Steve and Cathy's Blog

To start this post, Steve needs to spell out a new editorial procedure concerning these posts.  In the past, Steve has contributed most of the writing, always promising that Cathy will soon be writing posts about the food we encounter, both aboard ship and on our excursions.  Well, as you can see because Cathy has yet to write her long-awaited reviews on the food, that program isn’t working.  So, in the future – starting with this post – if you see any comments or details about the food any more sophisticated than something like “The hot dog was great!”, you can rest assured that Cathy has written them and they will be incorporated in the daily posts.  Thank you for your attention.

Today when we awaken, we are still heading for Devil’s Island, where we will anchor for the day.  Steve has a fitness session at 6:30, where Sho puts him on a couple of the machines for the first time.  He returns to the stateroom at 7:00 and he and Cathy head for Waves for First Breakfast….and then down to the main dining room for Second Breakfast. Cathy has goat cheese omelet and a croissant, Steve has waffles and bacon. We also order glasses of milk as this is our first day taking the malaria pills and we are a little worried about side effects. It says in the directions to take with food and milk. It also says if you puke after taking the pill to take another one. Huh. But we make it though the day OK which is good because we have to take them for 70 days!

During the meal, the Cruise Director announces the procedure for taking the tenders from the ship to Ile Royale, one of the three islands making up the infamous French prison.  They are very specific instructions, many of them listed also in Currents, the daily ship newspaper of news, events and advertising.  Apparently, waiting for and boarding the tenders has the potential to be a bit chaotic, and, given the vintage of some of those that might venture on to the island, somewhat tricky. A list of 9 no-nonsense dos and donts would indicate that.

When we return from breakfast number two, our room is made up for the day and we find a letter from the cruise line.  The letter begins with this: “This letter is to inform you that while the ship is sailing in Brazilian waters, we will place a 25% surcharge on purchases made in the bars, boutique and spa onboard the vessel in order to satisfy a local tax levied by Brazilian authorities.”  Later on in the letter it states, italicized and in bold print: “To avoid the tax, we recommend guests looking to make large purchases onboard the ship do so prior to or after the ship visits Brazil.”  Certainly for Connecticut, California and New York residents, let’s hope this creative looting doesn’t reach the eyes of liberal politicians in those states.  While Connecticut lacks any cruise trade, I can see how their admiration for Brazil’s creativity may inspire them.

Cathy and Steve have opted to stay on board today for several reasons. First of all, we did not get the yellow fever shot, as, given our vintage (over sixty), it was discouraged by our trip health clinic because of possible side effects.  Because of that, we were told, again by our health clinic, that we would not be allowed to step foot on Devil’s Island, so we had resigned ourselves to looking on the island only.

Secondly, and I must credit Cathy for this, wandering an island and looking at old prison administration buildings where so much death, disease and torture has taken place just didn’t sound all that appealing.  The place has a gruesome history, and there just has to be some really bad ju-ju still lingering around the grounds.  It was operated from 1852 to 1946, and now is under the administration of the Guiana Space Center, as the European Space Program launches satellite-bearing rockets from  a complex located in the mainland town of Kourou.

And besides, Steve especially wanted to enjoy a few hours where the ship was not moving.  So we had no qualms about staying on board, especially when we went out on to our veranda and were smacked in the face with the humidity.  It had to be 90%, and, indeed, later when we spoke to people who did go, they spoke of the oppressive climate that day.  Fortunately, a nice breeze does come up around 11:00 to counter the humidity.

The crew took the opportunity to work on one maintenance issue we know of: messing around with the lifeboat (the lifeboats serve as tenders on days when we must anchor offshore of a destination) that is directly below us.  There are two officers dressed in whites that are to drive the boat and sort of appear to be giving orders to two crew members in hardhats manning the winches that raise and lower the boat.  This seems to take quite a bit of time, and we hear orders given and the two hardhats yelling at each other in some language incomprehensible to us sheltered Americans.  It is all very interesting, and it is comforting to know that these damn lifeboats are maintained constantly.  They drop this one into the water, and motor away, only to return in a few minutes and reverse the procedure.  Fun to watch.

The tenders shuttle people back and forth every half hour all day until around 3pm.  We wake up from a nap to see the islands sliding by, so apparently everyone who had wanted to see the delights of Devil’s Island was done earlier than expected and the ship was already underway at the scheduled time of 4:00pm. Lunch was a Mexican buffet in the cafe. Grilled fish, beef with mole sauce, avocado salad.

Steve and Cathy do their normal late afternoon thing – nothing.  Well, actually, writing these posts does occupy a lot of Steve’s time, with Cathy reviewing, adding and editing.  Steve also finally posts thirty-seven photos on Facebook, and begins the process of adding descriptions and locations to them.  Cathy finishes her first needlework project.

We head for Toscana, one of the two Reservation-Only restaurants on the ship.  This one features very high end Italian cuisine, and is located on the stern of Deck 10.  We arrive right at 6:30, and, to our astonishment, the maitre’d calls out our name as we arrive.  Wow, what a fun introduction.  We are having dinner with Larry and Kerry Noomen from Palo Alto, CA whom we met prior to boarding our bus for St. Lucia, and with whom we spent time chatting on the catamaran that day and on a subsequent excursion.

The evening is a great success from our standpoint.  They are both very interesting and down to earth, with interesting business careers and family lives.  The food and service are, as you might expect, exceptional.  Cathy had artichoke and parmesan timbale with black truffle sauce (really!), veal with lemon sauce and panna cotta with raspberry sauce. Steve had tomato and mozzarella with basil, beef tenderloin with grilled polenta and an espresso. There was an olive oil sommelier! He had a cart with about 8 kinds of olive oil and 5 kinds of balsamic vinegar. He described them, we each chose one and he poured them into little dishes next to our bread plates.  The meal ends around 8:30, and, true to form, we call it a day.