Yacht club closed for breakfast, I got a cup of hot chocolate with the same gasps of surprise from the old ladies within earshot who were again, quite obviously, drinking coffee or tea when they would have preferred the choc. It pays to ask. And listen…and I’m still bad at the latter.

No matter – I’ve got the little exercise glow from the walk, which may have been two miles but was more likely a mile and a half. Got pic of the ship with the forward hawser line, of a little church, or a gas price sign, and not much else, because there was not much else, but a coca cola sign, which as we know, is ubiquitous. Now to look at my pix.//Which came out nice. Particularly like the one of the hawser.

Well, at two we pushed off from Puerto Chacabuco, which I could not find on the detailed atlas in the library, which is where I watched our departure which included lovely views of snow covered Andes, and I think we are well on our way to filling up the 128k memory card.

S*** wrote of taking over an hour and a half to drive her 12 mile commute due to snow, sleet, ice etc. I shudder to think what I’ll find when I get home. Whenever that is. I also posted on a few blogs and read a very few, but the site is slow because AP and CNN picked up on Queen of Sky’s blog and the site got overloaded. Downloaded pprune to read later, maybe now.

Lunch was with the same SC couple as yesterday, only no politics talk this time. Had bit of French fries and one hotdog and a few pieces of cheese, but also had one scoop of vanilla ice cream, and felt the swimming pool which doesn’t feel that warm. Think I’ll go hit the deck awhile now, as it is lovely everywhere.
As it happened, I hit the hot tub instead. Lovely session with howling gale winds around me but only one other person showed up, and she went into the other tub.

Following, I went and dangled my legs in the pool, but did not go all the way in, although someone else shortly thereafter did. No sun, grey day with pretty mountains sliding by on both sides. Stumbled, quite by accident, on Hannah’s office which is by the elevators near me but on the corridor I don’t usually traverse. I showed her the pic of Ruth and she was delighted, and then the Antarctic pix, but that was really all she had time for, and it pays me to remember that these people are working while I am at leisure.

Back in my room again, I found the tv in op. Now, I recognize that it is sad to be relying on a television for entertainment while on vacation, but I do, and so I immediately called the front desk and am waiting now for someone to respond. I think the antenna was just pulled out by someone cleaning. I went down and got two cookies at tea time and a glass of ice water, and I am still horsing around with the computer trying to get it to do what I want. Actually Jayson showed me how to get the type face all the same, which I now have done. That leaves the margains, but I’ve been working on them bits at a time.

One thing I may not have mentioned thus far, is the LACK of any signs of civilization from the time we left Punta Arenas. Hour after hour, we glide by forests and mountains and waterfalls and timber and lovely unspoiled country that remains totally untouched by any signs of civilization whatever…no roads, wires, buildings, towers etc to mar a pristine landscape.

I also may not have mentioned that I have not once seen a single person in the video game room, and that is a good thing. There had been a post on cruise critic about how teen wanted to see photos of the game room aboard the Dawn, and I was gonna post something about how sad that is, till I realized that I’m the same way about my internet connection, and others are with their gambling or whatever. Card players, monopoly players, etc all have their little spots staked out, and they simply all happen to be old on this particular cruise which is damn near over now. I think I have it sussed that the day after tomorrow it is over.

Wrong again. We dock early Sunday, so we have three more nights at sea. Supper was sliced turkey, some cold roast beef, potatoes and delicious apple strudel very hot with some nice vanilla ice cream thereon. Walked by shore excursions and everything they have for tomorrow is basically over a hundred bucks, so am gonna search for an internet café and relax. I thanked purser for fixing the tv so promptly the second time (but I didn’t say it sarcastic like that).

Well, I sat in the lido lounge and took some more pictures of the trio, Pablo, Paula and Christian before they broke for their supper and the place filled up. I am pleased with some of the ones I’ve gotten so far, to put it mildly. Tonight she wore a gold sheath with spaghetti straps. One of the other guests asked me if I were the father of one of the band members, which sort of brought me back to reality nicely. It was very foggy for awhile but has lifted enough to watch some pretty scenery sliding by the library. It is 2015, and I logged on long enough to look just a little more, tried to check my blog but too slow there.

Three more nights of pampering and Philipina maids and waiters and food carvers and bartenders who fill a glass of water upon seeing me, and concierges who kma without really knowing why, and lovely landscape floating by. Am I gonna miss all this? You betcha. No answer from ** so far, and S*** also has an unansd email from me now. P*** is home from the hospital but in poor shape. But expected to make a full recovery. Unk if she will ever fly again.

I returned to the lido to listen to a few songs and then downstairs with Pablo and Paula for coffee and cookies. Back in the room, I realize I don’t have the laundry I sent in yesterday, so I called front desk for that and am waiting for callback. I am really feeling the ‘end of cruise’ syndrome and feeling slightly sorry for myself, all the while realizing that I have been living a life that many people only dream of, and have not had to work in years to do so.

So, seconds after my call, knock at the door and voila, there is my laundry/. So, then the cnn feed was lost and I had a choice of watching a hand washing video or really stupid sitcom or changing to a movie and wondering whether it would be in Spanish or German…it was Spanish.

Glacier Day

2011-05-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today I was awaked because of a PA announcement, and was a bit surprised to find it was 9AM local. Walked down one deck, realized coffee is at other end (duh for the 7th time) and walked outside to the restaurant and got coffee which I took to the lido lounge and listened to the end of trivia about movies (which I would have thought I would do well at, and I got about three out of twenty) and went back for another coffee and oj and then returned to my room, watching now the video about upcoming ports, and intend to switch to CNN.

In one hour is the meet the officer thingy. Possible projects for later involve an extended walk of several miles on deck and/or linking up big time on the internet and catching up on many things. I saw CNN on the tv in the lido lounge which I why I came back to the room, but it isn’t coming in here.

//Well, in preparation for the 11AM meet the officers, I walked up to deck ten (haven’t used the elevators once since coming aboard to my recollection—nor, appropro of nothing, have I seen anyone in the video arcade room located next to the internet café ) anyhow, went up to deck ten and sunk myself into the hot tub while the fog covered mountains slid by on both sides and the two hot tubs steamed, and the bar looked like it had not seen a visitor since Bermuda.

It was delightful – in fact so delightful that I went down to deck seven and took a substantial, if solitary swim during which people who were wrapped in scarves and gloves and wool hats looked at me the way I would have looked at them, but the water was warm, the –pool was empty and it seemed like life was indeed good. One woman called me the bravest man on the ship which is far from true. Followed this with a lovely hot shower and a rinse of the bathing suit and now am set to go to the meeting.

At the meeting I got to ask the captain if any of their simulators were open to the public. There were many good and many stupid questions. I later found out that the wine consumption on this trip is above the Bermuda run, but hard liquor and beer are way down. Europeans drink a lot of wine, and there are a lot of Europeans aboard. Having skipped supper last night and breakfast this morning, I was planning to have most two hotdogs for lunch, but ended up with only one, but some delicious macaroni,cheese and meat, two kinds of potatoes and my hotdog. I had oven baked and fries, but skipped desert, and after some preps in my room, I launched into a mile long walk on deck 7, carrying, but not using my camera and binocs. We are sailing the straits of Magellan, which is quite narrow so the shores are close by, but the tops of the hills are in the clouds.

Time 1335, and the captain has said he will pirouette the ship 360 when we reach a glacier. That should be in an hour or so. Following my dinner, I walked six times around 7 deck, glaring each time at two stupid women walking against traffic. A few were cutting thru the lobby rather than go on the forward portion of the deck, where I had to remove my Punta Arenas watchcap and hold onto my glasses in the wind, particularly portside. I could not stand without holding the rail in that section, and it spit rain a bit. Inside, ice water and CNN to catch up a bit on the world, and soon I think I am going to log onto the net.

Signed up for a second dose of internet time, and used it haphazardly. Looked at a few comics including some back comics, posted a quick blog and looked at a few comments. But another glacier now calls, so time to bundle up and hit the deck again. Last time, The Skewer glacier, the captain did in fact pirouette the ship, and I got some nice pix of the glacier with some little icebergs and a small fishing boat alongside. The next one is supposed to be more spectacular, which is hard to imagine. And I have another invite to a captain party tonight, this one the VIP party.

The second glacier has come into view, and I crowded out onto the deck in the rain and shot a few more pix, including some ice berglets and a pretty waterfall, and then as the caption pirouetted the ship again, returned to my cabin for a private viewing of the same glacier while I dived into the choc covered strawberries which were just delivered. With Antarctica behind me, some ok emails from S** and W***, some other internet surfing accomplished, a Captain cocktail party tonight, I guess it’s safe to assume my mood has improved. I have a hot tub and a swim and a mile long walk under my belt, most of my photos on the puter, and most of my diary and other compulsive list making is as current as it can be.

Found an old list of my GPS fixes and copied it into the new section of the puter…from the Magnavox, which I found with the search feature fairly quickly. P*** is home from the hospital, and I shared that I too was looking forward to getting home, and basically it’s true, that from now on, there is nothing new for me to see or do, having been to Santiago and Puerto Monte, and caring not too much about else in between. Still, I shall enjoy the maid service, listening to the live music each evening and doing a little more internet catching up.

Ran thru the AP Breaking news summary today, and US deaths in Iraq was not amongst the offerings. Don’t know if they have discontinued it or I was just between takes.

Time 1700 and the turnaround completed, we are steaming alongside the fog covered hills (or maybe mountains for all we can see) toward supper and cocktail time. I went thru all the GPS fixes that are in my trimble and listed them (as I tend to forget what some of the abbreviations mean, and now I have a way to figure it out, by inputting the coordinates into mapquest) and also because I have lost others to a power crunch in the unit, and I want to have a remembrance of them. Done. And I have nearly completed the little yellow legal sheets of paper with tiny notes on them, getting them basically, more or less into this account somewhere.

If I had made it to the Latitudes one, this would have been my third. I told my Philipina maid I wanted to take her home with me. Anyhow, I met the latitudes and future cruise person, another Canadian named S*** who looks about 12 and said she is almost 40. She comes from Thunder Bay. The internet guy, who does not work for NCL, is also from Canada, as were the couple on canes who went with me to Antarctica yesterday and were put with me at a table tonight. Everyone else there was in a penthouse, and I was told that I am in a ‘minisuite’ but I was otherwise mum about my reasons for being there, which must puzzle some. Also met Hannah who seems Philippina as well. Many of the workers here are here on short notice, joined enroute or have been somehow extended. All are crunched by the plunging US dollar which fell further today I think.

Being that I was all dressed up, I decided to try Le Bistro for dinner. No go….reservations not open till two more days. Sat and listened to the trio (she has something wrong with her eye, she didn’t lose her contact lens, but she forgot her camera, and anyhow the scenery behind her was looking grim by then, with grey fog and only the dimmest shapes of mountains behind. Chatted a bit with the internet guy who really opened up today for the first time. He collects coins. I told him I had just dumped all mine in the help the kids thingy on British Air.

