Monday Musings - August 3, 2015

Sunrise August 2, 2015
Aboard the Carnival Conquest in Port Everglades, Florida

1. It is the first Monday in August--I bet that almost slipped in unnoticed.

2. Wow, what a change. Yesterday I woke up on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida and today I am back in my everyday life heading off to work. Ugh! 

3. If vacations didn't end, I wouldn't appreciate them so much.

My Towel Dog Made on the cruise

4. Chris was so relaxed during our cruise that I had to nudge her a couple of times to make sure she was still alive.

5. No good vacation goes unpunished! My garage door opener suffered a catastrophic failure while I was away. Ugh!

6. With the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, it is time to end the economic embargo. I was amazed, but 72 percent of Americans support ending the embargo.

Swimming with the Fish
Grand Turk

7. I am going to miss the towel animals on my bed every night. Wait, I took a course on the ship about making towel animals!

8. Swimming with the fishes took on a new meaning last week.

9. My heart goes out the parents of the 14-year old sailors lost at sea during a fishing trip off the coast of South Florida. The Coast Guard suspended the search, but they haven to lost hope.

-- Bob Doan, writing from home in Elkridge, MD

The Cruise is Over

There are some words that fully express how I am feeling right now as the Carnival Conquest ties up at the quay and the cruise is completed. 

Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida

It is over. Our entire vacation from Jupiter to the Caribbean is over.



Wow. It is hard to believe that eight days ago Chris and I departed on a journey that took us across the Caribbean to Grand Turk, Curacao, and Aruba only now to return us to the spot from which we departed.

It is sad. Not only is the cruise over, but the entire vacation is ending.

Carnival Conquest
Grand Turk
July 27, 2015

By this time tomorrow I will be wither on my way to work or trying to work off the extra cruise-induced weight on the racquetball court.

It was fun. But it was all too short. I'm glad we never considered that it was ending until last evening. The whole ship was abuzz and I  could see it in the other passengers, and especially the teenagers, that we were sad that the journey was coming to a conclusion.

Everything has a beginning and and ending and we have just arrived at the final chapter and pages of the book.

Speaking of which,  I read two books during the cruise. 

There is a long day of departure and travel ahead on Chris and I as we prepare to return to our day-to-day lives.

We have awesome memories and made a couple of new friends too.

After all, isn't that what vacations are about?

-- Bob Doan, aboard the Carnival Conquest in Port Everglades

My Take: Reality is Real

Cecil the Lion

It is August, and despite still being on vacation, I read a thought provoking OpEd piece in the New York Times this morning. 

The article by Roxane Gay titled, Of Lions and Men: Mourning Samuel DuBose and Cecil the Lion, reminded me that reality is not absolute. What is real may be absolute, but reality is based upon perception, emotion, and belief. If I believe something, then for me it is real and it affects the lens through which I view the world. 

I have been following both stories, Cecil the Lion who was illegally poached by the Minnesota dentist and the shooting/murder of Samuel DuBose. 

Samuel DuBose

The released video in the Samuel DuBose case appears to materially contradict the reports of the police officers. The video recorded what was real. It recorded what happened without regard to the interactions between the people involved. 

I know, from my own experiences, that what I remember about a situation varies from what is real because I am influenced by my own reality. My reality precludes me from being an inanimate recording device because I feel emotion and my memories are clouded by my biases. I remember how I was feeling and I see the situation through my own lens--and it is often a cloudy lens.

In her piece this morning, Ms. Gay writes:

When you hear, “black lives matter,” don’t instinctively respond that all lives matter, as if one statement negates the other. Instead, try to understand why people of color might be compelled to remind the world that their lives have value.

When others share their reality, don’t immediately dismiss them because their reality is dissimilar to yours, or because their reality makes you uncomfortable and forces you to see things you prefer to ignore.

I highlighted the line that really resonated with me, because I know that it happens all of the time. I see it, I do it, and I have my own personal reality negated.

