We finally made it!

We finally made it to Florida for our cruise – delayed x3, but there.

Delay #1 – Murphy’s emergency surgery (he’s doing fine, getting wonderful care at the boarding facility). Lost Tuesday and Wednesday travel days.
Delay #2 – Thursday morning, up early to leave, dogs dropped off and Stu went to park the pickup in the pole barn. As he got something off the passenger seat of the truck, when he turned, his shoulder hit the hydraulic fluid reservoir for the lift and it came crashing down, spilling fluid all over him. Time for a shower and I had two loads of laundry to do. His pants and sweatshirt went in the washer while I hand washed his wool shirt and cardigan. Then the wool items had to be rinsed in the washer to get the excess water out so I could hang them. We just hope all the smells and stains are gone when we get home.
Delay #3 – On the road, traffic on both side of Atlanta was horrible. We lost two hours, at a minimum, and were exhausted. Plus, it was now dark so we ended up spending the night in McDonough, GA instead of the planned Cordele, GA. That meant day two of driving would be a long day. Since we were down to one night at my brother’s in Florida, we changed our plans and spent the night in Daytona instead, leaving us a one hour drive on Saturday.

Saturday we woke to torrential rains – another fun adventure. We checked out of the hotel and hopped over to a close McDonalds for breakfast. Since we had several hours to kill, that was as good place as any. The rain was slowing to a drip by the time we drove into our port parking. They were using a building for passengers waiting for the shuttle and by the time we boarded, the sun was out. Boarding was a breeze but the two days had taken a toll on me. I was beat so moved my pedicure from 6:15 to Sunday morning. Before dinner we stopped for a cappuccino from Blue Java and sat in the center stage seating to see the first entertainment.

Dinner was a new restaurant we hadn’t tried before, ChiBang, that serves both Chinese and Mexican fare. It was very good and the wait staff we had were terrific.

When we left, we passed over the center stage area two decks below us. There was a band playing “My Funny Valentine”. The first thing we noticed was the brass players, then the singer. Fantastic, and the trumpet player gave me chills during one short solo piece. We agreed we needed to see the whole show next Sunday night. One benefit to back-to-back (B2B) cruises – what you miss one week, you can see/do/eat the next.

Sunday we woke after a good night of sleep for both of us, no major plans for the day since it was a sea day. I took a shower, got my pedicure and joined Stu in the Lido food area for some lunch.

I spent the afternoon there, catching up on things that were easier to do on the computer than the iPad. Stu did a tour of the Pig & Anchor brewery. I started the first Europe blog post, then realized it was going to be dinner time soon.  Beer nap was next in Stu’s  agenda. He woke just in time to see the sunset.

We didn’t want anything heavy, so we got sandwiches at the panini place. From there we headed to the Pig and Anchor to check out their band. On our previous Mardi Gras cruise, we didn’t care for the band that was there. This group was much better and we stayed until they finished their set. From there we headed to the Brass Magnolia to see if the band we saw the night before were the ones performing there.

Yes and no. Two of the horn players (trumpet and trumbone) were there with the jazz trio, plus a flute player. Soft jazz (think Bosch’s taste). Then they ended the set with My Funny Valentine. When they were done, we chatted with most of the band members. The jazz trio were from Bogota, Columbia. The trumpet player was from Mexico, and the flute player was from Macedonia. Great guys! They have a private performance on Thursday night and we got tickets from them (free, but invite only). We have our steak dinner on Thursday but that’s at 7:30 and the show is at 10:30. Plus, they will be doing it on one of the other two cruises, so we will catch it for sure.

Now it’s Tuesday and Cozumel. Cloudy and rainy but we weren’t getting off anyway.

It cleared as the morning progressed and I spotted a bunch of fish just below us.

I will be editing, A DEADLY HEART, this afternoon – tomorrow is Costa Maya. We didn’t arrive in Cozumel until 10am, tomorrow we port at 8am so I expect the Lido to be quieter.

PHOTO ALBUMS:

• 1/06 Port Canaveral
• 1/07 Sea Day
• 1/08 Cozumel, Mexico