FOOD, YUMMY YUMMY FOOD

          When you reach a certain age, one of the few pleasures left is eating. Of course, you want to eat not only well, but tasty stuff pleasing to the palate. Let me tell you, cruising provides you with the ability to eat well and enjoy every single bite.

         

          On the two cruises I’ve been on, they had what is called the Lido Market. It has a wide variety of choices that are available beginning with breakfast and ending with snacks between 10:00 pm and 12:00 am. The Lido Market is included as part of your package. In addition, there is a taco bar adjacent the swimming pool with a very wide variety of choices to include in your taco or your taco salad…I went for the taco salad at least twice and it was very very good. There’s also the Dive In, which provides a variety of hamburgers and French fries until 5:00 pm. I don’t know what they put on their French fries, but they were excellent.

         

There were also three other restaurants. There was the dining room which was also included in your package, and you could make a reservation or take your chances when you decided to have dinner. I had lunch there once and the food was excellent…the company, maybe not so much. They seated me at the only empty chair at a table for 10. Eight of those 10 were couples. The gentleman seated next to me was a solo like me. He abruptly got up and left the table just after I was seated. We’d barely begun lunch when he excused himself again saying he’d taken a water pill that morning. On his return, I asked if he was taking Lasix and he responded affirmatively. Well, that was it for me…he may have been attractive and slim, but John took Lasix for years and there was no way I wanted to even contemplate getting to know a single male who was already on Lasix. We had a very nice lunch and I never saw him again.

          The Pinnacle Grill would have been an additional charge on my Visa; however, my decision not to try that restaurant was because it served Northwest food. Why would I fly thousands of miles and get on a ship to pay for food I could undoubtedly get right at home that would be cheaper and fresher?

          There was also the Canaletto restaurant which served Italian food. The Lido Market also had a variety of pasta and sauces, so why would I pay extra to eat in that restaurant. True, the restaurants provided wine service, but were I so inclined, I could have asked my Lido server for wine as well.

          Finally, there was in stateroom service. I used this for the mornings I had to be up early to go ashore. It was rather nice to have your breakfast delivered when you’re barely awake and to sit in your chair with your coffee and stare out at the water beyond the verandah. The delivered food wasn’t as good as what I had in the Lido Market for breakfast. That was understandable because the menu choices were not as broad. I mean you could get a bowl of oatmeal and then wander around to various locations and add fruit, nuts, cream and a wider variety of additions than were listed on the in-stateroom menu.

          Seriously, I expected to return home weighing many more pounds than when I left.  I was amazed to find myself about the same weight as when I left, especially because I ate and ate and ate and ate. In addition to the taco salads and hamburgers and French fries, I had perfectly cooked salmon, collard greens, a variety of vegetables cooked to perfection, steak, pasta, pizza, a couple different kinds of fish, crispy bacon, rolls and butter and a huge variety of desserts. I could even have ice cream cones almost any time of the day or night.

          I’ve heard stories about people who do nothing but go on cruises. After this one, I can certainly understand why that would be a great choice. You have a steward who comes in and cleans up your stateroom. You have access to wonderful and yummy food almost 24/7. There’s a medical facility on board if you should become in need of one. There are people to talk to almost 24/7. There are a wide variety of entertainments from piecing puzzles to an on board dance troupe, comedians to make you laugh, a casino in which you can lose your money (I didn’t play, but loved watching some of the folks who did.), books you can borrow and read, movies on your stateroom television, plus other TV stations if you are so inclined.  You can even get a massage, your hair and nails done, acupuncture, and a wide variety of health benefits from the on-board spa. Then, there’s the fitness room and two swimming pools so you can keep yourself in shape. You can also walk around the 10^th deck innumerable times to get your steps in for the day. I didn’t utilize any of those facilities, but assume if I were to become a permanent cruiser, I’d definitely work all of them into my schedule.

          The only thing I didn’t really like so much was my inability to be on the internet. And, yes, I could have been, but I was not willing to pay the extra $120, or whatever it was, in order to go on line, text, email and play Words with Friends. I kind of missed that, but it was also very good to be off the grid (as they say) for a while.

         

The last time I cruised, it was with John to Alaska through the Inside Passage and including Glacier Bay. It was a wonderful trip, but John was already fading at that point in time. He would take the elevator up one floor to the Lido Market and I would take the steps. He would look at the various foods available and tell me his choices. Then, I would prepare his plate and drinks and serve him before I made my own choices. I didn’t resent him or having to wait on him, I simply thought it was sad he was unable to do all the things I was able to do. One day, I got him to walk from one end of the ship to the other to get a latte. He had to stop and rest once we reached the Crow’s Nest before heading back to our stateroom. He took a nap every afternoon. We didn’t attend any of the evening entertainments. But, we got to sit on our verandah and watch the glaciers calving and that was fun and exciting.

