We were surprised when we booked our flight on Spirit to Fort
Lauderdale that it was at 2 in the afternoon and not early morning. Guess we
got lucky on that one. If you have not heard of Spirit, they have the lowest
prices for flights. That is before you order your seat, check your luggage and
check your carryon. They allow you a
small bag to carry on and yes the computer counts as one, so you cannot have a
purse and a computer, better stow that computer in your purse or vise versa. If
you have long legs better pay extra for a seat with more legroom, my knees were
touching the front seat and on my back there was a bubble that made me sit
there with an arched back, imagine trying to have the computer open with the
narrow seats and having your chest pushed out do to the bubble in the seat back
and trying to type on the computer, almost impossible and definitely very
uncomfortable. There are snacks onboard but everything has its price including
sodas and water for 3 dollars each, nothing is free, you even have to buy a
pillow or blanket if you are cold. It’s probably the only airline I’ve ever
been on that has the overhead bins empty with commercial stickers on them. Sid
kept pointing at the airplane pamphlet that said Airbus on it. I finally got it;
it’s a bus with wings yeah!!!! Fortunately it was just a 3 hour flight so not
too bad, but we both agreed that we would not fly any longer than just that. It
was also was packed with screaming kids and diaper changing odor lingered in
the air. So make sure you go to the bathroom before you get on and bring a good
book and an iPod.
Fort Lauderdale immigration and custom was a bit confusing but we
made it out in a little over an hour.
Getting our rental car at Alamo was easy and at 7:30 pm we were on our
way north to Ellijay in Georgia. We stopped at a rest stop near Daytona and got
a couple hours of rest before continuing our trip to Macon where we got a new
ATT Sim card, (they had given our phone numbers we had for the last two years,
away. The plan I chose, 60 dollar for unlimited calls and text even to Panama,
plus Internet cost me 73 bucks, hmmm, and in the two weeks we were in the US I
managed maybe 4 times to get on the Internet, all my messages to Panama did not
go through and in most places we had no horrible coverage, then ATT refused to
refund the money for not being able to text or use Internet. Guess next time
it’s going to be Verizon).
Driving through Atlanta is always exciting as the street signs are
confusing but we found the other end and from here it was another 1 ½ to
Ellijay. Nancy used to be the Dock Mistress at the Ortega Yacht Club Marina. It
was a huge welcome from both of them and we had a wonderful time catching up. They
live in a very cute log cabin in the woods with deer roaming everywhere. They took us for a little walk through their
property where we found a little platform with benches, sat down, relaxed and watched
some more deer come by while we caught up on our life. As sunset closed in we
headed up to the house, settled in while Terry started the outdoor fireplace. Nancy
made some Snacks and then we sat around the warm fire enjoying the brisk
evening.
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| Nancy and Terry |
They have two beautiful Abyssinian cats, one is very shy and not
even Terry can get close to her. I was not even 5 minutes in the house I had him
roll over in front of me begging to be pet. I even picked him up and he schmoozed
with me. Nancy was shocked to see that but was thrilled to see that there is
hope to get a kitty sitter for the next vacation.
On our last visit here they took us up to Blue Ridge Mountain.
What a cute little town with the coolest tourist store, I couldn’t wait to visit
all the cute stores again. There was a new store with nothing but Olive oils
and we tasted most of them. They have at least 50 different flavored olive oils
from coconut, to lime, espresso you name it, plus several different flavored
balsamic vinegars, amazing. I could not make up my mind which one I liked most.
Just a bit outside of town is an apple farm where we tasted at
least 10 different types of apples as juicy as they can get and bought some for
our road trip. Nancy spoiled us with a wonderful salmon dinner with lots of
vegetables, yum. We had a wonderful time
but after two short days it was time to head on. Terry gave us directions for
the back way to Knoxville which took us through the most scenic windy roads
towards Tennessee. The trees were at their peak with fall colors it was spectacular.
In Knoxville we first hit the guitar store I fell in love with one
I saw last June then Trader Joe’s. I am now
the proud owner of an awesome guitar and my galley is loaded with goodies again
from TJ’s.
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| Tree at Kari's house |
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| My sweet Cordoba guitar |
Kari was excited to see us and we were hugely relieved to see how
well she looked compared to last time and that she managed to get back on her
feet after the loss of her husband Bob last June. Bob always cooked the most incredible Mexican
meals so we kept the tradition and took Kari out to her favorite Mexican
Restaurant. It was really wonderful to see Kari in good spirit and knowing that
she is going to be fine. We spent only one night with her then continued our
whirlwind tour.
