2.15.09 Sunday At Sea

Sunday
Tonight is our first formal night. Our day started with croissants and coffee in the room followed by a real breakfast in the Villa Borghese dining room. Brittany packed away scrambled eggs, corned beef hash, pancakes, milk, sausage, along with a roll and toast and hash browns. The girl loves breakfast. Actually she loves food. Pesak, from Indonesia, was our waiter. He was very congenial. It was much less crowded than the buffet and it was nice to order from the menu. Brittany is off to the pool. I am having trouble connecting to the internet. We may have to wait until Florida to post. I am making this as a word document to send later. Brittany took a great picture at the formal dinner of Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma liked so much that she put it on her computer desktop! DJ took fantastic pictures with his new camera of the cruise ship. I will have to burn a disk for him. After breakfast Brittany went swimming for three and a half hours in the salt water pool. We were waiting for her to become a prune. She said salt water burns your throat. Grandma said, you’re not supposed to drink it. Grandpa said, “Get over it.” While grandma played with the internet to get it connected for the post to the blog, the boys tanned, soaked up the rays, and enjoyed the “scenery.” Lunch was in the Buffet. The food was fantastico! As we sat on the 13th deck at a window table, we had a wide variety of fine foods. Italian never tasted so good! All of the sun, water, and food required the traditional Italian siesta. After we ate we taught the kids to play Hearts. They are quick learners. We will play again tomorrow to reinforce it. Before we knew it, it was time to dress for dinner. DJ learned that if you don’t unpack your dress shirt, you can lie on it to press the wrinkles out of it. Come to think of it, we did the same thing with Grandpa’s shirt. Getting four people dressed in a room smaller than my kitchen is fun. We invented a towel cave/dressing room under a bunk for the young lady. DJ learned to shower like they do aboard ship. Wet down. Water off. Soap up. Water on. Rinse off. All within three minutes. The shower was so small that when he smiled, his teeth touched the wall, Grandpa said. We were on time for our seating. Grandma and Brittany looked lovely in the dresses, Grandpa said. Brittany said, “Cuz we’re that awesome.” Brittany has a delightful sense of humor. We had a seven course meal: We had escargot(which they enjoyed). We are waiting to tell them tomorrow what escargot is! Second course was Lobster soup. Sald was spinach or Cesar, and Brittany opted for a second course of chilled strawberry soup instead of salad. She was hoarding her soup after the first mouthful. We had foccacia with olive oil. The pasta course was a crepe Florentine or risotto and we all shared both. Brittany had Prime Rib for her entrée with asparagas. DJ and Grandma Shrimp with saffron rice. Grandpa had veal picatta. We all traded tastes. We were rather full and skipped the cheese course. Dessert was tiramisu and after trying it, Brittany had the chocolate mousse withy toasted hazelnuts. Grandma ate most of the nuts. Grandpa said it was the best tiramisu he has ever had in his life. We went to the circus floor show which had fantastic acrobats and juggler and magician. One of the Paraguayan musicians was flirting with Brittany so we took his picture. Later Grandma and Brittany went to the Mr. Orchestra contest. Think 70 year old men doing Full Monty…it wasn’t exactly full, but it was funny. Think Chippendales in the old folks home. LOL. Well it is time to hit the hay so we are ready for Cayo Levantado in the morning. Night, Night!
Monday, 2.16.09, Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic
Our stop on Monday is at Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic. We will tender into the beach for a bit.

Dominican Republic
There are some 1,000 miles of excellent, pearl-white beaches.
Back in 1824, a sailing vessel called the Turtle Dove, carrying several hundred escaped American slaves, was blown ashore in Samaná. The survivors settled and prospered, and today their descendants number several thousand. The churches here are Protestant; the worshippers live in villages called Bethesda, Northeast, and Philadelphia; and the language spoken is an odd 19th-century form of English mixed with Spanish.
Sportfishing at Samaná is considered to be among the best in the world. In addition, about 3,000 humpback whales winter off the coast of Samaná from December to March. Major whale-watching expeditions are being organized and should boost the region's economy without scaring away the world's largest mammals.
The Dominican Republic is busy year-round. During the usually quiet summer season, Europeans flock to the lovely beaches, keeping rates high from mid-June through August. However, in late spring (after Easter until early June) and early fall (September to October) you can get good deals. Unlike many islands, where rain showers are usually a temporary passing thing, the rains in the D.R. can linger when they do come, especially from June through November.
The largest event in the country is the annual Jazz Festival in October, which draws enthusiasts from all over the world.
Carnival celebrations are held in Santiago and La Vega. The Festival del Merengue is held in Santo Domingo in late July and early August.
DJ took some fantastic pictures today. We had breakfast with a couple from Tennesee, and another couple from Houston. They were going strong at 83. After breakfast in the Villa Borghese, we got our tender tickets. We tendered into Cayo Levantado. It was a gorgeous day. After our original dunking, we sunned and the “fish” played in the water. We perused the craft stalls but the prices were too high. When we got back, it said it was 100.4 degrees on the board. We tendered back for a late lunch and met our North Carolina Cruise Critic friends Lynn and Bob Mack. DJ tried the Caribbean fish sticks, and Britt had a turkey burger. I tried the pasta dish as did Cliff. We played cards until tea time and Cliff napped. Before we knew it we were weighing anchor and it was dinner time. Britt was so full by now that she only ate two bites of apple from her waldorf salad. After mushroom failutte, DJ had gumbo and I had gazpacho. D J and Cliff had the Fettuccini Alfredo and split an eggplant Parmesano. They like us so much they brought us a dish of pasta fazzoli which was not even on the menu so we could try it. DJ had double dessert, and later Brittany went to the Plumcake Party and cartoons. We also told the kids they had snails yesterday, and enjoyed them. Britt thought she wanted to throw up, but had to admit, she did enjoy them. D J was glad he tried them, and so was Britt. After dinner, we are pretty sure, that Brittany has been taking card shark lessons, as she came from behind and whipped out butts at Golf (the card game). Cliff got to try a real expresso tonight…and …might not sleep for a week. We had trouble with the internet, so we couldn’t post today. They boys will try the Americas Cup 12 meter yacht in St. Marten tomorrow while we girls check out the shops. They cancelled the tour to Orient Beach we were going to try. Better luck next time, Britt. The kids are having a ball, as are the grandparents. Actually we are supposed to tell you they are having a horrible time, won’t eat, and are crying to go home….and my nose is growing, Pinocchio. It is a real pleasure to travel with them and they are good travel companions…unless you are playing cards with Brittany ;-) Brittany says, “Ha! Ha! Bill Gates! Who needs internet.”