Yesterday's breakfast in the Windjammer was yummy again. We ended up @ a larger table & by the time we were finishing up a couple from Georgia joined us, so we sat & chatted with them. I tried cornmeal porridge which was a lot like eating raw cornbread [batter] ... a.k.a delish!
Came back down to the room to change for the island & put on sunscreen & bug spray. The pier seemed a little shorter to walk to town where there was a little Caribbean group playing music in the covered plaza. The square outside (behind) that is just pretty, very large and picturesque with 5 streets leading off it. We saw the Harley Davidson store & Beast wanted another T-shirt. (I think I forgot to say we'd stopped @ the one in SJ which is just around the corner from the SJ Sheraton. Beast got a T-shirt, I bought poker chips.) I got a shirt in St. Kitts & Beast got a shirt + a new hat. The woman in the store was quite chatty.
After HD we meandered to the Old Treasury House and toured the 3-room museum @ $3/person. Beast left a $20 in the contribution box. The staff has done a good job, but it's all very basic stuff so far. Then again, they've only been a country [with Nevis] since 1983! People here are much more subdued and quiet-spoken compared with SJ or even St. Croix. The lady @ the HD said there are "several" universities on the islands which, hello racism, I was surprised to hear.
After seeing the museum, we ventured into Frederiksted proper: cars, street vendors, local workers, etc. Granted we only ventured across that first main square to a place called Ballyhoo's. Upstairs above shops (?) it's a little bar/restaurant. We just wanted some water & a place to sit out of the sun, but we also got some "spicy calamari" to share which turned to be perfectly cooked (except some of the smaller pieces). That was essentially lunch. There was a nice mixture of locals & tourists in the place so that was fun. We drank water that apparently came out of a tap. So far, we haven't noticed any ill effects. On the way back toward the dock, we stopped at a color-changing T-shirt shop & got a couple more shirts, and nail polish that changes in sunlight too. And then to the Dutyfree shop for perfume for me & for Beast's S.J. taxi lady, Milly.
Then back to the ship and our room to cool off a bit. Beast wanted to see "The Big Short" at the ship theatre @ 3 so off he went to that while I sat around reading, napping, doing X-words, and eating Haribo purchased @ the Dutyfree shop. No snacks on baord--Beast went looking for pretzels the night before and found none. Also no popcorn @ the movie. First serious #fail of RCI. :)
Anyway, our deck (i.e. balcony) was getting cleaned yesterday, so the guy rolled past our balcony multiple times, and it remained damp most of the afternoon (too humid to dry fast). I zonked for about an hour, woke when the alarm went off, brushed my hair & gathered my wits. Oh, forgot to say that before Beast left for the movie, we called to make a dinner reservation for 6:45 in the dining room. First time!
OK, I gathered my Al-Anon notebook & diet Coke & headed to the Board Room. Mostly the same folks as last time. Good meeting. Beast was actually the one who mentioned going, rather than me dragging him aong. YAY!
Geez, also forgot that we'd run into Heather from the previous night's meeting @ breakfast with her mom. She was back at the meeting last night too.
Afterwards we "raced" back to our room to shower & change for dinner in the Mozart dining room. When we arrived we were seated at an 8-top with one other couple already there. They were from Ireland. Another couple--two rather inebriated men--joined us shortly & then a 4th couple. The latter were from No. Sconnie by way of Vegas, the guys were from "near Fresno" the middle of nowhere. OMG they were hilarious: first words out of their mouths were "Hi. We're pretty smashed." This marks the first time [for me that] pubic hair was a (brief) topic of conversation @ the dinner table among strangers. :)
I had garlic soup--very good--and tiger garlic shrimp. No vampires for me last night! And tiramisu for dessert. While we were eating two more people who were sitting with me, Lost Passport Lady, the other day came past. I got up & gave them hugs. So then while I was talking to them, Beast told everyone @ the table the whole story. Fresno guy got up to leave & passed me while winking & saying, "Keep hold of that passport, k?"
So after dinner we pretty much went straight to the other end of the ship to see L.A.Vation "the world's greatest U2 cover band" (their publicity). They were actually pretty good, though it was only a 40-minute show. One of the guys from the AA meeting found us & sat by me. He reminds me a lot of [my brother] in some of his comments. He's kinda taken Beast under his wing. Also we found seats right behind the sound/light board so Beast watched that too. We could see the playlist, which was fun.
We were back in our room by 10:30 or so, watching the ocean roll past.
Oh, one of the things we did before the movie was go back up to spy on the bridge, which was on view during the day. Nobody there @ the time because we were docked. Even the captain has to sleep sometime, I guess. :)
I crashed by 11:15. So did Beast. Slept like the dead. We'd decided because of the weird layout of the port in St. Maarten we'd stay on the ship today. The port is backed by a sort of lagoon or bay, and the fastest way to get to town is by water taxi [across it once you clear the ship's dock]. Complicated and I don't need to shop anymore.
* * *
TODAY!
Up at 9:30 @ breakfast by 10 or so. We took a look off the balcony today & found ourselves looking @ another cruise ship on the other side of the pier. Then it started to rain. Before we left for breakfast, it had already stopped again.
Ate breakfast facing aft & watching a medium-sized container ship leaving port. I had my usual OJ + water, with that cornmeal porridge & cooked mushrooms and corned beef hash. A couple of rolls. Should be set now till dinner. Then rain kind of confirmed our plan to stay aboard, though most of the rain clouds seem to have drifted away at this point.
After breakfast, back to our room to grab books & "stuff to do" and we have been ensconced in the "adult pool" deck area near the windows for an hour now. Beast is catching up on work emails while I write this. We [are] sitting on the side of the ship that overlooks the working port in Phillipsburg and it is quite busy but very organized, tidy and clean. Another smaller container ship just pulled out. There's a ginormous one still docked. I can't tell if they're loading or unloading it.
Today is restock day for the ship too. We watched a forklift doing its thing from our balcony before breakfast.
A-ha! Caught up! Time to wander to find a toilet and then I get back to to The Name of the Rose.
