5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 5

[chip&dale&fun]

Thanks to you Diana, Bonine works great for me. I take 1/2 tab b4 dinner and do fine. In Alaska this past summer I was on a catamaran in heavy seas and popped an additional 1/2 and enjoyed the trip, whew!!


Sue

The ship gave out Sea Calm. That made it worse - insert green smilie doing gross things here.

 

[Dancind]

Hail to the stinky players,
Hail to the ugly cheerleaders.
Hail, Hail to Michigan the champions of the Trash.

there's more...can't remember it....

Whoa, I just had a Princess Bride flashback. Glad they got in, and had fun.

 

[Dancind]

Bonine is expensive, but you can get generic. It's called meclazine, and you can find large bottles of it at Walmart. Enough to last many cruises and dive trips, anyway. Alicia always takes 1/2 the night before a diving day, she tends to get motion sickness.

Enjoying the report, Irene, it's making me miss the Magic! Kevin is at Blue Hole today, I'm sure he will read your posts tonight. I don't think we take clothespins, but I'm sure we will now! One thing about diving, that veranda is a must! When we sailed on Celebrity, no veranda, so everything got hung in the bathroom. A bit annoying when you want to take a shower.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Day 6 was a Sea Day. I woke early for my spa treatment. My committment to walk at least one mile every morning was toasted the first day I was sick - so that resolution will need to wait until next trip.

My absolute favourite spa treatment is a frangpani - a hair treatment after which I had a french braid for semi-formal night. We met so many nice Disers that there was always someone to talk too, which is where Sam found me - Deck 9.

This was our Palo brunch. We had dinner the night before at Palo - not sure I posted that.....Very good, but I may like brunch even better. the crab, the crab, the anti-pasta's, eggs and main course offerings.

I wanted a "taste" of the pasta of the day so I requested a spoonful. I requested a real spoonful, not a chef spoonful. What arrived was a serving spoon in a dish, with 3 pasta, one broccoli and tomatoe and sauce with a smile and a message from chef "Tell her that I know what a spoonful is".

I must digress - on Night 3 - I really had the head server upset. See, I planned on surprising Sam with an Anniversary celebration on formal night - when I was sick...and then with a birthday celebration on the 16th. I did not show up on the second night - the head waiter brought 2 cakes and made up a great song,, that only took 3 tries for the waiters to get it right - Happy Annibirthery!

OK back to Palo's - Champagne, memories of great dive trips and lots and lots of yummy food.....life is good......

Our next event was the beer tasting round 2 - see prior post and then semi-formal night. The ship was decorated for Christmas - ahhhh - and we had our picture taken in front of the tree. Two cruises, two Christmas trees....

Disney Dreams was the show. good thing the picture was taken before the mascara ran.....

Dinner was at Parrot Cay - not great for a formal night but it was the Captain's Gala with lobster - which we passed up. After our St. Maarten fresh grilled whole lobster, tails did not seem tempting....

 

[chip&dale&fun]

The next day the stairs were crowded as we all tried to leave for CC. Sam and I had planned on snorkeling. I am open to all hints possible here as I never was a strong snorkeler - enjoy scuba more.

But we were in the water early, before it became cloudy. It is a young location, but you can see signs of growth and we were joined by several fishes. This day I took the new underwater camera, but still have to have the FILM developed. I have no idea how this camera works, viewfinder, location from prey (fish) etc. We found the baracuda that has taken up its place at the suken ship. I could have stayed longer but we had booked Castaway Rays at 11:00 - so had to swim from shore. I have no sense of direction - as I kept swimming to the ship...(Did I mention I hate my fins).

It was a long walk to the Rays, where we had a short introduction by a Living Seas cast member. The rays are fed on a platform and easily come up for dinner. All are female but one small male and some like being stroked.

As they are fed on the platform, there are no rays swimming all over your body as I have heard happens elsewhere.

After feeding, the rays seek a rest and it was great fun trying to swim alongside of them. They can easily outswim me.....

We played for 1/2 hour and it was clear they wanted to rest - so we left - the actual time is one hour.

We wandered to Cookies for lunch and a beer - and watched the bartenders juggle before heading back to more snokeling. We never made it to serinity beach - but while snorkeling I used the new camera flash - the water was more cloudy so we will see what happens.

Soon it was time to board the ship, wash the wetsuits etc and get ready for our last night on board. A last walk around the deck...and more regrets, no shots of the moon rise, oh well, next time.

A last glass of champagne, dinner with the Epcot vests (one server did not like my description but that is what they are) and a final fairwell to our table mates.

Plus the emergency trip to the store for Aloe. I am still in pain and must soak off the second skin soon to change the bandages.

So, I am open for any suggestions on how not to get burned. I am not trusting of lotion, I had spf 30 and applied before and after each dip. And my poor ear is blistered. Does anyone snorkel wearing a hood???? a kerchief???

