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Instead of catching up, and because I needed to put something here for today, I’m offering up these deliberately fuzzy photos. I took them this way intentionally, but I’m not sure that I was aware, at any given time, that I had more than one or two of them in hand.
So, before the memories grow fuzzy, let’s let the pictures do it.
This one isn’t fuzzy, but if the sky and the ocean are showing off they deserve to be seen, wouldn’t you agree?
We are having to eat normal food again, which means we have to prepare it or go out for it. Since we are still recovering from our travels we’ve not yet made it to the grocery store, which means we are eating out.
We stopped between the airport and home to get lunch yesterday at Zaxby’s. They’ve been in decline for the past few years, it seems, no matter the store. The slide has seemingly accelerated now that they are partnered with the Duck Dynasty brand. Not sure why. The burnt chicken niblets this time were perhaps a last straw.
For dinner last night we had barbecue at Jim ‘N’ Nick’s. Standing in line, waiting to be sat, The Yankee said “Don’t look,” because she knows one of my 21st century pet peeves is waiting for a table when there are plenty of tables available. I looked. And then I counted. A full 40 percent of the tables were empty and read for guests. We stood and waited. The head chef finally sat us. He and two other staff members came by to continually apologize for the delays. This seemed excessive. You got blindsided on Sunday evening. No one likes that, it is a staffing shortcoming, but it happens. And then the head chef took our orders, too.
We had breakfast at the Barbecue House this morning, because they have the best biscuits and they know our usuals. We try to go once a week or so. I’ve been going there for far, far too many years, but the breakfast is delicious.
We miss these guys, who brought us all manner of delicious foods on our cruise. This is our waiter, Iresh, from Mauritius. We’d learned his whole life story by the end of the cruise, and it is a good one. Now we are all Facebook friends.
This is Selvin, who was working as Iresh’s assistant. He is from Honduras, and was quiet and shy. Nice guy who was always Johnny on the spot.
Also, I miss the desserts they brought.
Our last sea day on an amazing cruise — an activity which is altogether indulgent on its face. Take a long cruise in warm, tropical climes when almost the entire country is bundling up, it is even more indulgent. And when you have four sea days, you’re experiencing the height of quiet, lazy indulgence.
I took two naps today.
We also had to pack today, bringing about mixed emotions. This has been a great trip, drawing to a close. But it has gone long enough that you’re actually ready to get home. At least a little bit.
This picture is from Thursday, as we sailed away from St. Maarten. This was the last land we saw, and the most detail we’ll see until we dock in Miami tomorrow.
The currents were up — but the locals said the waters were actually, finally, calming down. These were some of the hardest dives I’ve done in a long time, if ever. I sucked oxygen like I haven’t in years, if ever.
They were also some of the best dives I’ve done. Sharks, rays, turtles, eagle rays, eels and all manner of smaller fish, all in one dive.
Almost everyone on the dive boat got sick. Except for us.
The people that got sea sick may disagree, but these are the dives you really look forward to.
This is Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. (That’s New York. It is a long shot, but the man conceivably knew my ancestors there.) Previously he’d run things in Curacao and then tried to take St. Maarten back from the Spanish in 1633. It offered a strategic harbor and salt, and the Dutch failed miserably in getting the Spanish off the rock. But Stuyvesant took 13 ships, landed in March of 1644, notified the Spaniards and planted his flag. The Spanish fired on the flag and Stuyvesant was wounded and his right leg ultimately was amputated. He’d become known as Peg leg Pete and he’d watch his comrades sail away from St. Maarten in defeat a month later.
After surrendering New Netherland to four ships of 450 British troops, he stayed on in New York as a private citizen, dying there in 1672. He was a strict Calvinist and a big believer in education. Everything I’ve read about him makes him seem rather harsh, but the 17th century often was. He’s buried in The Bowery — which is, apparently, an anglicization of Bouwerij, which is Dutch for farm, and also the name of Stuyvesant’s 62-acre property that stretched up to Harlem. (I’m going to have to read a history of New York City now, aren’t I?)
Anyway, diving in St. Maarten was a challenge, the visibility wasn’t the best because of the currents and the silt, but the views were great. Great place to dive. Watch the video.
Late last night our St. Kitts plans fell through. We couldn’t find anything else we were interested in near midnight — some other things had shut down, too. Hey, not every stop can be your best stop.
We did get a magnet for the refrigerator, however.
St. Kitts has Basseterre Circus, a smaller, Caribbean version of Picadilly. They also have a Big Ben, a four-sided, cast iron clock in the center square:
My best girl, at dinner:
