Day 15 - DWTS

I don't want to comment on Dancing With the Stars and I think that explains enough.

Day 15 – The Best Job in the World! – Half Moon Cay (Bahamas)

Today was WONDERFUL! I’m writing this at 7:30 pm    because everything will change at 9:30 when the finals for Dancing with the Stars are happening. I am dancing second, so I will write about that later tonight. I got up at 6:30 this morning and got dressed then went for breakfast. Walking to breakfast I passed the other couple that was in my beginning bridge class and told them what had happened at the bridge game yesterday. They had a brother and sister-in-law that were in that room and they told me the brother had told them the story and thought it was all made up and didn’t believe I had never played bridge before. HAHA! After breakfast I went to where I was supposed to get more information about horseback riding today and the lady really confused me. I told her I was signed up for the first horseback riding and she told me I wasn’t. I started to get stressed out and showed her my ticket and she then apologized telling me she thought I had come through the door employees use and she thought I was an employee. Not a good way to start the day. I got on the little boat that was taking us from the ship to the island and was amazed at the color of the water. The guy next to me said it perfectly when he said it looked like, “Disney Water”. I totally agreed that the water looked like some perfect color made up for a Disney film. It took about 5 minutes to get into the island and then we got off and waited for the truck to take us horseback riding. What we did was:

Bahamas –Horseback Riding by Land & Sea 

Saddle up for the horseback riding experience of a lifetime! After a short tram ride to the corral you'll receive an orientation before setting out on a ride along winding trails up to the highest point on the island for a panoramic view of Half Moon Cay and the surrounding islands before you continue along the bay, back to the corral. Enjoy a refreshment as your horse is "dressed" for swimming in a special saddle pad and a rope halter (no saddle), then you'll venture into the ocean for the sensation of riding a horse while it's swimming.

We were all given horses and helmets and off we went. 13 riders and 3 great trail guides. The walking was all on beach sand and the horses were very good. I enjoyed being with this group and we went at a good pace. After riding for about 30 minutes we got back to where we started and they had us dress in our swimsuits. They put the horses in a different saddle with no stirrups and a handle to hold onto on the saddle. We were in a line as we walk into the water and then the horses go out as far as they could still walk and the water was up over the saddle. Then the guides had our horses run and we learned why the saddles hand a handle on it. It was hard to stay balanced, but the water was helping us stay on. It was FUN! The horses were running into each other and everyone was hanging on so they didn’t fall off. Then I took the truck back to the place we began. I ran into Mom, Sue, Betsy, Mike, and David there and still had my swimsuit on. Once I took off my shirt and shoes they didn’t go back on until I left the island. Everyone else went their own way and I went down to the water. I wanted to swim in the ocean since I’m not able to at home in Monterey, CA. I had my goggles so I swam for about an hour up and down the outer parts of the swimming area. It was great to swim in the ocean and it seemed saltier than the ocean water I know back home. After swimming for a while I went for my jet ski adventure. What I did was:

Aqua Trax Adventure –

Experience Half Moon Cay from the natural inner saltwater lagoon on a guided personal watercraft adventure. After a short tram ride, you'll arrive at the safety briefing area and have time to get used to your personal sit-on watercraft. Depart single file with a lead guide and another guide bringing up the rear. Traveling along the picturesque shoreline of the island you'll navigate around the natural reef formations, inlets, islands and sand spits before stopping for an ice-cold bottle of water. Buoyed courses will allow you to test your watercraft skills. With your guide, you'll briefly stop at the tidal outlet, the Indian village and Stingray Cove

When I got there I learned I was the only one signed up to do it at that time. It was me and the guide driving around on jet skis. I just followed him and we had the best time of my life! We started out slowly and I figured out how to control it then we went around the calm cove then he took me out to the big ocean and we went to the ship then over to the swim area and back. Outside the cove the water was rough and I was flying through the air. I learned so much. When I was losing my balance I had to steer the opposite way or I would just be going in a circle. The ride was about 40 minutes and I will never forget that ride. I think that guide has the best job in the world. They pay him to ride around on the waves all day. I want that job!!