 

[chip&dale&fun]

We met up with our DisGroup at 3:00 on boarding day at the theatre - deck 4 - Everyone brought postcards from their home state. I am not sure if I ended up with the entire collection, but we should have a group photo coming. The entire lounge area was full.....The post cards were a neat idea as the kids handed them out -

The green neon wrist bands were also a hit. One Diser made name tags, I have no clue where she found so many of the Home Depot paint swatches and lettered names and Disney stickers. Hedgie's had eye!!!!

I missed the home state wine tasting - I regret that.....It was a fun idea.

We did attend the CC party - it was great - the Captain hinted at 2007 special cruises. Those present voted for the Mediterarian....I wanted Alaska.
When we checked into re-booking - which we did not do, we were told they would be held in the "summer" of 2007. We decided against rebooking, as we really want Alaska in 2007 with DVC points.

We missed the DVC party - we never saw an invite to the DVC members only party - there was one for non-members. Perhaps I read the navigators wrong.

And what the heck is the Friends of Bill meetings???

OK....more later when pictures are ready....

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Must change this siggie.

 

[ohiominnie]

And what the heck is the Friends of Bill meetings???

Alcoholics Anonymous.

Friends of Dorothy is the group for gay women, apparently.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Thanks.

 

[tinksdad]

The one BAD thing about diving is that I have to be good the night before so there was no wine with dinner and no drinks afterward. No champagne before dinner either.

They were checking for "pods" under the table...However, our table-mates said that such foolishness would not preclude them from enjoying themselves.

Everything is moderation!! A glass or even two isn't bad. It's when you combine all you mentioned above that it gets dicey!!

 

[tinksdad]

When at first you don't succeed...

I say you did pretty darn good!!

Congrats and Irene for the follow up!!

 

[MarkRG]

Nice trip reports.

After the reports from The Food & Wine & Wine & Wine & Wine & Champagne & Wine & Wine & Wine & Wine and maybe some more Champagne festival I thought you might at least know someone who knew what Bill W was.

Sorry to hear about the sunburn. You have to get VERY overagressive about sun protection. Mary and my personal choice, and we didn't end up with much color even after 10 days on a cruise is from Coppertone it's called Coppertone Sport, comes in a blue tube, and it really is as waterproof as you can get. I think we had 45 or maybe 50?

 

[CajunGirl2]

Mary and my personal choice, and we didn't end up with much color even after 10 days on a cruise is from Coppertone it's called Coppertone Sport, comes in a blue tube, and it really is as waterproof as you can get. I think we had 45 or maybe 50?

That's what DH uses for his running. He's very fair skinned - auburn hair & freckles galore. He likes it because it's sweatproof & doesn't run in to his eyes. Will have to make sure we stock up on it before the cruise.

Angie

 

[CajunGirl2]

Great trips reports Irene - thanks!

Ang

 

[tinksdad]

St. Thomas - Dive Trip

Blue Island Divers are GREAT - thanks so much Kevin for the recommendation.

They were at the dock a little before 9:00 - and there were 2 crew and 7 of us. Sam and I, One of the Diser's DH, two from the ship celebrating their 25th - they did a back to back - and a man vacationing who uses Blue Island lots.

Great dive boat - gear all ready - all hooked up....Seas had clamed a bit but were still chopping. On our way out to Coral Bay, I think the boat was out of the air, more than the boat was on the water. We geared up and hit the water. Visability was 75 feet - you could see the coral bottom - and WOW.

We were down before I knew it and the coral and fish were everywhere. The reef was 30 feet deep with a ledge down to 75 feet. I need to do better with fish identification but -- we saw sea turles, lots of parrot fish, my squirrel fish from West Palm were abounding, lots of sea fans, cute little tube worms, blue surgen schools, and much , much more.

Blue Island does a great job!! I also like the barges, they're fun!! Seems kind of boring when you first get there, but I could spend quite a bit of time there just checking out the cool stuff and taking pictures.
Glad you found it interesting and fun!

the dive instructor was great - I was right behind him and was able to get the advantage of his pointing out of neat fish. Sam surfaced when I still had 1500 pounds left so, it was good to be close.

The dive was over 55 minutes and I could have stayed down longer. This dive master requested we surface at 500. However, I may need more weight - it was difficult to stay down toward the end of the dive, with no air in the BC.

Sounds like Sam is an ASD (air sucking dog) as we affectionally like to call them.

Then we were up. Note to self - do not stay too close to the diver in front of you while boarding the ladder - bang - that was the diver's tank contacting my heady bone....guess what won. Head ok - onto next dive.

That's one lesson you won't forget soon!! It does happen!!

The seas were calm and we headed for a wreck dive. I had never dove on a wreck before and had hoped to do two reef dives, but everyone else wanted a wreck. We dove the Navy Barges - 2 of the 5 ships. The instructor (dive master???) said that he would take us in and out of the ships. The depth was less - maybe 40 feet - but there was only 10 feet visability. That was eerie. He said to stick close - ok, Not a Problem. This was totally neat - the coral had encompased the ships and hid lots of cool fish - baracudas were guarding their favorite spots, stingrays were all around, I saw one morray....and one porthole was covered with bright coral. Sea urchins seemed to be on this site, more than the last. Maybe I just did not see them the last time. We also saw lobster hiding...