So I went to the Yacht Club for supper and had only rice and a tiny piece of steak, got to the slicing table and it was all seafood, so I treated myself to scoops of vanilla and strawberry ice cream and had a 3 musketeers when I got back to the room. The end of the cruise is in sight and I am not going to carry all that candy back with me. So far, the only thing I’ve brought that I didn’t have when I came is my Falklands Islands t shirt. Ate another snickers and turned in, at what time I don’t know, but it was well before midnight, and perhaps as early as ten. I put the timer on the bow cam music and sleep came instantly.

Bow Cam

Eine Glacier

YAY!!! ANTARCTICA!!

2011-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today the phone rang with my wakeup call (actually it was room service) in the middle of a dream.

Obviously, the first thing I did when I woke was look at the curtains to see what the weather outside is doing. It is pitch black out, so I am still clueless as to whether I will see ANTARCTICA TODAY OR not. It has been on my mind ever since I heard the South African woman on the Dawn speaking about it on that cruise, which is why I booked this one, as well as to see Falklands, Montevideo, Valparaiso.

Time just turned 0400 on my watch, making it 0600 locally. The meeting time in the stardust window, and it is chilly but a 737 has heat. Still torn between wearing the good slacks and wingtips or jeans and sandles. Wearing a cashmere turtleneck and prolly the Ireland sweater and bringing the Chile jacket. Filled out the Chile food etc card, so I better leave my goodies at home. Cookies came from room service. Changed the gps batteries. I finished all four cookies before we were on the bus, which rolled at 0811.

Onto the deck to try for a fix, stop the gps timer at the correct time, watched the linesmen making her fast rather than casting off for a change, and, getting only one satellite, back to the cabin where the decision was made (partly based on the champagne issue) to go with the dress slacks and good shoes.

Sat way down in front in the Stardust Lounge in opposition to my usual habit of being in very back so I can leave anytime. There was a slide show which I wanted to see. The guide was named Betty, Chilean, a Doctor, spoke unaccented and idiomatic English and was enthusiastic about her penguins and less so about the birds. She began the talk however with a disclaimer that we still were in the go/no-go mode and would be remain so right up till it was time to board the aircraft, so the tension remained throughout, and watching the seals and penguins, one could only wonder whether we would see them or not. I suppose it was necessary, but it was not nice.

We boarded the buses and had another ‘tour’ thru downtown Punta Arenas, but I did not see anything that looked familiar nor the Hotel Cabo De Hornas. The town looked pleasant and by now the sun was shining merrily but there were patches of dark clouds here and there as well, so fingers remained crossed. We got to the aeroporto and debarked, and I found myself on an elevator to the departure lounge, only to find nobody else there, so I returned like a sheep to the fold and we waited until we finally got the word that we were GO for the journey. Even better news, the plane was a Boeing B767-300, so it had more speed and longer range than the 737, and everyone would have their own window seat…assigned. Mine was 37L, which was last row starboard. I took a nice photo of the boarding pass – too cool. Saw the penguin hat for sale that I have with me.

Easily got the tail number CC-CZU for the logbook, but the takeoff runway was tougher because the runways themselves had basically worn off number on them, and I got confused by the sun, the crossing signs etc. I’m thinking we took off on 25 and I know we landed on 12 cuz the captain said so. Surprise – I was the very first one on the plane, and bigger surprise was seeing no less than six flight attendants aboard for 44 people. Most, but not all, were couples, and most my age. I’ll have to check my log when I get home to see if I had been in the cockpit of this very plane before, because as soon as we hit cruising altitude, I went forward and had a quick pleasant visit and then excused myself and returned to my seat where I remained for most of the trip.

Preparatory to takeoff, there was lovely music and an animal video on the tv set in the seatback in front of me. I asked one of the FAs if there were a moving map, but it took the Germans in front of me to get it going. She never did answer me. They were babbling away in German during the speech made by the Doctor, but shut up rapidly when I said something.

Initially, much of the action was on port side, and I went as far as first class and most of the windows were taken, but returning to my seat I shot a series of fine pictures. When the digital camera began beeping at me, I unwrapped the throwaway and used it as well, but after removing and reinserting the memory card on the digital, it ceased beeping and seemed to be functioning normally. I had the only male flight attendant (who had never been on the trip before and was as excited as I was or maybe more) take a pic of me by the moving map screen showing the south pole and the whole continent, and later I shot a series my own self, holding up the camera in one hand and my gps in the other, and got an acceptable one for the state line book and another for the series to show others.

While my gps was sluggish in acquiring signals, it finally did and I clipped one south of the 63 latitude line, and captain said farthest south was 64 south. Later, I was somewhat surprised to realize that Edinburgh is a good deal farther from the Equator than Punta Arenas is. Just doesn’t seem so.. Total flight time was 5 hours exactly, with 4:41 wheel to wheel in just under two thousand miles.. AT farthest, I was 7,215 miles from my front door. We cruised home at 40,000 feet and down at 39,000. I suspect the guys up front enjoy horsing an airliner the size of a 767 around at seven hundred feet and below with thirty degree banked turns. We were told that a map of the journey will be prepared and sent to our stateroom in a few days. That would be kewl.
//
The Antarctic flight is now history, and was nearly flawless in every regard, My overwhelming feeling, frankly, is relief. I am drained physically and emotionally (and financially too if truth were told) but it is only 4PM and I am loathe to sink onto the comfy double bed and relax, as it is daylight and we are in Punta Arenas (for me, again) and besides, I have another Captains Party and this one I’m gonna try not to miss.

The waves hitting the dock on the tv monitor are lovely, and the day is lovely. I am literally forcing myself out the cabin door and back onto at least the deck, and maybe back to the shop at the end of the pier. The pictures that I took on the flight, including a state line one, all came out nicely and I have already deleted the ones that are superfluous.
.
Back on land, in chatting with the guide on the bus going back to the ship, he was talking about the daylight, and it occurred to me that I was quite a bit further from the Equator in Edinburgh than I am here at the ends of the earth today. This just FEELS a lot further away from everything. So my farthest south on land is about 55 and in the air 64. And apt to stay that way for quite awhile.

//Made one turn around decks 11 thru seven, and picked up some ice cream and two cookies along the way. Quite frankly, fancy though it was, there was no food on the LanChile flight that I could eat. I had one potato and tried the lamb, but couldn’t even cut it with the first ‘real’ knives that I’ve seen on a plane since Bulgaria. S*** would have loved the king crab and champagne.

//More choc strawberries into the room with a note from the hotel manager, but I have not met any of these people, or really tried to. There is so much extra food in the room that I handed it back to the guy who brought the strawberries, which I have finished, and plan on skipping supper tonight.

It is now quarter to six in the eve, and I guess I’ll take another windy turn around deck seven before returning to dress for captain greeting for the Antarctic (rich) folks. I have finished up transcribing the notes of the trip up until this morning, and as I may have said, I stumbled onto a much easier way of getting pictures from the card to the file, and so that job is done as well, with about half of them deleted and the remainder fairly well labeled.

Coming up on eight oclock now, and I have finished most everything to do today. At 1820 I dutifully went to the Captain’s cocktail party and wore the ear off a Frenchman who was a four striper, and I’m thinking now he was the hotel director [yup], but he was polite and interesting and a good listener and also well traveled and he has lost a third of his earnings due to the Euro/dollar slide. My photo was taken getting my certificate (diploma) from the captain. I finished a pair of tonics and the place cleared out before we had scratched the surface. We are both sorta out of touch with what is going on in the world.

Clutching my diploma, I went up to the lido lounge and found the trio had moved up to the top of the crown for tonight, so I went up there are got a nice wave from her from the bandstand, and they took a break and I said I’d do her pix with the background tomorrow night back in the Lido lounge. And so here I am, a little before eight, with nothing left that I feel like doing. Casino does not appeal, internet seems too much effort, so it is more like teevee and the puter for the balance of the day. It has been a long and hugely successful day and I am content just to rest for the remainder of daylight. Departure [ship] was so smooth I never felt it, and first I knew we were under weigh was up top. Decks still very windy. Beginning to peel a bit on the shoulders. My sweet little maid made me an elephant and carefully put my mess back all over the freshly made bed as I had asked her to do. I am ¾ embarrassed. And yes, I did skip supper!

Overflew Antarctica

Ushuaia

2011-05-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today – USHUAIA, Argentina. Was awakened by the cheery announcer at 0700 local, and 22 minutes later I have retrieved two cups of coffee from the opposite end of the ship one deck below. There was quite a line, but they were not the coffee onlys, and so I am back in the cabin with a gorgeous view out the window, but the window is presently too dirty for a photo. So I have about an hour and a half to prepare and photo and gps fix etc. Weather is 9 degrees Celsius, which I think is the forties somewhere.

OK – it is now just eight am. Twice I have added the 2 hrs to my watch mentally, and then added an additional two and thought I missed ‘the boat’ as it were. Wearing jeans and the sandles with freshly laundered underwear, long sleeved white turtleneck and the hooded sweatshirt, and taking the Chile jacket. Down to one roll of lifesavers, but have loads of peppermint patties for along the way. God, the weather is sensational, and Antarctica is now TOMORROW. Am really psyched, but also content to enjoy the utter beauty that is Ushuaia while I am here. We do glacier cruising this afternoon. Also caught a bird [photo] in the swimming pool which is possibly an albatross.

By eschewing the elevator, I made it onto the bus amongst the first and this time I got a decent seat without curtains blocking. By the way, I think it was returning from the Valdez Peninsula that soldiers boarded the bus and they looked underneath with the mirror on the handle. No such today. The sun was bright and it was nearly cloudless as I boarded the bus and we headed for a barn with dirt floor and straw on it, heated by a barn heater, but with some decent coffee, some pastries which I ate and a show put on by 12 dancers – six of each, in lovely traditional costumes, boots for the men and flowing dresses and tango pumps for the ladies.

. Following the gaucho stamping and thumping balls on the floor attached to ropes, we boarded the bus and drove to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park where we disembarked and walked by a bay which looked like a lake which looked like a webshot I have of Lake McDonald in Montana. Bathrooms were available everywhere, and the weather remained decent, although around about now, we lost the sun and by the time we were back to the ship, it was indeed overcast and cloudy.

Our guide was Tamico and she was, as were all the others, decent. There was a marathon being run and zillions of cops partout, but no patchy swapee, because we had chop chop back to boatee real quick like. It may be the end of the world, and a sign says that it is, but that didn’t prevent a cell phone from ringing.
The train ride was next, a reproduction of the one which the convicts used to use to do their logging as they built their own jail in yon days of yore, which extended up to 1947 when it became overcrowded and is now a museum which we didn’t have time to see. Several of the guides were in striped clothes and the announcements aboard the train seemed to me to be very very sympathetic to the poor prisoners who had to spend time here.

I had a good seat by the door in the last coach on starboard, and the guy beside me opened the small windows so we each got a few shots without the glass. The train stopped at a little waterfall and I huffed my way up with my peers, and angel falls it warn’t. Back on the train, some nice photos of the station, back onto the bus and back to Ushuaia, where taxes and rents are very low, but the winters are very long. I was particularly struck by the quality of the air, which was some of the freshest and nicest smelling I can remember in eons. Our guide says that two hundred dollars is high rent for a house. Although I didn’t say so out loud, we could have used more than six hours in this place, as it is very lovely and I would have enjoyed walking around a bit. There was the first line to board that I have seen this trip, reminiscent of the boarding experience on the ecstasy, and the loudspeakers from town announcing the people coming in from their marathon. In front of us was a large ship going to the Antarctic, and there were two smaller ones in the harbor as we left, and I have very mixed feelings while watching them, as, although the captain has said the wx tomorrow is going to be fine, it has now clouded over and some of the peaks along the Beagle channel are shrouded in clouds and fog.

