Day Three - At Sea.

Barry chats with a table mate John, while waiting for dinner

Chris and Deb

Pete and Donna

After dinner the others went to the casino to 'make some money'.

It was a calm to moderate sea, overcast with occasional heavy showers. It was eighty degrees and humid and there was good food and conversation with lots of stories to get caught up on with our other eight travel mates. Knowing from previous trips that Holland America doesn’t have mint sauce on board, I had brought my bottle of Cross and Blackwell with me from Canada. Good thing because they have had lamb on the menu almost every meal. (rack of lamb last night for dinner, leg of lamb for lunch and braised shank of lamb for dinner tonight.) Wendy says, when they slaughter the lambs down below in bowels of the ship, they have to use up the whole animal fairly soon. Fine with me because lamb is one of my favorites but can be a little bit of a heavy meal for the tropical climate so it’s good to get it over at the beginning of the voyage. I think I could have sold a few cases of mint sauce to the Indonesian wait staff. They seemed to know what it was and looked at it longingly, with one even jokingly asking if he could borrow it!

Maybe it pays to complain. Our cabin thermostat was not working so the AC was always on full. When we returned, a special treat was waiting for us with an apology note. At least the chocolate won't melt.

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Days One and Two - Outrunning a Tempest

Give or take a couple of days, this voyage begins on the same day, same ship as last year. The Maasdam; an “older” lady built in 1993 and at 55,000 tons she is a small ship by today’s standards. Of course, the smaller the ship, the more it is affected by the wave action. This year, as last year, we find our captain Henk Draper trying to outrun another hurricane. Last year it was Hurricane Noel. This year it is Hurricane Paloma. What are the odds of that happening, especially since it’s been an exceptionally calm year with little severe weather activity in the Caribbean.

Unlike last year though, this year the wind was not howling as we left Port Everglades, whipping the Atlantic into 26 foot waves. No, this year the storm began far away to the south west. Last year Captain Draper could not avoid Noel, but Noel was a category 1 storm and all we experienced was seasickness for many and water damage to the carpets in the corridors as seawater poured through two outside doors ripped from their hinges on the lower promenade deck , six stories above the sea. Paloma is expected to become a category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph. Surely if water dripped from the light fixtures six stories up as it did in a Cat 1 storm, we’d not want to be anywhere near this Cat 4 tempest. Fortunately we left Florida when we did because it appears we have outrun Paloma, experiencing only minor wind and waves and overcast skies with only isolated rain showers during the afternoon today.

Safe and Sound (for now) on the Beach in Fort Lauderdale

Eighty degrees here in Florida. We are staying at the Best Western Oceanside (beside the Yankee Clipper) right near the beach. We sat on the beach and wandered over to the Bahia Mar marina to watch the fishing charters come in. Unfortunately the Fort Lauderdale Boat show just ended, so all the pleasure boats were kicked out of the marina and workmen were still dismantling the displays.

We board the Maasdam Friday at 11am tomorrow and head out Friday evening. Hopefully we won't encounter Hurricane Paloma. Last year it was Hurricane Noel with 25 foot waves. (see blog archives for last November) You may recall we missed a port (St. Maartan) Looks like the Paloma system is between Cuba and the Yucatan. Hopefully we can get around the eastern end of Cuba before it turns from a tropical storm to a hurricane. Puerto Rico is our first port on Monday and that is well southeast. Anyway, it looks like snow is moving your way. I'll take a tropical storm over snow any day! I'll keep you posted. I'll post pictures on the blog when I get a chance.

000
WTNT32 KNHC 071150
TCPAT2
BULLETIN
HURRICANE PALOMA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 7A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL172008
700 AM EST FRI NOV 07 2008
...HURRICANE WATCH ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF CUBA...
A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. A HURRICANE
WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE
WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE
AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.
AT 7 AM EST...1200 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA HAS ISSUED A
HURRICANE WATCH FOR THE PROVINCES OF SANCTI SPIRITUS...CIEGO DE
AVILA...CAMAGUEY...LAS TUNAS...AND GRANMA. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS
THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...
GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.
INTERESTS IN ELSEWHERE CUBA...JAMAICA...AND THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS
SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF PALOMA. ADDITIONAL WATCHES
AND WARNINGS MAY BE NECESSARY FOR PORTIONS OF CUBA LATER TODAY.
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.
AT 700 AM EST...1200Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE PALOMA WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 18.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 81.6 WEST OR ABOUT 85 MILES...
135 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF GRAND CAYMAN AND ABOUT 245 MILES...
395 KM...WEST OF MONTEGO BAY JAMAICA.
PALOMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 8 MPH...13 KM/HR...AND THIS
MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY. A GRADUAL TURN TOWARD THE
NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED TONIGHT AND SATURDAY. ON THE FORECAST
TRACK...THE CENTER OF PALOMA WILL PASS NEAR THE CAYMAN ISLANDS LATE
FRIDAY OR EARLY SATURDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 80 MPH...130 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. PALOMA IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
SCALE. STRENGTHENING IS LIKELY AND PALOMA IS EXPECTED TO BECOME A
CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE LATER TODAY...AND POSSIBLY REACH CATEGORY 3
INTENSITY BY SATURDAY.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 15 MILES...30 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO
70 MILES...110 KM.
THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 981 MB...28.97 INCHES.
STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...
ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...IS EXPECTED
NEAR THE CENTER OF PALOMA IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS.
PALOMA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO
10 INCHES OF RAIN OVER THE CAYMAN ISLANDS WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM
TOTALS OF 12 INCHES POSSIBLE.
REPEATING THE 700 AM EST POSITION...18.1 N...81.6 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...NORTH NEAR 8 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...80 MPH.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...981 MB.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL
HURRICANE CENTER AT 1000 AM EST.
$$
FORECASTER BEVEN

Good Flight Down

Free booze but it's only 8:30 am

Our flight out of London – Northwest Airlines 6:30am put us into Detroit at 7:30am by the time we cleared customs etc we had time to kill before our 9:15 flight to Fort Lauderdale. In my prior life as a business owner I retained my Priority Club membership so it was good luck when Wendy spotted the Northwest Airlines WorldClub as we headed for our departure gate
This posh club is free to members and offers such things as complimentary showers, food and even free booze and beer on tap. We enjoyed ourselves to the point of being last on the plane!
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Can King Obama Fix This Poor Old World?

