Cruise II

I should point out that I'm posting these retroactively - there was little or no connectivity on the cruise itself, so bear with me!

Sailed all night and by the time we all got up and had breakfast, we were moored outside of Princess Cays - the little island of Elutheria (which is owned by Princess, I am led to understand). A little island with nothing but beaches, watersports, and a little cafe. The tenders to the island started by 8am, and we were on the beach in a couple of sun chairs by 9am and floating serenely in the water a few minutes after that.

I bought a new swim suit for this trip (which I've posted before was quite a fretful and fraught experience), and I was really self-conscious about it. I shouldn't have been. Once I was in the water, we just lounged about and watched everyone else as they basked in the sun or paddled in the water. It was lovely.

My pale, pale, pasty family had to be reminded to reapply sunscreen every hour or so, but most of us managed to avoid getting too much sun on the first day! My dad doesn't do so hot in the sun - he tends to dehydrate quickly, so we spent some time with him up in the cafe so he could get some water while the Husband, Pat, and Jenna rented a little catamaran and went sailing. They were the only boat that didn't have to be towed back in to shore -- everyone else had problems, but the Adorable Husband got the boat back by himself.

We all headed back to nap (again). However, getting up for dinner, the Adorable Husband felt really crappy, and after a few minutes contemplation, realized that he was having another episode of A-Fib and off to the ship's emergency room we went. He's had this this twice before, so he recognized it right away, and the solution is to once again cardiovert him (i.e., shock his heart back into normal rhythm, for the non-medcal among us). They tried to do it with beta blockers first, but when that didn't work, they sedated him and zapped him again. Voila! Eight hours in the ER on the boat, and then he was back to normal. He was fine, although tired, and the next morning was up and going like normal. Way to spend a day of vacation, though! Eek.

I have to comment on dinner, though -- everyone always talks up the food on cruises (all the time! food everywhere! five-star dining!) and they are pretty accurate. Dinner is a lavish and tasty affair, the buffets (which are open 24 hours) are pretty good, if not of the same calibre as dinner service, and there are snack and other yummy things available all over the place. I'm glad I brought stretchy pants.