San Juan, 2nd time.

Dec 6    

Good day today in Puerto Rico.  Had I been paying attention I would probably have tried to get to the rainforest, but I’ll try to make that happen the next time.  Instead I wandered around the old city of San Juan.  First I found that down by the ship terminal, there is free internet just in the air everywhere.  Pretty slick.  Then I wandered for a while and eventually found myself outside an old fort called Castillo San Cristobal, which happens to be a national historic site.  I went in, but I only had 45 minutes to explore.  It was fantastic!  Being a fort, it had great views of the ocean and of the city.  The sun set in spectacular fashion while I was there.  There was a dungeon and long secret passages where it felt like there was just enough oxygen in the air to breathe.

When I left the fort the sun was setting and the streets were all lighting up.  Something about the narrowness or just the way it was lit gave the city a very friendly cozy feel.  I asked a group of arty looking young folks if they knew a good place to grab a bite to eat and they invited me to join them because they were just headed out to a place.  They described it as somewhere that might not even have a sign on it.  I was very excited until the group sort of fell apart in the face of other logistics that needed to be dealt with that were more important that getting food, but they were in fact art people and they had a design space and program called betalocal.  Very clean on the inside.  White.  Design magazines.  Lots of apple products.  I wish I’d gotten to hang out a bit more, but I needed to find my way back to the ship, and food.

 

I looked a little more.  I went into a bar that turned out to be completely terrible.  No Presidente beer, which is a local (Dominican Repub.) that is pretty good.  The bartender said, “Well I’ve got just one more Miller,” in a tone that indicated that I was receiving a secret that I was going to be very excited about.  I asked what else he had.  There was one other local beer that I didn’t know that I was going to try, but just as he was about to open it I saw it said “Light.”  So I stopped him.  And left. 

Found a  place down the street with Presidente and Mofongo, which I had seen on the menus of several places that I’d passed and had no idea what it was.  At this place I gleaned from the menu that it had mashed up plantains in it.  You could order it with meat and stuff in it, or plain.  I got it plain because I could get that in a small portion.  It came in three little almost bite size piles.  Seemed like mostly mashed plaintain, but not whipped or anything, it still had some good texture to it.  It was pretty great.  I’ll try it as a meal sometime if I get the chance instead of just a snack.

And here's the underwater photos from Roatan I promised.

Mmmm.   Brains.

Last couple days. Dec 2-4

First I need to apologize for being completely undisciplined about updating the blog, but recently it has seemed like such a big job catching up that I’ve been avoiding it, so, to fix that problem I’m going to just start off a couple days ago when I had a really awesome day in Roatan, Honduras and fill in the gaps later.

Dec 2

Annette had said that she really liked Roatan and she could actually see herself going there for a vacation sometime, and I couldn’t agree more.  There is something there that the other Caribbean ports lack.  First the landscape is lush.  Trees grow densely all over the island.   A lot of the ports here are very sandy and about the only trees that grow are palms.  Roatan seems close to jungle and the locals have the sense not to cut all the trees down around their houses.  That is another thing, there are lots of real locals and obvious local economy.  Even in the heavily touristed spots people are not too aggressive in selling things.  In Costa Maya the cruise ship was the only game in town and it felt that way.  Everyone on the boardwalk was a tourist and everyone was clamoring to sell something. 

So we arrived in West End, Roatan by taxi which was a bit expensive, but our fare included round trip service to the ship.  We told our cabbie that we wanted to go snorkeling and eventually after a couple stops we found the office of the Marine Park.  They rent snorkel gear for $5 a day and Half Moon Bay which has very easily accessible reefs is just steps from their front door.  So we donned our snorkel gear and plunged in.  I got to try out my new underwater camera, which was really fun.  I think I got a couple of good pictures, but I still have to figure out how to get them onto my computer.  The water clarity also left something to be desired.  We were told there was a storm blowing in later in the afternoon which was kicking up waves and churning up the sand in the bay.  Underwater pics later.  I'm having trouble getting photos off my camera.

Coconut water man.

Eric on main street West End.

After snorkeling we went to a bar to get some food and drink.  The food selections were very American, but that was the theme of this particular bar.  It was pretty much full of expats.   I’d say is was about a 50/50 split between tourists and people that had moved there.  It was a nice place right on the beach and I got Daniella the bartender to give us a bunch of returnable bottles that we’ll open up into glasses and bring one back for Daniella.  The Sprite returanables are great.  They’re green and have little dimples all over them.  I haven’t seen them since I was growing up in Virginia I don’t think.  We might make them a tip jar too.  It’s good to make friends.

The Bar.

After that we just wandered up and down the road a bit checking out the local businesses and observing the street scene.  People were just hanging out and enjoying the warm weather and generally paid us no mind.  We found our cab driver waiting for us around 2:30.   Our pick up time that we set with him was 3:00, so we were happy to see that he was there and we wouldn’t have to worry about getting a ride back, but we wandered around some more and found him napping when we got back.  He was a nice guy.   Didn’t speak much English, but I tried to ask him which Honduran beer was the best.  I think I understood Sala Vida to be the choice.  I’ll have to give it a try the next time around.

Roatan definitely has the best feel of any port we’ve been to in the Caribbean.  It’s more like the European ports in that you feel like you’re visiting a place, whereas in the other ports we were in it felt like the tourist industry, and sometimes just cruise ships themselves, had actually created a place.  I guess that’s fine if you’re just looking for that product, but for me, I’d much rather see different places that have real people with their own lives very independent of mine.  When I travel I’m more interested in seeing how other people live, rather than trying to bring my own life along with me.

I know what you're thinking.  In our country these signs usually have a red circle and a slash.

There were other Super Minis too.  Super mini Diane, etc.  I've yet to meet these women, but I can't wait.

Reef.

 

Dec 4

Yesterday we had a fairly uneventful sea day.  It was rather a long day for us having a morning of cleanup and maintenance and then a morning show followed by the art auction that we donate a few pieces to, to raise money for a scholarship fund at the CMOG, then lunch at Bistro which is very good but heavy sandwiches and then more cleaning in the shop.  Then we had dinner in the main dining room which is always a treat, but that meant 2 big meals in a row, but I don’t think I overdid it.  I did get to the gym for a bit before dinner.

Today we had a great visit from Steve Gibbs, the director of the Glass at Sea program.  He arrived at around 11am and we walked around and looked at the shop and the glass we were making.  He was very complimentary about the work we were doing and the way the shop looked which was nice. 

After the tour he took us out to lunch at an amazing little restaurant called Michael’s.  They had an AMAZING beer list!  This assessment is colored by the lack of color in the beer on the ship as a rule.  Eric tells me it was much worse on Solstice, and to be fair there is one Belgian that you can get on the ship (very light though) and maybe 2 English ales, but they are very filtered and smooth.  Ok but not a lot of character.   But I digress.  There were a couple IPA’s on the list and a german dark lager as well as Magic Hat #9 which has special nostalgia for me, being a Vermont beer, and about a dozen others.  Anheuser Bush was not represented.  So I ordered an IPA which I haven’t had since leaving Seattle, and it made  me very happy, but when it came it turned out to be in a Belgian bottle which is basically a wine bottle.  A LOT of beer.  Oops.  I’d thought I was getting 22oz, which is plenty, but it wasn’t a big problem.  Everyone pitched in.  Then there was the Fresh Mozzarella which wasn’t technically Mozz. But I can’t remember what they called it.  It was awesome and served with fat slices of obscenely fresh, ripe heirloom tomatoes.  Then I had more tomatoes in my beet salad which had real blue cheese  and fresh green beans (the kind that turn a bit purple) and the beets were golden beets and cooked to perfection.  I do not think that I can imagine a better meal.  Transcendent.

So back on the ship I went to the gym again because we’re going to Tuscan again for supper.  Another 2 big meal day.  I’m definitely taking in extra calories this week.   Lots.  But had a good workout.   Ran a few miles and lifted some weights, then to Tuscan where they stuffed us.  Prosciutto,  Cioppino, Ribeye steak, mac and cheese (which I had to mostly skip over due to space issues) and gelato.  Woah.  Serious.

Oh here’s a thing.  They are replacing the lawn.  They are changing from rye grass to some other type of grass that is a warm weather grass.  They tore two sections up last night.  Just rolled them right up, and today in port they were rolling down the new grass, BUT, apparently they were a couple square yards SHORT.  AND Eric said that this same thing happened on the Solstice.  I think someone may be in trouble.  I’m glad I’m not that guy.  Our friend Andrew, the Environmental Officer, is in charge of the grass on the ship, so he was late getting to dinner with us.  The shortness of grass was NOT his fault, but he had to make it work the best he could.  So, major operation, and this was not the main area of the lawn which I believe will get done the next Miami day.  I’m curious to see what it looks like.  I’m betting you won’t even be able to tell.  Our greenskeepers, Rod and Eugene, are amazing.

So seriously.  More updates in the coming days.  And some catch up on what’s happened in the last few weeks too.  So stay tuned.

Transatlantic.

Nov 6

So here I am in the crew training room.  I’m so not happy to be here, but I’m still sort of basking in the residual glow of the Azores.  This is my favorite port so far, and it’s mostly just because of its potential, not so much for what I actually did.  Not to downplay the first excursion of what will certainly be many on the crew bikes.  We biked up and down the coast pretty close to the ship.  It was a pretty leisurely ride, but it was funny because I was hanging out with the singers and the DJ and they were complaining about their legs hurting and their butts hurting and I was eyeing the volcano nearby wondering how long it would take to ride up and back.  I would have done it too, but as I said.  Here I am at training.  Crowd control training.  Should be better than biking around a beautiful volcanic island anyhow.  Stupid Crowd.

