"I lent voice to thought and that was my mistake"

(The title of this post has nothing to do with the rest of it. It's just a quote from The West Wing that made me laugh out loud while watching DVDs this week)

This past weekend there was a large music festival located right next to the port. I think it was called Ultra Music Fest. Anyway, there were over 250,000 people in town for the festival. On one hand, that's cool that people come out to support live music. On the other hand, traffic was crazy busy by the port making it a long shuttle ride to downtown. Trust me, after having ridden the shuttle now several times, it's important to know that you want these rides to be as short as possible. Not only was this the longest shuttle trip so far, but, there was a guy literally sitting on my lap the entire time. One thing's for sure, that many people in one place makes me appreciate the solitude of ship life a little bit.

We also said goodbye to one of the singers in the cast this past week. She was transferred to another ship for some reason (I'm not sure why) and was replaced by another singer who signed on earlier in the week. There have been lots of rehearsals for the cast without the orchestra to accommodate the new performer. After the last show for the original cast member, Rechell, there were lots of tears in the cast. I didn't know Rechell that well, so, not such a big deal to me. I guess this happens all the times on ships. People coming and going quite frequently.

Spent my first day on the beach at Coco Cay this week. It's a really nice island. Different than our other ports, we actually don't dock on shore. We anchor a ways away and take small tender ships to the island. It's kinda fun to ride on the tender ship because you get a look at the Majesty from the outside looking in without land around. Also, I've noticed that most ports have a "construction" type feel to them. There are lots of cranes, scrap metal, concrete and other such things all around. Without a dock on Coco Cay it's pretty much just uninterrupted beach. Much more natural than a port that can accommodate cruise ships. Took a long walk on the beach and cleared my head. Tried to get some sun. Not sure that everyone there was prepared for my midwest lack'o'tan, but, what can I say. I gotta be me. Some pics below...

Tender docking area. Majesty in background.

Good snorkeling here at CoCo Cay, so I hear.

Long walk on the beach did me some good.

I heard there's a nature trail on the island somewhere. Gonna

try and find it next time.

Had an invite to play Euchre recently. The last time I played was over New Years Eve in Detroit. I was up visiting some friends for the holiday and we played. It's amazing how games of Euchre just seem to begin spontaneously in the Detroit area. I remember playing all the time in college. It just seemed as if everyone knew how to play. I had to teach Tony how to play and that felt weird. Can't remember the last time I taught someone to play Euchre. After 5 minutes he was an expert. Not because of the teacher, but, because of the simplicity of the game.