SUNDAY,
We again beached it at Club O. till three, checked out of the hotel and headed back to the ship. I met Jim (Lurker Jim) on the dock, plus a lot of the other passengers. The first thing I noticed was that the Northeast coast was well represented. There were a lot of New Yorker types. This was the first time I have seen so many New York types since a Carnival Cruise I took a few years back. At 5:00pm the launch took us to the ship. Me, Jenny, Rick, Susy and Kim went to the top deck since we did not have to check in again because we were on the ship the prior week. Kim was on the ship just for the night since she was flying out back to Atlanta the next day. They had a normal Caribbean type band that night which was great, that meant a lot of dancing. And dancing we did. It was a very good night. I also now had my very own cabin to myself!! No more mister cabin-less!!!
MONDAY,
Woke up early and said goodbye to Kim. She took off on the launch to the pier. Time for her to fly back to Atlanta. We all missed Kim a lot during the next week. The ship offered the America's Cup races again. Every week they offer them. I went into town for an hour to do some odds and ends. I missed breakfast saying goodbye to Kim so I ate at Rick's Café. Breakfast was pretty good. Went back to the ship. At 1:00pm we raised the sails, this time headed for Columbia Bay in St. Barts. It was an afternoon of sailing and people getting their suntans (or sunburns for some). I sat on top of the Charterhouse, which we officially called the Topless Deck the prior week and watched the folks mingle. This was the first time ever that I was not on the deck mingling and I found it interesting watching the folks meet and talk to each other. It was weird watching singles meet singles as the watcher. J I kind of missed the prior week since I had such a great time and hoped that this week would be half as good. Later just before sunset we pulled in Columbia bay. The diving board was pulled out and people started diving, jumping and swimming in the water. To wake myself up I also dived in the water. It was refreshing and it woke me up. After about a dozen dives I got a drink and started to talk to Jim and his friends. That is when I first talked to Maureen and Carol from Boston. Jim (lurked man) had befriended them. Of course since they were pretty it made a lot of sense!! We had the Crab Races that night. Once again I lost, it seems I have yet to pick out the winner on a windjammer cruise. Things were getting back to normal it seems. There was music blasting by the bar and people were dancing, I joined in. That night was pretty much talking to folks, dancing and drinking. Normal stuff.
Tuesday:
We sailed for a hour and anchored in Gustovia, the main town in St. Barts. That town is beautiful, I have always loved it. Me, Rick, Susy and Jenny rented a jeep, walked around town for a little while then headed to Governors Beach. Normally I only go to Saline Beach but we were there last week and wanted to see how Governors Beach was. It was a real nice beach that was not too crowded. Like Saline Beach there were no food or drink places. Once again we brought a cooler (the kind that folds) and had bought drinks (cola this time), cheese, meat spread type stuff, bread and of course ICE. It was a real nice day and the beach was great for getting some sun and swimming. Nice beach, I would go back there again. Very private feeling and very French. Love those French style beaches. At 4:00 we headed back to drop off the rental car and do the wine and cheese thing the ship always does in St. Barts. After the wine and cheese had dinner and headed back into town. We were told that there was a band a LeSelect. Instead of a band they had CD's style music with big loud speakers. LeSelect has a outdoor place with tables to sit and drink but the bar where the dancing was is inside and it is small and very hot. A live band is much better there then the recorded music. After a couple of dances the sweat drips down you. Me and Jenny decided to walk to another place and have some drinks. Rick and Susy went out to dinner that night at a fancy French Restaurant which they raved about. Their dinner cost them about $150 but was well worth it. That is the average price of dinner on the island. Very romantic. I on the other hand had French Fries at the outdoor café me and Jen were at. Don (the guy from last week who still was on the ship) joined us. We spent about a couple of hours there and headed back to the ship around eleven. Around midnight we raised sails, with Amazing Grace blasting away under the starry night. We were headed to Nevis. That night I slept on deck. It was great, the winds were light and the stars were out full force.