Our next stop was Sid’s cousin Nancy in West End NC. She looked
really happy and was all excited to introduce us to her girlfriend Nancy. Yes,
two Nancy’s so that made three Nancy’s so far we visited. Her Nancy is super
nice and we all had a great time catching up and getting to know each other. Of
course many childhood stories came up again when Sid was visiting each summer.
Nancy calls him the Hoodlum from California and hearing all the stories it’s a
well deserved name. Early the following morning, Sid snuck out and surprised
his cousin O’Neal and spent a few hours catching up with him. This guy owns a
hunting ranch and has some pretty good stories. His son just shot a 19 point buck
and made the papers.
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| Figs |
Nancy asked us if we liked oysters. Do we like oysters? 5 minutes
later we were sitting in the car driving to the newly opened Oyster Bar in Pine
Hurst. There is no table in there but four bars around the shucking area. We ordered
Bloody Mary and sipped on it until the big bucket of fresh oysters was brought
out. Along with it we ordered some char grilled oysters. OMG were they good, we
ordered some more and we all agreed next time we’ll order only the char grilled
oysters. The flavor was out of this world.
Nancy said that this will be their Sunday tradition from now on, Can’t
wait to come up here next time. After two nights it was time to say goodbye again
and to hit the road.
Our next stop was at Jim and Nancy’s (Nancy #4) in Stuart but unfortunately
only for one night. You probably wonder why we do this just the one or two
night thing. Well, we do have so many friends on this side and try to visit as
many as possible, crazy huh?!!! But so worth it. Jim and Nancy are always fun
to visit, we caught up on the last few months but mainly laughed about the fun
times we had in Mexico together and how we used to get in trouble doing so. There
is never a dull moment in their house either, just like it was in Mexico.
We knew Bill and Nell were on their way back from Key West to
Virginia and visited the boat show in Fort Lauderdale. What perfect timing. We
needed to go to Fort Lauderdale anyway, so what better place to meet them. The
girls first went shopping at Fresh Produce then we enjoyed lunch at
Mango’s. For as little time as we had we
did a pretty good job catching up. Unfortunately we all still had a long ways
to go so it was a rather short lunch.
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| Sid's Tuna and Mango Salad |
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| My grilled Veggie Plate |
Our next stop Dale and Sandy in Key Largo, our home away from
home, it really feels like coming home every time we drop in. Dale loves to
cook and had a wonderful dinner ready for us.
They both just came back from a two months vacation to Italy and Holland
and had some pretty good stories to tell. The following day Dale and Sid went
to West Marine and to pick up our mail while Sandy and I hit Miami for some
shopping. She hadn’t been to the new TJ’s on Dixie HWY so once more I had the
chance to do a few more laps around each isle at the new Trader Joe’s. We
always have a great time shopping together.
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| All our mail |
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| How is this all going to fit in the car? |
Later on Dale suggested we should
go on a canal trip for sunset, but not without a 1.75 liter bottle of wine. I
had my own, Sid had his rum and coke and Sandy helped Dale a little with the
wine. The canal tour was fun and the bottle empty when we returned. Dale didn’t
remember the following morning that we made pizza for dinner to which he helped
pour some beer on the dough. We really had a lot of fun.
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| Yoho, yoho a Pirates life for me............. |
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| Yollollihoo |
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| My next fishing boat!! |
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| This was fun!!!! |
Sid’s doctor visit went good, his cholesterol is at a very healthy
low and he passed his blood test with flying colors. He said he studied well
for it, it showed. When he mentioned to his doctor about his second time being
screwed out of his evaluation appointment with the VA, he was told that all the
scheduling for that is computerized and nothing can be done about it. Really?!!!
So he’s on the very bottom of the list again.
We stayed two nights with Dale and Sandy then it was time to hit
the road again back to Wilmington in NC. Yes we’re nuts but Megan is very
important to us. We would have visited her after visiting Kari or Nancy but she
just underwent chemo for her breast cancer and was not feeling so well so we
postponed our visit. Good thing we had the trip postponed as Greg was in LA at
the time and he arrived just a couple hours after we did.
On our drive up we drove by Jacksonville just around dinner time.
Sid told me to decide where we would have dinner. Took me about a split second to
punch in our new destination into the GPS which took us off the Freeway and to our
favorite restaurant in Jacksonville “Clark’s Fish Camp” http://www.clarksfishcamp.com/
This is really a unique restaurant right on the river with gators
and turtles and the inside is decorated with all kinds of stuffed animals from
around the world. Now they even have a tank inside with a 6 foot friendly
gator. The menu is still the same with way too many things to order but no matter
what you choose it’s wonderful. It’s really worth stopping here!