I agree with Ms. Gay that it is interesting that our society seems intent on rectifying, if it could, the slaughter of Cecil the Lion, but not stopping the violence that is happening all around us. In closing her OpEd piece this morning she writes:

I am thinking about how and when people choose to show empathy publicly. Cecil the lion was a majestic creature and a great many people mourn his death, the brutality of it, the senselessness of it. Some people also mourn the deaths, most recently, of Sandra Bland and Samuel DuBose, but this mourning doesn’t seem to carry the same emotional tenor. A late-night television host did not cry on camera this week for human lives that have been lost. He certainly doesn’t have to. He did, however, cry for a lion and that’s worth thinking about. Human beings are majestic creatures, too. May we learn to see this majesty in all of us.

I believe she is onto something we all need to take a moment to think about.

-- Bob Doan, writing aboard the Carnival Conquest 

Curacao: Special Edition

I have finally finished editing the videos that Chris and I took while visiting Curacao. I broke them into two separate videos, one for the land highlights and the other for the snorkeling highlights.

Curacao on-land highlights are above and snorkeling highlights are below. 

We had fun while on Curacao.

I still have not completed the video of snorkeling on Grand Turk, we took too much video and it takes a long time to get through it all; and I have just begun to work on the Aruba snorkeling video.

All of my videos are available on my YouTube channel.

-- Bob Doan, aboard the Carnival Conquest in the Caribbean Sea

Aruba Rocks

Shopping District
Oranjestad, Aruba

The final port of call for my cruise occurred yesterday with a few, too short, hours in Aruba.

I can say that Aruba has stolen my heart and of the three places that Chris and I visited during the cruise, it is the one that we want to return to the most. Maybe next April!

Cuttlefish
Aruba

We started the day by taking a taxi to a beach for a couple hours of snorkeling before the crowds appeared. The highlights of our time in the water off Aruba were a sharptail eel and many starfish. There were also a lot of cuttlefish!

Chris has a special place in her heart for cuttlefish.

Starfish
Aruba

We have enjoyed the snorkeling everywhere we have stopped, but I have state that it has not been "reef" spectacular. By that I mean, we did some fantastic reef snorkeling a few years ago while staying in St Lucia, and none of the areas we have snorkeled on this trip have come close to the reefs there.

Even so, the snorkeling was rewarding because there was something different or special at every stop. 

Yesterday was nice because we were able to return to the ship and change before going out shopping in Oranjestad. That was nice because the dive bag gets heavy after a short while of dragging it around into and out of shops.

Sharptail Eel
Aruba

I prefer snorkeling and reclining on a beach to shopping, but it was fun to shop as well. 

We had a nice lunch and made it back comfortably to the ship before our 4PM departure. I was later told, by an eyewitness, that the announcement we heard calling out a number of our shipmates names at about departure time was because they were not yet onboard and the captain was preparing to cast off just as a taxi came screaming up to the quay, just in the nick of time. I suppose worse things could have happened than being stranded in Aruba.

Cuttlefish keeping a close eye on me

It was sad that all of our port calls have been completed, but we still have two sea days remaining.

I will be catching up on my pictures and editing the movies. Oh yea, and sitting in the sun by the pool.

-- Bob Doan, writing from the Carnival Conquest currently somewhere in the Caribbean Sea

Reflections of Curacao

Willemstad, Curacao from the Ship

I spent the entire day in Curacao yesterday. Chris and I departed the ship promptly at 9AM and did not return to the ship until after 7PM. 

The excitement of being on one of the islands that I have read so much about and have longed to visit was rapidly met by the reality of life. 

Knip Public Beach, Curacao

We took a tour that covered most of the west end of the arid, poor, and trash clogged island. We visited plantations and learned of the history of the slave uprisings resulting in the eventual abolishment of the practice. In a strange evolution, we photographed flamingos living and eating on the same salt flats that the slaves used to work.

Chris and I visited three beaches and the National Park to watch the waves crash onto the north shore of the island. It was impressive.

Smooth Trunkfish, Curacao

The snorkeling was excellent right along the beaches with many interesting animals.

We had a lot of fun, but could see the poverty at every turn in the road from our seats in the open air tour bus.

I have more images to share, but it is an early departure for Aruba this morning and so this will have to do for now. I believe I have some great videos to share as well, compliments of my GoPro.

Another vacation day is at hand!

-- Bob Doan, writing from the Carnival Conquest just docking in Aruba

Sea Days mean Fun Days

Towel Animal

One of the things that I enjoy about cruising is that as we travel from location to location, we take our room with us. Normally, travel days mean moving luggage and climbing into various forms of transportation. 

