What is it about taking a nice winter vacation? Why can't I just pack my bag, go have fun, and be done with it? Why must I be a magnet for other people's viruses? It happened last year in Mexico, and this year it happened again, after our cruise into the eastern Caribbean. I'm not sure If I was infected by our chatty team trivia players from Memphis, or from one of the many coughing and sneezing fellow travelers in the Fort Lauderdale airport, or even from other human sardines on the airplanes. It's a mystery.
It doesn't matter. Colds happen. And they spread. Now my dear husband is sneezing and coughing and stretched out full length on the sofa. I used up all the cough medicine, so I need to go out and buy some for him.
But back to the trip. It was good. Windy, but good. This was our sixth Holland America cruise, this time from Fort Lauderdale to Aruba, Curacao, the Panama Canal, and Costa Rica. We were supposed to have a day at Half Moon Cay, but there were 40 mph winds and high seas, such that the ship could not safely tender in, so we had an extra day at sea. Oh well. The cruise accomplished our greatest winter goal, which was to warm up and to see green.
What I like best about cruising - coffee delivered to our cabin in the morning and then sitting on the little verandah to drink it, the incredibly pleasant staff, walking around the navigation deck looking at other passengers and whatever else is out there in the sea (other ships, islands, flying fish), playing trivia in the Crows Nest, cocktails in the Crows Nest, catching some sunshine, meeting interesting people from around the world, seeing new places and wild creatures. Seeing masses of Pepto-Bismol colored flamingos standing in a salt flat was a wonderful surprise. I also enjoy having time to read. This time I plowed through three enjoyable books: Life after Life; Life Itself; and Miss Hargreaves.
Things I don't especially like - worrying about how the cat is doing back home, sleeping in a strange bed, constant time zone changes, constant commercials for spa services and consumer goods, clueless people in the buffet lines, loud music piped into every public space, toxic individuals at dinner, the mild vertigo I get from the rocking of the ship, getting there and getting home again.
Anyway, I took a few photos, some of which follow.