Life on volcanic flow.

Josh is teaching us tricks.

And Jazzy.

And the local kids!  Awesome.

These were all along the shore.

The gang.  Kyle, Me, Josh, Josh, and Jazzy.

We did some non-public glassblowing tonight which was a lot of fun.  I pulled a bunch of cane.  Annette prepared a murrini setup and Megan practiced overlays.  It was a lot of fun.  Tomorrow is our first day of crossing the Atlantic!  Of six.

Nov 7

First day at sea of six.  A pretty fun day.  Last night I pulled a bunch of can that I’ll be playing with for the next couple days and today I pulled some twisty cane in popsicle colors, cherry, orange, and grape.  It looks awesome.   Not really a technically great pull, but the colors are great.  I saw some umbrellas in these colors the other day and I thought, “POPSICLES.”  I don’t know.  It made an impression.  There will be pictures forthcoming.  

Mmmm. Popsicles.

Annette's Murrini pickup.

Here’s a good people story from today.  We've been getting tons of people at our shows.  There really isn't enough seating.  But check this out.  This man in the front row stands up to ask me a question and I answer him and we're chatting for about half a minute and then he goes to sit down and this woman from a few rows back has jumped up and sat down on the bench where he was sitting.  He almost sits on her before he sees her.  He didn't even move his feet to talk to me.  Furthermore his wife is sitting next to him and she's like, "yeah, he was sitting there."  I was stunned.  I hadn't seen the woman either till the guy went to sit back down.  So she moves back to where she was, a few rows back, and I just give the guy a look, like, "that was some crazy thing just there."  But apparently when the woman moved back she was complaining how that guy got up and didn't want his seat and was so rude, making her move etc.  I heard this from Annette's parents who were also in the audience.  She moved a couple more times during the show and each time she would complain to her new neighbors and point out the rude man in the front row.  CRaAaZy.

After the show tonight I went up to the bow and looked out ahead of the ship toward the setting sun.  There was hardly any wind and the air was just the right temperature.  I stood there for a half hour or so just looking at the ocean.  After a little while it was like staring into a campfire.  I can’t reason out why the water moves the way it does.  It’s mesmerizing, and the ocean is much bluer than I expected.  I think I imagined it much darker or greyer.  It’s a very saturated blue.  Much less brooding or foreboding than I   was thinking.  And the weather has been fantastic.  The ship has just the most gentle swaying.

I just ate at Tuscan tonight.  That was my first specialty restaurant experience and yeah it was pretty amazing.  The guests can eat in the main dining room every day for free, and it’s very fancy, but they also have the option of eating in 3 specialty restaurants for a cover charge of $30 (at least it’s $30 for us.  I’m not positive about the guests)   I ate such good things. They gave us an antipasti plate with prosciutto that was wow.  The other stuff was good too but yeah.  The prosciutto.  I had fillet mignon which was amazingly soft.  Like a pillow, and huge for fillet.  But not the highlight for me because I'm not a big red meat guy.  But still amazing.  Before the main course they served me a cioppino which is a seafood soup that was great.  That course I don't think I was envying anyone else's food.  Megan had a great looking caprese salad.  The fresh mozz you can get on the ship is top notch.  It's buffola mozzarella.  Higher fat than the cow milk mozz you get on the cheap in the states.  What else.  Gelato for dessert.  Three flavors in a little waffle cone bowl.   Pretty over the top.   It was all pretty amazing.  I'm full.

The TV says we're here.

Nov 8

Another day at sea here.  The glassblowing was the most exciting thing today.  I pulled some twisty cane yesterday that I made into a tall bottle today.  That was a lot of fun and it worked out really well.  I’m hoping to make some more cane pieces and maybe some incalmo cups today.  We’ll see.

Annette made a really nice snare drum for the leader of the jazz band, Manny.   She said that people had been promising him a piece for years, but that no one had followed through.  I was happy to be a part of that.

The weather has been really nice.  The sea has been really smooth.  Everyone was talking like the Atlantic crossing would be really rough seas, but so far we’ve had it easy.

We made some oil and vinegar bottles for the buffet.  Mine are the 2 in front.  Annette made the one with the handle.

Nov 9-10

It’s been a fun past couple days for glassblowing.  I made another cane piece yesterday (nov 9) and the canework turned out really well.  I twisted it up and cut the bubble in half, saving part of it for the foot.  But it is woefully apparent that I am no good at avolios.  Practice session tonight though.  That will definitely be on the menu.   Made a funny roller wrap piece last night that had problems, but turned out well.  I was doing a double wrap with the bubble sagged one way and then the other to get that crisscross pattern.  On the first wrap the color pulled off the punty in a big slug because I was heating it up in the furnace so I cut that off the piece and saved it for the second wrap, which went better.  It was still a bit uneven so when blown out it had to be adjusted quite a bit, but I got it all into shape and the wraps reacted nicely with the underlying color.  I believe it was opal night blue with an enamel white wrap.