          This trip, I waited only on myself. I thought of John now and then when I was eating something especially yummy and that I know he would have enjoyed. With or without John, the pleasure of eating was immense…YUM, YUM, YUM.

DOLPHINS, SHARKS, PARROTS, TOUCANS, LOVE BIRDS, OH MY

 

I’ve always wanted to swim with dolphins and thought the word “encounter” meant I’d be swimming with dolphins…plural. Well, that wasn’t the case, but it was a wonderful experience nonetheless.

          The ship disgorged its inhabitants after having all those going ashore show photo ID and the ship keycard. The folks going to Ocean World at Puerta Plata gathered in a group and were escorted onto a bus. The bus then took us outside the city to Ocean World. If you look up Ocean World, it states day activities which include, water slides, sea lions, sharks and the main attraction—swimming with dolphins…that must be where I got my original idea.

          The tour guide, Robin, gave us lots of information during the bus ride which included the fact you could rent an apartment just outside the park for $300 a month. He also said not to come in November…too rainy or August…too hot. Maybe a month in the Dominican Republic would work just as well as a month in Costa Rica to get away from Seattle rain. I’ll have to check into that.

          Off the bus, we were led out into the park to a series of docks and eventually to a square dock that enclosed water. The trainer (whose name I never did learn) introduced us to Luna, a seven-year-old dolphin that had been born at the park. He provided instructions on the dos and don’ts with regard to the Luna encounter. The main don’t seemed to be, “…don’t touch her peepee.” This was repeated over and over. I don’t know if it was for the humor or if it was a real fact. At one point I did ask him what would happen if I touched her peepee and he said, “You would make her very happy.” Later on, I tried to talk to him away from the encounter space and came to the conclusion he had just enough English to do his spiel.

          He divided us into two groups and the other group went first. My group watched from the other side as Luna was instructed to perform. She was rewarded each time on completion with a small fish. All those small fishes apparently add up to about 300 pounds at the end of the day.

          Then it was my group’s turn. We got down in the water on a ledge and Luna swam back and forth in front of us, back up, belly up…”Don’t touch her peepee.”…. Then, Luna kissed each of us on the cheek. She followed this by putting her head on our shoulders and allowing us to hug her. Luna then raised herself out of the water in front of each one of us so the photographer could get a photo. Finally, Luna’s trainer had her float in front of me with her tail in my face. I held her tail and apparently my excitement got the best of me because suddenly I was floating and my toes were sticking out of the water on either side of Luna. The trainer wanted to know what I was doing and I was quick to reassure him that, “I didn’t touch her peepee.”

          Finally, we were each given a fish to feed Luna…surprised to find out it was frozen…and then she swam back and forth again so we could touch her as she passed. The trainer also had Luna float on her back so he could show us her peepee and the mammary glands that are on either side. That seemed a bit strange. And, that was the my swim with a dolphin.

          I was surprised to find that Luna did not feel wet even though she was in the water. She didn’t feel cold or warm. She felt firm and kind of silky. I don’t think I’ve ever touched anything else that would approximate how Luna felt. I was also left feeling a bit sad about the experience. Yes, I retired from a zoo. Yes, I’ve had encounters with grizzlies, elephants, gorillas, penguins, hippos, giraffe, zebra, orangutans and other zoo inhabitants, but I’ve also always felt a bit sad about all these animals being in captivity. Not that I would have forgone a single one of those experiences you understand.

Following the encounter, I was fortunate enough to speak with the Director of the Animal Collection. He was out welcoming guests and helping his staff. We had a nice chat although he’d never heard of Woodland Park Zoo, he did say they had an employee who came from San Diego. He also said that in 2018, Ocean World passed a rigorous third-party audit to become the first institution in the Caribbean to earn the prestigious Humane Certified Seal of Approval. The American Humane Conservation program is the first-ever certification program solely devoted to helping verify the humane treatment of animals living in zoos, aquariums, and conservation centers across the globe. (I stole the actual verbiage off the internet.) This gentleman also said the majority of the dolphins at Ocean World had been born there. This information helped with my sad feelings.

Then, I had a Dominican Republic style buffet lunch followed by the Shark show (boring) and the bird show (amazing) and wandered around the park. Very nice attendants took photos of me with the parrot, toucan and love birds (parakeets). Rather than intersperse additional photos in the text, I decided to post these at the end. Here you go. Enjoy...I certainly did in case you couldn't tell.

                                       

SNORKELING and MANTA RAYS

          I thought about how I should post regarding my cruise and decided to just go with the exciting events first…today, it’s SNORKELING and MANTA RAYS.

