Gooooooooooddddd Morning Jeffsky and the gang!!
Well let me say first that Puerto Rico was just dandy. We weren't supposed to GO there...but because of the storms we had to go through we couldn't go to Coco Cay. The port was closed. Now I'm not a Maritime expert but I'm pretty sure that happens when there's 60 miles an hour winds trying to blow your ship over. Maybe Tommy can pull up a weather map from the 18th and 19th of that area and see the big pink thing that we seemed to chase around the Atlantic...Captain Johnny was testing his sailing skills and my stomach lining all at once!
The first full day and a half was so bad even crew members were holding on for dear life. I was terrified, Terri was miserable and everyone else with us (and on the ship) just wanted to go home. The wind was so bad you couldn't go lay by any of the pools for fear of being blown off the deck. I'm not kidding...the deck patrol people were all over the place putting chairs back where they belonged and the top two decks were closed for a while...not to mention that it was freezing.
So the first day we wandered around the ship and spent too much money in the casino and gift shop. Ahhh the gift shop...my little honey Sonya from Serbia...had she only been a little ugly I'd have a lot more money and a lot less useless souvenirs from the ship...I mean really, how many refrigerator magnets dose one need?
It got much much better from there. We never did get to lay by the pool on the ship because it stayed windy the whole time...but we found stuff to do anyway. Terri kept winning at the ships casino (and in every port we went to!) and I kept remembering long lost friends who absolutely needed refrigerator magnets ;)
Puerto Rico was nice...we only had a few hours there though so there was only so much we could do. We left Cape Canaveral at 5:30 pm on the 18th and didn't step on land again until Tuesday evening. Did you know Old San Juan sways? Matter of fact it seems that the whole world is swaying at this very moment. I've been more nauseous the last two days here at home than I ever was on the ship! It's crazy. I did very well at sea (if you don't count the terror)...I did feel a little dizzy a few times but I didn't get seasick once. I ate a green apple the first 3 days and chewed one Bonine (or whatever it was) but I didn't need anything after that. Well I was eating Xanax like they were M&M's but only at bedtime.
When we got to St. Thomas the fun started! We had booked an excursion to Megans Bay and the bus ride to and from was just as terrifying as the rough seas to get there!! The roads are very narrow and steep and the tour buses are just pick ups with a bunch of seats in the back like a zoo shuttle or something. We saw 1 bad accident (police and ambulance and everything) on the way to Megans Bay and we were IN one small one! Another tour bus clipped the canopy of our tour bus coming around a corner...smashed a big chunk out of it...plastic was flying everywhere and the guy kept on going! No one got hurt but we all (there were about 25 people on the bus thing with us including about 6 kids) had to hold on to the backs of the seats as well as the railings. It was scary but lots of fun!!
And of course I got in trouble because some Sarah Jessica Parker looking woman kept talking to me and telling me how funny I was. Little did she know I was laughing and cracking jokes to keep from crying for my mommy because of being on top of a mountain with a crazy bus driver! We found out later that she was one deck above us on the same ship and she cleaned up real nice. So nice that I didn't recognize her at first on the stairs when she said hello and was sorry I didn't talk to her MORE on the bus!
Megans Bay was beautiful! There are no shells on the beach and you can walk out into the Bay a good one hundred yards before you start to feel anything under your feet besides smooth sand. The water is so blue it's unbelievable. We all went swimming except Terri who sat on the beach and got drunk off of ONE Pina Colada! She's such a lightweight LOL!
We only had two hours there (the excursions need to be longer) and then we were off to Blackbeard's Castle for some grog and a hot dog...you know because Pirates always had Hebrew National hot dogs roasting on the spit! We had to walk down the famous 99 steps (our guide said there were really 114 steps) through all the beautiful gardens and different houses (now museums) with the statues of Pirates back to the town and then take a taxi back to the dock to our ship. We all took showers and then went back out to do some shopping. If I never buy another thing in any store in my life I'll be happy.
The next day was St. Maarten and I know where I want to live now. St. Maarten was THE MOST beautiful place I've ever seen!
I'll write more later about the rest of the trip....right now I have to have some lunch (and catch up with what's been going on around here). I miss the food (and Sonya) the most LOL!
Talk to you guys a little later!
DJ