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| Yum, that was good |
After indulging in our Low Country Boil we drove for another couple of
hours and spent the night in a hotel near Brunswick. This was actually funny,
we checked into the first motel and when we opened our room it was like
stepping into an ashtray so we drove back to the lobby and asked if he had a “non
smoking” room. He disappeared for a while then came back and handed me a key to
room 109. I tried to open the door, the card did not work so I tried a couple
more time then the door opened and a sleepy faced young guy looked puzzled at
me. The guy at the desk was shocked when I told him the room was occupied, he
insisted that they had checked out! We ended up spending the night across the
street at Days Inn with a nice clean big room.
Megan is doing wonderful and looked great, so did Greg. It’s
always good to see them. After Greg’s specialty Margarita we enjoyed some yummy
Cornish game hens Manuela cooked. I cooked those last time and Megan said she
had been craving them ever since and had them waiting for me. The following day Megan and I went shopping
and guess what? Yes I did a few more laps around the isles of yet another
Trader Joe’s. They have a cheddar cheese with chocolate, this time I bought it,
just too curious about it and hmmm, not so sure how well we like it but it was definitely
different and interesting!
You never suffer on food nor drinks at the Bilson’s. For our second dinner Greg spoiled us with his huge thick steaks BBQ’d to perfection. We ate until we almost popped and we sat till way into the night sipping on red wine and talking away.
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| Greg preparing his wonderful BM's |
After two nights it was time to say goodbye again and
off we went back to Florida, this time Boca Raton.
A few days back I went on Facebook I usually don’t follow up but
one thing caught my eye “Ortega”. Steve and Anne and their boat Fineline are
docked in a marina on the Ortega River. I contacted them and told them that
we’d be stopping again at Clark’s Fish Camp for lunch. There we met and had a
wonderful lunch along with catching up on several years of life, it was so good
see them again we sure wish we had more time. They were impressed with the
place and definitely will go back while in Jacksonville.
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| Gumbo |
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| Fried Seafood Plate |
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| Trout |
Jerry, an ex partner of Sid’s, and his wife Mimi opened their
doors for our last three days in Florida. Unfortunately Mimi had to work, she
manages a “Chops Lobster Bar” a high end restaurant so we visited her at work
and sat in the bar section for some appetizers. We hardly ever order fries but
when I saw “Truffle French Fries” on the menu we could not resist and ordered
them. Wow, delicious, best fries ever, cooked to perfection drizzled with
truffle oil and we even found a generous amount of truffles pieces mixed in
with the fries. You bet next time I cook fries I’ll drizzle some black truffle
oil over them, yum. Sounds like we drove
from one meal to the next!
In the two days we were here we managed to buy the few things left
on our shopping list and we finally managed to relax. The boys dropped me off
at a mall and they went for West Marine. I found the coolest store called “The
container store” http://www.containerstore.com/welcome.htm wow awesome store if you see
one, go look at the kewl stuff they sell.
For the second dinner Jerry took
us to Deck 84 located in Delray Beach. We were seated on the patio overlooking
the ICW. We all came for fish tacos but when I heard the special was rack of
lamb that was what I had for dinner. The best rack of lamb ever!
On our third day Mimi managed to get off at 3 pm and she took us
to her favorite restaurant the “City Fish Market also located in Boca Raton. She
knew the manager and I guess they visit each other and spoil each other in either
restaurant. We were barely seated our drinks were brought to our table, then several servers placed 6 seafood appetizers in
front of us. Wow what a feast. For dinner I ordered my favorite fish, Chilean
Seabass, which was served on a bed of spinach. Man, you should have seen the
dinner plates Sid and Jerry received. They both ordered a whole hog fish which was
too big for the plate.
I don’t even remember if we had desert or not but it was a
fabulous dinner and came out that the managers take care of each other’s bill
as well.
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| Look at the size |
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| Seabass |
This was a good stay and we even managed to relax between the
shopping and eating and forgot about the many hours we sat in the car.
We had to return our rental car in Fort Lauderdale, tried to
return it closer to the Terminal in Miami but were told that it is not possible
the second time we asked we were told for an outrageous fee of $169 we could
return it in Miami, yikes, are they nuts?!! Jerry was so nice and offered to
drive Sid. Sid dropped me off at the Miami Terminal called Jerry and they met
at the Alamo car rental in Ft. Lauderdale and he then drove Sid back to the
Terminal.