And some are not. I am currently sitting in my stateroom with a plate full of potato chips which someone suggested room service has, and I so ordered., fresh ice in the water, and beautiful views out the window over top of the lifeboat of mountains going by and a lovely bow shot on the tv with decent music now.
Once back aboard, I went straight to the outside on deck seven and watched the gangway being stowed, lines cast off and coiled on the deck, started the gps trip thing and stayed in front of a hot air vent till we were well away from Ushuaia and had turned back into the Beagle Channel again, on our way to Chili and hopefully beyond., and then I went to lunch and had French fries and skipped the ice cream. There was a place by Bahai Encinada to have passports stamped, but they must not have done much of a business with us today, and I still miss having that, although am glad to have seen it and some of the stamps in it already. One of the mountains off our right reminded me of Bora Bora.

For some reason, feeling tremendous ‘pressure’ to get my thoughts written down up to the current 4pm time, before returning to deck to watch the Beagle Channel slide by. Glaciers expected, as I have seen in New Zealand, Alaska and Iceland, and probably other places as well that I simply do not remember, but will with the reading of my diaries, which I have with me but have not looked at yet. Am so focused on tomorrow that little else seems to matter. Checked the memory card in the camera and I apparently only have used half of it. I will renew internet time tonight, and will auto get another half hour added to what I buy, which will be a total of a hundred and fifty bucks. Need more drinking water shortly, but I know where to get it, no prob.

From the southernmost rr we saw the southernmost golf course, and a concorde once landed here with rich people playing all the unusual courses in the world in a row. Can understand the feelings. They released beavers into the wild with no natural predators and now they have a lot of dams and downed trees that they weren’t counting on. There was live music in the rr sta when the train pulled in, and many photogenic things to be seen. Am desperately trying NOT to pick up more junk, folders, pictures, souvenir calendars, placemats etc, but I have gotten postcards.
The river pilot has been switched from Argentina to Chile, and I would be a lot more excited about being in Chile if I had not been here before on June 10, 1998. (see the puter is good for something


Again, I rate the shore excursion by NCL as another really good one, almost outstanding, and while it could have been a little shorter with the gauchos and a little longer in the park, it was just fine. I think most of us would rather have had a little more time in Ushuaia, but for some, there is always the option of a return trip. I have been doing a great deal of thinking about whether if the trip tomorrow is blown, I’ll try again, and I suspect I will.

As we set sail from Ushuaia, I positioned self in middle of bow on deck 7 and saw several ships which were going to the Antarctic. I felt the same way as I did the first time I saw such trips on my first visit to Punta Arenas, Chile[6-10-98], only moreso, because now, tomorrow is make it or break it in terms of whether I will see my 7th continent or not. This trip.

Was on the bow of the boat for quite awhile, getting windblown and quite a few good pix of the glaciers, some little ice berglets, the sun thru the overcast, and I thought that life has been very very good to me.

According to the people at the shore excursions desk, everything is set for the flight tomorrow. I have juice in the batteries of gps and camera, and about half of the memory card to use. I am writing now in the lido lounge with the beagle channel sliding by outside and the trio playing. The lounge is more than half full as the rep of this group has been spreading and I no longer have the place essentially to myself. . She plays flute prettily as well.
At suppertime I absolutely stuffed myself, and that is why Americans gain weight on cruises. I had about five slices of roast pork and gravy, some lamb, waldorf salad, key lime pie and two flavors of ice cream to top it off. I also found some hot chocolate after an hour of being windblown on the front deck. Wearing very warm clothing I was very comfortable, but many others, who might have snickered at goretex gloves a day or so ago, were not snickering now as they looked longingly at the only warm hands on the deck. I saw, perhaps an otter, which the Germans called a sea dog.

A little restless now, and wandered into the theatre and caught a good cowgirl number that I may go back to see in the second show if I happen to be awake. Dynamite! Also picked up a spare set of duracels for either the gps or the camera if either one of them goes 28 on me manana. The tv monitor is so lovely that I keep doing turns around the deck. Am really packing carefully for tomorrow, including the backseat logbook, spare camera, etc. My little stewardess made me a peacock tonight and was distressed when I thought ‘twas a swan. // Off I go again onto the deck.

In addition to getting new batteries for either the camera or GPS (whichever goes first) I also checked the capacity on the memory card, and it seems to show half empty. Taking the throwaway just to be sure..n Someone suggested the room service for potato chips, and that is exactly what I did. I also used them for the oatmeal cookies to take with me tomorrow.

. So now it is 2300 and my big big day is tomorrow, or not. All packed and ready and wakeup call AND coffee and juice and cookies ordered for 0600. Curtains opened to let in any early sunshine, and let us hope there is lots and lots.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

onward, southward

2011-05-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today I ventured farther south than ever before, passing the latitude of Punta Arenas, my hitherto southernmost point. Initial impressions were that it was VERY VERY sunny, we were still rocking and rolling and my sunburn still hurt. My over riding concern was our location however, so I threw on turtleneck and black sweatpants and went out to the rear and took the following fix.

Home is 6557 miles away. We have slowed to 11mph. There is 1 airport within 500NM.
Lat S 55 52 Long 61 42.6 Our course is southwest.

A collection of birds is following the boat and the spray is making a rainbow, but a coat and perhaps gloves will need to precede a more lengthy walk forward. Instead, I grabbed two coffees and returned to the room where I think the bow cam is the only game in town, and the camera is sunny but covered with spray, and shows regular pitch motions of over five degrees, but still not much roll.

//Just caught a spectacular (underlined) spray off the bow cam. It would be pure luck to capture such a fleeting event with the digital cam, but I have become accustomed to the delay and I get better pictures with a half second heads-up. The bow cam also played some bossa nova, and I suspect I will always think of the quiet pretty lady singer when I hear such music from now on.

Checked with reception who wanted to know if it were raining, and officially the swells are ten meters and winds over 50mph. The forward portions of the deck seven is roped off, but absolutely spectacular views can be had from the remaining 80 per cent of deck seven.

Thence to the gym [two people there], so I hopped on the exercise bike, and soon an officer appeared and I thought he was going to make an issue over my sandles, but instead they closed the gym for safety. Although ten decks up, the wave spray was routinely washing against it.

I of course am enjoying it totally, but here and there they are cleaning up spots on the floor where people have been sick and that smell is not pleasant. When the gym was closed I went to a whale lecture and lasted 45 minutes before going outside again where the real action is. It should not bother me that people are playing cards thru everything that happens, but then again, I am not dancing and drinking and others might find that unfathomable as well.

Well, I logged onto the net for an hour and have just about used up all of my time, save five minutes. Had a very entertaining email from S*** who must have been three sheets to the wind. She said she misses me on Friday nights when she gets juiced.

Speaking of three sheets to the wind, believe it is time to dress up and take another turn around the decks. Birds are following the ship all day, and whales are sometimes sighted in the area as well. With 33 foot waves and whole gale force winds, I do marvel at those who choose to tackle these conditions in small boats, alone.

The boat is making some thunderous crashing noises from time to time, and squeaks emanate from every corner, particularly where the lifeboats are stored. I’m loving it.

, I checked the time on the captains cocktail party to see what time it was, and I checked at ten to noon and it began at 1130. Threw the blazer over the turtleneck and the dress slacks Short party, cuz when I got there they were cleaning up 25 min later. Mood worsened as there were sev questions I wanted to ask.

The gym is closed due to the weather, and the forward decks are off limits as well. I finished the entire 650 page book of New Yorker cartoons, and the library was filled with people knitting and sleeping. I am almost out of internet minutes (five left).

The good news is that they were able to fix the camera case which is much easier to use than anything else I have. May be no charge. And my Antarctica flight tickets came…and this is the one I will really sweat out till it is accomplished. If I lose out on both I may have to blow my savings and return somehow.

I stayed out on deck in the sun and wind all afternoon watching the landscape slide by. I watched as we crossed the 55 degree parallel Enjoyed a few conversations with fellow passengers. This is of course farther than I have ever been south in my life. Further encouraging news is that good wx due to large high pressure center is fx for the next three days, which should get me thru my biggie boys and girls.

Very suddenly earlier today, just as I was walking out the door by where the trio plays in the Lido lounge, my middle right finger began hurting again, without being bumped or anything, so I got self a bottle of aspirin aboard – eight bucks thank you so bloody much.

So- supper time coming and I shaved and I have really gotten another burn on top of my burn, but this one is half wind I think. Tickets for tomorrow are for a little after eight for the train ride.

// Supper was largely meat, sliced pork and a lamb chop. Had some salad with blue cheese dressing and tried to have ice cream only to be told they had no scoop, so I had apple pie and then ice cream when I bitched and they got a scoop. Went upstairs and listened to the trio awhile (she was even more casual than last night’s opening performance) and then went to the stardust lounge and watched two latin dancers do three dances and then Richie M***, the ‘hilarious’ comedian who rode down on Delta on the row behind me. He still reminds me of Kevin G** and while I got a chuckle or two, it was mostly material I had heard done before, better, by other comics. Many people left before I did, but I didn’t stay till the end either.

Back in the room I had a crustacean towel animal and re-read the part of the Antarctic trip that says no refunds or cancellations if they decide to go somewhere different. In their defense, I knew this when I signed up for the trip. My meeting tomorrow is at 0845, so I’ll need a wakeup call. CNN is broadcasting World News Asia, as I guess there is no news from South America, and I have not used my internet time to look at any of the news sites that I generally scan.

A funny thing happened to my tummy. I have the very clear mark of a hand which lay across my lap when I fell asleep, and it looks like I just got slapped.. No patches to trade so far, but I did see and have nice passport stamps anyhow..
The town that we are visiting tomorrow is one that I have been looking at fondly on the internet for quite a few years, and in fact have ‘saved’ almost a dozen screen shots from their webcams, and so I suspect I shall take a lot of pix tomorrow.

Deck soaked with spray--note rainbow

The Falkland Islands

2011-05-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

Today I woke to see grey rain of unknown temp outside the stateroom window, but this was expected, predicted and in fact normal. The local time is currently seven (DUH – I thought till just this second that it was eight but this again works in my favor). Anyhow, I called room service for coffee and juice and called the front desk for the weather. Now I have an extra hour to prep, pressure is off some. Left a wakeup call for nine which I shan’t need.

// I DO have quite a nice dose of sunburn, but it feels kinda good and takes my mind off the most recent 7 inches of snow that S** says we got on LI.

//My feeling that we had stopped forward motion prompted me to take gps to deck 11 and although it took me until I had worked my way back to deck nine to get three satellites, I was correct, as we had not only stopped, but had been joined by three or four small boats alongside. It was not really raining or bitter cold, but foul wx gear will be in order and I shall wear long johns as well. I created a Falkland island fix S51 40 w 57 50 w/nearest apt SFAL 28 mi west.