Intermission:
Here is another summary. There were a lot of folks who drank the first three nights, (sun, mon and tues), more then I have seen before. A lot of first time cruisers and Northeastern types was the main reason. The good news is that from late Wednesday till the end of the cruise the heavy drinkers drank far less. They began to pace themselves on the drinking and started acting like normal windjammers. Of course drinking the booze was still a top priority but pacing yourself is the best thing to do. Also I noticed that people were starting to relax more and allow the friendships to build. Back to the story:
WEDNESDAY:
We pulled in Nevis. Once again the ship anchored off of the main town and let passengers off for shopping in town, plantation and snorkel tours plus the rain forest three hour hike. Then the Poly anchored off of Pinney Beach. I went ashore and had a great Lobster lunch and Killer Bee's at Sunshines. Then beached it. This week everyone was at the beach and we had a grand time. Around sunset we had a Barbecue on the beach. Music blasted from Sunshines (CD style). A bunch of us went skinny dipping. While we were in the water someone took some of the clothes and left them at Sunshine's. I do not think they meant it as a joke…. Again later that night we raised the sails and sailed to St. Kitt's.
THURSDAY
The Polynesia docked at the pier. A lot of folks went on tours to the Balik Factory, town center (fairly decent shopping) and Brimstone Hill. Some took the five hour rain forest hike, Parasailing, Scuba Diving and Snorkeling tour. Me, Jenny, Rick and Susy went to Turtle Beach and spent the day getting some sun. The lunch is good there. Went back to the ship about four. That night at band came aboard. It was not the Cornets who were not available but the band that played was good. It was also Holloween and that meant costume night. This was a great night. A bunch of us dressed as pirates and only a few (thank god) guys dressed up as females. The winners was a lady dressed in a costume called "Men At Work. She had banners on with that logo, she also showed a bit of skin. Her female dancing partner dressed as a guy. There was a brew-ha over the final three contestants. Seems that the three judges did not pick any of the guys dressed as females. They were told that at least one of the contestants had to be a guy dressed as a female. One of the judges was really upset about this. Ships policy she was told. But the good news is that the guy/females came in third. Jenny was dressed as an S&M Amazon type lady. At lot of black and leather. Susy dressed as a Prostitute while me and Rick were Pirates. Jenny's mistake was dancing with me when they were choosing the finalists. They picked couples dancing and a pirate never ever wins, so she ended up not being a finalists. To bad because she was the sexiest woman there. Susy wasn't bad either. See what happens when a female hangs out with a pirate. After the costume contest the band played and we danced and danced and danced….I have not danced so much in at least a week J. I danced a lot with Jenny, also some with a girl named Kim. Different Kim then last week. It is a shame I never really got to talk to her much that week. Have no idea why, it seems we always went different places at different times. Great night with lots of laughing and fun. Finally the passengers seemed like the normal (or un-normal) windjammers that I knew and liked. It took almost the whole week but they got there. We set sail around midnight for Anguilla, not knowing if we would make it there, but the winds were swift. Real swift. I was on the deck (on a mat) talking to a girl named Carol when all of a sudden the rains came tumbling down. Actually the timing of the rain could not have been worse. Oh, well. Me, Carol, Jim and Maureen were talking by the deck cabins as the rain pounded down. Finally a half hour later it stopped raining. We continued to talk while some other folks went back on deck to sleep under the stars. Well, so they thought. Next thing you know the rains came right back with heavy winds. Me and Jim went up to the top deck to help them get back down. I could not believe it. This one girl was carrying a mat! The wind was blowing her around near the side of the ship and she still would not throw the mat down. I took the mat away from her and pushed her toward the stairs. I ended up getting drenched. The girl was from NYC. She was lucky she did not go overboard. I think that she ended up sleeping in the dinning room. Guess her cabin mate had company. Carol had gone to bed and I ended up talking to Maureen and Jim. That ended the night.