Day 14 – Bridge at Sea

Every day at sea for these two weeks I have been taking beginning bridge lessons. Bridge is a strange game to play because the lessons consist of how to bid so your partner, and opponents, knows everything in your hand so they can make a decision to play or pass. I guess it is a little more complicated than that, but that is all we have been doing in the beginning lessons. All we have done is learn the basics of bidding to start the game. They didn’t really tell us how to play once the bidding was done, whether we won it or not. If it sounds like I wasn’t too thrilled with learning how to play bridge that is about right. At 9 this morning we had our final bridge lesson and still didn’t deal any cards. Didn’t seem fun to me, but I had to do something in the morning. After bridge I went to the Showroom where there was a peek behind the scenes of the stage. All the singers and dancers of the shows came up front and introduced themselves and answered questions about how they got their jobs and their experiences.  We then walked being the stage and saw the dressing rooms and stuff. Robin was there and we made a time to meet and review the dance. There is one part I really have problems with and we got together and practiced for about 20 minutes. I am not sure I want to do this, but it should be fun and something to write about tomorrow J. After eating with my mom I went to the trivia contest. We usually play as a team, but since none of the rest of the group that is with me on the cruise was  in the room I joined another group. A couple of the questions were name 10 countries with only 4 letters. I got Chad, Iraq, Iran, Peru, Togo, Cuba, but nothing else. How long was Robinson Carusoe on the island for and what was the name of the island, I didn’t know … 28 years and the Island of Despair. There were 15 questions in all and we didn’t do very well. I wanted to watch the good players play bridge so I went down to watch. When I walked into the room it was packed. I didn’t see my mom and the leader of the bridge group was there so I asked her. She was happy to see me and asked if I wanted to play. I told her I didn’t really know how, I hardly knew how to bid. The teacher of the beginning class was right at the door and the leader asked her if I was ready and the teacher said she thought I was. WHAT!! I have never played a hand of bridge in my life! I sat down and the leader of the group was my partner. I bid, sort of, and did my best. We won more hands than we lost. After every 2 hands we changed opponents and I introduced myself and apologized for not knowing what I was doing. The leader helped me a lot and made me feel very comfortable. I had a lot of fun and we played for about 2 hours. At the end the leader of the group introduced me and told everyone it was my first  time playing and she thought I did a terrific job. My mom told me the leader went to her twice while we were playing to tell her how good she thought I was doing. I felt good. After the game I went to the deck where you can walk all the way around the ship, 4 times for a mile, and walked a 5K race. I was supposed to walk at 3, but the bridge didn’t finish until 4pm so I walked by myself, 14 laps around the ship in case I miscounted. It took me 55 minutes, but I wanted to walk the whole distance because the “cause” we were talking for was cancer and my dad died from it and my sister just defeated it last year. After the hour of walking I went back to my room to rest for a while. While I was there the leader of the bridge group called me to tell me I had done excellent. I had gotten a MASTERS POINT which most people don’t do until they have been playing for a while. My mom said the points are given to the top 4 finishers so that means my partner and I were in the top 4 of the day! WOW, I was happy!! Tonight we dressed up for dinner and went to a fancy restaurant again, and again it took hours to eat because the service was too slow. We took some professional pictures after eating since we were all dressed up. Then I went down to my room since tomorrow was an early and exciting day.

