Day Five - Water Island, St. Thomas, VI.

"Here, lizard lizard"

Our ship docked as predicted at the Crown Bay facility which means it’s further from town than the other Havensite dock, but that’s better for us because it’s right beside the water taxi to Water Island, one of our favorite destinations.

We picked up some extra company. Our dining mates from the adjacent table to ours - John and Jean from Essex, England and Joe and Paula originally from NY city, now living in Panama. At 10:30 am we boarded the ferry for the $5, ten minute ride over to the island.

Click to enlarge

What more can you say that hasn’t been said in every travel ad about a perfect, white, sandy beach with Caribbean clear water? All of us went for a swim, while some of us snorkeled in the warm 82 degree water. Heidi’s mobile snack bar showed up at the beach at 11 am, just in time for lunch. There are large gas grills near a shack where they prepare huge hamburgers for $8 and offer $3 ice cold beer. A gorgeous beach indeed!

Excellent lunch wagon, ice cold beer.

A very nice beach, not many tourists - yet.

Time to go back to the ship.

Paula and Joe now live in Panama and love their place up in the mountains.

Is everybody happy?

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Day Four, Our First Port - Puerto Rico

Last time we were here early this year we toured the two old forts in Old San Juan. This time we found “Kunta Kinte” the nickname of our amiable and knowledgeable driver Hector, who agreed to our dickered price of $10 ea. instead of $12. He gave the eight of us a running commentary on our way over to, and back from the Bacardi Distillery tour in New Puerto Rico, later letting us off down town Old San Juan to shop before walking back to the ship.

The distillery tour, although interesting and informative, was a disappointment in that we never did get to see inside the distillery. We started with a couple of free rum drinks, then a movie at the welcome center led us in to the museum for what was really a glorified Bacardi/Coca Cola advertisement winding up at the “gift shop” where rum and rum shirts and paraphernalia were for sale. We did learn the significance of the bat pictured on the trademarked Bacardi label. Oh well, we all enjoyed the outing, and I did find a litre of Calvert’s Gin for $6.75 plus two bottles of “Real-lemon” at the Super Max in Old Puerto Rico.

Back to the ship for afternoon snacks and a dice game Pete calls Schvuckle.

After a usual, lovely, dining room meal under a nearly full moon we headed up to the Lido deck (11). Since we were to be in port until 11 pm, there was a gala dessert party and dance held poolside to celebrate our sail away from beautiful San Juan harbour. There were elaborate desserts and treats with festive decorations, carved, white chocolate and ice statues, complete with chocolate fountains of white and dark chocolate. Good rhythm and blues and oldies music topped off the event.

Later at 11:15 pm as we left Puerto Rico, the East-Asian wait staff and cabin stewards, put on a very entertaining show in the lounge. Dressed in their authentic regional dance costumes, they made you feel like you were in far away Bali, Sumatra, Jakarta, or Singapore as they moved to the strange yet alluring music.

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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