Thursday, November 15, 2018
Harvest Kaye, Belize
I had a quick beakfast then made my way to the 4th deck to be let out and visit Harvest Kaye properly. I disembarked and walked down the long pier to the cener of the idsland which was no more than than a colection of huts selling tourist wares. I found y wat to the beach an got a goof lounge hair, I stretched out for about an hour and after getting sick of the entittled speak of the set of recliners near me, I decided, I need to disciovered the sea.
I waded in the early below heade water na it fely =u00=erk
(The above was typed after the equivalent of about 2/3 of a bottle of 92 Proof rum (the entire large rum runner bag) and several other drinks. As you can tell, I was quite drunk. But since I write these posts the day after the dated post, I'll speak about this drink-filled day in tomorrow's post. Meanwhile, here's a sober log of Thursday for you:)
As mentioned above in the parts that can be understood, today we visited Harvest Kaye, the Norwegian Cruise Line's private island off the coast of Belize. Here again, like Cozumel, border security was very "don't worry, be happy."
The weather was warm enough but mild, not hot, (I would guess in the mid-eighties) and the sky was still overcast but it cleared in the late morning and thereafter remained just partly cloudy through the rest of the day. The night before, we sailed through a rainstorm which lasted pretty much all night and made for a rolling ride on the choppy seas. I liked it, it's very soothing.
I did get "a good lounge chair" and enjoyed laying out for a while and yes, the people near me were acting very spoiled and slightly obnoxious but I didn't go off to "discover the sea" because of them, I had already went into the water for a 20 minute dip earlier to their arrival. I'm really self-concious about my fat body so I used the Norwegian supplied beach towel to cover my man boobs somewhat and deposited it on the beach near where I walked into the water. I wen't underwater once I got to the "swimming area" deepness (they had buoys marking it with further buoys defining the farthest extent you could go) and accidentally got a little water in my mouth. It was super salty, seemed much saltier than Florida sea water. Perhaps it was because this was a relatively small lagoon as opposed to the all-out open to the Atlantic Ocean as in Florida?
After lying out and getting dry, I did make my way over to the Margaritaville-owned Landshark restaurant after enduring the gabby idiots on the beach next to me. (They weren't out right terrible, they were just very chatty asking stupid questions of each other and had dumb subjects of discussion, especially one guy who seemed all alpha-dog and shit.)
I sat at the bar and had 3 delicious frozen margaritas. Tasted just like Margaritaville margaritas but actually a couple dollars cheaper than the City Walk Margaritaville back in Orlando. Chatted a little with the Belizian staff who, they explain, had to take buses from (presumably Belize City) to the shore nearest this island, then were ferried out for their shift and transported back each evening. They seemed more American in attitude when comparing them to the ship's staff. Mainly black or Hispanic, but spoke perfect English (well Belize is an English-language country) and even understood and used American dialects and phrases (like "you guys" for most or "y'all" for southerners). They weren't so obsequious and sycophant like the Norwegian staff, most seemingly from the Philippines I'd guess. (No "washy-washy!") The bartender I had even understood when I asked him to kick-up my reordered drinks and he did so nicely without an up-charge of course. The ship's staff wouldn't understand a "wink-wink, nod-nod" request nor would they comply if they did. They're corporate automatons.
Which reminds me to mention Albert, my cabin steward. The guy's getting on my nerves a little. He woke me up this morning coming in after a quick knock on the door to do the room up. I'd told him on day one that I'm a little hard of hearing so I may not respond right away to his rather dainty knock. Also, he seems to always be around. I don't want to say hello continuously through the day even to friends let alone a complete stranger. When I asked him about all the time changes we've had to make during the week, he gave me this look like "Beats me." and said "I don't know, but on last week's cruise we had to change the time twice...that's all your country." I have to imagine he's talking about multiple time zones since last week the ship cruised from New York and made its way through the Caribbean on its way to New Orleans combined with Daylight Savings Time. Since we're now in Daylight Savings Time, there may well be some Caribbean countries that don't do DST so, therefore, another time change.
After an hour or so at the Landshark bar, I made my slightly tipsy way back to the ship stopping at one gift shop on the way for my obligatory souvenir magnet. I was getting hungry but this island, though owned by the cruise line, doesn't offer complimentary food. I went and ate on the ship.
After lunch I went back to my cabin for another afternoon nap. I made sure to put my "Do Not Disturb" light on.
Went up to Deck 15 near the pool to read a book on my Kindle but after about 30 minutes of glorious peace having chosen a quiet lounge chair spot, some Chinese guy comes to the chair just one over to the left of me (despite plenty of space on the long stretches of empty chairs) and watches some Chinese movie on his tablet without headphones. He eventually stopped playing his movie after another 30 minutes or so and went to sleep. I went scoping out other potential reading spots and found a good one on Deck 8 where there's outdoor seating for the restaurants and bars there.
After dinner, I attended a show in the Speigel Tent, a circus-themed restaurant where they also do dinner shows of a Cirque d'Soliel style. It was four guys called the "Tenors of Rock." They did a rousing montage of classic '60s, '70s, and '80s rock from bands like The Eagles, Journey, The Beatles and The Stones. Almost like the music parts of last night's show.
After that I walked over to the Atrium and caught a game show just starting...a guest-volunteered knock off of the classic $10,000 Pyramid. One team did pretty well and during the Final Round they made it all the way to the one second count on the timer and won. I think the host kinda let them get that last one since they were so darned close. No "wink-wink, nod-nod" there...the prize was a plastic mug for each player. Whoopie.
I wanted to see another show featuring some of the comedians from previous night's shows but I was beat by 9:30 so I went off to bed instead.