Bob's Story: May 2012

Cruise Day 6

Today was another day at sea. A day of relaxing and watching shows.

This was a disco show in the promenade. A lot of energy, lights and music.

Barbara had to ride the Carousel

She had to enter the slot tournament. I thought I would watch while enjoying a beer. She was in the first qualifying heat. She was close, but unfortunately she did not make the cut.

After I watched her attempt, I guess I had enough fire water in me to sign up also. I was in the fifth or sixth heat. Surprisingly, I was first in my heat, qualifying for the finals the next day. My entry name was Buckeye Bob.

This was something from one of Barbara's drinks. They don't put fruit in my drink.

Another evening of pleasant dining. We don't look too bad dressed up

Cruise Day 5

This was a day in St. Maarten (Dutch) and St. Martin (French). The port is on the Dutch side. The Dutch are way ahead of the French in terms of tourism, which again is the main source of income for the island. The French, in order to catch up have provided incentives for those living in France to invest on the island, but they are still the French and are not near as "tourist friendly" as the Dutch.

The island was inhabited by the dutch because of the salt found on the island. However, when slavery when away, it was not very profitable mining salt, so tourism is about the only industry.

A couple of good looking tourist with a view of the bay.

This is a joint monument between the Dutch and the French erected in 1948 to celebrate 300 years of peace between both sides of the island. At first they would fight (usually pirates) individually to protect their claims and once in awhile between themselves. Then they decided it would make more sense if they would agree not to fight each other and direct their efforts to protect the entire island regardless of which side would be attached. As you can see from the monument this strategy has worked well for over 350 years.

The sign says it all

One of the forts on the island. This one is on the French side.

Across from this shopping mall, there was a small cafe. You can say what you want about the French, but they eat well. I had the best chocolate eclair I've ever tasted. The rest of the food looked great also, but after the eclair, I was stuffed.

One of the attractions on the French side is the Orient Beach. It's clothing optional. There are also a couple resorts that are clothing optional.

As in several Caribbean islands, you can see topless bathing in a lot of places. However, when they say clothing optional, they mean no shirt, no shoes, no clothes are acceptable. I didn't want to show anything x-rated, so if you look close you can see a gentleman from behind enjoying the sun. It did not take us long to see more than we wanted. We decided the French, even with all over tans, are not as good looking as they think they are. What was more interesting were those that had white spots on their body, obviously tourist enjoying the option. We decided not the take advantage of the option so we returned to a nice beach bar on the clothing side for another drink before heading back to the ship.

This was the last port of call for us. Of the three islands, St. Maarten would be a nice destination for a week's vacation. I recommend you stay and enjoy the Dutch side, eat on the French side and don't bother with the clothing optional beach.

Cruise Day 4

This was a stop at St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. As all the islands tourism is the main, if not only, source of income. So a stop at any U.S. Territory allows you to bring more duty free products into the States. You don't have to buy the extra products at the U.S. Territory, just stop and it increases your duty free allotment of booze, cigarettes, etc.

Barbara was on the front deck watching us come into port.

I was on the front deck also, but still had some coffee that needed some of my attention.

The U.S. Coast Guard escorted us to port. This must be ruff duty.

The Canton Building. I was feeling right at home.

This is a picture of Old Black Beard himself.

It was a tower not a castle. But they could see from the tower if anyone was coming.

And of course they had to protect their rum factory. The entire factory wasn't much bigger than a small bedroom.

I know I should have left her their when I had the chance, but I rescued her from Black Beard

This was a nice view from the top of the island toward the water with a nice breeze and cool drinks.

Jack Sparrow, A.K.A Johnny Deep

I could not get by without taking a picture of this female pirate. Obviously she didn't fight fair with a pistol in one hand and holding her blouse open with the other.

And then the end of another day in our favorite hot tub with a cool drink.

Cruise Day 3

A day at sea. We took in some sunshine, several shows, explored the ship, and may have had a drink or two on deck or in one of the bars.

Enjoying some sun reading a book. I thought I would have time to read two or three books during the cruise, but I didn't even finish one.

This is what happens during a T-shirt sale. I was going to meet Barbara here, but after seeing the line leading to several tables set up special for the sale prior to the opening, I decided to drink another beer and watch the rush. This was taken two minutes after they opened. Barbara actually went in the front door of the store after it opened and bought several T-shirts avoiding the crowd.

I don't know what this is. It was some art outside the Comedy Club.

One of the elevators over looking the middle of the ship. You thought you were in a hotel, not on a ship.

Barbara played Bingo a couple of times. She wanted me to play, but I decided to watch and drink a beer.

This was just before entering the dining area.

After dinner we visited the Champagne Bar for an evening night cap

Cruise Day 2 (Sunday)

Our first stop was Nassau, Bahamas.

We were greeted by the USS Gettysburg from the Carrier Strike Group 2. That's our ship behind it. We just didn't have as many guns.

This is an early morning picture of Atlantis, the big tourist site in the Bahamas. It's good and bad. It's a nice clean place for tourists to stay, gamble, eat, and enjoy while in the islands, but it has pretty much shut down the local downtown merchants and you wouldn't get any different feel if you were in a Las Vegas hotel.

Even though they are an independent nation they still like the Queen. This is their government center, for lack of a better word. They only have one tax; an import tax, no property or sales taxes, but have two speeds - slow and stop.

A picture of the old shopping area. There are several boarded up stores and for us, a little seedy, but lots of banks and jewelry stores.

One of the local tourist getting ready to spend some money and gamble at Atlantis.

We took a tour of an old fort. The people were really small back then and the accommodations were not 5-star.

On the downtown beach with our ship in the background.

Two great looking people dining back on the ship after a hard day exploring the island

The Worst is Over

I think I'll live. I stopped taking pain pills Saturday. I had taken one around 5am, but that was the last one. That didn't stop the pain, but at least it was at a level I could mange. It wasn't bad sitting, which I've done a lot of, with my foot up, but walking was still too much.

Today is Monday and I can finally get around with some discomfort (doctor's word for pain), but I'm not yet ready to venture out into the world. We usually go to dinner Tuesday evenings with a group, so I'm hoping to make that my first trip outside the house since last Wednesday. I'm going nuts sitting, doing nothing and reading (3 books in less that a week).

I may start to add some pictures from our cruise on my blog if I get some energy. Barbara put some pictures on her facebook, if you know how to access it. I'm not a facebook member and have no idea how to access them.

It's Time

Tomorrow at 10am I will be at the surgery center and they will be cutting and carving my foot. I've been waiting for about two weeks for a date and they call me last night to tell me Wednesday they will cut. I guess they don't think I've got much going on. I spent part of last night and some of this morning calling people and getting things in order so sawbones can cut and carve. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Vist with our Distant Cousins

Most of you know that my grandparents on my father's side crossed "the pond" in the early 1900's. Thus my Dad was the first born on U.S.A. soil. Over the years we've seen some of the family from the "Mother County". This past weekend my Cousin Les and I spent a few days with two of our distant British cousins. I'm not sure of the true relationship, but they are my Dad's, cousin's kids, if that makes sense to you.

These are of the same blood. From left to right, it's Les (USA), Gill (Brit), Julia (Brit), and me (USA). I didn't get very many good pictures of the other's, so, I'll just post the best of the bad pictures.

Barbara (Me)