Off the coast of Haiti

We’ve spent another day at sea today, cruising the Caribbean and continuing to make our way south towards Curacao.  I’ve had a quiet day catching up with my journal and enjoying the luxury of “simply being”, however, on a ship like this, that often equates to “focusing on food”.

Hmm.

We began with breakfast in our favourite place, out on the deck at the stern of the ship.  Whilst my hero tucked into his eggs, sunny side up with corned beef hash and all the trimmings, I did my best to struggle through a crisp, freshly made croissant and a bowl of Birchermuesli.  I know that, sooner or later I’m going to succumb to the pancakes, the waffles and other such indulgences but for now, I’m doing my best to resist!

At lunchtime, we enjoyed the Caribbean themed buffet on the pool deck, though a stiff breeze meant that there was a storm brewing in the hot tub and clouds of foam were blowing in the wind.  We held on tightly to our plates and glasses and watched as one of the crew did a little demonstration of carving fruit.  I tried hard to catch a picture before he left with the masterpieces he’d created but sadly, was too slow.  You’ll have to believe me when I say they’d grace any table :-)

An afternoon in the theatre followed, then, to hear firstly about the politics of the USA and then to learn about the Panama Canal, because the next few days are going to be pretty busy and before we know it, we’re going to be making the transit.  Sadly, we didn’t repeat our trivia triumph today, but hey ho, it’s good to share the spoils, isn’t it?

Around 6.30 this evening, the official ship’s cocktail bell rang and we all grabbed a glass and stepped outside for the traditional Block Party.  This is such a great tradition and a super way to get to know the neighbours – in our case, delightful people from all over the place with interesting stories to tell.  Zahid did the honours and kept our glasses topped up as the Captain and officers came through to shake hands and meet everyone.

We lingered rather longer than usual with our interesting and very sociable neighbours, finding ourselves with not very long to sort out a couple of things and get ourselves down to the bar, where we were meeting friends for drinks before enjoying dinner in Prime 7, one of the speciality restaurants.  With the most delightful and attentive service, our dinner was simply perfect – my filet mignon cooked to perfection and those truffle fries are one of my all time favourites.

I’m sorry, but I ate my Key Lime Pie before I remembered to get my camera out!  You’ll have to believe me that it was delicious too.

It was so delicious that there was no way I was going to be able to manage one of these small, dark chocolate and raisin delicacies, offered as petits fours.  Any other time and I’d have savoured such a yummy offering, but for now, sad to say, they remained on the table as we left the restaurant.

Oh my goodness, it’ll soon be time for breakfast…

Life on the ocean wave

We’ve been at sea today and thanks to the laundry services back in Lake Worth, I didn’t have a date with a washing machine!

We were sailing south east, just off the coast of Cuba this morning, and are making our way towards Willemstad, Curacao.  The weather’s been fairly sunny, though a chilly breeze has kept things cool.

We spent most of the day in the theatre, listening to some interesting lectures.  This cruise is associated with the Artful Travelers program and so we have several accomplished journalists and broadcasters on board who are offering a wide range of talks.  Today, we heard Paula Apsell, the director and producer of NOVA, a television science series inspired by the BBC’s Horizon.  Though her talk was interesting, I just can’t let go of work and couldn’t help but make observation performance notes!  I found it surprising that someone working in a visual medium hadn’t embedded her video clips into a presentation program and that after each one, the whole theatre viewed her personal homepage whilst she navigated to the next clip.  Even if she didn’t have the time or the ability to do it herself, surely she had someone in her team who could have done it for her?  The tutors I work with are able to do it, for sure!

But I really can’t criticise the next speaker, Terry Breen, who is a long standing and very popular speaker on these long voyages.  A Cultural Anthropologist, she specialises in telling stories about people and places and her ability to speak coherently without notes for an hour about Cartagena, our first “real” port of call, was very impressive indeed.

After a light lunch, we heard Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent of the Washington Post speak about the American Election of 2012 and he offered a fascinating insight into the back story of the events surrounding it.  What impressed us most was his ability to be completely non-partisan throughout: We left the theatre without a clue to his own, personal politics and for that alone, he deserves every credit.

An interesting day, then, if not the best for taking photographs!