Having adjusted to my time error, I was again thrown off with another little dose of pre senility when I missed part of a PA announcement which seemed to suggest that you needed tender tickets even if you had a shore excursion ticket. Doubting this, I nonetheless called front desk and they said “you need” so I went down and got one…very short line again as the announcement was just beginning in German and Spanish had not begun. Still, it moved awfully slowly as people seemed to make a big deal out of picking up a simple ticket.. 0830 local (yes I checked while down at reception) and planning on getting to stardust lounge a good deal earlier than the ten am meeting time on the ticket, as both of priors have left way early. As it turned out, I was right, no tender ticket was needed, but I got to see the Falkland stamp in my passport.

Before heading out, I prep’d a bag of laundry which will be ready tomorrow night.

//So I made it to the Stardust Lounge an hour early. This time they did NOT have the air conditioning turned on. Long johns and the foul weather pants, long sleeved turtleneck and the hooded sweatshirt. Had Irish sweater and the Chile jacket [from a prior visit there] with me as well. Fell into chat with the tour excursion guy awhile, and then returned to the cabin to get my goretex gloves. Went looking for the lighter leather ones that I thought I wore to the airport, but didn’t find them.

The tour was called just a short while before ten, and I was one of the first onto the tender, sitting in the back;. It was raining noticeably, and it got heavier as we went along. Still, I was able to get a pic of the Welcome to the Falklands sign, and another with me in it, and before leaving, got a t shirt and postcard as well…so it is another clean sweep.

Got onto [first on, window, starboard behind driver] bus 15, driven by Kevin K***, an attorney who moved there from London and now has a 35,000 acre farm which is about a tenth the size of some of the others on the island. Sheep primarily. I was most surprised by the mine field signs which are left over from 22 years ago and since they are made out of plastic, they can’t find them and the sheep don’t set them off. They claim there are some three legged cows there, but this may be a tourist joke thing..

After perhaps 15 minute ride, we stopped and transferred to land rovers again, and I sat in back with a younger couple from Leipzig and an old woman from Ottawa. The driver was Trudy and her husband is another farmer there. We had an eight mile ride across peat bog. One feature which fascinated the old Canadian was the streams of stones, which indeed seemed to form rivers, left over from the glacier age.

And then we were there, and I saw my first live, loose penguins. The first ones were King Penguins with chicks, and the rest were Gentoos. There were plenty of them, and I got a bunch of pix, got wet right thru to the feet (the boots either leaked or water ran down my pants into them.

We had an hour there, and I went to the mobile home which was a bathroom and coffee house with delicious home made candys and cookies and cakes, and had two coffees and about five delicious syrupy things they called flapjacks. I walked pretty close to some of the penguins who had strayed into the area NOT marked off by sticks which you weren’t supposed to pass. All in all, a most pleasant visit. Someone referred to this as the ‘end of the earth’ and it feels a good deal like just that. Reminded of the place in NZ where I got gas by the Tasman sea and felt the same way.

Trudy was a bit late in picking us up, but her son said she was reliable. She had quite a guest book with entries from Canada, US, UK Germany and many others, and showed us her family photo album.

I was the one who asked Kevin to slow the bus for a pic of the sign warning about the land mines, but about 20 people got off the bus to take the same photo…never seen that before either.

Supper was roast beef, roast lamb, roast beef and strawberry ice cream. I was one of the first through and afterwards went out on deck to find that the forward sections have indeed been closed off due to high winds. It was another wet tender ride back to the ship, but I was dressed for it. Back on board, I found a good hot air vent starboard aft on deck nine, and dried my goretex gloves there. I left the camera case at reception to see if the tailor could fix it.

Time now is 1900 ship time. In the lido lounge, aft on deck 8, the trio is playing. They sound professional as always. They did not go ashore. Got some more candy in the room from someone.

At almost this exact time, I got further south than I have ever been in my life, as we passed Punta Arenas.

My full page of notes for the day are in the cabin. This means another choppy entry unless I wait till I get back there to begin. The trio just took a break, looked at my today’s pictures with some interest and excused themselves to go eat in the Seven Seas Restaurant. I shall repair to my room and contemplate whether I want to go on line again or wait. Outside, night is falling but the winds are so strong that the forward decks have been closed.

Ok so it was only today that I realized that the tenders double as the lifeboats and that’s why they always look the same. DUH. Room is beginning to be a bit bouncy at 2200…may try to see how much of the deck is available again.

So – dell is still getting real hot. Guess I’ll stay off line tonight. Watched a movie called French Kiss with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Followed this with a sci fi with Glynette Paltrow. Captain said winds on deck were 40 K but with forward speed prolly closer to 60.

//2300 Made one last trip aft, to look at the waves beside the boat and listen to the trio once more. Saw internet dude and he was aware that I got another half hour of internet for free for being a latitude person, and said I can do it again Sunday. This trip is over a third done – I can really scarcely believe it.

The ship is rockin and rollin now. I put my bathroom stuff into the sink there, and the poor puter will sleep on the floor tonight. I was reading the brochures about the Antarctic flight which is to be on Monday. If THEY decide that the wx over Antarctica is verstinkin, THEY will go somewhere else and you have no chance to get yer money back. Sounds to me like I better have seen Antarctica for that kinda money.

FWIW, remember these photos can be clicked--twice-- for more wonderful detail!

Day Five- At Sea enroute Falkland Islands

2011-05-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

[this entry has been shortened several times, and is skippable because nothing much happens, but I will add a photo at the end later today]

Today began, literally with me thinking, almost out loud “Now THIS is the way to begin a day!”

The sun was pouring through the crack between the curtains, and I knew instantly that the weather was sensational. Pulling on shorts and Capetown T shirt, went and brought back two mugs of coffee, and finishing them, stuck toe into swimming pool on deck 7, and minutes later, stuck the entire rest of self in there, as the temp was bathtub warm, and the decks are literally awash in sunshine, mystifying the crew who have described Falklands wx as England-like. I swam perhaps a dozen lengths of the pool shared by two old ladies and an old man who were quiet and kept out of my way. Sunned myself dry and stopped by internet café for a tip on how to send pix on the hotmail.

//it is now quarter after one in the afternoon, and my day might as well have been spent in Aruba as down below latitude South 46. One of the best kept secrets of the ship so far, is that the swimming pool is about bathtub temperature and nobody much was in it. There is little smoking, little drinking and no loud obtrusive music surrounding the old people surrounding the pool, speaking in Russian, German and Spanish as well as English. OK, girl watching is a bit grim, but there is no sexy legs contest at full volume a la Ecstasy, and I prefer it this way. Most of the guests are quiet, polite and have good situational awareness and apologize when they are discovered wanting in same. One downside, is that if you DO get behind a couple on a line, it can take them five minutes to decide whether they want white or black coffee…..

I went swimming twice, basically had the pool to myself, and tho it is small, I bet I got a decent workout both times, and lay in the sun on the deck chair for two hours waiting for the noon announcement from the captain, which included wx in the Falklands today being basically as it was on deck…clear, warm and sunny. Not necessarily so for tomorrow, but I have good foul wx gear, and in a way, seeing the Falklands in the rain is more appropriate.

I took a minute to go sign up for the choo choo ride in Ushiaia which does not go ALL the way to the tip of the continent. Was explained the difference between the Chilian and Argentian viewpoints of southernmost city is because Punta Arenas is on the mainland and Ushiaia is on an island. Well, I had wondered. I had decided to have a light lunch, and so I had three ice creams, and was going to quit there, till came the announcement that there was a brbq on deck ten (which I had frankly been smelling) and so I got there just ahead of the line (before the German and Spanish versions were complete) and ended up with 2 cookies, pizza, mashed potatoes, & a hotdog. And in inedible hamburg…far cry from those on the Ecstasy.

Still no popcorn seen, but damn, I’ll ask Hannah about that when I talk to her, as well as cockpit visits about the antartic flight, which I am still desperately hoping will not be weathered out. Six laps makes one mile. I got onto the ex bike barefoot (shoot me now) and did 105 calories, over six miles in twenty minutes, but the really good news is that my weight was 152. From 166, this is one HELLUVA improvement. I can feel the difference.

Made my way up to the top of the crown to see the prize for the raffle, and the chirpy said that it hadn’t been picked yet, leaving unanswered how she could know it’s value. Returned to my same deck chair by the pool and swam a third time, and this time, if possible, it was TOO warm. It had also become a bit more crowded and I didn’t stay long. But if I didn’t fall asleep by the edge of the pool, I almost did. It was about 1530 when they began playing music just after I had written how nice it is that they don’t.. This then was followed by another energetic fun person doing trivia about commercials, but by then I had vacated the seventh deck for the eighth. From there I shouted answer that got me a nice leather NCL bookmark.

Next I connected (on the phone anyhow) with Hannah and asked about popcorn and cockpit visits while flying over south pole. And this in turn was followed by a trip to the library with the puter where I finished the download of the photos from the Valdez Peninsula trip to the Puerto Madryn folder and then put same in the Argentina one (ok, that makes sense, but the Uruguay one is in there as well). Then, for the first time since boarding this craft, was able to get onto the internet from the library without the help of the internet dude.

I quick checked mail etc. What I am NOT in the mood to do is return to the casino, although I would love to try out the piano I saw down near there. Guess I’ll return to try to suss out the gym once again, and maybe walk the decks some more – am still barefoot and wearing bathing suit, but have shorts atop it. //1700 Which got me into the deck ten hot tub for a half hour before supper.

--menu redacted—patently boring.

The sunburn was a little different, and unexpected.

Day Four --Puerto Madryn, Argentina

2011-04-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today – Puerto Madryn, Argentina.. I woke around 0730 watch time, which is probably 0930 local. Because of my weight, I decided not to call room service, but walked down to deck 7 and got first coffee and then coffee and juice from the Yacht Club, which is, so far, the only place aboard that I have eaten.

Weather in a word is windy. It was so windy that another gentleman ( I was going to call him old, but he is probably about my age or so) couldn’t open the door, and watching some poor woman on deck trying to light a cigarette almost evoked sympathy in me. Parts of the deck are soaked as if by rain, but it is 7 story spray. I did half a turn on the deck in shorts and Bali t shirt and returned inside. I am going to the gym next and then go get some sit down breakfast, since food is not supposed to be brought ashore and I don’t know what if anything will be available to eat along the way.

Went to deck 11, got gps fix showing we are going due WEST for some reason, with shore to our south. Next to gym where I weighed in at 157 and did a mile on the middle ex bike which binds at the same spot each time pedals turn. Followed this with trip to the internet café where I got shown a different way to get onto the net, and spent a few minutes surfing favorite sites.. Logged off and am going to stroll by the lido lounge Then see about breakfast.

Time-ten AM. Almost entirely good news. Good breakfast of one sausage, one small pancake, two pcs of bacon, pineapple juice and bowl of cheerios. The ship docked an hr and a half early, so extra time to take GPS on board. Home is 5,775 miles away, bearing nearly straight north – 354 degrees. Lat S 42 45.7 Long W 65 01. Distance traveled is a bit off for some reason, but it is showing 784 miles.

