The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes

First Mate's Log

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Impish:
Someone asked if there were pictures of the boat online.  There are:

Click http://www.travelpride.com/published/vacations/it06generalinfo.html for info about this specific cruise and look for a link to a Virtual Tour of the ship.

Click http://www.windstarcruises.com/ for pictures of the ship under sail from the cruise line's website.

_______________

Wednesday was our day at sea, sailing from Portovecchio to Ponza, an island off the Italian coast.  While the weather was extremely hot in Nice, once we got on to the sea things cooled down a lot, and we had perfect weather the entire trip. 

Wednesday there was an incredibly strong wind in the afternoon, so strong that the Captain announced he was putting out all sails and turning off the engine.  We were able to continue at about 10 knots under wind power alone, which is a lot, for the ship's top speed using the engines is only 12 knots!

A word about the Captain: he was tall, charming, British and extremely sexy.  He and his girlfriend, who lived with him on board, loved our group and took part in lots of our activities.  He had a very relaxed manner and a good sense of humor.  I hope to be able to post pictures of him after I figure out how to capture images from the DVD of the cruise. [Edit: I've attached two pics of him below]

I spent the day sunning by the pool, or reading a book on an outdoor lounging chair, or "chaise" as my mother would call them.  The wind was too strong for some, but I loved it, and particulaly going to the front of the ship and getting the wind directly toward me.  Passengers weren't allowed to go all the way forward to the bow sprit, that little extension at the very tip of the ship that hangs out over the water.  You know, the place were DiCaprio stood in Titanic and screamed "I'm king of the world!"

Going there and shouting "I'm queen of the world!" was one of my goals and I kept looking for an opportunity to privately ask the captain if I could go out there, even if only for 5 or ten minutes.  If that didn't work, I was scheming to go out their in the middle of the night sometime.  Only problem is that the ship's Bridge  looks directly at the bow sprit so I didn't think I'd get away with it.

I got a tour of the bridge on Wednesday.  A very large room that spans the width of the ship with so many buttons, dials, gauges, switches and computer monitors one would think you could fly to the moon from there.  I learned there that the reason they never were able to use the aft-most sail (there are 5 masts and 7 sails altogether) is that they just had it replaced and it was made too thick for the automated doo-hickey that unfurls it ("doo-hickey" is one of those nautical terms I learned on board  ::)), and each sail costs $50,000.  That's right, fifty-thou for a single piece of triangular material!

I joined 3 others for dinner at the "alternative" restaurant on board, called the Bistro.  It's much smaller than the main dining room, and so one must make reservations for it.  It wasn't any better in terms of food than the main restaurant, and it was a lot noisier, so we all agreed it was a once-per-cruise experience.

I think Wed. night was the Toga Party:  Travelpride supplied sheets and instructions for wrapping them around you to make them into togas.  I didn't go to it, or any of the theme parties...  I was in bed by 11p every night.  But I heard from others -- and saw it on the DVD last night -- that one young man from Australia was a belly dancer, and he appeared in full belly-dancing regalia, including a chain of bangles that extended from his pierced ear to his pierced nose.

There was a midnight skinny-dipping party every night (and the top-most deck was declared the "clothing optional" deck for tanning.  As I said, the Captain had a very relaxed attitude!).

Finally in today's report, I want to tell you about the Buff Twins.  These two lovers were extremely muscular and extremely identical:  height, weight, and all measurements:  even their pecs were exactly the same (huge) size.  One never appeared without the other, and they always wore matching clothes, either identical or the inverse color-wise.  So if one was wearing nothing but little tie-up sailor short-shorts that were navy blue with white stripes, the other had on a white one with navy blue stripes.  They didn't have separate wardrobes anymore: their physiques were so identical all clothes were for both of them.  I caught a glimpse of 'em naked on the tanning deck, and the only way they differed was in their nether regions, with one being better endowed than the other. 

I never got a chance to talk with them at length, but others told me they were sweet if a bit empty-headed.  They had been together for over a decade, and I was very curious as to how they met.  They give the phrase "a perfect match" new meaning and it was heart-warming to see them together.  A picture of the Buff Twins is another one I hope to be able to post sometime soon.

Tomorrow is Thursday, and I'll report about the Thursday of the cruise.  I'm really sorry I wasn't able to do so from the ship.  I know this is anti-climatic coming after the fact....

