JCCC3 Cruise Journal / Day 5

When I got back from my vacation two months ago, I wanted to write up my experiences and share my journal right away. But I got sick and life sucked me back in and I wasn't able to overcome that and get back to it. Until now. Posted in real-time fashion, I hope you enjoy reliving JCCC3 with me two months after the fact.

--------

Day 5

Should have made this diary read something like “Captain's Log, Cruise Day 5...” Oh well, nothing a little editing couldn't fix!

Belly is much better! Meds + time + sleep = better. Still hurts a little, but I've eaten twice. Last night I was feverish during the JoCo Live Band Karaoke. It was bad.

St. Martin/St. Maarten was so much nicer than St. Thomas yesterday. (I couldn't even write about it at the time because it was so bad.) Nice, air-conditioned bus picked us up at the port and took us to a beach with nice views (even from the back row) and nice lounge chairs (with cushions! The way to go!) and umbrellas for $3 (definitely worth it and necessary). I walked along the beach a little, but mostly sat and read. It was warm and peaceful. We got lunch at a restaurant behind us with little picnic-ish tables under roofs. The ribs and chicken were good, as was the rum punch and french bread. The guy who took our order said “Bonjour” [we were on the French side of the island] and I responded “Bonjour” in the worst French accent ever. As in completely an American accent. My French is a little rusty, what can I say. It rained for a few minutes, but we were under the awning. Our cushions got a little wet, but we found if we flipped them over, it was better. Then we were mostly in the shade at that point.

The tour guide was friendly and helpful, and was from Nevis. I wanted to ask her if she knew my friend's husband [who is also from Nevis – it's not that big, so it's completely reasonable she may have known him or his family], but I'm too shy and there was never a good time.

I got to finish reading my book on the beach. It was relaxing enough just because I wasn't thinking about work or interpersonal relationships, but I could have stayed there all day walking in the waves or doing nothing at all.

At a gift shop back at the port, the clerk hit on me and when we left, and Jessica was like “sure, you're the pretty one,” teasing me something like that. I told her she was “the Money” since she gave me a quarter to buy my postcards. Then I realized I was showing cleavage and she was not and that probably was why he was all creepy / “don't hide your pretty face behind your glasses”, because I really didn't look that good after being sick and sweating in the sun all day:

Side note: Jessica talks to herself a lot. She says it's because she normally works alone all day.

Today we had the best ~2 hours yet on the ship, wandering around while most people were still on shore. We took pictures of the art, watched the FlowRider being fixed, and watched from the upper deck as the ship left port.

For the evening's entertainment, Joseph Scrimshaw's bit about playing James Bond the video game made me laugh so hard I cried. We got sweet 2nd row seats next to our new friend Andy because we got there early after our afternoon running around the ship.

[At this point, you may be speculating, as I was, about the root cause of my intestinal distress. I've got only one guess, from my Day 2 adventures, when I wanted to be like Anthony Bourdain and eat the native food:

the conch of doom

Anthony Bourdain has had his fair share of eating regrets, though, too.]