I think it is more, and will work it out later, prolly when I finish the distance figures for the Sea trip. Nearest airport is SAVY, 4 miles due west of the dock.
The port does not look very third world, with nice condos and office buildings in view. Perhaps a dozen small boats to sea of us. Small military ship alongside. Looks very benign. Weather is windy but not cold. Overcast sky.

Time is now 11am. One thing about being on a boat with primarily people my age is that we all tend to think alike, so the gym, restaurants etc are more apt to be in use during those off times when I tend to use them. On the other hand, we are a quiet lot, polite and – get this people – good situational awareness.

I went ashore solo and rode the shuttle bus to the end of the pier, which reminded me of Puntarenas, Costa Rica somewhat. It is much hotter down out of the wind, and I rapidly had to strip my hoodie, and even the lightweight long sleeved turtleneck may be a bit much…but that depends if they air condition the bus to frigidity.
Evening. Another long, happy, full day of good times and good memories and another batch of pictures to sort and another full page of writing to try to decipher. Bus ride was several hours each way, with window starboard, empty seat beside, my first view of elephant seals (which normally island) sea lions, and back to the ship, to the shore excursion, purser, dinner, the lovely trio and all that before going back to the room.

So – met up at the icy Lounge, and again they got going way before the scheduled time, but this time I had learnt and was third onto the bus and set two rows back, starboard by a window without a curtain. With candy, water, writing pad, binocs and D**’s camera, I felt ready for anything, including having to redon the hoody due to the a/c.

Our guide was a school teacher (English, Grade 12) named Analea Laura Garcia, and the driver/mechanic was Jorge. Jorge got to change a gas filter enroute as the bus came to a shuddering stop in the middle of nowhere, and I mean that literally – the preserve is about 55 miles per side (3,000 sq km) and basically empty except for cattle (which we did not see) horses, sheep (which we did) and the guide managed to get excited over seeing several herds of leaping guanacos and several rheas which are small ostriches.

Area was started by the Welsh. 65,000 people live in Puerto Madryn. Main industry is an aluminum factory which employs thousands of people. Stopped at Interpretation center, with tower for a view and a little museum with animals, birds etc – no English. Following this including a pitstop, my seat was secure and I totally relaxed, and was taken by surprise by a bottle of water (not for three dollars) and a huge box lunch with turkey sandwich and a ham and cheese sandwich, desert and some grapes, most of which I finished. So we were declared lucky on the animals we saw and a recent rain which kept down most of the dust.

The first stop after the interpretation center was the elephant seals. I was disappointed that they said all the big males were gone and only little ones there, but there seemed to be a few big ones that I saw. Frankly, I felt better physically on that part of the trip than I have in awhile.

I walked fast, up and down 65 steps, kept up and passed people, and found my own way to the trail which parallels the shoreline and was about a hundred feet above the actual beach. There were perhaps at most a dozen animals to be seen, but one large one was way down at the right side, and I got some time alone with it with the wind blowing and the warm scent of the wild great outdoors, and it was good. No bugs, no snakes and only an armadillo which literally ran over my feet to both our surprise. It was a magic moment alone with the big beast watching him flip sand onto his back. Then I got two postcards in as many minutes for a buck and was back on the bus 2 min before the hour was up.

Next stop was a more active sea lion rookery. There were over a hundred of them, all ages and sizes and to me they sounded like sheep or goats. It was not very very windy and dust was blowing, but the place reminded me at times of PEI, Tenerife, Capetown, Aruba, and parts of Utah except for the ocean being right there, or parts of east Wyoming. While Jorge changed the gas filter, I changed the batteries in D**’s camera. We drive by the lowest point in South America, but I got no picture to prove it.

One good thing about a smaller boat is there is not a 15 minute wait to get on or off. I made it up the gangway, went straight to the excursion desk to see about what to do in Ushaia, then to the purser where I was assured that the fifty bucks credit was given to me, and then to the dining room where I had hot and cold pork, including pork parmagiana and apple pie ala mode. Then I went and listened to the trio in the Lido lounge, all the while before going to the cabin after reboarding. When I did, there was a [towel] skate on the bed from my little stewardess.. I saw the internet café dude but did not feel up to asking the question about sending pix to W** just now…he is a prickly dude.

It is 2200 and I am now really in my cabin for the first real time in twelve hours. To be honest, I just found out that we are not going to be at Port Stanley tomorrow, and it is a bit of a relief to have a sea day to sort of recollect.

I spent an hour or so with the Lido Trio again, and she is quite delightful and was very interested in looking at pictures of Aruba, Belize and Roatan, as she is going to be going there. She has been thru the Panama Canal. Another package of goodies was delivered to the stateroom, this one from the cruise director.

She seemed genuinely sad when I left, but I told her, we have ten more nights, and I’ll be there for most or all of them. Now I am watching the descriptions of upcoming tours and working on trying to get my pictures better arranged. I have stuck Uruguay into the Argentina folder and will put today’s in as well in a separate folder Puerto Madryn.

Actual Dictionary of the day includes
House where owner of ranch lives –estancia
Lama-like creatures about size of deer – guanaco
Small ostrich-like bird – Patagonian Rhea

Day Three - At Sea

2011-04-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Day three

Today I woke at sea.. It was daylight out, and 5AM on the watch so eight AM on board the Crown, and we are ‘at sea’. The motion of the ship is soothing and I like it, and it results in constant creaking. I lay in bed awhile longer and decided to use room service, which I did, ordering coffee and juice to the room, opening the curtains and seeing broken clouds with about 20% blue sky and the clouds are moving past the window at a good clip. Last I checked, we were heading due south at 17mph, but will update later today. There is a ten oclock briefing on shore excursions which I intend to attend.

At ten, I went to the lounge where the director of shore excursions was giving a talk about the next two ports of call. It started promptly, unlike the shambles on the Ecstasy, and people who strolled in eight minutes late were out of luck. I sat in the very back row by the door, and when I heard a tour mentioned that got close to elephant seals and required a good back, I shot down to the desk and booked the last tour to Peninsula Valdes at Puerto Madryn, our port of call in the morning.
Back to the presentation one deck up and I caught enough to decide that I wanted to go to the Lagoon Bluff where penguins are said to be plentiful, and if I got it right, you walk right amongst them. So I booked that one as well, and I think that is it until Chile. Everyone I hear raves about the Antartic overflight, and I continue to hope that the weather permits us a good trip. Certainly it is lovely here today right now. “Here” is about S 38 W 58.

While I was on deck six, I did a quick check with purser about filling out the debarkation form, and without meaning to, I had to go into sufficient detail about my Dawn experience for her to specifically check the VIP list for debarkation, and I AM ON IT!! SO- no more wondering about those choc covered strawberries etc. BTW, the Captains cocktail party is tonight, and I am supposedly due about three invitations (passenger, latitude and VIP) but have received none. The Captain’s name is Ronnie Borg, and I have enjoyed his announcements.

Went on deck and took a fix, and twas windy. Course altered from 180 to 226.. I threw sweats over my shorts and Bali t shirt.

Next came a long session with the internet. I needed just a little help to get going, but mostly because I didn’t have the wireless card in tight enough. Soo with forty cents a minute, I read several blogs, caught up on trrbpatsoit, tried to use the emailanywhere, even did back comics for craps sake, in fact I was on line for about an hour and a half, and only quit because I was getting hungry.

Lunch was substantial but not piggy.......well, maybe it was, as I seemed to have gained four pounds since yesterday - must go re-weigh self shortly. I had pork, sliced cold cuts, some salad with Roquefort cheese dressing, a hotdog, some French fries and a dish of rum raisin ice cream. BTW, have not seen popcorn yet.

Not surprisingly, I then slunk into a deck chair at the very stern of deck eight, one deck above the closed swimming pool and larger deck covered with many towel covered passengers and I just watched the stern wake, watched a bird (kestrel, albatross,?) swooping back and forth across the wake. He was dark in color and much bigger than a seagull and used his wings more than a pelican say, but I never actually saw him fishing. I estimated visually that the ship is pitching about five degrees, with zero roll at all. Soothing, not uncomfortable, but one does tend to grab the rails frequently. In fact, I suspect I dozed off for a few moments.

Noon – captain on pa. 50,000 pop of next port, eta ten am tomorrow. Nearest land 30NM. Viz good. Air temp 63 f. sea temp 68F. Press 1024mb. SSW wind force 4 10-15Knots. Sunset at 7:44. // Back home news is stocks down, temps down, snow up. The predicted northeaster DID dump a foot of snow some places, and I hope I didn’t lose power and all the related headaches that go with it.

Went up to the gym on deck ten and got on an exercise bike for a 65 calorie burn off but I am uncomfy about having no sneakers. They were busy with a tour however and took no notice of me. I was not happy to see 166 lbs showing for my weight, as that is about twenty more than I want and 15 more than I thought. Still, I had gone back for seconds for the ice cream after my laze on the back deck.

At 1700 ships time (1400 at my snow covered crumbling mansion) , I got a call from Hannah, who is the concierge and is mine if I want her. 8224 is her extension, but she did not invite me to meet the hotel director etc. At least not yet, since I told her I was being well looked after and that I doubted I would use her very much. Still, one never knows. She sounded like she came from about the same area as R*** on the Dawn (Kitzbuhle).

Hehe. Having just told Hannah that I wouldn’t be bothering her much, I called her back as soon as I exited my lovely hot shower (with bar soap thank you so much) and asked if she could have a pair of pants pressed, and there was a knock on the door within five minutes. I am sorta pulling out all the stops for the party, with wingtips, fresh pressed slacks, and cashmere turtleneck and blazer.

One of the perky little fun people who works for the cruise line (and who probably enjoys the college Bermuda runs a whole lot better than this boatload of official old farts) was running a game in which she asked people to bring her things. One was a picture of the white house, and I was mildly annoyed to have totally forgotten that it appears on a ten dollar bill. Among other things she wanted were black teeth (comb) expired drivers license, expired credit card, car keys (all these on the sun deck where everything should be back in the room), sox with a hole in them, a bar tab, a hundred dollar bill (same guy had both of those) and dentures.

// The pants were back, pressed within ten minutes. It’s good to be very important.

Time 1900. supper was two slices of sliced hot pork, two pieces of cold smoked turkey, and a double dip of pineapple sherbert. I followed this with three turns around the outside of deck 7. This is allegedly a mile, but even if not, I at least walked some of the dinner off. I asked about popcorn and they drew a blank. Ecstasy no, Sea (tho it had little else going for it, yes) Dawn yes and Crown is still a question mark. The sea is still swelled, but sunny and bright, and I think we will cross over forty degrees south sometime tonight. Just peeked at the ‘list’ of cruises and I still need to come up with the mileage of the Sea trip to Belize.

Cocktail party in ten. //very different from the one on the Dawn. No receiving line. Snuck into very back corner, declined champagne and most of the hor doerves, and only belatedly fell into chat with two other couples, but only because of my recent expertise in NCL. The captain is good with English (he is Swedish) and he gave the dimensions of the ship, said we have good wx for at least the next two days (fingers still crossed).