Day 13 – TV at Sea

Today was another sea day. It was really rough and the ship seemed like it was rolling all day. I woke up early enough to go to the gym, but wasn’t motivated enough. I got up and had a late breakfast and then went to beginning bridge lessons. I got to bridge and found out I was an hour late so I had to listen to the end of the lesson. It seems so easy except the bidding and how you are telling your partner every card in your hand by what you bid. I will figure it out sometime I guess. I then sat in on the talk about Rum Running in the Caribbean. I guess the interesting thing I got out of it was rum is a by-product of making granulated sugar and they moved the processing up to New England because they had enough wood to burn up there rather than the Caribbean. It was an interesting talk then I went to watch some television. TV on board is not too bad. Two channels are activities that have gone on during our voyage on ship, two channels are ESPN, there is a cartoon channel, a kid’s program channel, there are a couple of movie channels and TBN, with Spanish sub-titles. I watched TV for a while then went to the contest for TIC TAC PUTT. I don’t play golf, but I did pretty good in the putting competition. Mike and I were on the same team and out team lost. I wanted a pin so I asked the Show Host, Jeremy, for one and he gave me one. I went to go watch some more TV until Dancing With the Stars was presented. I was fairly sure I would be picked today since it was the last day and they had 2 women and 1 man already and I was the only man to participate in the cha cha lesson. It was fun and my “Star” was Robin who is one of the singers in the show. She was very nice and was very helpful to me when I danced with her on stage. WE WON!! It was fun and interesting! We have good chemistry and it will be fun to dance with her in the final competition! I know we won’t win, since the first woman that won the competition was very very good. I just don’t want to make a big fool of myself. After I won they took me being the stage to interview me for the show. It was really awkward and I didn’t interview well. I guess I don’t know how to be funny. They interviewer asked me why I was wearing the pin and I told him I won it during the putting competition and he asked how my golfing was going to help me with the dancing competition. I couldn’t tell him that I lost in the golfing competition so I would probably lose in the dancing competition so I told him it helped calm my nerves so I wouldn’t be nervous dancing with the pretty girls. Oh well, I don’t interview well. I am wondering if I should buy the CD of on board activities. After the dancing I watched television again and then went to go eat with family. At the beginning of the meal my mom spilled her wine on me and I had to go change my clothes. My mom was upset that they didn’t try to clean up the spilled wine and didn’t clean up my chair and didn’t even get her more wine. After dinner they complained to the Matr'e D and he had the ship people clean my clothes for me. After dinner Betsy, David, Sue, Mike and I played hearts. I guess they have been playing every evening after dinner, but this is the first time they invited me. I think I usually disappear quickly and they don’t get a chance to invite me. I won and am not sure they will invite me again L. I had a good day.

Day 12 – Cartagena, Columbia - Medieval Cartagena By Horse Carriage

When I woke up today I was smiling, still thinking about how good yesterday was J. Have you ever laughed at your dreams? I don’t know what I was dreaming about, but it was a funny dream and I was laughing and it felt good. It was already light when I opened my eyes and I knew that meant I needed to go to the gym. My smile was gone … I went to the gym and there were many people on the treadmills already. I had to go to one that had a tv, but the tv was broken. I like these treadmills because they have a representation of a track showing me how far I have gone. It is good to see that. After 2 miles I was sweating like a dog and went down to my room to shower. I had forgotten it was Sunday and my mom had gone to church. I went upstairs and had a ham and cheese omelet and then I had an appointment at the spa for a facial and body exfoliate. I wasn’t sure what that was, but I won it during the BINGO thing yesterday so I went. It made me feel good and then it was time to get off the ship and explore Cartagena. I really like this city. The tour we took was:

Medieval Cartagena By Horse Carriage

Transfer by coach to Plaza Santa Teresa, where a horse and carriage stand ready to transport you around Cartagena’s beautiful Old Town—a voyage back in time to the days of the conquistadors. You’ll ride along the inviting, narrow cobblestone streets and through squares inside the walled city, admiring the flower-filled balconies that glow in the light spilling from colonial mansions. Stop for 10 minutes to photograph the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, a 17th-century construction acknowledged to be the most important work of Spanish Military engineering in Latin America. Surrender to the majesty of this historic city, where age-old squares are surrounded by towering colonial, Republican and Spanish-style buildings—it’s easy to picture life 200 years ago in this wealthy, cosmopolitan port. Visit the former city dungeons at Las Bovedas, which have also been used as military barracks, a munitions depot and a jail, but today local artisans display their work there. You’ll have between 15 to 20 minutes for shopping before returning to the ship.

