Finishing the water ride

For some reason I awoke earlier than usual. I must have been concerned about the customs inspection scheduled for this morning. We reentered US territory and had to go through customs. We went down to stand in line, thinking everyone would be gone. Instead we were in the first 5% of the line. In fact we were well ahead of the customs agents. We sailed through, showing our passports, and went on to breakfast. Then it was back to the room for my computer, and off I went to find an Internet site. Evelyn stayed in the room for a nap. I asked at least 5 people where I could find free internet. They all thought they knew but were either wrong or I couldn’t understand. I finally had to pay for service. It was in a café run by a local woman in the USWI who was very independent. So independent that she worked on other things, making me almost leave for another place. It took a while for us to get me connected, and then she began to experience chest pains. Another woman gave her an aspirin and tried to get her to call the EMS. She wouldn’t but told me she had an appointment with a doctor. I finally returned to the room after at least an hour and a half. We just grabbed our beach gear and went back to the taxi are and were taken to town. We went looking for a jewelry Karen Norris had recommended. Unfortunately we found it. Evelyn bought a pair of very expensive diamond earrings to go with a ring she had inherited from her mom. We did get a beer and a diet soda costing about $600 each. We then took a taxi to Megan Bay. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful bay, but we are just not beach people. We did get into the water that was both beautiful and very temperate. The surf was pleasant but did nearly knock us down a couple of times. We stayed in the water for about half an hour and then went to the shower to try to get the sand off our bodies and out of our swimwear. Neither was successful. I had an especially bad situation because I wore some swim shoes into the water. They were full of sand and may never be empty. We came back to the ship and took a shower. The one at the beach was called “partly” sea water. We still needed to be cleaned. We relaxed until it was time for supper. We had not eaten since breakfast. We generally ask that we share a table at dinner so we meet new people, but tonight the couple we shared with was Joob and Petra Van Kampen. We have had dinner with them more than once before and danced with them too. We went with them to the early show, a magician comedian. We separated and called the sisters to share our sugar free jello. We talked a while about our adventures and made a date to have dinner tomorrow evening. I was tired from this morning so we returned to the cabin to go to bed early.

We slept late again before showering for the day. We did this because we weren’t going our into the Caribbean heat. We usually shower after returning to remove the sweat from our bodies. We went to the café for breakfast. I had my usual omelet and scrambled eggs while Evelyn had her usual cereal, yogurt, oat bran muffin and fruit. We wandered around a bit before Evelyn went to walk on the treadmill. I walked around the ship twice and spent some more time looking for the kind couple who loaned us the camera. We only know their first names, not their cabin number. I also came back and began to do light packing before looking for couples we have had dinner with. I am trying to get pictures of them. I also had to complete information on our luggage tags for our disembarkation. I also learned that we don’t have to declare her new diamond earrings because we purchased them in St. Thomas, USWI. The limit on duty free goods outside the US is $800. I returned to the room and found Evelyn. I called room service and ordered us salads for lunch. We had learned that room service was offered in the cruise package and wanted to use it. We might use it again tomorrow. We dressed for dinner and set out early to look, again, for the camera lending friends. I searched the Four Seasons restaurant but without success. We then went to the Seven Seas where we were to meet the sisters. I went around there and found them. I went back and met the sisters. We all went to the table next to Howard and Martha where we enjoyed dinner with all of them. We then went on to the evening show which was the former marine who sang in an operatic style. He was very appealing even though I am not a big fan of opera. We then went on to the Garden Café to enjoy our sugar free jello. It was orange flavored again. We spent a long time talking with the sisters before going to the Observation Lounge to dance to the Filipino band. We danced three times, more than we ever have before. This was, perhaps, because of the calm seas. It is difficult to fight falling down and following dance routines at the same time. We were not in bed until quite late. The blessing is that we set the clocks back and got another hour of sleep.

I wakened early, showered, and went to the top deck for coffee. Had I made it in the room, Evelyn would have smelled it and arisen earlier than she would have wanted. I was able to complete 3 days of my Bible readings. After 3 I returned to the room and brought Evelyn back for breakfast. We then looked for the sisters because I had hoped we could share a van ride to the airport because they are flying American Airlines also. I called them to meet us for lunch. It was early so Evelyn went in to work out, and I got a glass of water, sat out by the pool, and watched the people. During this time I found some more couples we had eaten with and took their pictures. We had eaten next to a family that had twin boys and was able to get a picture of them when they stopped running around. They were on the way to the school provided by the cruise line so the parents can get some respite. These firecrackers are 3 ½ and would be a handful. I tried to catch one and bring him back when he went to the breakfast bar alone but couldn’t get him interested in returning to mom. We went to the outdoor cook out for some lunch and met the sisters who had made previous arrangements to go with NCL to the airport. We returned to our room and relaxed while we packed for tomorrow’s disembarkation. We brought 4 suitcases on board and put 3 of them into the hall to be taken to the luggage area on the dock. We kept one to put our makeup, tooth paste, etc. in for transport. We then dressed for dinner and met 2 other couples that were far less interesting than the previous ones. We continued to the early show that had already begun. We knew that because the restaurant is directly below the stage where we could hear the dancing. We didn’t like the show much and met the sisters for our jello.