          First, the snorkeling. I had never done this before and was fairly nervous about it, especially because I do not swim well. One of the women on the boat said the instructions the crew provided were the best she’d ever heard and another woman who had all of her own equipment provided a number of suggestions based on her experience. I was so grateful to both these women as well as the crew of the boat. This is the boat:

          That’s me in all my gear, and that’s me in the water. The experienced woman’s husband was kind enough to take the photos of me. Don’t I look terrific? Doesn’t it appear as though I definitely know what I’m doing? 

                    Let me tell you, I only tried to breath through my nose once…okay, maybe twice. All that does is suck your facemask closer to your face…you get no air. I quickly learned to breath through the snorkel in my mouth. I was also wearing a vest that contained air as well as one of those pool noodles through the vest. They helped hold me up so I didn’t have to worry about drowning due to my lack of swimming ability.

          Actually, you don’t swim. You use your flippers to move you through the water while you’re gazing down into the beautiful blue depths. I saw a number of fish, one of which might have been Nemo, some sea fans and other stuff I couldn’t identify. Eventually, fish came up, mostly yellow ones, but some blue, and swam around me. It was so astonishing to be in the middle of them. The next time I do this, I’m going to have a camera that will take pictures under the water. And, there will be a next time. I loved, loved, loved it.

          Then, it was back in the boat and off to the manta ray experience. This picture is of the crewman in the water chumming (That may not be the word they use, but it's the only one I know.) for mantas. Those dark shapes under the water are the mantas going to him. At one point, and I didn't get a photo, he was surrounded by manta rays...they almost appeared to be climbing on him. I don't know how he chose which one to use for our experience, but eventually, the others all left and he kept just the one you'll see in the photos.

          I wasn’t the first, but I wasn’t the last either to wade out to the crewman to have my time, and photos taken, with the manta ray. As you can see, I even kissed it. They mantas feel very silky and smooth on your body. The crewman also put it onto my back, but those photos weren’t very good so I didn’t purchase.

          Not only that, but the only time I thought about Steve Irwin was when the crewman held up the manta ray’s tail for us to see the wicked barb. Once we all had our time with the manta ray, it was released and swam off to join the others until the next time, I guess. Not to anthropomorphize the manta ray, but I’ve thought some about what the one we interacted with had to say to his/her fellow mantas when they all met up later. Very amused by my imagination was I.

          This was a wonderful experience, although it wasn’t quite what I expected based on the literature about the event. I thought I would actually be swimming among them, rather than having a crewman hold it and arrange for me to hold it for the picture taking. Perhaps I was a bit naïve to think I would actually swim among them. I’m sure there are huge liability issues when it comes to this type of experience. Still, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. I’d even like to do this again. I believe if you go to Hawaii, you can actually swim with the manta rays after dark. I’ll be looking into that.

          Of course, the majority of the other folks on board the boat were couples. Some seemed to be surprised I was alone; and if asked, I told them my husband had passed away last August and this was my first venture without him. Response comments varied from, “So sorry.”, “You’re so brave.”, to “Good for you.”. Being a widow in instances like this can be very awkward…perhaps I should have just lied, but I’m a horrid liar…will have to share with you the why about this at some point.

ONLY BECAUSE...

I don’t want to miss a day since I said in the beginning, I would post something every single day of 2020.

          My cold seems to be worse today than yesterday, so I haven’t downloaded all the photos from my cruise. I haven’t begun to write any posts about my cruise. The only thing I have accomplished is laundry…only have to get off the couch every hour or so to switch washer/dryer and fold. This morning I went through all my emails and have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of them that I will unsubscribe to when I have more energy. I now wish I had counted before I began deleting, but there were a ton of them where I simply hit the delete button. Several attempts to sort them by “from” only resulted in Outlook freezing up, so instead of deleting en masse, it had to be one by one by one by one…you get the picture.

          Anyway, I’m so sorry I’m not posting a wonderful photo and brilliant (okay, maybe not that adjective) verbiage, but I’m going back to the couch…made me think of Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road…for now. I promise much better posts in the days to come…WITH PHOTOS!!!!

I'M BAAAAAAAAACK...

but this won’t be much of a post for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve only had 4.5 hours of sleep since 6:00 am, Florida time Saturday morning. I did sort of sleep on the plane on the plane from Ft. Lauderdale to LA, but the brats behind me wouldn’t stop screaming and the one directly behind me wouldn’t stop kicking the back of my seat. Their mother tried to make them behave, believe me and must have the patience of Job. The ride from LA to Seattle my seat was on the aisle and I didn’t feel comfortable leaning against the very young man in the middle seat.

The second reason is on Friday, I woke up with a scratchy throat. I went into Key West to a CVS and bought my usual cold remedies, but apparently a Caribbean cold doesn’t recognize Washington State therapy. This morning at 4:00 am, my ears were totally blocked, but they are better this morning. Besides feeling tired, I don’t actually feel too bad.