Thanks Jerry that was very sweet of you and is very appreciated.
Bill and Nell thanks again for lunch. Steve and Anne thanks for renting
a car and meeting us at Clark’s.
Terry, Kari, Dale, Sandy, Greg, Megan, Jerry, Mimi, Jim and the 4 Nancy’s
thank you all soooooooooo much opening your home to us and spoiling us as you
did. As always it was great to see you all and hopefully next time we will have
a little more time to visit.
Every April the cruise ships are sailing out of the Caribbean and
head over to the Med for hurricane season and in November they bring the boats
back which they call Relocation Cruise. I tell you the price is right! The
staterooms start at 99 per day. Combining the total cost of the cruise 391.00
(including gratuity) and the flight 370.00 we pretty much saved on a round trip
airline ticket. The best about this there is no restrictions how much to bring
on the cruise, as long as it fits in your stateroom. Luckily we had upgraded
our car as it was full to the roof with just a little space for Sid to sea out
the back. We were a bit worried about how much luggage we had but then the car
that unloaded right after us had at least double the amount of boxes and suite
cases.
One couple moving to Boquette rented a separate stateroom and filled it
up with furniture they unloaded in U-Haul. After getting everything on a cart
the guy helping me rolled it away and for me it was:
Hello “Vision of the Sea” here I come!!! It was so exciting to step
on the huge ship where we spent the following three days and nights. This was
my first cruise and I felt like a little kid going for the first time to Disney
Land.
We had arrived pretty early so not too many people at the check-in
counters. It took just a few minutes and I had my cruise ship pass. I had about
30 people in front of me in line waiting to get on the ship and waited about ½
hour before we could proceed. Just as they opened the gate I saw Sid coming in
and getting his pass so I waited on the upper floor for him. I had of
time taking some photos of him.
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| Is he reading the ships manual? |
We were
told that the Staterooms were not ready until 1:30 but that the Windjammer
Restaurant was ready for us. Pretty much at the same time as we stepped on the
boat it started raining as a result of a cold front heading south, we knew this
could be a rough trip.
Stepping into the ship was overwhelming; the center of the ship is
huge and 6 stories high with balcony around each floor, amazing. We were warmly
greeted by the staff and motioned to the elevator and on deck 9 we found a nice
size pool and beyond it the Windjammer Restaurant. There are two entrances on
either side of the ship which gets you immediately to the buffet on both sides.
Beyond there were two more buffet areas plus a dessert bar. We found a kewl window
seat up front and enjoyed our brunch.
Our luggage pretty much all fit in the closet, the solar panels stored next to
the sofa and you can’t really walk around the bed anyway; we stored the rest of
our stuff there. It took as about 5 minutes to settle in and we hit the deck
again and explored the entire ship. It was getting time for departure so we
went to the highest point of the ship bought a cocktail at the bar and sat in
one of the comfy sofas overlooking the pool side.
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| Drink of the day |
There was an orientation for first time cruisers so I left Sid behind and joined the tour. It was nothing new for me as Sid and I had already toured the ship so I decided to go to the bow and enjoy the sail out of the harbor from there. Didn’t get far as the bow is off limits but I managed to get a pretty good view of the breakwater and the breaking seas beyond it. The sky was dark and squall after squall was grouping up and the water was filled with white caps. There was a good spray of saltwater hitting the deck, time to go back to the bar.
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| Man over board drill |
In the mean time we ran into everybody we know from Puerto Lindo:
Del and Sandy, Betty and Owen, Tom and Julie and Marcie and John, we all had a
wonderful time and ran into each other here and there had lunch or dinner
together.
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| Betty and Owen |
One squall after another hit and the boat was slowly rolling from
side to side and up and down, the pools were sloshing over the sides. The weather was squally and now and then the
captain warned us about a strong squall approaching. Each time the rain was
diagonally coming across the deck. What a difference the motion of this ship is
compared to what we would go through in our little boats in this kind of
weather.
We decided to have dinner at the restaurant instead of buffet,
good choice and we decided this was the way to go. The service was top notch
and the menu changed every night. At our first dinner I could not make up my
mind which of the 8 appetizers I wanted to order, the server just said order
whatever you want. So we both had escargots, mango gazpacho and Carpaccio. Sid
ordered the salmon and I had the rack of lamb. If you order a bottle of wine
and don’t drink it all they will store it for you for the next meal, what
service. After dinner we headed to the Theater for the first show, songs of the
70s, pretty good entertainment. Sid was tired and retired to our stateroom so I
went to Karaoke by myself, what fun that was.
