November 7 -The day after I got rained out

First, today would have been my husband’s 77th birthday.  I’m missing him a lot today.  We usually went on a cruise around birthday times, so I’m wondering where we would have been had things been different.

When last I wrote I had taken off my dancing shoes for the night and was preparing for my outing in San Juan yesterday.  Plans don’t always turn out the way we thought they would.  It was cloudy when I awoke and docked at the next pier was the Enchanted Princess.  As I looked out the window in the Square, I could see the reflection of our smokestacks in the windows of about deck 6 on the Princess ship and there were 9 decks above those windows. I was glad I was on the Quest.  Just as I was noticing that, a great big Carnival ship docked between us.  It was like being next to a big apartment block.  Each of those ships carries roughly ten times the passengers on this ship.

After lollygagging around I got my things together and headed to the gangway to make my foray into Old San Juan. Literally just as I set foot on it, the rain started.  There are always passing showers in the Caribbean so I went down to the dock and stood under the little tent there waiting for the rain to let up.  It just rained harder and harder, so I gave up and went back up the gangway getting pretty wet on the way. So that was my shore trip in San Juan.  The sun came out intermittently but then the skies would open again and I just didn’t want to chance  going out to take some photos.  

I do have a tale to tell about one time when Al and I came here more than 30 years ago.  I think it was before we were going on our first Panama Canal cruise which began in San Juan.  We came down a few days early and we stayed in the El Convento Hotel which was right in the old city and which had been a convent in Spanish colonial days.  Unbeknownst to us, Puerto Rico was celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ first Voyage of Discovery.  He didn’t land on this island, but the celebration was here anyway.  Three exact replicas of his ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria were tied up in the harbor and there were parades and fireworks and parties on the streets late into the night.  It was a magical time to be here!  Unfortunately, it was long before digital cameras and iPhones so the only photos I have are buried in a box somewhere, but I have wonderful memories to keep me company.

There was supposed to be a classical sailaway from San Juan, but because of the rain that was canceled.  Perhaps we’ll have it when we sail from Half Moon Cay tomorrow.  As we sailed out the captain informed us that we would be having rough seas and we should make sure things were secure in our cabins.  There was no view of leaving the harbor, which is usually a beautiful  sight with El Morro Castle on the point, because it was raining cats and dogs and then fog set in.  I’ll just have to come back another time.

El Morro Castle at the entrance to San Juan's harbor.  The sky didn't look like this today. I took this a couple of years ago.

This is as close as I got today using my phone at maximum zoom from the ship. Aren't iPhones great?

We had a great show last night. Handré, Director of Entertainment for Seabourn Cruises, has been on these last eight days and he performed for us.  He is an extremely talented pianist and composer and his show included his own compositions with a backdrop of the most wonderful videos of places around the world.  It was magical!  I have a very soft spot in my heart for Handré. He was the cruise director on our very first Seabourn cruise on this very ship. On top of that he is one of the absolute nicest people I’ve ever met.  I may have already written that recently; I can’t remember if I did, but it’s worth repeating.

Today we’re sailing along under sunny skies but still with rocking and rolling – not as bad as during the night.  Noon found us all in the Club for trivia.  We didn’t win today but that’s okay.  I forgot to mention that yesterday after the sailaway event was canceled we had an extra trivia game at 4 PM.  Half the team didn’t hear the announcement, but the rest of us won by a wide margin.  I have a lot of swag to give away.

That’s about it for now.  These haven’t been very exciting days, but they have been lovely for me.  One last thing.  Yesterday, November 6, was a great day to wake up to for other reasons which if you know me you can figure out and if you don't it's probably best left unsaid.