There are some todos on my list that must be addressed today. Beyond that, I’ll be on the couch with my doggies drinking, drinking, drinking, and having chicken noodle soup. I’ll also attempt to organize my thoughts, notes, and experiences from the last nine days.

Just to begin, it was a WONDERFUL cruise. There were some negatives, but not serious enough to affect my enjoyment. Met some wonderful people…one woman in particular…and had some nice chats. Experienced many “first time in my life” events and cannot wait to share those with you.

This widow went out into the world alone for the first time, from point A to point B and back again. This widow now doesn’t feel quite as untethered as she did before she left. And this widow looks forward to sharing the happenings of the last nine days. Are there any other widows/widowers out there who have their own first time experiences to share? If so, please, please, please do share with all of us.

FAREWELLL ZUIDERDAM

       Today, I leave the Zuiderdam for a little tour around Ft. Lauderdale and then it’s on to the airport and a flight home. While this post won’t tell you what a wonderful time I’ve had, how much I loved the warm blue water, how good the sun felt on my bare skin (hopefully, I was careful and didn’t burn), or how many wonderful people I met and with whom I hope to stay in touch, future posts, beginning with tomorrow’s will.

      And, of course, if things go according to my expectations as I write this on Friday, 2/7, I’ll have a ton of photos that I haven’t published. Of course, given the opportunity to do so, you can bet I posted and shared while on the trip. 

      I also want to thank the folks who helped make this all possible:

• Corina Cantu for her Holland America connection and assistance in getting this trip scheduled.
• Cece Ryan for staying in my home and caring for Karma, Kaizer, Zooey and Mabel...I hope they behaved for her.
• Haley Karlberg for taking over the last couple days because of Cece's previous commitments. 
• Kim Nashif for loaning me necessities I didn't know I needed.
• Becky Sander for sharing her vast experience about cruising.
• Family and friends who encouraged me to go and reassured me over and over that I'd have a wonderful time.
• And, anyone else I may have forgotten to thank here.

         Tomorrow, Sunday, 2/16, my post will be later than the usual 8:00 am time. It’s my hope to have prepared something on my I-pad to post on that day. Something that has photos, raves about manta rays and dolphins, the ship and the people, the food and the fun…let’s face it, I hope to rave about every single thing. 

        My first post home may be a long one which I hope you will enjoy. And, I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed the posts I prepared and scheduled before I left. I also hope you made lots of comments about those posts...I look forward to reading them.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

            It’s cupid’s day and I sincerely hope everyone who reads this has someone who will give them a hug, kiss, card, candy, dinner, or some fun event in recognition of not only the day but your importance to him or her. May you join him or her in celebrating your relationship.

           I want to share with you how important it is to reach out to the people in your life that you care about. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day life challenges, whether good or bad (especially the bad), and forget that one person who would leave a huge hole in your life if they were gone for good. True, you eventually become accustomed to that huge hole, or so I’m told. Meanwhile, that large empty space in my life is being filled with lots of regrets, none of which I can remedy in any way.

          As you read yesterday, John and I were each other’s early Valentines. We remained that for many decades, but I now wish I could go back at least five years, maybe more, and ignore the damaging challenges we faced and celebrate the ones we conquered. We mastered many trials and tribulations but John’s health and my impatience left no room for celebration during those last years.

          Our 50^th wedding anniversary is a perfect example of my making the wrong choice. I didn’t want it to be recognized with a party, family event or any kind of celebration. I did buy John a 50^th anniversary card; and we did go out to dinner, but it wasn’t the kind of celebration that event really warranted. With one exception, out of all the friends we had in the beginning, John and I were the only ones to remain married. All the rest divorced; and while we had problems, we hung in there. We should have celebrated for at least a week and invited everyone we’d ever known and each and every family member. We should have stood together and accepted the accolades we so richly deserved. We didn’t and now instead of a wonderful celebration to remember and cherish, I only have regrets.

          John didn’t fail when it came to that anniversary. He bought me a gold wedding band and had it engraved 1966-2016. He remained a romantic through the years, something I didn’t appreciate at the time. In fact, we had an argument not long after the 50^th, and he made me so mad with whatever his comment was about the ring, I took it off and threw it at him. I didn’t see it again until after he died. I found it on top of his dresser. I now wish I had been more patient and understanding, far less irritated; and, let’s face it, just plain unpleasant and miserable. I've worn that ring a lot since I found it last August. When I look at it, I do remember the wonderful things in our marriage it represents, but I also am so very sorry I cannot share those memories with John now.

          My Valentine wish for each and every person reading this blog is that you stop, look at your partner and think about what you cherish most. Let the impatience, frustration, annoyances and anything negative recede to the background…you can always pick it up tomorrow. For today, Cupid’s Day, hug, kiss, appreciate and care for each other as though he or she will be gone tomorrow. You won’t have any regrets…trust me.