FRIDAY
We ended up in Anguilla. The shore had semi-rough sea's, but we were able to do a wet landing at this cove that the Captain likes. The launch had trouble on the beach, one passenger almost got hit by the launch as she got off. A crew member did get hit but was okay. We bounced around for awhile but made it ashore. They cab driver to us to Shoals Beach, which is flat out beautiful. The cost is $5 round trip. Normally we would be dropped off at a bar/food shack called Ernies but the cab driver got a little extra by dropping us at another place about six shacks down the beach. We walked to Ernies and rented lounge chairs for $4 a piece. Jenny went off to join some of the female passengers and of course ended up having them take their tops off. On hind sight, I should have gone too. They were very attractive and I can only imagine what they looked like topless. Matter fact I remember thinking a couple days earlier how they would look without their tops on!! It ended up being me, Carol, Maureen and Jim (Lurker man) laying on the beach getting some sun. Now that was not bad because I really liked the three of them a lot. Later Don (The Don man shows up again) ended up joining us. Susy and Rick went to a more secluded area of the beach. The sand was like powder, the best sand for the beach that you could want. The water was great. It was a little rough which is rare for Shoals, but the reefs kept most of the rougher water away. If you go to Anguilla be sure to go to Shoals Beach, you will not regret it, it is rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world. Who rates the beaches you ask.. I have no idea but who ever did this rating was right on the money. Again around four we headed back to the ship for the Captains Dinner which is normal for the last day of the cruise. Once again we had the best table there. Jim (Lurker man), Maureen, Carol, Me, Jenny, Susy, Rick and Don sat at the same table. We laughed the most, kidded around the most and just plain had a lot of fun and of course Champagne, quite a few bottles too!! Jenny walked right up to the front of all the dinning table and did a really cool Australian toast to the Captain to the roars of the crowd. Captain Neil appreciated it but I kept thinking if Capt Max or Capt Marchel were there they would have enjoyed it even more. I had Prim Rib. Forgot what the other selection was. After dinner we all walked on deck to say hi to people, pass out address's. The normal stuff that one does the last night. A lot of friendships were made and some lost. (I did not lose any I might add) That is the nature of the singles cruise. Earlier we raised the sails just a bit past sunset. I prefer to hit it right at sunset. But I got use to the "ISH" time that the ship now seems to run on for the two weeks I was on her. Another good friendly night.
SATURDAY
The final goodbye time. I made sure to say goodbye to Annie (the Purser) who was simply great. I can not imagine anyone not thinking she is terrific. Christine (Activities director)was also terrific. And the friend that me, Jenny, Rick, Susy and Kim made….Second Mate DON…We said goodbye to him. He was an excellent mate and ended up a good friend. Rick and Susy left early for the airport since Susy was on standby. Me and Jenny went to the airport together since we were flying on the same plane (sat next to each other) to Miami along with Rick and Susy. The plane was overbooked so Susy could not get on. I remember Rick and Susy, tears in both their eyes as they said goodbye. Reminded me of last spring when I said goodbye to Andrea and her sisters. In Maimi me, Rick and Jenny went our different ways. Never had time to really say goodbye since I had to run to catch my flight. To bad because I wanted to say goodbye to Jenny and Rick properly… I came home to 37 degrees. Brrrr…
SUMMARY:
I always enjoy windjamming in the Spring the most. It is like a "Right Of Passage" All the passengers survived the cold winter and you have a mix of passengers from all those cold area's. The fall cruises are good but the spring cruises are "Magic Time". The first week equaled the spring cruises. I really enjoyed the little community that us singles had. I made some excellent new friends. Kim, Jenny and Susy. The second week started out as a normal fall cruise, maybe a little to New Yorker'ish for me but in the end they pretty much came together and joined the windjammer family. They had a good time. For the two weeks I had a absolutely (Magic) great time the first week and a good time the second week. I also made some other new good friends Carol and Maureen that second week.. Hmmm, seems that they are all women… Well I am only human. Also it was great to see Rick and I was happy how Susy and him hit if off. Pretty amazing. It was great to see Jim the Lurker man once again. Out of the eight cruises I have taken we sailed on six together. Me and Jim get along very good. We can mingle with each other or just go our own ways only to end up mingling again. The Lurker man is a good guy who I like a lot. Don the Second Mate was a great guy. The captain was …well the captain. The first mate was.. well the first mate. The activity director (Christine) was real nice and the Purser Annie was excellent, both ladies worked real hard to ensure the passengers had a great time. The crew has changed much during the past six months since I last sailed the Polynesia but most were nice, some just great. Country who fixed my light in the cabin every other day since it blew out a lot and of course Marty the bartender were great, as well as Ingrid who was the only female crew member who was not an officer. There was a lot of "ISH" times on the ship. We arrived at an island around "ISH" time. The Captains story time was "ISH" time. The lunches and dinners were on ISH time. This was by far the most "ISH" time cruise I have had while windjamming. But she had a new captain and that is the way he sailed and did business. Also ISH did not ruin a great vacation……One has to adjust to it. I must say that I am looking forward to the April 6th singles cruise on the Flying Cloud sailing in the BVI's, and I also intend to spend the week after or prior on the Polynesia again. This time on a mixed couples/singles cruise since I was so impressed with the first week of this past cruise. The end.
If you have any questions feel free to send me a E mail note at: glider@mindspring.com or if you are reading this note on Prodigy you can send me an E mail at ddvg36d@prodigy.com. My home page is: http://www.mindspring.com/~glider I will have pictures of the people I have written about and some of the places within a week.
Lee Burke

glider@mindspring.com
Lee Burke

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