My first cruise is complete. Will i go on another? I could be talked into it, but one is probably enough. I can see it being very different with a romantic partner. Not better, just different.
Of course, my anxiety kicked in. I pretty much followed everyone else for the first few days, and then I got anxious. There are no indicators that its coming on, it just comes. I had no time alone for 12 days. I draw all my energy internally, and with no time alone to reboot, it got to be a lot for me.
There are people everywhere, all the time. I love Doug, Jen and Eddie, but i don't want to see ANYONE every day all day, EVER. It's a lot. And i'm quite sure i became a lot for them too. But, we all travel well together, thank the gods.
Thinking about how to break this down - so much to remember. I'll start with the islands. Bahamas, Nassau.......sucked ass. The people were mean, the prices were crazy, the place was dirty and if you wanted to touch a beach it was gonna cost you. It was raining, so no one was actually on the beach but my mission was to touch the ocean and collect a little bit of sand from each island we stopped at. There was a literal guard at the beach, which was surrounded by a tall metal fence with all garbage collected at its base. The man at the gate looked at me like i was bothering him. I asked him how much would it cost for me to run down to the beach, turn around and run back?
Mind you, not one person was on this filthy ass beach to start with.
He looked at me and with a deadpan voice said "$80 per person per day"....I asked him how much for 2 minutes? Same response. I said the beach is empty and it's raining. He just looked at me. Nice.
And the people ALONG THE PIER, i don't have any idea what the rest of the island is like, are very aggressive, and overwhelming. This place left a really bad taste in my mouth. Since i couldn't get sand, i picked up dirty pebbles. Bahamas can kick rocks.
Bahamas Nassau = No bueno. No desire to return.
Now, Dominican Republic- we ended up at a private beach because the men were too heavy to go ziplining. I was very disappointed, since I've been dreaming of zip lining for months. HOWEVER, we stay together and there was nothing to be done about it except change the plan.
The ride to the beach was.......an education. We Americans are very spoiled, and take a LOT for granted. I saw real poverty. Houses that are empty shells, falling down, and people living in them. Lots of mopeds.....moped gangs even. Traffic is all over the place. Garbage is part of the landscape, with beautiful mountains in the distance. The people we came in contact with were friendly. Our tour guide was funny and fun too. The beach was pretty, but the sand is just like Connecticut's. The WATER though.......gorgeous. It was clean, and we sat on cabana chairs and had drinks brought to us all day. Can't beat that. I recorded the ride out because there was a building i wanted to take a picture of and you can really see the difference in what tourists see and experience compared to how the people who work at these resorts live. If you walked down the beach, you could see where the beauty stopped and the debris and garbage started. If your town was consistently knocked down due to storms and there was little money to rebuild......you would live the same. It could happen to America too.
We need to keep our noses out of the air and appreciate the what we have.
Dominican Republic = Liked it a lot, would return.
The grand finale thought, was Grand Turks. This was the deciding factor for me. I had no desire to go on a cruise EVER but Jen talked me into it because it was for her 50th and Turks and Caicos was the carrot. It was everything i thought it would be, even though we were only there, in one place for the day. We booked a private home, with a private beach as an excursion. There were a total of 14 people. We spent the day on the beach, just us. We had gorgeous water, views, and sand. There was a ton of shells and sea glass to collect. The weather was perfect, the people who made us lunch and served us drinks (many) were so fun! We danced, we drank, we sunbathed and snorkeled. It was literally a perfect day.
Grand Turks = LOVED IT.
Pictures to be added.
They don't stamp your passport anymore apparently. I did go have an unofficial stamp added in DR because it was at the port. I didn't WANT one from the Bahamas, but i was disappointed not to get one at Grand Turks. Everything is electronic now.
The shopping was pretty much all the same. Tourist stuff. Cheap. I bought my granddaughter a hand made doll from DR, and collected some shells and sand for her. I bought Bill (i know, i know) a bag of money. Not kidding. It's what he loves.
He's a different entry.
The boat itself, will be a different entry.
For now, i'm doing laundry and trying to get my living situation back on track.
Comments
Post a Comment