The whole world is looking to the USA for a magic cure to all it's problems. A tall order for a brand new President. I just hope he can do it!

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Dog Gone Motorcycle!

Click pic to enlarge

On our way to Sarnia today on Highway 402 a motorcycle passed us. The passenger was enjoying the ride on a beautiful warm day as we followed it for over half an hour.
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Scaaaaarry Stuff!!!

What will the US voters do? Does it worry you as much as me? The world waits. We'll find out Tuesday.
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Nature's Way of Pruning - Brutal!

In the light of day, Wendy goes out to shake the heavy snow from the branches.

Click on a picture to enlarge.

A drive around the neighborhood shows a lot of vegetation down.

All in all we fared pretty well through the first storm of the season. Of course the damage to the trees was mostly because the leaves had not yet fell off. Each tree had tons of snow weighting it down.

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At 4am a tree branch weighs down the main power line to our house.

Click to expand the pictures.

Time exposure photos of a snowstorm in the night.

Snow in October is not completely unusual, but this year the leaves have stayed on the trees much longer than normal. Add a heavy snowfall and the huge weight on the branches can wreak havoc, Now, throw in some wind and lightning and you can guarantee that you’ll see lots of trees down. The problem is that they pull the electric power, telephone and cable lines down with them. Our house has two phone lines and as I type this at 5am one of the lines is dead. We have turned up the furnace a bit to have some reserve heat if it stops. Several branches have already fallen on our electric lines that go from the house to the pole on the street but my son Tim and I have managed to lift them down to relieve the strain on the wires. We have lots of reserve firewood and the gas stove will still cook a roast, so I guess we’re OK.
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We're Changing Internet Provider and Email Address

The Internet - Wikipedia

After many years as a “Loyal Rogers Cable Customer”; having taken on the chin, their on-going price increases, service decreases, and more recently, the crowning touch; a 60 gig/month download cap. This 60 gig cap is Rogers way of protecting their jealously guarded movie empire. In the future, as TV and Cable and Internet technologies merge, more and more movies are going to be available on line. Since a full length DVD movie will use most if not all of the 60 gigs, Rogers needs to charge for it or lose one of its largest revenue sources – movies. Go over the cap and pay $2/gig up to an extra $25/month. A sneaky way to put the price up.

Rogers would like you to think that they and Bell have a monopoly and can charge whatever they want. We are switching to a DSL line. DSL Internet comes in on the phone lines similar to Bell, but is provided by a smaller, more competitive provider. Since de-regulation, years ago, Bell can do nothing to stop this new competition. Check out the one we’ll be using. It’s a smaller DSL service provider in Chatham, Ontario. (DSL Basic Internet Unlimited $24.95) There are hundreds like this in every country.

Rogers also admits to “traffic shaping” which throttles back the speed on things it decides it doesn’t want you to do (like movies) and drives up costs for some features. In fairness to Rogers, when use is continuous, as for file sharing or Internet radio or streaming video like YouTube, a few users who use the connection at high rates for hours at a time may seriously impair the service of others. Rogers’ problem is that the concept is more relevant in cable internet where both the core network and the access network are shared, than in DSL where the core network is shared but the access network is not.

This new DSL service will hopefully allow us better service, unlimited downloading and the restoration of the newsgroups (which Rogers unceremoniously discontinued a year or two ago). The new service should provide equivalent speed and will cost about half what we pay to Rogers. (not even counting the 60+ gig cap $25 extra) Plus you can buy the modem (I found mine on-line for $49.99) instead of being forced to pay Rogers $3 a month forever. Better service at less than half the price – what are you waiting for?

All this means our email address must change. Since there is a 30 day notice period to Rogers, the old email will overlap with the new one for the next month, terminating November 23. The blog will remain at www.timandwen.blogspot.com

To limit SPAM, I don't want to publish it on the Web but our new email address will be sent to everyone in my address book in the next few days.
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Pete and Donna Visit for a Reenactment at Fanshawe

We arrived around noon, so Wendy and I stopped by the café for the brunch. A rustic, all you can eat meal included robust stews, soups and deserts. All for $10. ea.The weather again cooperated as we drove out to Fanshawe Park and the Pioneer Village Our good cruising friends Pete and Donna from Orillia were back again this year for a reenactment. It’s a three day affair (Fri., Sat., and Sun.) Check out the blog entry for last year!

This old nineteenth century village is really worth the visit. There is lots to see even when the reenactment is not there. As we were wandering around the village, a “skirmish” ensued and we saw Pete dressed as a US militia man shooting back at some of our Canadian guys. Later, back at the US encampment, Donna showed us around. It was good to see them again.

We lucked out this year with Pete and Donna's visit to the condo in August and we will be meeting them again next month as we depart on a 14 day cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on the Maasdam November 7th.

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