Ciao,

ImpishNotAtSeaAnyLonger

David:
Welcome home!

    Trip sounded great so far!    I can't wait to hear the rest!   

D-i-H     ;D

Impish:
I opened my eyes on Thursday morning to find myself looking out cabin's porthole at steep cliffs quite nearby.  We had anchored at Ponza, a tiny island off the Italian coast. [Edit: added a pic of Ponza below]

After my morning coffee and croissant in my room (did I mention that 24-hour room service was included at no extra charge?) I joined the "tender" to go to shore (I just love tossing about these nautical terms).  The harbormaster had made our Captain stay well outside the tiny little harbor and so our boat ride to the shore was almost a half-hour, longer than usual.

Ponza was special because most tourists haven't discovered it yet, and the large cruise ships can't get in at all (the water's not deep enough), so the little village remains largely unspoiled.  Once ashore, you climb a set of stairs to get to the main drag, a promenade that circles the harbor's waterfront.  I was able to pick up a few little trinkets at charming little shops, including a T-shirt for myself (I didn't have the nerve to buy the one that made me laugh: it a big arrow pointing up to your face with the words "The Man" and a big arrow pointing down captioned "The Legend"), then went to sit at a cafe table with a seat by the little wall at the edge of the promenade.  I did some people watching --   alright already!  boy watching  -- and worked on my Sudoku puzzles. 

On the way back, I saw a little pendant of a mermaid that upon closer inspection proved to be Ariel, from Disney's Little Mermaid.

That was significant because in Miss Coco Peru's show earlier in the week, she included this very funny and touching monologue about how important Ariel was to her when she was growing up in the Bronx, and sang (not lip-synced but sang) Ariel's main ballad from the movie "Part of Your World."

So I just had to buy it for Miss Coco, and lo and behold when I returned to the harbor to wait for the tender back to the ship, there was Clinton Leupp, Miss Coco's alter ego.  I gave him the little bag saying with overly dramatic tone "this gift should have great significance for your life."  Now remember that all Clinton knew about me was my story about watching the movie Trick, which I told him when I found him next to me in the buffet line.

He opened the bag, and was delighted to find a mermaid, then looked at it more closely, and screamed "OHMYGOD!  It really IS Ariel !!!"  He said that he's received lots of mermaid figurines but this was the first one that was actually the Disney character.  He was really touched by the gift.

He asked me to come sit with him (and his manager) while we waited and got to know each other better. He's a super guy, witty, charming, and sincere.  He asked his manager to take a picture of us together, and after that, I told him it would mean a lot to me if he could email me that picture along with one of me and Miss Coco in full dress.  Coco was going to do another show Saturday night so we arranged to have that picture taken then.

Back on the ship, I had lunch, a swim (actually, the pools were so tiny that all you can do is float in the salt water which is nevertheless a relaxing experience), then my nap.  Then more coffee in my room as I read my novel, then read some more on a chaise outside watching the world go by; we were on our way to Amalfi.

Thursday was the day I began to have problems getting here to post my updates.  I tried a couple of times that day (and Friday was well) and I would have to wait forever for each screen to draw, and then when I tried to enter this thread, the screen would freeze altogether.  I was very frustrated because I wanted to stay in touch, not to mention the fact that I was being charged by the minute.  Staring at the blank screen while the clock was ticking was driving me crazy, and each visit to the internet center left me in a foul mood.

Just before dinner, I went to the Compass Rose, the indoor-outdoor bar at the back of the ship on the deck above and overlooking one of the pools.  There were small groups of people around tables chatting away, and it hit me that I didn't feel comfortable enough to just join them.  So I sat by myself and thought about the situation.  I realized that because I didn't go to the dances and late-night parties, most others had had more opportunities than I  to meet others and strike up friendships, and I didn't take full advantage of the opportunities that I did  have.  This was my hermit nature revealing itself.

But then I remembered, while looking at the younger men on the cruise, that once upon a time I was just like them:  body constantly moving to the beat even when seated, at ease among relative strangers, drinking like a fish, flirting left and right.  Having the time of their lives, partying non-stop while on vacation.  I wondered where that former self had gone...  was it my simply that my latent hermit-ness had come out, or was this just the experience of aging, common to all of us?  Was I missing something of value when I chose to have my morning coffee by myself in my room, even though I truly enjoyed that little ritual?  In other words, why shouldn't I be content with the choices I made?

