A new day DAWNS in the Bermuda Trianagle

'TWAS a dark and stormy night (and day too for that matter)  in the Bermuda triangle!   The rain fell hard!  But try as it may, most drops couldn't seem to reach the ground, due to the relentless, driving wind that changed it to an umbrella-defeating horizontal deluge!  Struggling to maintain an upright position against the howling barometric demons on-slaught, I was struck by the thought "was it really possible to drown while standing on (relatively) dry ground?"!  Just as my mind (And body too) was about to secome to natures version of "water-boarding", through the deluge there loomed a "huge white hulk".  No, make that the "huge white HULL" of the "DAWN", my new home away from home, for the next 6 weeks or so anyway!  

 Okay okay ,so maybe I exaggerated  a wee bit !
But it was sort of  damp, drizzly and overcast,with a stiff breeze blowing when we pulled into the port in Bermuda!

The next morning  the sun came out and  it was an absolutely  GORGEOUS  day!  Naturally since I was on call and ship-bound all day!!

The ferry boat to Hamilton backs up spins a 180 degree turn and heads for  town.

    

This is the central Atrium in the Dawn, with glass elevators, a bar and stage
for musicians.  There are cafes and restaurants lining the edges of  6 decks  including the
Internet cafe.

Looking down into the Atrium from a glass elevator

The kids have their own cafe with kid sized tables and food
serving tables!

Overall the layout of the ship is very similar to the Jade with many of the offices in the same place.  The Captain and the staff captain are very pleasant and personable.   And more importantly the staff I work  with in the medical center are all very nice and quite competent.

This Friday, Karla is coming out to spend 2 weeks on the ship with me so I may not get much blogging done!

The Bahamas.... one more time!

Not much new to blog about.  I guess when the most exciting picture I have is a seagull making a dive-bombing attach on a  guest eating breakfast outside on the aft deck….. well that about says it all!

This is our Medical outpost so to speak on Great Stirrup Cay! (GSC)  Not bad especially when you compare it with the "Hut" that they tell me used to serve the purpose ... until it blew away in a storm!  Now everyone's comment is the same when they walk in, "Hey! you've got air conditioning!"

I snorkeled out around the rock the   last time I was there.  Not much to see,   but at least  I got wet!

Some of you have ask about how the passengers get over to the private island (GSC).  The ship anchors about a mile off shore and there are a series of tenders that transport the passengers as well as the staff and the food for a thousand ( +or- ) meals from the ship to the Island and then hauls it all back at the end of the day! 

Tender along side the SKY

07:30 in the morning , the tender is loaded  with the days rations1

  The are a group of people who live on the island in dorms that NCL maintains. They lifeguard, they run the small local “Straw market”, rent the floats and do a lot of the maintenance on the island.  They are working on domesticating a school of stingrays so that patrons can get the experience of swimming with and feeding the rays,  without getting stung!  So far they haven't had much luck making good "Brits''out of them!  They  won't Q-up to be fed they just go into a feeding frenzy and the handlers get covered with "hickies" from their over-anxious charges!

Tomorrow (June 14) I sign off the ship in Nassau and fly to Boston and sign on the NCL Dawn.  And start making the Boston to Bermuda trip.  Hopefully there will be some more interesting things to blog about.     

     ‘till then Happy sailing!

Kroozing! Bahama Style

The is my new ship!  The sky is a little smaller than the  Jade, but has more personal feel. 

Actually this is the Sky .   Which used to be the “Pride of Aloha” ( hence the flowers that still adorn her sides) when she was stationed in Hawaii.  




We  do 2 cruises per week. 3 and 4 days long.
We embark Friday and go to the Great Stirrup Cay (GSC) , a privately owned island the offers beaches, snorkeling, parasailing and eco tours, for a price of course.   We have a medical hut that we hang out in and provide basic first aid to the passengers that get cut or scraped or stung by a stray jelly fish.  

Most of the day there is nothing going on and no internet so it is a bit boring to say the least.  Since we have to have a Doc on the boat at all times, GSC duty is what you get to do on your day off!  But I guess it could be worse!!!    Saturday night we head for Nassau .   We spend Sunday in Nassau  then head back to Miami that evening and arrive Monday morning. and unload the passengers, clean the ship, and get the next load of passengers loaded up and then we set sail that evening for Freeport.   
We arrive in Freeport about  0630 and spend the day there or in the nearby town of Lucaiya which has a lot more to offer in the way of shopping and dining. Which wouldn’t take much, come  to think of it, since Freeport  has nothing besides a few shops built next to the dock  that sell island print shirts, dresses and carvings.

The Atlantis hotel from our ship in the cruise ship docks

 Then we are off that night for GSC  and we spend Wednesday doing that routine again and then its overnight to Nassau.  Thursday we spend in Nassau before we head back to Miami that night, arriving Friday morning to start the process again

Miami gets some spectacular sunsets the  we get to see as we head out for the Bahamas.  Lets see how does that go; "Red sky in the morning , Sailor take warning, red at night sailors delight!"