Bouncy

I got up today at 5am. I know; crazy, right?

That's pretty normal for me. At home I toddle downstairs, make coffee, plunk into my lazy boy, and crank up the TV and internet.

On a cruise ship it's different. I got myself coffeed, and ensconced in a nice chair in the glorious Piazza area. No TV or internet. Wifi is available, but would soon add up to hundreds of dollars, so that isn't happening.

What do I do? Today I wrote a bit for my blog.

Also, I've never puzzled out how to manipulate or create new music playlists on my ipad, so I figured that all out. Not intuitive, but this morning there was time.

***

Had breakfast all together in the dining room, then pastries downstairs. Helen and I went to a Zumba exercise class, and it didn't hurt my knee at all. There was a tiny bit of jumping, but I didn't leave the ground.

This was followed by a $10 junk sale in one of the three dining rooms. I was considering an interesting watch until I noticed it had no glass over the face.. Helen found a pretty tshirt.

Today we're supposed to dock at the island of Grand Turk, in the Turks and Caicos. There's wind and rolling waves. We were almost in, and then circled out again. The place isn't really sheltered at all, so it might be too rough to dock. Be interesting to see how that works out. Will we go in regardless, or is the captain killing time to see if it settles down? Might just miss the stop altogether.

***

Well, we got into Grand Turk on the second try. The wind was blowing all day, so the ship had to have the thrusters going constantly to hold against the dock. No way the hawsers could have held her. They would have snapped like twine.

We snorkeled, and shopped a little, and lunched back on board. After that I napped and Helen went back ashore to beach walk and explore a bit.

It is now early morning, and the ship is rolling and heaving more than any I've ever experienced. We watched from the promenade deck as she plowed through the waves. Some of the splashing reached to maybe the fifth deck. The wind speed was 37 knots.

***

It's now considerably rougher. Far fewer guests walking about. The promenade deck is closed off, as are sections of the top deck. The water in the pools seems determined to jump free. Our deck-five window is regularly underwater. The seas are now officially rated as "rough". Almost breakfast time.

***

Nothing seems to be cancelled, and most of the decks opened up later. A spectacular day. Just finished a Zumba class and am now waiting for a cooking demo and galley tour. Ships used to do several tours in days gone by, but sometimes you can still get a look at the kitchens. For Helen these are always a highlight.