Grenada

Today we arrived in beautiful sunny and warm Grenada – the “Spice Island”. We shared the port with a new ship – the Celebrity Millenium..Since we toured the island (so to speak) the last time that we were here we decided that we would just go ashore for a small tour of the town where we dock – St. George.

Before we headed out, there was a strange sound coming from the area of our balcony, so we headed out to see what was happening. We spent about half an hour watching 3 crew members repeatedly “rescue” a man overboard. The “man” was some kind of dummy completely dressed in orange with the exception of his black boots. The crew would “rescue” him, bring him back to the ship, be hauled half way back to their berth and would then pull the release that dropped them back into the water where they repeated the process. It was obviously serious practice, however, it was amusing to watch them.

Once on shore, we were “hijacked” by an enterprising Grenadian who simply started talking to us as we walked. He became our tour guide for the hour that we spent walking around. Rocky took us around to the other side of the harbor – where all of the fishing boats dock. The water here is shallow and clear (although there is a lot of litter in the water). I saw my very first sponge in the wild and we watched the little crab in the slide show as he chased the little fish around.

Rocky took us to a small stand in the town (away from the tourist areas) where we purchased some nutmeg nuts and some cinnamon bark – much cheaper than in the stands within the cruise terminal.

Once back to the ship, it was “nap time” for Graham. I must admit that I too napped for a little bit. The day ended as all our other days – dinner, the casino and the Wheelhouse Bar where we typically are able to dance at least a part of one dance – tonight it was a Foxtrot. The casino was not kind to Graham tonight. It’s a good thing that I did okay – we are still playing with Princess’s money. We have not given them any money since the first night of the cruise.

At Sea Again

Today is actually our second last full day at sea. Most of the rest of our cruise will be spent island hopping.

This cruise has been the roughest cruise that we have ever been on. Don’t get me wrong, we are not riding 6 foot waves and it is not enough to make either of us queasy. There are, however, whitecaps daily which has not been the case on previous cruises – not even our two transatlantic ones.

We did have company as we cruised along today. A group of about half a dozen seagulls decided to hitch-hike a ride with us. We spent a lot of time watching them fish. Once they spot their quarry, they become little dive bombers, diving right into the water and emerging ninety percent of the time with their dinner in their mouth.

Lots of reading and relaxing today. Dinner, a Rumba in the Wheelhouse Bar and some time in the casino which was not kind to us today.

Curacao

Today was a brand new port for us. Curacao also belonged to the Netherland Antilles, however in November of last year the Netherlands became Holland and the 6 islands formerly known as the Netherlands Antilles.

We did a country tour of the island, going from the port, through  the town of Willemstad to the north coast and all the way to the west of the island. Eighty percent of the people in Curacao live in or near Willemstad. The remaining 20 % are mostly fishermen who live throughout the island.

Curacao’s history is one of plantations and slavery. Many of the original plantation houses still exist. Plantations consisted of indigo, sugar cane, cotton, mangos, and a shrub that produces latex. Many of the former crops continue to flourish in the wild, however, no one “farms” any longer on this island – everything except for the fish is imported, mostly from Venezuela.

The island, like Aruba and perhaps the rest of this group of islands is one of stark contrasts. Willemstad is a beautiful city – full of well-maintained, colourful houses. The secret of these houses is the fact that they are built of coral blocks. As the salt leaches out of the coral it blisters the paint – the houses have to be painted every year and every year each house is painted a different colour that the year before. As you move out of the city the landscape is much starker. We passed what the islanders call “slave walls”. These are stone walls (mostly falling down) that the slaves were forced to build stone by stone.

When slavery was abolished on Curacao, instead of paying the freedmen, every year the plantation owners gave each slave a square meter of land. Once a slave had enough land, they built a “corn house” – a small home with corn stalks for a roof. As they acquired more land, they were able to begin to plant some of their own crops.

The north coast of the island is wild. Here the Caribbean crashes into the rocky coast with enough force that the salt spray travels inland. At one time the island had a wind farm, however, because of the salt spray, all of the wind generators became corroded and stopped.