There are 509 Americans aboard out of a passenger list of over a thousand. Many from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, lots from Canada, Germany, a few French, etc. I going over the notes from the day, I was bemused to find it was on the back of a letter I wrote to C*** on the Dawn and never delivered.

Lido Lounge, 2200 or so. The evening had a nice ending when the trio met Richy, the guy who shared the plane ride with me down from Atlanta. The pix of the dawn went over really well, and the lady liked the towel pix, another of which I captured tonight when my current stewardess made an alligator.

The wi fi almost hooked me up, enabling me to surf and listen at the same time, but I think I am just beyond the range, which covers the library and the other hallway. Sort of teasing me, cuz the light will go steady for awhile and then blink again when I try to log on. After well over an hour of solid bosa nova, I said goodnight to them and came to the library where the light was solid green, and still couldn’t get onto the net for some reason.

Midnight buffet is calling me, but fingers are reminding me that THEY don’t like me weighing over 150 lbs, and neither do my good clothes.

Checked out the buffet both in the casino and top of crown – too late for one and too early for the other, so returned to cabin and worked with laptop awhile.

South America - Day Two --Montevideo, Uruguay

2011-04-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

Today – Montevideo, Uruguay. I am in bed with the laptop in room 8019 of the Norwegian Crown and the tv has a bow camera which is playing pretty music and I can watch cars driving by the bow of the ship. It just played “Cheek to Cheek” with Ella and Louis. Out my huge window I have a view of an old, very Uruguan-looking church steeple. The reported temp is in the seventies and there is cloud cover.

To get the fussing over with – my lower middle right finger remains extremely painful, which makes a series of routine chores difficult to impossible, like opening the digital camera, typing of course, dressing etc

To fuss further, the announcements in English, German and Spanish that we had docked in Montevideo came at – 0430 on my watch, or 5:30 AM local time. I am very glad that I picked the noon tour and not the earlier one. Am lazily contemplating room service, but, since I have all my clothes now, I shall probably put on shorts and venture forth for some coffee, which I think is aft and one deck down. I am embarrassed, but I haven’t worked out which side of the ship I am on yet.

Further embarrassment when I went by the Internet Café at 5AM and the guy was in it, and said “Didn’t you set your clock? And I had set it the wrong way. So my watch is three hours slow, and I am wondering whether I brought my short wave with me. I know I could use sneakers which I did not bring. Could have been worse I suppose, like the couple on Roatan who missed the boat and spent a week there with no ID and no money.

As it WAS in fact eight AM, the Yachtclub on deck seven was quite busy, so I returned a glass from the bar last night (water) and brought back a cuppa to the room. The little suitcase is all unpacked and sox, underwear and t shirts neatly put away logically in separate drawers. By the way, it is raining heavily outside now, so going out onshore for an internet café session is out, and I will bring this down to the café presently and see if I can get going, at least posting yesterday’s blog.

//Made my way with wireless card and puter over to the internet café where the guy who runs it got me going. I took the hundred buck package and got onto journalspace first, posting my gps fix blog on it and then looking a little at pprune. He seems to know what he is doing but he has a bit of an attitude about him which is going to bear watching. It was freezing cold there and I wanted more coffee, so I logged off fairly soon and went and got a second cup for the room. While there, I finished unpacking the suitcases, leaving the real cold weather gear in them under the bed. Looks like the rain stopped but could begin again.

Went for a real breakfast, cold meat, cheese, sc eggs, toast, sausage, oj and a pancake with syrup. The room had been done when I returned, and so now I have about two hours to kill before the tour of the city on a bus begins later.
Well, it’s quarter to ten now. Having finished emptying the big suitcase, I tackled the tangle of papers that have already piled up – boarding passes luggage claims, ship maps, letter re sickness of ten percent of prior trips, map of Atlanta airport, extra copies of Argentinian customs and immigrations forms, the baggage tags for the flight and extra cabin tags for the 4112 stateroom in which I never set foot.

Got the ticket for today, the photocopy of my passport, put the key card in my wallet and found a letter showing I had On Board Credit of $50, so I took a few minutes and walked down to the pursers desk where she was totally mystified, and it was not until I dropped the magic name of *** that her face all lit up, attitude improved and she assured me they would get in touch with Miami and send me a letter to my cabin, and experience has shown me that they damn well will. I also had a letter to give to the Maitre D because I was celebrating an important event on the trip – dunno what, but the name G** has somehow crept into the equation, and I am trying to remember if C** had dealt with me in those terms – don’t think so.
While I was at pursers, people were complaining of wrong wine in the cabins, non working toilets and everything in between. Brother of one of the ships officers was sent to the bridge, and I explained that I wanted to go to the bridge too, and she laughed and said so did she, but she didn’t have a brother who was an officer.

// . The sun has come out before 11am at least partly, and that is better than rain for sightseeing. It seems the tour sold out (remember Virgin Gorda) and I am glad I went to the tour desk yesterday before even going to my cabin.
OK – it is coming up on seven PM now, and there are several ways I can do this. One is to go fresh with what just happened, then read my copious notes for the day and then try to do the earlier part. More commonly, but more disjointedly, I just pour out my feeling, thoughts and impressions of Uruguay and they patch up the rough edges later from the notes.

Most everything in Uruguay went well, and my impressions were almost 100% favourable. The country is well educated, with literacy rate of 97%, crime rate seems ok, they have one doctor for every 270 people and one hospital for every 70, with life expectancy of 75, about what I am expecting for myself actually.
One interesting thing is that the big tour bus loaded and actually departed the dock ten minutes before the assembly time and 15 minutes before the scheduled tour was to begin at 1230. The good news is that I was aboard by a window, which, sadly had a curtain, but the big expansive window seats were all taken, and the bus rolled minutes after I boarded. The first thing I saw of interest was the anchor from the Graf Spree, which is sunk in the harbor behind where we are docked. Uruguay has several hundred miles of coastline, mostly on the Porta Plata river, which was so rough today that they were literally surfing on it, and some on the ocean. Houses sell for less than 200K USD in nice areas. Condos can be had on the ocean as well for less.

We saw, and I photographed, many different official buildings. There are palm trees, and plane trees which are pretty. In BA they had Jacinta and barrel trees. The lady guide was named Betty and she spoke basically perfect English and was funny and attractive as well and I enjoyed her. There were stops for photos, postcards, for others to buy water which I had brought with me, and a 15 minute stop at the Memorial to the Marines, down on the very windy beach, and then back to the ship along the shoreline.

I had made a quick foray onto the dock well before the tour, and returned for additional clothes. Had my pic taken by the ship with an Uruguay flag for my collection, and also snapped a readable one of a Uruguay license plate from the bus. I wore cashmere turtleneck with the Australia light sweater over top of it, and think I left the heavy cop sweater home. With the sneakers and short wave.
Two parenthetic thoughts: first, a fancy platter of choc and vanilla covered strawberries has found its way to my stateroom courtesy of the hotel director. Hmm. Second, met a guy playing with a Garmin GPS on deck, same as I met Bob D on the fantail of the Ecstasy. Told him about my blog and he’ll probably read it next chance he gets.

Possib blog joke – Good news – lots of mother-daughter combo’s aboard. Bad news, in every case, the daughter is older than I. Bit of a flap over the stern flag, which looked like a photoshop of a Danish and Guyana flag, but upon long walk and many queries, is Bahamas, not Uruguay as I had been told. Nice girl took my pic by the real Uruguay.flag with ship gangway behind. In State line photo folder already.

This is my fifteenth port since September, and my 14th ship sponsored shore excursion, with three of them off the Ecstasy. All have been way better than average, leaving nothing to be desired IMO. Was bored on bus and listed them: Acapulco, Puntarenas, Aruba, Ocho Riso (no tour) Cozumel, Cancun, Roatan, Belize, St Croix (no tour) St Thomas (no tour) Tortola, (Virgin Gorda trip) Domenica, Barbados and Antigua. And plenty more to go.

As I had an empty seat beside me on the bus, I was able to have my water, some peanuts, writing paper, binoculars and camera spread out and handy for me, and as I put, stayed well within my comfort zone every inch of the day in this country, which I find to be highly under rated. Given the lack of Indians, browns, or blacks, and mostly a solid European Portuguese stock, I would think there would be crowds of older Americans retiring here. Perhaps the welcome Fidel (Castro) signs might put some of them off. They were graffitied everywhere. They have low tax rate as well. Sounds like a variation of the Costa Rica story. Just heard that Montevideo is second lowest crime rate in the world, behind only Tokyo.

The square in the center of town was loaded with cops and dozens of television trucks with various Uruguan twinkies doing stand ups with the building in the background. The New president is being sworn in tomorrow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Castro pays a visit. Doubt that old GW will be here, tho we did drive by a hotel where Hillary is said to have stayed. BTW, failure to vote here is reason for a fine. Montevideo means 6th hill and Uruguay means river of colored birds. Didn’t know that. Thinking now of ALL the tours I’ve taken: Iceland, Rio, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Madrid, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong , maybe Taipei, The temp was 24C.

The buffet is NOT serve it yourself. Having had my hands sterilized twice in ten minutes, I all but had my hand slapped by reaching for some salad (!) when I saw they had blue cheese dressing. Has to do with the Norfolk or Norwalk Virus which I guess hit them pretty hard, and resulted in the obligatory letter as we boarded.
BTW, my cute little stewardess confirmed that the strawberries etc are NOT routine for this cabin, just the tenth floor penthouses. Hehe. Postcards were a quarter each, or actually, four for a buck, but I only got two, and really only because I missed one in Buenos Aires. Statues seen and photographed included a stagecoach and a covered wagon…where are we again?? Sure enough, they formed a part of their history as well.

My finger, likewise, has gotten better and worse in stages, to where I might consider sitting in with the Dixie group now, whereas I couldn’t play a single note with my right hand last night. Typing likewise affected.

I saw (and photod) but one mcdonalds all day, and down by the water there seemed to be a few more signs in English than anywhere else. This is the first time I can ever remember seeing surfers on a river, with spray bounding twenty feet in the air. It apparently rained really really hard this morning on the tour that I didn’t take. They have a beach called Little Copacabana, and sure enough, that IS what it looks like (fun to be able to say that).

Back on board, it was tres windy. The ship behind us was from Valetta, and my mind skipped to my walk by the docks in Valetta where I saw a ship from Swansea, and how close I was to that earlier this month in Dublin, and like that. There were two Chinese ships tied up behind us side by side, and the sight of the big (relatively) ocean liner leaving had the rails filled with the curious. I was fascinated by the cranes handling the huge cargo containers, some of which roll along on wheels like a gigantic upside down U, and some are just little one at a time backhoe type operations, loading them onto trucks which hold two small ones. There was also a rail siding there and lots of lumber which is one of their exports, like leather and football players.

The eighth deck holds most of what interests me right here. I can get glasses of water, hear very good jazz trio with pretty female vocalist and f\lute player with bass and guitar and OH are they mellow. The internet café is right there, and in the library, I found a huge book with all of the New Yorker Cartoons therein. I am up to page one hundred and have not put a dent in it.