Dive instructor took us in and out of the gaps in the ship. That was unreal - I tried not to follow to closely, but everytime I thought I had slowed down, I kept getting too close. Sam had lost the group. This was a bit unnerving for me because I could not see him. The 25 year old annniversary girl was second to last and she said it was really strange because we would exit the wreck as she entered. She had wrecked dove before but in much clearer water. I think our instructor was so good, I did not have any concerns about the dive. The passages were not narrow - plenty of room. My only "banging" of the tank was because I was not close enough to the bottem.

Sam joined up with the group. Must learn hand signals - tried to ask dive instructor where he was by counting divers, oh well. All is well. But again, he had to surface before me.

The bottom was not interesting, mostly sea grasses and as I said poor visability with lots of little shimp things floating in the water.

Dive instructor wanted a 3 minute decompression this time. Boy was that hard. I still had over 700 pounds of air left but I could not stay down for squat.

And then it was over (WAAAAAA!!!!!) and we went back to port. Dive books were signed, congratulations all around. Stories compared and back to the ship.

Sounds like it was great fun!! It only gets better!!

 

[mickeymo]

Note to self... I changed my mind... I'll never take up diving... its bad for my career.

You mean to tell me they let that dumb thing run ALL DAY??? I can see having movies on it, but not 'filler'. Vacation is supposed to be a time to get away from mindless television, not get more of it!!! I'm sure 'movie nights' are a lot of fun, but it will lose some of its appeal if there is something on ALL THE TIME! Anyone else agree??

Agreed!

 

[tinksdad]

Now the questions..................

Sam wants to get full wetsuits - Anyone have a recommendation on a good site?

Irene wants new fins - I hate my fins - really, I do. They are too stiff. They are way to stiff....So, what do you recommend? I like a soft fin (why - no idea) and I do not like a large fin (again - no clue why). I did injure my ankle this past March severely, not broken, of course, I could go to the MD to find out why it is still not healed, (sorry Virgil). But new fins are a must.

The BC I rented was ok - except this dive boat used weight belts instead of weights inside the BC. That was not fun. I had sore ribs for 2 days. The regulator had a strange bite, rather hard on the gums.....So what type of regulators do you recommend. I need to repost this when Jim returns.

So that is about all for the questions for now.....

Next - A day at sea.....

Wetsuits;
Bare Makes some nice ones , so does Henderson Dive Wear More expensive than Bare, but VERY stretchy and easy to get on!! I recommend the full suits. Both Alicia and I have a few different thickness. A full suit is much better at protection, either under or above water.

As far as the fins go; Sounds like you would be very fond of a split fin! Check out Scuba Pro site for some info The have different compositions, that are negative, neutral and positive buoyant for different body types. A softer fin that is great for folks prone to cramps.
Personally, I LOVE by Jetfins, but they are a stiffer. A great fin for helicopter turns and back up kicks though!! The split fins are very effective for the standard flutter kick, but watch out below you, they can kick up silt on the bottom if you're too close.

Regulators;

Scuba Pro (same link as fins) are terrific, as well as Apeks! I have both. Jim used Scuba Pro. If you buy the SP from a authorized dealer (LDS) and have them service every year, the parts are free! Atomic makes a very sweet breathing regulator too. What brands to the local shops carry?

 

[mickeymo]

Nice trip reports.

After the reports from The Food & Wine & Wine & Wine & Wine & Champagne & Wine & Wine & Wine & Wine and maybe some more Champagne festival I thought you might at least know someone who knew what Bill W was.

Sorry to hear about the sunburn. You have to get VERY overagressive about sun protection. Mary and my personal choice, and we didn't end up with much color even after 10 days on a cruise is from Coppertone it's called Coppertone Sport, comes in a blue tube, and it really is as waterproof as you can get. I think we had 45 or maybe 50?

Coppertone Sport is also John's choice of sun protection - he does the 45+ route, otherwise he will lobster...occasionally he will find it in gel which he prefers over the lotion...we, too will stock up pre-cruise...

 

[MarkRG]

Oh. And I forgot.

For your discomfort now the best over the counter item is called Solarcaine Aloe Extra Burn Relief. Get the gel, NOT the spray. I know all about burns, unfortunately. I work with steam every day. Nothing works better, both in pain relief and speeding the healing. Apply it liberally and often- and do not let the skin dry up at all.

 

[BWVPam]

Hi everyone. I have been away for a few days. Ashley had a 3 day swim meet, and then we went to Harry Potter last night after the meet was over. Got home about 2:30 today and had to take a nap. I didn't even swim and I was exhausted. Ashley had an amazing swim meet and took time off in every event she swam in.

We all loved Harry Potter. Some friends went on Friday and thought it was too scary.

Mark - thanks for posting the info on Cozumel. I will wait until after the first of the year before I decide on excursions for there. Thanks for any updates you may get.

Amanda - good to hear from you again