The south coast of the island is a series of inlets that contain beautiful white sand beaches. This is the kind of coast that will eventually be covered with tourist resorts as the beaches are lovely and the swimming is perfect.

Between the beautiful white beaches and Willemstad is a vast area of salt flats that is, at times, apparently home to a vast array of flamingos. Unfortunately, most of the flamingos weren’t home today – we could see perhaps half a dozen at the very back of the flats – too far away to get pictures.

The south side of the island has a beautiful vine with gorgeous pink flowers. Apparently this vine is quite invasive and grows 4 -5 inches per day. According to our tour guide, you go on vacation and then can’t find your car when you return!

After this 3 ½ hour tour, it was back to the ship and off we sailed into our second last sea day.

Aruba

First and foremost, I have to apologize that there are days when I am unable to post my blog entry. The internet on board the ship is satellite internet and is not always available. I will always post as soon as I am able to do so.

Arrived in port early this morning (8:00 am). As expected, The Jewel of the Seas was already here. We were also joined later by the Carnival Miracle. The Miracle “parked” right behind us at the dock and there is a picture of her in the slide-show. From now on, when we are in dock, the pictures will be in the form of a slide show along the side of the blog. A fourth cruise ship was docked further away from the city - we were unfamiliar with her logo and were unable to make out her name.

Aruba gained its independence from The Netherlands in 1986 and since then has lost much of it’s Dutch influence. Oranjestad is the port where the cruise ships dock in Aruba and it remains a very quaint city. This part of the city closest to the docks very much caters to the cruise ship clientele with lots of duty-free shopping. We spent a couple of hours investigating the stores and came away with 2 things – a new skirt for me and Graham’s 7 T-shirts for $20.00. While these are not T-shirts that anyone would want to wear on a daily basis, they are great for work.

Our Second Day at Sea

Our day began with coffee and juice on our balcony. The day was sunny and warm. After our buffet breakfast, we spent a few hours lying on deck reading (and napping) – in the shade. During this time we also had lunch at the buffet (or in Graham’s case, at the hamburger stand).

All day today we have watched other ships go by – 2 freighters in the distance and the Royal Caribbean ship Jewel of the Seas passed us shortly before dinner – we suspect that we will see her in Aruba.

Dinner in the dining room was spent with a group of 6 friends from all over the US – they now all live in Florida. Believe it or not, 2 of the other lady’s were also Nancy – it tended to be a little confusing at times.

Before dinner, we spent some time in the casino and came away winners again. Back to the casino after dinner to win again. I must say that winning is a lot more fun than losing!!

Before heading to bed, we stopped for a while at the Wheelhouse Bar where we were able to dance part of a waltz before my back said “enough”. I miss our ballroom dancing very much!!

First Full Day at Sea

Breakfast on our balcony this morning – how decadent and how wonderful. After breakfast I had a hot stone massage booked – one of my Christmas presents from Graham. I came out of there extremely sore – Alma managed to find every knot and sore spot and worked away at them. Sore as I was, it was pure heaven.

The rest of the day was spent reading and napping – I think that our 2 day trip to Florida caught up with us.

Tonight was our first formal night. We always love “dress up” nights.  Our dinner companions were a lovely couple from Florida, Tom & Faith and we enjoyed their company very much as well as enjoying the marvelous dinner.

After dinner, it was a trip to the casino where both Graham and I won. In 2 days we have used $100.00 each – that was the first night. Tonight we used last night’s winnings to play – tomorrow we’ll be able to use tonight’s winnings. That is the “right way” to play blackjack. 

The dining room hostess took this picture for us.

Aboard the Grand Princess

Unbelievably today, we were not only aboard ship by 1:00, but we were inside our stateroom – and a lovely stateroom it is too. Since the Grand Princess is going into dry dock for refurbishing at the end of this cruise we got a really terrific deal on a mini-suite. This may absolutely spoil us for simple balcony cruising in the future. We took some pictures of our mini-suite for you to enjoy. Since we have a walker and a wheelchair to accommodate, having the extra room is wonderful.