We’ve just returned to our beautiful suite to relax a little before getting ready for dinner and Zahid, our delightful butler has just brought us a plate of enormous prawns and cocktail sauce.  Did I say how well we are taken care of here?  With a glass of cold sauvignon blanc straight from the fridge, we are watching the sun go down.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, we went to Trivia this afternoon ;-)

On board!

We’re on board, the last few supplies are being loaded and we’ll be on our way shortly.

Allan and Jane drove us to the port, through the classy homes alongside the intra coastal waterway and the art deco districts of Miami beach.

 

There was no time to make a lengthy tour of the pastel coloured hotels and the beachfront properties but hey, we need to leave some things to see next time, don’t you think?

Soon, we began to see boats of all sizes.  Small, private yachts and motor cruisers.

Large ships, lined up alongside the vast cruise terminal, awaiting the arrival of excited families going off to the Caribbean for a week of fun and sunshine.

There was one absolutely enormous ship which was probably going to do the same.

Then, over the other side of the pier was a smaller, quieter presence waiting for us.  Hello Mariner!  We’ll soon be there!

Sure enough, we were soon on board.  There was no queue at the terminal and after completing some formalities, we were waved on board and joined Allan and Jane on the pool deck.  We’d arranged for them to join us for lunch and the four of us sat and enjoyed an hour or two together just as we have many, many times before. 

We did a quick recce of our home for the next couple of weeks, finding the layout of the ship slightly confusing because it’s a while since we sailed on Mariner.  We last said goodbye to her in Athens, nearly four years ago and in the meantime, sailing on her sister ship, Voyager, we’d forgotten the small idiosyncracies.  Our suite is huge and having waved our dear friends goodbye, we returned to it to unpack, shower and change for the must-do event of the afternoon.

The Lifeboat Drill.

I’m pleased to say how seriously this is taken; glad to think that the 450 staff are well trained to take good care of the 700 of us and didn’t mind spending 45 minutes listening, following and mustering on deck at all.

In the meantime, the other ships were leaving; tooting their horns to one another as they went.  We opened our champagne and looked forward to the next part of our adventure.

Bye bye, Miami.  Next stop Willemstad, Curacao on Tuesday!  Time to get ready for dinner!!

Suddenly, it’s our last day here

Here we are, Friday already.  Our cruise ship leaves tomorrow, so today was the last opportunity to do all of those things which we’ve been putting off until later.  Like going to the drugstore for one or two bits and pieces, including a packet of travel sickness pills. 

Have we ever needed them before?  Well, no.

Do we think we’ll need them this time?  Well, not really.  But we heard that our ship has a malfunctioning stabiliser system and the Captain has advised everyone to be prepared.

So we did.  Prepare, that is.

But come on.  Life’s too short to spend worrying about such things and Jane and Allan’s great idea to take us to the Morikami garden was the perfect thing to do on a beautiful Friday morning.

Such a beautiful place, so peaceful and miles away from the bustle of Boca Raton in spirit, even though it’s just off the main highway.  We were fortunate too, to wander around the garden when it was almost empty.  What a haven.

And yet, one of my favourite things was the noisiest corner of the park; the bamboo.  This small corner of the garden clattered in the breeze as the tall stems of bamboo crashed against one another with a hollow and rather peaceful sound, if there could be such a thing.  Very Japanese!

Rather than take you around the garden step by step, let me simply share one or two favourite sights, then.  Just a little further on from the bamboo was this beautiful tree, covered with pink blooms, each one around six inches in diameter.  Have I any idea what it is?  Not at all.  But isn’t it extraordinary?

I liked the shadows which were formed by some of these plants as well.  What lovely shapes there were, forming on the pathway.

Speaking of lovely shapes, there were a couple of raked gravel gardens too.  These were interesting – if difficult to photograph effectively – and the patterns carefully created.  One of our party made her own rearrangement of one small area, but thankfully, all was well

Each peaceful corner offered another photo opportunity and, if we lived closer, then this would be somewhere to return frequently.  We loved it.

As usual, it’s the small details which make the difference; details such as the cut out on this bench.  So simple,yet so expressive, especially when the pattern and texture behind the bench creates such an interesting design.  I’ve seen Fuji-san represented in so many ways and count this one amongst my favourites!