We woke up to still a pretty strong roll and as we hit deck 9 for
the breakfast buffet a squally sky greeted us and the sea was filled with white
caps.
The ships speed was 20 knots and we had 45 to 47 knots of wind
sweeping the deck. The top deck with the running track and the climbing wall
had to be closed and all sun chairs where tide up as they were freely moving
around. In between squalls we were able to see the Cuban coast. The bad weather
did not bother us as there was plenty to do on the ship. Casino, Ping Pong,
indoor pool, 8 different restaurants, 8 different bars, shopping and art
gallery, ice cream stand, theater. It seemed like all we did was riding the elevator
from floor to floor then walking miles and miles.
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| Del and Sandy |
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| Tom on Gris Gris |
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| Julie on Gris Gris |
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| A Selfy |
There was so much to do on the ship, I wore myself out and
definitely wore Sid out. Oh, I competed
in the ping pong tournament and walked away with a silver medal. Third day I
didn’t do so good.
Game point:
The second evening was the Captain’s welcoming party with free
champagne, a chance to take photos with the captain plus entertainment.
Following was a show at the theater with a female entertainer. She
was not just a comedian but sang some pretty good songs and had us in stitches.
The best song was Guantanamera which she wanted everybody to sing along. For
those who did not know Spanish she said to just sing: One ton tomato, we ate a
one ton tomato………. Hilarious! Karaoke
was next, this time Sid, Sandy and Marcie joined me and all the singers from
the previous night were there.
It was fun and I even had a fan club.
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| The made left this hilarious towel animal |
Third day the weather had calmed down a bit but the water in the
pools was still sloshing over the sides. The indoor was more like wave machine
and looked so much fun I just had to ride the waves. It was huge fun.
The last evening we were spoiled with a pretty good goodbye show
in the Centrum. It was pretty amazing with an incredible acrobatic show with 3
people bunging up and down from the ceiling, it was pretty kewl.
We were told that all the luggage had to be in front of the
staterooms by 11 at night so before we hit the theater and Karaoke we put
everything into the hallway. There was a lot of stuff everywhere that was for
sure. I cannot even imagine how many employees it took to clear all the luggage
from 1400 guests. One of the employees told us that she’s never seen so much
stuff being brought onto a ship!
 |
| and all our stuff |
We got up at 6 to watch the sunrise we’ve been missing the last
two mornings and realized that everybody’s luggage was gone including our suite
cases and duffle bags but not our boxes. Hmmm? After telling the reception all
was picked up. We enjoyed a last brunch
and watched us enter the harbor at San Cristobel light.
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| What fun!!! |
We had to almost stop
to wait for a freighter to exit, the entrance is very narrow. When we left
Miami the captain told everyone that we would arrive at 0732 hrs, a quick look
at my watch showed exactly 0732 hrs as we went through the entrance. Then we were gathered in the theater to await
our departure. They split it up in groups and we were in the last group. Didn’t
take long before one of the Entertainment Personnel announced it on the speaker
system that we can leave the ship now, Sid and I both got up and when she saw
me leaving I heard: “Bye Manuela” over the speaker system, what a hoot. This
was truly a wonderful experience and be both agreed to do it next November
again if they still do this relocation cruise.
Going through immigration was a breeze and the luggage was all
waiting within the group number we had. A friendly guy loaded it up on a cart
and to our amazement there was no customs we just walked out of the huge hall.
It didn’t take long for Cindy to show up and all we had plus an extra
suite case barely fit into her big car. With a quick shopping stop at Rey we
arrived 2 hours later at home exhausted. I was not going to unpack yet but Sid
started, which was a good thing as he realized we had left one suite case
behind. Yikes!!! We did not need an adrenaline rush like this. Off we rushed to
the car. Pam who had used the car while we were gone came out to warn us that
the tires were low, so Sid tired to back the car up to the garage but the right
rear brake was stuck. It took him a couple of times hitting the break before it
broke loose. I drove out on the street, the steering wheel was shaking and the
car was pulling to the right. Immediately I turned around and headed back. (Sid
worked on it the next day and rotated the tires and found the front right rim
bent so bad which caused the problem, luckily he could hammer it back.)
We took the blue truck and 1 ½ later we arrived at the terminal
again, fearing the worst that the suite case was not there. It had lots of
valuable stuff in it, including 2 brand new kindles for Runner. I had to get a
police escort in order to get back into the hall as they were already loading
passengers onto the ship. All went well and a few minutes later I left with our
suite case, a very exhausted Happy Ending.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
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