We took a bus to the old town and then a buggy ride around the old city. Lots of colorful buildings and lots and lots of flowerboxes on the second floors with pretty flowers. The city seemed colorful and you could tell they took pride in their city. We went into a couple of stores to look at emeralds and didn’t find anything my mom really liked so I bought a hat and we headed back to the ship. On the way we stopped to take a picture of an old fort and I bought a necklace from a street vendor. Another present for Sarah? We got back to the ship and ate lunch and I took a nap for a couple of hours. I had wanted to see the movie, Romancing the Stone, which was filmed in Cartagena, but I slept through it. When I woke it was time to go to see the magician comedian and he was very very good.. I like seeing people laugh that much. We then went to dinner which was very good. I went back to my room to watch the Grammy’s a little then went to the night club and listened to the live music. The last thing I did was go to the show put on by the Filipino staff from the crew and that was fun to watch. I wish I could sing and dance like that. Tomorrow is the last Dancing With the Stars so I hope I do better at that one.

Day 11 – Winner at Sea

Today we went through the Panama Canal! Wow, what an adventure. 550 pictures today and all we did was stay on the ship. I work up early and was thinking about going to the gym, but glad I didn’t. After taking my shower I went up on the outside deck at 7am and there was already a full line of people along the rail in the front of the ship. I got behind a lady with a small hat and sat down more than she stood up so I was able to see everything that was going on. Around 6 we entered a by leading into the canal. We were going very slowly and moving towards where I could see other ships going through the locks. There were lots of tug boats around us to make sure we didn’t stray from the course. As we were approaching the docks they sent out 2 guys in a rowboat. Yesterday they explained this all to us several times so we were excited when we actually saw a rowboat. No one believed they really would be in a rowboat, I guess traditions don’t go away easily. The rowboats brought a line to the ship and they used those lines to bring over a cable to hook up to the little trains that were next to the locks. The trains are not used to pull the ship through like the old days, the cables are used to keep us away from the side of the locks, and there is only a 2 foot gap on each side. I went out around 7am and we finally started going through the locks around 8:15. They opened the gate, we drove into the lock, they closed the gate, and they raised us in the lock. That only took about 10 minutes. The next gates opened and we moved into the lock and they closed the gate and raised us up a little more. We then sailed into the canal and had another series of looks to take us even higher. This really got a little boring and I went to the back and took pictures of the gates closing behind us and us going up. The second series of locks was interesting because there was a ship behind us waiting for us to finish. After we got through the second series of locks around 10:30 we sailed until the Atlantic side at 1:30. I went swimming in the ship pool at the time and they gave me a certificate for swimming across the canal which was fun to think about. I went to my room to watch some television since the ship was boring at the time. I also bought a shirt from Panama today. At 1:30 I went to watch us going through the last locks for a while then I got bored and went to the room and watched as the window went below the land and then we sailed into the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean is much rougher than the Pacific Ocean was which seems strange to me. I was bored again so decided to play BINGO. I haven’t played since elementary school and it really isn’t invigorating to me except it is something to do and it is nice to be around people. We played 4 games and the first three games I didn’t even get close. The last game was for $275 and It was a cover all game. I WON! I couldn’t believe. There were about 100 people playing and most of them come every day to play BINGO and I beat them! I was really happy and kind of shocked. It isn’t addictive or anything and I probably won’t play again, but today I won. In the evening I went by the pool in the middle of the ship and it seemed like the pool had waves as big as the ones outside the ship. Water was splashing everywhere and it was fun to watch and listen to. After dinner I went to the movies where Tailor from Panama was showing. It was entertaining, but I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for it. I then went to go play blackjack where I doubled my money. Today was a great day and tomorrow will be better because we will be in Columbia and I have been wanting to go there for a long time.