Annette has friends in the kitchen.

Ryan learns avolios. 

Nov 11

The days crossing the Atlantic are pretty interesting, but not really as different from other days than I’d expected.  For example, on a lot of our other sea days between ports we’re out of view of land, so the character of the view is pretty similar.  The one thing about the crossing is that the sun always sets in the same place.  Now you might argue that my points of reference are a bit out of order here, but imagine that you live in a house that rotates.  Sometimes the sun sets in the front yard and sometimes in the back.  How can you argue with that? 

Megan has been having trouble with seasickness and an inner ear infection.  I feel really bad for her, especially because her husband is here.  They should be having a better time than they are.  Hopefully things will be looking up by the time we get to the Caribb.  I must say that I am feeling good though.  I’m mostly used to the dry recirculated air that we breathe here on the ship, and I’ve felt generally healthy for a while now.  I’m getting to the gym a lot too, which is pretty key here on the ship I think.

Not a lot to report in the way of scenery.  Lots of water.  Really.  Actually more than you would expect, even though you know you should expect it.  Standing here, really looking at it really drives the point home in a way that thinking of the concept of it just can’t.

I saw a bird in the middle of the Atlantic the other day.  I’ll see if I can get my dad to identify it.

Pulled a bit of twisty cane and practiced avolios last night and made a few things for friends.  It was nice to blow a bit of glass without an audience.

Went to the main dining room with Annette and her parents tonight.  The dining room is pretty fancy.  They serve you a four course meal.  Tonight was lobster night!  They have other fancy things too.  Annette got a lasagna with rib meat in it.  She said it was pretty good, but different.  The lobster was half a tail and shrimps and a big scallop all over risotto.  Pretty excellent.   But my favorite part was when the waitress came to me and asked, “may I operate your lobster?”  I would probably have had no idea, but she was holding a  knife and fork.  She wanted to take the meat out of the shell for me.  I declined.  That’s pretty much my favorite part of eating lobster.  Then another waiter tried again, but I declined again and then they left me alone.  I know how to operate my own lobster, thanks anyhow.

Annette made a squid attacking a sperm whale.  The visiting giant squid specialist from the Smithsonian was very excited and impressed.

Nov 12

We did just one show yesterday and we only have one today.   Yesterday they last minute decided (or at least last minute told us) that they were doing a Veteran’s Day memorial ceremony on the lawn right where we blow glass and didn’t want us, “banging around.”  Fine.  Today we have the art auction after the show.  We go down for the auction right after the show.

Nov 13-14

So we were in Miami yesterday, which I found a surprisingly beautiful port.  Lots of water, lagoons, nicely designed bridges and architecture.  I look forward to being able to get off the ship there.  My Miami experience so far is of getting up at 5:30 am and then standing in line with the rest of the crew to go through U.S. immigration.  It took an hour and a half or so of standing in disorganized lines and then handing my passport to a guy who looked at it and said, “ok,” basically.  Then we had a long boat drill where the Coast Guard came onboard and quizzed us about emergency procedure, and apparently we passed because we pulled out of port later in the evening.

Then we had a glass show, which we don’t generally have on embarkation day, but this is such a short cruise that they’re trying to pack in as much as possible.  This cruise is 3 days and it’s full of travel agents and VIP’s from Celebrity and the like.  All the bars on the ship are open bar.   Yeah. 

So today, which is our first sea day our first show cancelled because it wasn’t printed on the schedule.  We’re ok with that.  We’ll do another one later.  The other thing about this cruise is that some of our privileges have been taken away.  I haven’t really figured out why, but we aren’t allowed to eat at the guest buffet where we usually eat and all the other guest eating areas are also off limits.  I think it’s just for this cruise, but we’ll see.   The crew mess definitely doesn’t have as nice food, but it’s kind of fun because you see a bunch of people that you don’t normally see in the other areas, and I kind of enjoy seeing what shows up on the buffet.  The desserts especially are varied.  They often come down from the specialty restaurants, so sometimes they’re really good. 

Oh and one more thing that happened that I wasn’t expecting.   The a-capella group got transferred to another ship on less than a week’s notice.  Really a bummer.  Three of the guys are in the biking pictures from the Azores, so if you’re reading this.  Happy trails guys, until we meet again.  Apparently that’s the way it works for many of the people on the ship.  You can just be told, “hey we need you here, and at the next port you’re on a plane, and the day after that, if not the same day, you’re on another ship working.  Kinda crazy.