Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry

Our cruise came to an abrupt halt and we had to 'move on'...

We decided that it would be best to skirt the Houston traffic and use the Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry to cross the bay and head towards Florida. The ferry ride is all of 18 minutes long and is 2.7 miles; nice that the Texas Department of Transportation has provided it free of charge! (Not something you would find in New Jersey)

While on board I caught this shot of double seagulls...a first for me!


It only takes nine minutes to load/unload the ferry so it was within minutes after we were on land again that we could see the remaining destruction caused by hurricane Ike back in September 2008. Pretty nasty.

More Cruisin' between Ports

This is what cruisin' is all about; relaxing and enjoying where you are and what you are doing...

They have a variety of activities for those who can't find ways to busy themselves. Here children are learning how to scuba.

Here they put on a demonstration for us on ice carving. They start with a large block of ice...


After just a few moments the shape becomes apparent


And here is the final product. He completed this work in less than ten minutes!

For the more cultured among us there is the art auction...

Then if you grow tired of the "same old dining room food" you can go to one of the special restaurants, in this case, Portifino's
They start you off with a little mezza tray ( olive timpanade, roasted red peppers diced and roasted garlic mash) for the basket of bread varieties that they provide

You have to get salad...it is likely the only healthy thing in the entire meal...


Ah...seafood appetizer; who could want for more? I opted for the calamari

Chuck was a little more adventurous

The table next to us ordered the tower of seafood on a skewer..I just had to get a picture of it.

I ordered the veal Marsala; it is one of my most favorite meals. I get it very seldom.

and then...there is dessert! This actually is not it...it is a dessert teaser. They bring chocolate dipped strawberries and delightful little petite four type cakes. It is only the beginning...

Here is my dessert. Beauty for the eye and the mouth. I was really too full to eat it...but I managed some how!

Cruisin' between Ports

So, we are not in port and doing exciting tours everyday on a cruise; sometimes it takes a day or so to get to the next port and you need to be ready for these sorts of things.

On one such day I signed up for a slot tournament; the second time I have ever done one! I should probably limit my casino play to tournaments...my winning odds are better, I lose a lot less and I have a lot more fun! Sadly, I lost on this particular one...but I had fun. I tried to drown my "sorrows" with a couple of drinks of the day. These make anyone feel better!

Then of course, since you have a little more time on your hands, you can enjoy the sunset. This one was particularly nice.
Then, as if I need to say anything more about the food....there is food lots of it and pretty darn good too!

Here are our waiters, they were so much fun! We looked forward to their antics everyday. If the world could only be as happy as these two guys seemed to be... Dessert...never forget dessert. What is really great about shipboard food is that you can order whatever you want. Not just the mini combo dessert as shown below, but also the flan and cherries jubilee
(all at once if you like; no one is going to stop you) One must exercise constraint!

Cruisin' days 4 through 6

We left Cozumel, Mexico and sailed toward Grand Cayman Island. We had to go to a more protected side of the island, since the weather was not cooperating, to board a tender and take a short ride to shore. Needless to say our power snorkeling and kayaking tour was cancelled due to the size of the waves. We replaced that tour with a horseback riding tour along the beach. While the ride was nice it was hardly worth the price charged. We spent more time getting to the beach than riding the horses and so we were a little disappointed.

But the stroll through the capital, Georgetown was nice. We got several nice shots of the waves crashing on the sea wall, had lunch in a small cafe and picked up some souvenirs. All in all the visit was nice.


That night our waiters gave us a little puzzle to solve. He took five toothpicks and broke them in half and placed them on a dish. Our mission was to make a five point star out of it without touching it.

All that was needed was a couple of drops of water and some time for the wood to absorb the water, thereby moving the toothpicks ever so slightly to create the five point start right before our eyes!


The following day we were in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Here was the tour that we had both been waiting for...zip lining over the canopy in the jungle of Jamaica. This was by far the most fun thing we did on the entire trip. The guides were spectacular; with safety first always we never felt unsure of anything that we were doing.


Their personalities were always up and full of joking antics, we all had a ball. I would recommend this tour to anyone! It really was great! Chuck was sorry when it ended all too soon....

