2004-02-02
Tying up some loose ends

1:30 p.m.

Let's see if I can finish up my cruis story. Sorry it's taken so long, but hey, at least I'm making an effort whereas for Spain and Switzerland, I didn't hit them at all.

So, Panama Canal is where I left off. That was the furthest south we went, and the closest to the equator that I've ever been; we were less than 10 deg. latitude.

The following day was Limon, Costa Rica. There, we went on a jungle boat cruise. Not the one in Disneyland, but a real one. We saw monkeys, marsh birds, bats, sloths, iguanas, and a lot of lush flora. Wyatt, Jack and Kellie's son, found a gecko on the boat and played with it the entire time. It was suprisingly friendly. Eventually, though, it must have had enough because it dropped its tail and disappeared.

That was the only day that we were all doing the same thing, so we all wore our polos that said 'Jane's 80th' on them and khaki shorts. Fortunately,we had our own little boat so there was noone but the guide/driver to laugh at us.

On the way to the boat, we passed the 'Costa Rican International Airport'. I put that in quotes because this 'International' airport consisted of a single runway and no noticable air traffic control tower. Nice.

I forgot to talk about our second sea day, the one before Panama. That was an interesting day. I was reading my book near the pool when one of the crew starts recruiting people for the Pool Olympics - 6 boys and 6 girls. I'm mildly interested, but don't pay much attention until he keeps asking for one more girl. Finally, I decide I'll do it. We were broken into two teams of three boys and three girls. First, we had to guzzle a coke or beer (I wanted a coke, but ended up with beer; blech). My team lost points because there was a lot of spillage. Next, we had an innertube contest - one person from each team would face off against a person of the corresponding sex on the other team and try to tip them out of their innertube. I was the last one to go, and the other team was ahead 3-2, so I needed to win. Which, I'm proud to say, I did.

Our next event was the most, um, interesting and which made me infamous. The director dumped a bunch of fruit in the pool and on 'go!', we were to jump in and stuff what we could in our suits. Lemons and limes were 10 points, apples, bananas, and oranges were 20, melons were 30, pineapples were 40, and the pi�ce de resistance was a watermelon for 50 points. We jumped in, and I immediately went for the watermelon and managed to shove it, as well as a honeydew and a lemon, in my bathing suit. The other girls were wearing bikinis, so I had that advantage, although, let me tell you, trying to climb out of the pool with a watermelon in your swimsuit is definitely an interesting experience, and one I'll be thankful to not repeat. Even more fun was trying to get it out and keep everything necessary in. Fortunately, my dad was not there, although Courtney, James, Gary, and Jane all were, and Court got some nice pictures. Or so I'm told, although I've not seen them and really don't feel much inclination to.

Afterwards, a man walked by and said, 'nice melons' while his wife trailed behind him and glared at me.

The last event was swim to one end with the innertube, blow up a balloon, and then be hauled back via a rope by your team. We did okay on that. However, despite the advantage gained by the watermelon stunt, we still lost and were awarded silver medals.

Okay, after Limon we had a third sea day. Much less interesting. Didn't participate in anything that invovled shoving things down my suit. In fact, nobody did much of anything that day because we hit a storm and the water was sloshing back and forth in the pool and the whole ship was rocking back and forth. The waves were huge, and a lot of people were sick. The ship is tall and thin to enable it to pass through the Panama Canal, but combine that with large waves, high wind, and it's definitely not fun. I was rolling back and forth in my bunk. Although, I was lucky in that I didn't get sea sick.

So, after that sea day we had Grand Cayman Island in the West British Indies. Grand Cayman is like the Switzerland of the Caribbean - it is very wealthy. It was really pretty. We had plans to go snorkeling that day, but because of the storm, the water was really bad so it was canceled. Instead, we went onshore, did some shopping, then hung out on the beach for a while.

That night, we had 'The Not-So-Newlywed Game' where they had a just-married couple, one married between 10-20 years, and one over 20 years. Gary and Bern participated as the longer-than-20-years-married couple, and actually won. Some of the questions revealed more information about them than I'm sure Jane (Gary's mom) and James (his son) really cared to know. The newlyweds that participated had been married that day in Grand Caymen. We found out later that we almost didn't land in Grand Caymen because of the storm. Noone was told but them because of their wedding plans - they had people flying out and everything. Crazy!

The following day was Cozumel, and we went snorking. I saw the biggest fish that I'd ever seen. I think it was a parrotfish, but I'm not sure. It was beautiful. Jess and James went scuba diving again; they'd gone in Cayman. I really need to get my license. Afterwards, we had some real Mexican food. Awesome.

Okay, the last day was another at sea day as we made our way back to Ft. Lauderdale. So hard to believe that it was over! I didn't put enough sun screen on that day so I ended up pretty burnt, but it turned into a pretty decent tan that I still have, much to the dismay of several jealous classmates.

So, we pulled into port on Monday. My family had to book it off because they had a flight that left from Ft. Myers (several hours north). Mine wasn't leaving until around 3ish, so I had time. Customs made things difficult, and people were getting pretty crabby, but we all finally made it off. Phew!

Jack, Kellie, Wyatt, Jess, and I all were heading to the same airport about the same time, so we all rode together. There was a slight scuffle while we were waiting for a taxi at the terminal. It was ridiculous. There were two taxis in line, and two men were fighting over the one in front. Fighting. It started with some pushing and yelling, but degraded into fists and one guy was knocked down before security could make it over. I mean, c'mon, there were two freakin' taxis. Would have taken less time to climb in the second one than fight over the first. But, that's humanity for you. Lovely example.

Reading back, I guess I forgot to talk about Jamaica! At least, I can't find that entry. So, here it is. Our first day was when we left port, the second day was at sea, and then the third we were in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Kellie, Shelby, Marcus, Wyatt, and I had all signed up to do the horseback riding; the age limit was 8, but Kellie lied and said that Wyatt was 8 (he's really 6) because he actually knows how to ride.

We had about an hour's ride to the water (surprisingly, the saddles were English and not Western as I'd expected). I was wearing shorts and sandals, not too smart with the English saddle, but the stirrups didn't pinch too much. I was a little unhappy because my horse didn't like to go very much and I'd have to really give her some good kicks to get her to do anything. The guy in front of me, however, had no clue how to ride his horse and kept lagging behind so a guide would yell at him to speed up, and then I'd get some good trotting and an occasional canter out of my horse.

When we got to the ocean, we broke up into groups of five or so and a couple of guides led us into the water. Shelby went in an earlier group, and told me to make sure that the guide put the lead on my horse as otherwise wouldn't really do much. I'm glad she told me that because I would have been indignant that I was being led around, when I know how to ride. She was right, though. Kellie, Wyatt, and I were last, and I think we had it best. The guide did put the lead on my horse, and I'm glad he did because he was able to make her go pretty fast in the water. It was incredible! I really loved it and would do it again. So much fun. And then we had about another hour's ride back. Oh, it was so very nice to be on a horse again! I miss it so much.

Okay, so that's it. There's the story of the cruise.

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