Suddenly, on the way back to the museum building, this sign reminded us we weren’t in Japan any more.  Hmmm.

A deli sandwich lunch was further confirmation – delicious!

Then, one final stop at the supermarket on the way home, where one small corner of a shelf is forever British.  But what a curious selection is stocked there – flavours of home which clearly mean a lot to some people and which are worth importing.  Yes I’m not sure they are the things I’d choose to pick out as “special” – what do you think?

Tonight, having put a couple of loads of washing through the machine, we’ll be packing our bags and preparing for the next stage of the trip.  What a great time we’ve had here, though!

Oh, and buying that travel sickness medicine was a good precaution, too.  We heard tonight that the missing part is expected to be fitted tomorrow, so fingers crossed, the stabilisers will all be working perfectly by the time we set sail!

Conchs

As I stepped out of the shower this morning, my hero called to say that there was a ship coming in.

Sure enough, a large cruise ship was approaching the harbour and we peered to identify it.

Ten minutes later, our view had changed rather and there was no doubt that the Majesty of the Seas was in town.  We met Allan and Jane and went in search of breakfast, thinking that we needed to be ahead of the game if there were going to be a few thousand extra souls in town this morning.

My healthy option of a plate of fruit arrived with the unlooked for bonus of mildewed grapes and a couple of mouldy brambles too.  Hmm.  My quiet remark to the waiter fell on deaf ears and I was just about to let it go when the manager asked outright, was everything ok?  Result, one complimentary fruit plate and fulsome apologies.  Perhaps I should have had the pancakes after all!

There was time for a look around the further corners of Key West this morning.  Yes, there is a town beyond the bars and souvenir shops and actually, it’s very pretty indeed.  But rather than take Shank’s Pony, we hopped aboard the “tooterville trolley” and sat comfortably, listening to the commentary about the historic places we were passing by.

First spot was the “Mile Zero” point, the start of Highway One and the most frequently replaced sign in the town, according to the driver.

As we drove through the historic neighbourhoods of Key West, the significance of the Conch Republic was explained and we enjoyed seeing the beautiful old wooden houses with the verandahs and lush, tropical plantings in the gardens.

We saw the beaches on the southern side of the island, clean, palm fringed stretches of sand with yachts and shrimp boats on the horizon.  Now we could see the attraction of Key West goes well beyond the bars and tacky souvenir shops of Duval Street.

We drove past the Southernmost Point of the continental USA, where Cuba was closer than Miami and where the world and his wife were having their photographs taken.  Next landmark was Ernest Hemingway’s home where the queues stretched around the block – a good job that none of us wanted to look around there, for sure.

The tour ended right outside the souvenir shop, where the conch shells were piled high on the cart, priced $18.99 each.  We tested a few for the sound of the sea and having checked that yes, they did all work as they should, we replaced them carefully.

A short stroll around the waterfront brought us back to the hotel and where we started.  Of course, I couldn’t resist taking a photograph of this empty cafe with the colourful furniture, though.

One last look at our lovely hotel and that little tub of a boat parked outside and it was time to leave.  We loaded the car and made our way back through the town and onto the highway, returning the way we came, but with a slightly different view from the other side of the road.

In particular, we could get a great view of the railway trestle which we’d caught a glimpse of yesterday.

It’s quite a structure, still, even after all these years of disuse, and without any access from either end, it stands empty.

Five or six hours later, after a short detour to the outlet mall, we were driving along the ocean road at Fort Lauderdale, heading to the restaurant where we were meeting friends for dinner.  I looked at my watch and noted it was 5.50pm.  Right at that moment, we pictured the Cat Circus there in Key West and the crowds waiting for the sunset.  Here, looking eastwards, the sky was more delicately coloured in pastel shades of pink, blue and lavender and the atmosphere was calmer and less frenetic.

What a great couple of days, though.  How glad I am to have seen it all and to have experienced the Florida Keys like that.  But yes, how pleased I was to leave it behind and return to the quieter, more refined atmosphere of Allan and Jane’s home because, as we all observed, we are not really “Conchs” at heart!