Supped, still in shorts, at the yardarm. Had chicken cutlet parmagiana, a little salad and then a huge plate of spaghetti and ziti with tomato sauce and cheese. Followed that with rum raisin ice cream, and it is no wonder I weight 162 on the scale in the gym, which says no street shoes. Let the record show I skipped lunch and have not used the elevator once today, even to the eleventh deck. I watched us push very slowly away from the dock and out thru the breakwater, and the people on the pilot boat all waved cheerfully back at the hundreds of passengers who were lined up and waving at them. As I said, an old, white, mellow and pretty compatible crowd. Very very few kids, teens or even young couples. Pretty much as I hoped it would be actually.

Just before 2100 went down and had a second dose of rum raisin ice cream, out on the back in total solitude. One woman was smoking a cig all alone too, till she left and twas just me. I finished another hundred pages of the New Yorker cartoon book and got a glass of water from the 8th deck bar to bring back to the bottle in the room, and learnt that the music there starts at 2115, so I will go listen.
The cabin stewardess has brought me blankets for tonight and eaten my choc strawberries at my request. No little animals tonight, but I got tomorrow’s Daily sheet and two little chocolates. Have been careful to go for short walks instead of lying down, cuz I suspect I am going to be flat on the bed for the balance of the night

Short version – went to aft lounge to listen to Brazil trio, who also played on the dawn. She was one of the loveliest women I’ve met aboard yet.
Musically, they are superb trio – standup elec bass, acoustic guitar and female vocalist who also plays flute. They play bossa nova, Brazilian style music. She has a soft, lovely voice and hair nearly to her waist, pretty face, slim attractive figure, and last night she was wearing a black outfit.

I fell into conversation with them on their breaks, and they were friendly and engaging. The guitar player has lived all over the US, from Louisville to Los Angeles and San Francisco, so is English is perfect. She is Argentinean and her English is more basic.. I expect to become a fixture there, as they play at the glass covered lounge at the aft end of my deck, adjacent to the bar where I have been getting my drinking water.

Monday, February 28, 2005

South America Cruise begins

2011-04-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

// as I drone thru the morning sunshine on my way to Argentina, it occurred to me that my very first flight of my life was fifty years ago this month, occurring, if memory serves, on my fifteenth birthday. As further luck would have it, I may have that diary with me this trip to look at and transcribe. Got caught aft by the announcement that we were beginning our descent, and could not BELIEVE how long some people still took in the bathroom.. My sinuses and ears cleared beautifully for me, and comfort level high for such a long trip. The empty seat makes huge difference. Buckled in, had a perfect view of the countryside in our descent, left base entry for landing runway 11 (so said the captain as I exited).

Debarking from the plane was much easier than sometimes. I fell into conversation with the guy behind me, who looks a bit like Kevin G, but is Richy Minetta from Huntington and he is a comedian aboard the Crown. He says he has worked all the NCL ships at one time or another. It explains why his cabin is below mine however.

After the usual wait which seems endless, both suitcases arrived and without a cart, I humped out the door and it took me asking several people before I found the NCL rep, who was not near the exit. I went and got a cart and they were leaving to get on the bus as I got back.

Local time (two hours ahead of NY) 7:49AM Dateline” Buenos Aires, Argentina

It just feels so COOL to say that! I am on a tour bus at the airport listening to Spanish Music and surrounded by people who look a generation older than I, but as I found out earlier today, they may in fact be five years younger. The weather was clear, bright, warm and sunny for my arrival in South America this being my 5th South American country ( Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Chili formerly). The countryside was pretty and there is a sizeable city (which I suppose is BA) beside the ocean. The local temp is mid seventies, and the nine inches of snow on Long Island seems a long way away, as indeed it is. GPS signals are stingy currently, but I GOT MY FIX when I needed it.[crossing the equator]

Immigration was a breeze and they ignored me totally at customs. The NCL rep was a young slim Spanish woman without any charm whatever and not very good speaka da English either. But she had me go get a cart for my suitcases which both arrived intact with with the cabin stickers still attached.

Pitstop in downtown Buenos Aires, and I add the city to my McDonalds. The little tour guide that had been so incommunicative at the airport has turned out to be charming in her own, Spanish way, and has done a decent job of giving us an abbreviated city tour. I have enjoyed it. but have no real desire to return any time without added incentive. The weather is sensational and feels more like spring in the air than summer. There are many trees and even a few palm trees, statues, squares, people sunbathing..Barrel trees, jacacinta trees. 3 million residents.

Saw HSBC, Shell, Esso, McD, many serious cyclists, ranch, cattle, blockbuster. People on bus from Mich, Cal, Ariz, Hawaii, Paris, Texas. Saw Evita balconey, spring smell in air. Kids begin school soon=mar 1st. BA was fairly quiet but has 40 thousand taxis and a safe subway system which costs 70 cents to use. We drove along the widest boulevard on earth – hooray.

well, it has been an up and down kinda afternoon. The transition from riding the air conditioned tourbus and getting used to the idioms that Cinthia uses went to hell when the bus stopped, there were no porters there and conflicting info about what we were supposed to do. We were told we had to walk the baggage thru a scan, but then they wouldn’t let us in there. The next hassle was four more pages of papers to fill out, which I did, making about six times I filled out the same form, and a good job it is too that I’ve memorized my passport number, which has seemed to give the last few people pause when they scanned it.

And having done all that, THEN they give you the letter saying that you might want to cancel the cruise because so many people got sick on the last one. After twenty hours of travel and paperwork and such, not bloody likely. Then, as you emerge from the security check, with belts undone, fanny packs askew, knapsack unslung, hat and sunglasses off, THEN they say they want to take your picture for ‘security’ which is absolute bullsh*t, because the picture is taken inside by the checkin folks.
The actual checkin itself is done shipboard, which is a first, and nice. I found the latitudes checkin and waited till called, and hit the first up bit when I was told the cabin had been changed from4112 to 8019.

I was very happy to hear this, but it rapidly dissipated when my passport was held. This has never happened before and I was NOT pleased and said so about four time s in different ways. Anyhow, I got my key and instead of going to the room, I went right to the shore excursion desk where the guy remembered me from the Norwegian Sea, and he tried to discourage me from a bus tour of Montevideo tomorrow because it is some kinda holiday.. But, as it is the bus drivers problem and not my own, I signed up for the noon tour with the thought that I am likely to be exhausted at seven thirty in the morning and unlikely to pass this way again.

Only then did I repair to my room [or so I thought] where I found they have key keys and not key cards, but it was open, and I set the safe, poured myself some water, hung some stuff up and then found that the computer wouldn’t plug in. Asked steward and he said, ok electrician for 8018 – which of course is not the room I was assigned. VERY Embarassedly, I left the wrong stateroom, glad that I hadn’t been interrupted in anything by the rightful owners, and made my way to the other side of the boat.

Deck eight, where I am (but my luggage currently ain’t) has NO inside staterooms, so I have a huge picture window, which doesn’t open, but has a good view of the lifeboats and plenty beyond, and is a far far better place than inside down on deck 4.

I have elected to wait to eat till supper, but didn’t see anything I particularly liked to eat…couple cute waitresses already. The staff with whom I have dealt so far have been way above average. I couldn’t get any gps signals on deck 11, but will try again later. There may not be any water fountains either.

//Luggage still not here, but going to the top of the crown at 3PM local time for a tour of the ship. I also have an invite to cocktails with the captain, but I think that is courtesy of latitudes, rather than ** personally involved.….

I peeled off the tour to go down to deck four where I found the smaller of the two ventura suitcases sitting beside the door to what was supposed to have been my stateroom. As of 1600, no sign of his big brother, so the pursers desk notified, and I have made two additional trips down to deck four to see if it turns up there. Upon my return to stateroom this time, large bowl of fruit therein. I also smacked my middle right finger, not hard, but it has presented with some rather severe pains, similar to what I experienced last week, only a lot worse.

I continue to tell myself that I am going to enjoy this stateroom every night for fourteen nights, and the temporary going without the big suitcase is an ok price to pay. But I could use some aspirin on this, the first time ever that I didn’t bring any. It is a teeny ship compared to the Dawn, with three terminals in the internet café instead of twenty, but a nice guy to run it and plenty of ‘hot areas- or so he says. Lifeboat drill is the next big adventure.

//Lifeboat drill went well thanks to four prior cruises and a pair of South Africans who were highly entertaining. I sat and listened to English, German and Spanish and when done, put my lifejacket back in my room, found my missing suitcase on the 4th floor and brought it up to the stateroom and went out on deck for the ‘sailaway’ party. I told the pursers desk but not the hallway guys, as their attitude stank.
A week ago, I was playing piano with Bruce in the Iridium with H and D in the audience, and today, sitting on the Rio Plata river watching the coast of Argentina roll by on my way to visit Montevideo tomorrow. Damn! The sail away party featured Dixieland music, not too much better or worse than ours, but highly unexpected. Elec bass, elec piano and no banjo, and every time one of the twinkys wanted to make an announcement, their power was cut – riffus interruptus.

I found freshly carved roast beef and went back four times, and finished it off with some ice cream, and am highly content with things as they are here. Both suitcases in the cabin, which has come up four decks and gone from inside to outside. Weather is picture perfect. Temp still in the upper seventies and cloudless sky with just a little color beginning as sunset approaches in South America..

While there are no drinking fountains, I was advised to simply ask bartenders for a large glass of water and I have done, keeping my evian bottle in the room full, the computer charged and working fine, and both suitcases to unpack when I get around to it. My middle finger really hurts however, with occasional flashes of pain in the lower joint that are way up there on the ten scale around seven or maybe even eight.. Bad enough to where I went looking for some aspirin aboard to buy.

Have not explored the tv channels yet. There was no moving map in the plane which would have been nice. // My fellow passengers all seemed to enjoy the Dixieland, which speaks volumes of their demographic. Almost 100% Caucasian, and almost all of them older than I. I think one girl said there are three kids aboard. Few if any teens. Have seen no blacks whatever, and there are a few orientals who may be Vietnamese.

The library, where I am sitting alone presently, has nine floor to ceiling windows with a view of the sun setting over the pampas (maybe) but pretty with the potted plants in the foreground and rows of big stuffed leather chairs and big books. Nobody else here now. Some are getting ready for dinner, and I am getting ready for sleep I bet. Will try to get the pictures into the puter before going to sleep, leaving internetting for tomorrow. Puter seems to have survived trip ok, but is doing funny things to this file for instance, promising to ‘merge’ it with a temp file later.

Came back to room which now had all my stuff and found some light switches by the bed, another which turns on and off the PA announcements in the cabin, and tried to get the temp right. Got four pillows and found a sleep switch on the remote control so that I wouldn’t wake up like I did on the Dawn. The tv fare turned out to be Sgt Bilko and an I Love Lucy show that I had not seen previously.
Sleep came before 2100 on my watch, waking up maybe once or twice during the night and going back to sleep.

*********

Buenos Aires falls astern on the Rio Plata

Another Repost--A Fix for Fin

2011-04-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

There has been some interest in my posting more of my travel experiences. I found this entry in an account of my flight to Buenos Aires preparatory to my cruise around Cape Horn.

********************************************************************

In 1992, I purchased a handheld Trimble GPS receiver, slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes with six buttons on it. If it has received signals from at least three satellites and you push the right button, it will give you a ‘fix’ showing the latitude, longitude, altitude, and the time and date when the fix was generated.