We are truly hoping that this captain is talented at driving around the rain – it has poured rain for a good part of today with lots of thunder and lightening. Finally tonight, the rain has stopped although there is still a lot of lightening around us. If we sit outside long enough, we are able to catch fleeting glimpses of stars.

Today was spent exploring the ship, meeting some wonderful people and relaxing after all that driving. We are now on our way to Aruba, our first stop. In the meantime, we have 2 luxurious, relaxing days at sea and we plan to enjoy them.

Fort Lauderdale

When we left London yesterday, the temperature was -13C. When we reached Charlotte last night, the temperature was 5C. By the time we reached Savannah, Georgia today, the temperature was 32C – can you believe a temperature change of 45 C in 2 days. Everything here is beautifully green and growing, The blossoms are spectacular. Today we’ve seen cactus and palm trees.

I have never been down the east coast of Florida before and was very surprised to see vast areas of trees that have been burned, but their outlines remain standing.  Graham tells me that these are the result of “muck fires”. These stands of trees are located in peat-like bogs. The vegetation is full of water which means that everything becomes singed on the outside, however, the core remains standing. 

The fires are started by lightening strikes and are spread through the peat. Amazingly, these trees are still alive inside and many of the palm trees are sprouting new growth.

So, we are here at our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, organizing everything in preparation for tomorrow. I can’t believe that finally, 24 hours from now we will be on the ship, on our way to Aruba.

On Our Way ... Finally

We are on our way!!!!!

It has been a long time since we booked this cruise in September. There were times for both of us when we didn’t think that March would ever arrive. March has, however arrived finally.

Up at 5:00 this morning and out of the house by shortly after 6:00. Once we had made the obligatory stops at McDonalds and Tims for breakfast and coffee we were on our way.

Today’s leg is to Charlotte, North Carolina – 825 miles. Smooth sailing all morning. We stopped at about 1:00 in Washington, Pennsylvania for lunch – Red Lobster (yummy). Since then, we’ve been motoring on without incident until Galax, Virginia. We are stuck in a traffic back-up. There is an accident ahead (in the right lane). There was a clear warning about 2 miles back that the right lane was closed. What lane do you suppose that everyone is in??? I don’t understand people – if everyone got into the left lane and simply drove on in the left lane I suspect that we wouldn’t be in this back-up. Oh well – I guess that everyone has to be first!!

Now, having finally reached and seen the actual accident site - it took us an hour to get there - an 18 wheeler appeared to have caught fire. There wasn't much left of the cab or the van. We couldn't imagine that the driver managed to make it out alive. It was pretty sobering.

We finally arrived at our hotel around 10:30 - we are safe and snug in our room and ready for Day 2 - the Fort Lauderdale leg. It is getting closer and closer!!

Getting Old Really Sucks!!!!!!!

As you all know, it's been just over three years since my very successful back surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery apparently only comes with a three year guarantee.

Sometime last November, I began to experience some back pain again - uncomfortable, but I was still able to function. Staring about 3 weeks ago, I started experiencing BACK PAIN!!!!~!

This pain has gradually worsened over the three weeks. It started out as back pain that prevented me from getting comfortable in bed at night. Every time that I tried to change position, it would wake me up. Then the real problems began - the pain started going down my left leg. Now, I am unable to stand, or to walk without this vice-like pain circling my left leg just above my knee. I am virtually unable to walk or stand. We had to put a bar stool in our bathroom so that I could dry my hair in the morning - can't stand long enough to do it. The only position that is half-way comfortable is sitting and that is completely dependent upon the chair that I am sitting in.

I was finally able to get in to see my family doctor this week - he thinks that I have spinal stenosis. This is a narrowing of the spinal canal which results in pinching of the nerves that run through the canal and is generally an age related problem.

So here I am, three weeks before our cruise, waiting for an MRI and unable to walk. I'm back to spending my cruise in a wheelchair and I am right royally pissed off. We're going to have to cancel 2 of our shore excursions because they require far more mobility than i can manage.

Sometimes life really sucks!