Cruisin' Day 3

We spent one full day cruising from Galveston, Texas to Cozumel, Mexico. So of course we spent the day exploring the ship and checking out the various activities on board. In Cozumel, we were on a mission. Actually, we were going o shop in Grand Cayman but since our prearranged tour trip was cancelled due to lack of participation we figured we could start shopping right here in Mexico. We knew there would be several opportunities to do so during the week, but since we found ourselves with a full day and no other plans we dug right in to the chore at hand.

Chuck wanted to get an engagement ring for me for Christmas but I thought since we were going to take this cruise, we should see if the prices in the islands were any better than what we could find in the states. So I came fully prepared with a printout of an engagement ring that I found at the Blue Nile website and began our negotiations.

These guys in Mexico are pretty slick. They wanted to start with a $6,000 stone and work their way up. I guess they thought they were dealing with a starstruck bride to be; so I set them straight pretty early in the process. They kept trying to sell me something very shiny and gaudy with many side stones etcetera. Finally, I had to pull out the print out and show them exactly what I wanted and the price that I could get it for in the states.

Now they knew I meant business and they went about getting something along the lines of my request and they actually did come up with something very similar and at $300 to $500 less than what I found in the states. Now all they had to do was take the stone I selected and put it in the plain band that I wanted and we would be all set.
Here is the stone that I selected...



We were able to agree on a price and they would have it ready in 1 and a half hours.
So what was left but to go and have lunch and come back to pick up the finished ring and return to the ship in time for departure for Grand Cayman Island.
So we walked a bit and saw many tourist shoppes
Then we got to a place named Pablo's Backyard and decided that it was our best bet for lunch. We were right, it was excellent although a bit pricey. They did have very nice Margaritas! I promised Jane that I would have one for her and this mango Margarita fit the bill, I am sure


Chuck ordered the combination plate of the day and it was really very good

The dessert was pretty good too...sopapillas with ice cream

We strolled along the waterfront making our way back to the store

And...here it is all finished.

Cruisin'

Our long awaited cruise to Cozumel, Grand Caymen and Jamaica finally came. We left on Saturday morning from Fayetteville, Arkansas and drove to Texas City, Texas (just a little past Houston and before Galveston) for our overnight stay and then on to Sunday Departure from the Port of Galveston, Texas. We were just about an hour and a half away from home when I realized that I remembered to take my laptop and forgot to unplug the charger cord and put it in the travelling case. So after hyperventilating about it for a while, I figured I would just do without it; use up the battery and wait until I got back home to do any significant computer work. Then I remembered that the lady who is watching the house, bird and cat might be able to send it to me via our friend Greg in Orlando, Florida. I had the solution plan in place before we boarded and knew that I could back in the tech world a week after the cruise (which was pretty fantastic given the logistics!)

The only problem is, once I've been away from blogging for a while, it takes a little effort to get back into it again...so I have been quite lazy over the two weeks (three!!!) that I have been away and will now try to recollect the high points for you...

First, I have to say the reunion with my power cord bordered on an emotional event! It felt so good to be able to use my PC again that I didn't think anything could make me cranky. Until, it took FOR.....EVER to boot up (compared to Chuck's Mac)well anyway, that's over now and I must get back to what I've been up to.

Sunday Morning, the day of the cruise, we met with a lady that we have been communicating with for about a year as a fellow Blogger...Goldenrod. She comes from the Houston area and was kind enough to join us for breakfast at a local eatery named Kelleys. The food was delicious, abundant


and we could stay as long as we liked without getting that feeling that we must leave and make way for other customers. We had a great time sharing stories and laughs. One in particular was the story of Prinderella. Goldenrod has a voice-mail version of it on her phone (courtesy of her daughter) and we both listened to it. The secret is in the proper telling of the story, of course interchanging the nearby consonants with each other to create nonsense words.


Anyway, there were plenty of napkins to dry the laughter tears that were streaming down my face. The hour and a half seemed to go by in a flash and we found ourselves checking in for the cruise in no time.

The ship was much bigger than I had pictured and while our stateroom was larger than I expected...it did not take long before I was looking for just a tad more space. In that case one must get out and about...there are so many places to go on a ship that you can never really feel confined. After we did a quick tour of the ship, we played a round of miniature golf...Chuck knocked my socks off, so I did not challenge him to another game.

When dinner time arrived I saw the table setting with all the utensils and I knew I would have a problem with weight gain this week

This is a shot of the first dinner so it looks like my first impression was correct