These fixes can help you find a car in a huge field at an airshow, or find your way back to a hotel in an unfamiliar city, or the right direction off the Acropolis when the sun is almost directly overhead, but they also make little ‘souvenirs’ as it were, and I think some of the ones I have gotten are pretty neat. Because battery failures in the past have lost some of my older ones, I have decided to list the current ones here now, not to impress anybody, but because (a) I DO think some of them are neat and (b) it will leave some kind of a record if the thing loses the fixes once again.

The reason this is in my mind is because I crossed the equator last night, and in the eight previous crossings, I had never gotten a ‘fix’ and last night I did. I am particularly chuffed because I had figured out almost exactly when it would happen, woke myself somehow and got it in the dark. It goes nicely with the one taken on the Zero Degree Longitude line in Greenwich, England.

Acapulco; Anchorage, Buenos Aires, St Barts, Belize, Berlin, Block Island, Bora Bora, Cabo San Lucas, Calgary, Cancun, Capetown, Churchill, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Cape Verde, Detroit, Duxford, Equator, Gaton Lake, Greenwich, Home, Houston, Johannesburg, Katmai, Kuwait, LA, London, Malta, Milan, Ottawa, Peking, Guam, Honolulu, Princeton, Raleigh, Roatan, Honduras; King Salmon, Alaska; San Marco Plaza; Saskatchewan, Seattle, Sofia, St Maarten, Tahiti, Tokyo, Toronto, Venice, Virgin Gorda, Vienna, Warsaw, Winnipeg and Xuantanich [those of you who looked at the pix in Westy’s site will know that one].

I will not dwell on the fact that I have ‘lost’ an equal number of neat sounding places before these!.

When A Controlled Burn, Isn't....Exactly.....

2011-04-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

WOW...or Ouch....or the A Word

2011-03-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is frankly, please forgive the term, awesome. [owww]

This little box contains virtually an entire human life.

Over fifty years of daily writing.

Favorite music spanning five centuries. Maybe more, as I don’t know what century the Gregorian chants date from.

Over thirty thousand photographs spanning four centuries.

Little color sound movies, lasting from a few seconds to ten minutes, from a dog chasing a ball to airliners landing (barely) in a 40 knot crosswind in Germany.

And all of this used less than 15% of the available space.

In its former form, it occupied at least three large rooms.

Yup…awesome.

Blue Angels-then

2011-03-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

This shows the APU which they used to start their planes. I got a kick out of how it was painted and numbered to match the planes. It looks like a vacuum cleaner on steroids.

Fat Albert's predecesor.

This show was at the Monterey Naval Air Station in California in 1964.

Audience

2011-03-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

Went to commit aviation, finally, as the temps were upper 40s
(although forecast to low teens tonight) and it had been awhile
since I had flown.

Winds: from the SSW (210 degrees) at 14 MPH (12 knots; 6.2 m/s)
gusting to 23 MPH (20 knots; 10.4 m/s)

Accordingly, there were not a lot of planes flying. But I still
felt the need to do some nice landings, as there were 12 bright
eyes watching me.

Technology that makes me Smile

2011-02-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

As it is Valentine’s Day, and since I am a long way away from where my
heart is, I went looking for an e card that would make us feel a little closer.

In a radical departure from my norm, I did NOT pick the very first one I saw,
even though it was a cute little bunny etc, but looked a bit further and finally
found one that I thought expressed my own feelings pretty accurately.

The substances was that you are the one and only and my life revolves around only
You, without whom I should most certainly be desole.

Fine. All well and good, so I added a note, saying that it certainly expressed my own feelings of love and togetherness and oneness well.

The guffaw came when I scrolled down another inch on the page to be faced with the note

“You can send the identical card to up to 100 friends”

Sorry. Not at my age! Five or ten is more than enough.

Just kidding BG. You are IT! Happy V Day.

Snow

2011-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

DId I read somewhere that the eskimos have 14 different words for snow?

Working in my driveway this morning, I think I had more than that!

OK - I Have Been Kinda Worrying

2011-01-31T12:55:00.000-08:00

...about spending a good more time than intended in the city of Brotherly Love manana. It is not way up on my list of places I want to be stuck involuntarily.

So, when I called the airline to reconfirm the three flights scheduled for tomorrow, and the machine kicked out my automated reconfirmation due to an ongoing systems limitation in their computer, I was not altogether surprised when the bubbly lady in Phoenix said........ummmm......uhhh.......ooookkkkk......are you flexible?

Well, I am to a degree, in terms of when I must fly, although I cannot bring my leg up over my shoulder from behind. [Never could, actually.]

The upshot is that I will not be stuck either in Philly nor the Tarheel State au demain.

I am now going to take Copper for a walk.

In shorts. {Me, not he]

It is 65 degrees here.

Meanwhile, in another time zone....

Going Home --------- Or NOT

2011-01-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

As I said in a comment recently, I have now achieved a mental state in which I feel like I am going home, whether I am northbound or opposite. The sad converse of this is that I am also leaving home each time I make the trip. And it is always a rather intense emotional experience.

Several additional factors are influencing my mood today. My almost-brand-new dell laptop has eaten its insides, fortunately well within the fix-in-the-home warranty period, but still leaving an internet addict feeling like an alcoholic in the drunk tank. The good news---really really good news is that the hard drive with hundreds of hours of work on it, (some but not all backed up, at least until the frantic efforts when the dead dell returned briefly to life again) seems intact and working well. The tech who was supposed to call yesterday for an appointment was not able to do so because of a huge AT&T outage which affected a wide area (land lines included) and also knocked out internet for the backup laptop).

Next, after only one night of aloneness, the thought of a series of them back to back is certainly unwelcome. Furthermore, the severe winter on LI has had its effect on my poor empty house and I face at least two problems upon my return in a few days. I am very grateful meanwhile to my conscientious neighbor who has been so diligent in looking after the place, and keeping me abreast of the developments there so that I am not blindsided by them upon my return.

This is a photo of what awaits me.

Merry Christmas Y'All

2010-12-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hey BG -- Here's Yer Sign grin

2010-12-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

And Bobby--"this one's for you!!"

Block Island ------Again

2010-12-02T15:54:00.001-08:00

Of all the places on earth that I have been privileged to visit [not a few], this tiny three mile by six mile piece of a tiny little state remains right at the top of my list. So it was indeed a heart- warming experience to take my favorite person to my favorite place. These clickable photos may partly explain why.

Old JS Entries

2010-11-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

There is no way to say this without sounded conceited, but damn....I was just looking through some of my cached JS journal (with photos included) and I was honestly struck by how good some of it was! What a horrid thing to need to confess.

I mention it because I was looking for one particular entry, which I found, posted 6 Aug 2005, and equally as true today* as it was way back then.

"In a little over five thousand minutes [but who's counting], Fin Towers will have a first time visitor whose opinion of the place is of more than passing importance to me. Therefore, much blogging time has been spent instead in trying to change quite a few years of 'bachelor/comfortable/slovenly' ambience into 'almost presentable/at least sanitary/God I hope she likes it'. "

Safe travels, my precious Girl Blogger.

*except for 'first time'

Then

Now(ish)

From Mozart to Millionairs Mansions

2010-11-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Magnolia state melds mighty miraculous mysteries.

Photos by the talented BethanyC

More cruisin'

2010-10-11T12:09:00.001-07:00

Cruisin

2010-10-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

It is a really big deal down here, and actually a lot of fun.

Police Blotter

2010-09-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

In my younger days, I wrote a police blotter column for a local weekly newspaper. Over the intervening years I have encountered a lot of police calls which might be classified as humerous or strange, but these two from a local paper seen this morning in a doctor's office really struck me funny.

People Magnet

2010-09-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

We took copper to the beach today for a walk along the Gulf shoreline.

During my lifetime, I have had lots of dogs, including several different breeds.

But I have NEVER, EVER had a dog that attracted a crowd the way this one does.

Everybody wants to know WHAT he is, and then wants to love him. Since he is a veritable love sponge, he has no objections.'

Here, he is having a very public and apparently entertaining drink from an open shower.

Remembering

2010-08-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hot Here - Still

2010-08-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

With severe weather alerts daily for heat index values in the triple digits, it is good to remember cooler times.

This picture brings back SUCH wonderful memories of walking in the almost cathedral like silence of fresh snow in the woods in NY with the woman who still makes my heart beat faster.

Good News

2010-08-01T18:46:00.001-07:00

It seems the booms have saved the birds, at least on this perfectly lovely day on Deer Island, Mississippi.

Count 'Em

2010-07-27T17:58:00.001-07:00

Hot Here Today

2010-07-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Perhaps clicking this will cool me off.........

Martha's Vineyard

2010-06-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

One of the signs of aging, one supposes.....

2010-06-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

.......is that an hour long chore takes most of the day and leaves one feeling like a truck ran over you.

My Deepest Sympathies

2010-06-05T18:08:00.001-07:00

Bethany has just lost her remarkable Grandmother--her Dad's Mom. She has been written up before on her hundredth birthday and on the fiftieth anniversary of her son's wedding, but she was truly an amazing woman, who had open heart surgery in her nineties and raised seven children while living and working abroad, in South America.

Last week, Bethany and I both devoutly wished that she could be with me here in Yankeeland as I faced two medical appointments in a single day and surgery several days later. [OK, I won't whine about how I would have liked her with me as I took my first faltering steps into Windows-Seven land, but yes, I would have liked her here for that, too.]

But for very good and sufficient reasons, we both accepted that she could not be here, and both made the best of it. Now, I equally devoutly wish that I could hop on a plane or three and return back from when I just came, to be with her and her family for the funeral. But I very likely will not be able to, and it hurts. I hope we will both come to accept and make the best of it again. I certainly look forward to rejoining her and our strange dog as soon as my vision is stabalized. In fact I am still toying with the idea of trying to drive there...Yankee license plates and all.

Not sayin' it has been rainin' hard, but

2010-05-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

at least no oil slick here, where I usually am mowing the grass in our yard.

Meanwhile, far far from the ash,

2010-04-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

an old friend (thru the Panama canal together in Sept 04) made the news today by swerving to avoid a buoy and injuring 60 or so passengers.

I particularly like this shot (taken from a Robinson R-44 in Aruba) which was not altered nor cropped.

Another view

2010-04-19T11:55:00.001-07:00

Sincerest Condolences

2010-04-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Perhaps pilots have different feelings about airplane crashes than do non-pilots. And I suspect that with the exception of the very many Americans of Polish descent, my feelings about Poland are perhaps warmer and stronger than many of my fellow countrymen. [The fact that I just tuned in CNN and Fox news who were running commercials seems to substantiate this belief].

I have been very fortunate to have not one but two extraordinarily warm and utterly pleasant visits to Poland, with some of my happiest travel memories ever.

The dimensions of the tragedy in Smolensk will take weeks or more to untangle, as the Russians are apparently sealing off the scene and limiting or totally curtailing information from journalists.

The irony of the event however, is beyond description. Tragic, utterly tragic irony.

My very sincerest sympathies to everyone affected by this event.

2010-04-05T07:56:00.000-07:00