I thought about these and similar questions for a while and didn't come upon solid answers, but I did realize that I was being foolish to get depressed about it.  I'm so fortunate in so many ways -- the ability to go on this cruise being the least of them -- and to feel sorry for myself (if indeed that's what was happening) was the height of ...  oh, I dunno... arrogance? selfishness?  Something like that. 

So I mentally gave myself a kick in the butt and my mood pick up a bit.

The entertainment that night was a straight couple "AndrewVictoria" doing a cabaret act.  I missed this one altogether, but heard the next day from several independent sources that they were truly bad, so I didn't miss anything.

That was my Thursday, already a week ago.  I haven't mentioned something about the water of the Mediterranean sea yet.  I always thought of truly deep water as green, and when I saw the light blue waters off of Nice, I attributed it to the shallowness of the water there.  But when we got far enough out to sea, I discovered the Med is a dark navy blue that somehow remains vivid despite its darkness.  When there is enough wind to make waves, the "whitecaps" are actually a pastel powder blue.  On the sides and astern of the ship where the stabilizers or propellers, respectively, have churned up the water to mix in more oxygen, the water is the most brilliant turquoise that lasts a surprisingly long time....  the trail of turquoise water behind the ship extended as far as the eye could see.

Tomorrow's report: Friday at Amalfi and Sorrento.

Front-Ranger:
Wow! I could feel the wind and salt spray as I read your post! More, more!!

Impish:
On Friday, we spent the morning on the waters off of Amalfi, then made a short midafternoon sail to Sorrento, where we anchored for the night.  These were the two ports of call that I didn't go on shore. [Edit: added a pic of Amalfi below]

Both towns are built on the cliffs that descend into the sea; these people  live vertically.  Amalfi was the more dramatic of the two, and it was hard to understand how the first settlers arrived centuries ago, looked at these high mountains with their steep cliffs and absolutely no shore to speak of and said "let's build a village here." 

But the houses are scattered up the cliffside, making it an amazing view from the water.  The highest are at the top of the mountain -- just a few way up there -- with the little cobblestone driveways to reach them so steep that you couldn't force me to get in a car and go up them...  it looked to me like a car going up would simply flip over front over back.

The very highest was the house of Gore Vidal: it was where Jackie Kennedy took her kids after JFK was assassinated to get away from it all.  It's for sale, for a cool 25 million!

Anyway, I took in all those stairways and steep roads and decided I wouldn't bother going ashore (my back doesn't do too well on inclines).  I told myself I would try at Sorrento, but it was almost as bad and  I was happy to live the life of Reilly on the ship: sunning, swimming, reading, lounging, gaping at the twins (see above).

The lunch on Friday was the outdoor BBQ, and they had grills going for ribs, chicken, flank steak, lamb chops... and lobster tails!  This was my first all-the-lobster-you-can-eat experience, but I didn't take full advantage of it because the ribs and lamb chops were so good.  I lunched with a guy who had 8 lobster tails...  and that was on top of the other things!

So about the food:  it was plentiful, beautifully presented,  but it wasn't top-notch cuisine as I had hoped.  I had to remind myself that the galley was preparing food for almost 400 people including the crew, and preparing for such numbers always takes its toll.  Friday's BBQ was the best meal of them all.  But believe me, I'm not complaining.  The food wasn't in any way bad, just not very adventurous, and the coffee was excellent and there was a "Build Your Own Sundae" bar available at all times, two of the most important foodstuffs, in my opinion!   8)

During my afternoon float in the pool, a handsome young man was floating next to me and I heard him speak French so I struck up a conversation with him.  I hadn't seen him before, and he turned out to be the magician that would do a show Saturday night.  His mom was French and his Dad Italian (or vice versa, I can't remember which), and they spent part of the year in France and part in Rome.  I was extremely attracted to him, and envied his life in Paris.

Late Friday afternoon, he did some "close-up" magic during the cocktail hour in the Compass Rose Bar.  He was very good and had a good sense of humor in his patter.  My crush on him continued to develop.

The late-night show was Pamela Stanley again, the chanteuse that sang the first night.  Once again, I was abed by that time, being gently rocked to sleep by the anchored ship.

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