The Sad Bear

January 9, 2011

Fun Day at Sea

"The storm is over" -- written on a truck in Nassau, Bahamas









In November, Katie and I went cruising for the first time, thanks to my cousin's choice of a destination wedding in Key West. We sailed on the Carnival Fantasy. Just more than a month later, I'm still looking to share 3 things connected to the trip -- the photos above (more on Facebook), some "cruise journal" excerpts, and the actual cruise journal itself, which was a custom made little book that I decided to use for the cruise and ended up having a lot of fun filling with little scraps and maps. More on that below. First, though, we go to the "fun ship" journal:

3:20 a.m. 11/12/10

Nassau
Woke before the alarm, donned pants to receive the room service. Morning stretch. Prep for land.

Nassau is a schizophrenic little island. Pure touristy ham and cheese on many streets, but funky bustling little city just a block or two away. We dodged the hawkers of cab rides and braids to embark on a New York Times-inspired historical walking tour. We saw a church, government buildings (pink), the jail-turned-library, a fort, and a water tower. The trashy cars and lack of sidewalks defined our travels on foot.

I took many neat photos and enjoyed the "little things." Like the lettering of old signs and hand-painted signs and the red school children uniforms. I liked the wonky cars and the friendly waves between merchants that seemed to show that Bahamians really do love everyone.

12:08 a.m. 11/13/10

Freeport
Our health is deteriorating after a night of little sleep and only sporadic naps to compensate. Our alcohol supply is diminished. My scruff is scruffier. We were off the boat by 10 a.m.

Freeport presents a tourist's nightmare of industrial overtones and a cruise ship pier far flung from island attractions. We probably enjoyed the container ships and oil refineries more than most.

2:20 a.m. 11/14/10

Key West
Our best day off the boat and an even better one for newlyweds Chris and Joy. Fort Zachary Taylor State Park was an excellent beach wedding venue with a scenic vista and easy access to some clear, warm ocean water. I was happy to hike up my dress pants. We also shot two cool Polaroids with the rich blue backdrop. The wedding went off without a hitch. The reception lunch kept up the fantastic day on "Bone Island," as everything from the chips to the fritters and red snapper to key lime pie were superb.

10:56 p.m. 11/15/10

Home
We're home now but still wobbling around as "cruise lag" continues to stump our brains. Our last fun day at sea was a lurching affair.

At dinner we ordered escargot, which Juan enjoyed and Dad tolerated. But it required a second round (chocolate-covered, we joked) to get Mom to try the little snail dudes. She said she'd be OK if they were like buttery sausage (Jaun's description) but balked quite a bit. Then she chewed and chewed on 'em.

My "Geek Book"
One of our favorite bookmakers is erinzam, from whom we've bought a handful of creative little repurposed books and such, including one in which she used a 1955 Bowman baseball card for covers.

I decided last-minute to take along a geek book for the cruise, and it proved perfect for my pocket and easy to wrap up. Once back at home, I went wild one night trimming down our maps and receipts and business cards and doodles and notes so they'd also fit, and now the little book is bulging. This little project has me thinking of other things to be keeping in notebooks.

Labels: On the Map, photography, travel

by Tony at 10:40 PM |