Isla Catalina

Sleep is a precious commodity, and I have trouble obtaining it.  After a bumpy night, I finally gave up and took a sleeping pill around 2am.  I slept in until 8:30am and had a lazy morning.  The best part was breakfast close to bed.  I didn’t get it served in bed, but Michael made a run to the breakfast buffet to bring something back for me.  I woke up this morning and my eye was even more puffy and swollen and still very red, more so than it was yesterday.  The redness concerns me, so I went back to the doctor this morning.  This time, she actually looked at my eye and touched all round.  She said to take the antibiotics and warm compresses.  If it is not better after 3 more days, to come back and see her.  Okay………

Today was anchorage at Isla Catalina, one of Carnival Cruise Corps private islands.  This is located off the extreme southeastern tip of the Dominica Republic.  I love these stops.  Total relaxation, water, food and sunshine as well as a few surprises. 

We boarded the tender that was bouncing around in the waves.  The wind was up a bit.  The air was warm, not too humid.  The sun was shining off the glistening waves.  We arrived on terra firma to a rum punch and locals in colorful clothes singing; it was a pleasure to walk on something that was not moving.  After kicking off our shoes, we walked across the fine white sand to chaise lounges placed under big blue and yellow umbrellas planted in the sand.  An attendant wiped down the chaises and placed big beach towels on each.  Ahhh, we had an ocean view, sitting just feet from the clear aquamarine colored water. 

The big event of the day was caviar and champagne served in the surf.  You want some, you have to get in the water to get it.  Fully clothed, the crew jumped and dove into the water to set everything up.  Surfboards were used as impromptu tables and they doffed umbrellas to protect the precious caviar from the sun.  One table was capsized, but the crew saved the caviar (which I hear costs about $1,000 a tin).  They set up shop on land right in front of our chaise lounges.  I think the crew enjoyed the event as much as the passengers did. 

We returned to the ship and showered.  I then spent some time writing the blog.  Dinner wasn’t until 7:45pm tonight, and we are hosting.  I have an appetizer or two for dinner and that is all I can handle at that hour.  Our companions were interesting and we had an enjoyable evening.  We capped the evening off with a comedy show, which was pretty good.  By this time, it was time to hit the sack as the seas were building and the best place to ride it out is in bed.

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The first day aboard, the cruise director announced that I would be giving iPad and iPhone classes.  There has been quite a bit of interest and now I am besieged with requests for help involving all things computer related.  I must be careful about this and I tell passengers to talk to the cruise director about the class.  I am afraid I will be overwhelmed with too many people wanting to take the class. Have I opened up a can of worms?  I don’t want to spend my whole time teaching.  Bridge takes up enough time as it is.  In fact, I have been carrying my knitting around and have yet to knit a stitch!