On a cruise, travel days, or sea days, are a relaxing time aboard the ship to enjoy the activities and lay in the sun beside the pool.

Chris with the Drink of the Day

Yesterday the most exciting thing that Chris and I accomplished was to watch the sea birds and a young boy try to infuse some enthusiasm into the crowd. 

Mind you, there is nothing wrong with relaxation, but in retrospect, watching sea birds fish for hours, and even taking video of them diving into the Caribbean Sea seems like one of the lowest forms of entertainment.

And writing of infusing excitement into the crowd, we spend almost 30 minutes yesterday watching a 2-year old spice up an otherwise absolutely uninspiring performance in the atrium of the ship. 

The entertainment aboard the ship is mostly amateurish at best, and at least those watching are attempting to add some value to the performances. 

Today, however, we are in Curacao! A whole day of beach wandering and enjoying the island. Tomorrow Aruba! It is the mid-point of the cruise.

-- Bob Doan, writing from the Carnival Conquest preparing to disembark on Curacao

Onto the Sea after a Shore Day

Today marks the seventh day of my vacation and sadly, by this time next week I will be back at work and everything that I have been and am doing will be but memories and images. 

I am glad that I have been away as the Presidential Olympics continues to become more fractured and disturbing.  The more thuggish candidates are presently climbing to the top of the polls. Apparently they appeal to some dark side of the American electorate that has hitherto been untapped.

Snorkeling off Grand Turk

There is something appealing to waking up and having breakfast delivered to the door and then heading out to the balcony to watch the ocean pass by. Even the news channels on the TV have poor and almost unusable connections with forces me to focus my mind upon the plan of the day and not continue to be amazed by the state of the political disarray found across our nation.

Nurse Shark off Grand Turk

Yesterday was a short stop in Grand Turk for some snorkeling and shopping.

Me Waiting to go Snorkeling
on Grand Turk

The snorkeling was good and there was, yup you guessed it, another nurse shark alone with many other beautiful fish. I was able to view the great drop off again where the ocean depth drops from a few feet to a few thousand feet.

Today is another sea day--which means relaxing on the ship. 

Enjoying another vacation day and making another set of memories while life goes on, elsewhere!

-- Bob Doan, writing from aboard the Carnival Conquest in the Caribbean Sea

Monday Musings - July 27, 2015

Carnival Conquest from the Stern

1. Waking up surrounded by the ocean is a great and humbling experience. I forget how big and vast is the Atlantic Ocean.

2. I wonder who will be Donald Trump's next target. it is too bad that people are positively responding to his negative message.

3. The Orioles managed to win a series on the road! They are still seven games out of first place.

4. Glaciers of frozen nitrogen? Where else but Pluto?

Chris at Lobster Dinner(s)

5. The U.S. Men's Soccer team took the Jamaica team far too lightly during their 2-1 loss. It is too bad that the men could not win the tournament.

6. It is hard to believe, but this is the last Monday in July! August is sneaking up on us.

7. Today Turks and Caicos! I'm headed to Grand Turk. I love vacations.

8. Two lobster dinners? Chris ate the whole thing!

-- Bob Doan, writing from aboard the Carnival Conquest nearing Grand Turk

Good Morning from Sea

Chris Looking Out Over Port Everglades
Exploring the Ship

Chris and I are officially on vacation! Well, we have been on vacation since last Wednesday, but are on the cruise portion of the vacation about the good ship Carnival Conquest.

We sailed from Fort Lauderdale yesterday under the cover of an afternoon thunderstorm and still enjoyed seeing the coast slip past and cell phones go dead!

Out the Stateroom Window this Morning

It was a bit scary for me, personally, when my phone gave up the connection ghost!

Yup--no calls for a week!

That is a good thing, I'm told.

OK, I did buy the internet package so that we can stay in touch a bit. But I'm not planning on answering email.

We have enjoyed the partying and even though the sail away party had to be brought inside, Chris managed to dance up a storm.  Yes, I filmed it wrong! I can't believe that I did it, but I take full responsibility because it just seemed to fit better.

We are preparing for a fun day at sea. And of course, more relaxation. 

-- Bob Doan, writing from the Carnival Conquest somewhere in the Caribbean (The Bermuda Triangle?)