Cruising Is The Way To Go

This is the swimming pool on Deck 10 at the bow of our cruise ship.

If you look carefully along the right side of the pool, you can see several senior citizens who have obviously dropped dead. It was nice that the other sunbathers didn't panic and seemed content to finish their swim and sunbathing before calling for the ship's doctor. It looks like maybe the survivors might have even propped up a body or two into a sitting position so other sunbathers won't be upset.

Just some of the interesting stuff you see on a cruise, I guess.

Tragedy of Typographic Proportions In The Caribbean

We're docked in the Barbados port of Bridgetown, along with a Carnival cruise ship named Carnival Victory.

Sweet Swan of Avon! I've never seen typographic butchery on the side of a cruise ship as bad as this. OK, I know it's not easy to cut letters out of metal, but if it can be cut perfectly in 6-point type, why can't it be cut out semi-decently in letters 15-feet tall?

Or maybe the new Carnival corporate identity is a grunge font that uses different weights and fonts. Ugly fonts. Is it just me, or was the "n" ripped off another cruise ship and welded onto the Carnival ship?

I could go on, but that might make it look like I'm a typography complainer/whiner. And I'm not. No way. HEY! Is that an "inch" sign being used for quotation marks in the Noordam daily newsletter?! AARRRGGGH!

Barbados

Founded in 1629, Barbados became a self-governing democracy in 1966.

Graves are unmarked, because of the Quaker proviso that only God should know one's final resting place.

Local authorities prohibit the wearing of any type of camouflage clothing. Anyone wearing camouflage is not allowed ashore.

At 8 AM we took a shuttle to the dock area, then hopped on a bus to Atlantis Submarine headquarters in the same area. A 10-15 minute boat ride took us to the 36-seat submarine bobbing on the surface.

The water was fairly murky, but we saw tons of fish and plant life, and a sunken ship. The best shots I took are on video, but I did grab a few still shots (below).


The Atlantis pilot sits in the nose of the sub. The red depth indicator says 121 feet.


Some of the other crew members.


Not a very good fish photo, but I have some pretty good video clips.

Robin's Authorship Question Presentation

We're back in the Crow's Nest bar for a crow's eye view of our departure from St. Lucia under the influence of a full moon and a Bloody Mary. Shiver me timbers, aarrrgh, etcetera.

Robin's presentation on the Shakespeare Authorship Question went great. Some Mary Sidney converts walked down the aisle during the invitation. Just kidding (about walking down the aisle, not about the converts), and everyone seemed pretty dang fascinated by the Mary Sidney story.


Robin gives a presentation about The Authorship Question in The Hudson Room.


St. Lucia bids us a bon voyage with a rainbow.


As we leave St. Lucia, from the Crow's Nest Bar we can barely see the last landmark before we head out to sea.

A taste of St. Lucia

The woman at the cruise ship Shore Excursions desk tried to discourage our friends Duane and Margie from going into town or doing any touring not officially offered by the cruise ship. Too dangerous, she said. So, naturally, that made the four of us want to go on a tour not officially offered by the cruise ship.

Duane and Margie are experienced travelers, used to taking off on their own. Plus, my travel pal from Santa Fe, JohnG, has sailed in his own boat to St. Lucia several times and he recommended leaving the beaten path that's preferred by cruise ships. Unfortunately, we had to be back on ship by 2:30 PM, but at least we were able to hire a taxi to show us as much of the island as there was time for.

It's a really beautiful island. We drove to the highest point on this side. At the top are several schools and a community college. The local vendors were pretty disappointed that the cruise ship was going to leave by mid-afternoon. Our taxi driver was dismayed that the ship told passengers that downtown was dangerous.

In about an hour, Robin gives a presentation on the Shakespeare Authorship Question. Can't wait for that one, even though I've seen it quite a few times.


Robin enjoys the view of St. Lucia from the Crow's Nest bar on the ship.


A local club on a local road.


A cove tucked away on St. Lucia.


Margie, Duane, and Robin at the highest point of this part of the island.


The cruise ship from a local road.

More photos of Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Front Street of Philipsburg runs along the beach.


A view of the beach from where we had lunch.


It's a 5-10 minute water-taxi ride from town to the cruise ship.


Our ship is on the right.


Obama and me in St. Maarten.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

When we awoke Monday morning we were docked at Philipsburg. We cancelled our planned rental car with friends Duane and Margie because Robin was worn out from her busy schedule of presentations the first several days of the cruise. But we did leave the boat late-morning, took a water-taxi to Philipsburg, and strolled around town for a couple of hours.

A pretty little town. Very hot and humid. This is the Dutch side of the island. You can take a taxi or rental car to the French side, where bathing suits are optional on the beaches. Sounds fun, but we decided we'd already seen enough topless action while walking down Front Street (below).


Topless joint on Front Street.


Robin enjoys a view of St. Maarten while using the Wi-Fi connection in the Crow's Nest bar on our ship.