Cruising the Atlantic Ocean – January 6

home for the last 3 weeks

Weather…26 degrees, clear skies, lovely

Captain informs us that the sea under us is 15000 feet depth. This is deep. Apparently, the Puerto Rico Trench is the second deepest trench in the world which is where we are, it is also the deepest part of the Atlantic and of the Caribbean Sea. And…we are also BTW...in the Bermuda Triangle.

Today is the last day of this glorious, long time coming, first time away from home for Christmas cruise. It was a bit of an ordeal getting to South America, but since then it’s been smooth sailing…see what I did 

nightly ritual

there? Sure, we missed 2 ports, but that didn’t ruin anything for us, the worst that happened each of those 2 times was that we had a few more cocktails, took a longer nap and had more lunch. It’s been 18 days of pretty glorious weather. I’ve been hot, no question, but not so hot that I’ve been miserable and have certainly been hotter and sweatier on other trips.

Devil’s Island was a highlight of this trip. Maybe this was because I had zero expectations, but for whatever reason, I’d definitely return.

We did the least shopping we’ve ever done on vacation – there just weren’t many opportunities. We could have sought out opportunities but weren’t interested. We never seek out shopping opportunities and seem to buy some things…this time, only one key chain we’ll turn into a Christmas ornament we bought on day 1 in Rio.

 killing time on after blowing off St Bart's

Where I have done some shopping is in the onboard shop. We have onboard credit that I hate to let go to waste. I had one pedicure, we did some dry cleaning, but still had a bunch of credit left. I bought cream and sunscreen and other spa products – stuff I know I’ll use, pretty typical end of cruise shopping.

One thing I’m so glad I brought were magnets. I finally learned, just 2 cruises ago, that ship walls are metal. This is not surprising considering, that the worst thing that can happen to a boat is a fire. Magnets are my best friend on a cruise. I used to bring that blue sticky tack stuff to hold up a map, my cruise spreadsheet and a few other items…no more…MAGNETS. I don’t mean fridge magnets, I bought magnets specifically to bring with me. This cruise I even used them to hold up some clothes – little things thrill me.