Captain of the Bones

IMG_0289, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Tuesday, March 15th: St. Maarten

I must have low standards or something because everyone told me Saint Maarten sucks but I liked the place and we had a great time.

There is a nice beach near the cruise dock so we all went there for the day. I went in the water a few times but it was cold. That never stopped Brenden. He made a friend named Brett whose family was on the same cruise so they spent time together throughout the rest of the week.

St. Maarten had a lot of people on the beach hawking cheap merchandise, if there's a drawback to that place. But, it's fairly easy to smile and say 'no, thank you' so don't let that stop you.

We also bought a new camera while on the island, an SD 1400, and we also bought a new underwater case because the old one didn't fit the new camera. Here's a kicker - the new camera and case were about $50 less than what we paid for the old camera alone. All the photos that are up on Flickr currently were taken with the new camera.

That night was Pirate night - I'm glad Disney hasn't disbanded that tradition in light of the Somali pirates reminding everyone that pirates are really cruel, bloodthirsty, evil, vicious, and don't even say "ARRRR!". Of course Disney has a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out this summer. I am so torn about that. I've already bitched about them ruining my favorite Tim Powers book, but on the other hand, Ian McShane is in the new movie! And he's playing Blackbeard! How awesome is that!

I digress - Jon took Brenden up to the top deck where the party was and watched the fireworks. I watched them from our balcony.

Wednesday, March 16th: St. Thomas

We went on an excursion, sailing to a small island not too far off of Charlotte Amalie harbor to do some snorkeling. Brenden got flustered about the snorkeling and so I stayed on the boat with him while Jon got some nifty picks of turtles. On the way back he loaded up on the painkillers (the drink) being offered around but I stayed away from them. The last time I drank a painkiller I was on Jost Van Dyke and woke up back on St. John having no clue how I got back to the villa.

A woman sitting next to me got loaded up on painkillers and decided she and I were best friends. This is why I try to stick to beer.

The excursion itself was a lot of fun despite my lack of water time. On the other hand, it was frickin cold for the caribbean so I didn't regret it too much. The 'sail' part of the excursion is debatable - sails were hoisted but I don't know how much they helped the engines. But the crew was entertaining and got everyone into the fun of things, including letting the kids steer the ship a little as well as help with the sails. I realized I really miss kicking back on a boat and just watching the islands float by.

By the time we got back on the ship, Jon decided he needed more rum, so he returned to Charlotte Amalie and bought 6 liters of Cruzan rum. Like we don't have a 2 year supply back home. So now we have a 4 year supply.

I was sorry to see St. Thomas go as the cruise ship left the harbor, but instead of being totally bummed I reminded myself that we would be back in June (yay!). Jon had a hell of a hangover at dinner that night.

Aaand in case you are interested, here's a common painkiller recipe:

rum
coconut milk
equal parts pineapple and orange juice
garnish with ground nutmeg

I think the painkiller's deadliness lies in the fact that you can mix a hell of a lot of rum in this recipe without noticing it. It is quite tasty!