Grand Turk

Music:  "Margaritaville", Jimmy Buffett.

When we woke up this morning the beautiful island of Grand Turk was just outside our window.    Beaches, boats and palm trees, and the largest Margaritavillle in the chain  (I'm still a bit annoyed -- as soon as we picked this week to cruise; I knew that when Jimmy announced his touring schedule he'd be playing Jones Beach while we were away.)

Breakfast in the main dining room.  Much more civilized than on the Lido deck, and the food is better, too.  I started with cantalope, had a small apple danish and french toast -- very thick slices of bread that were sweet but not cloying.  The pirate king had his favorite eggs benedict, something he'd never prepare for himself at home.

Background music:"Rocket Man" by Elton John

Although the Turks and Caicos are part of the British West Indies, in the past the United States maintained an Air Force base and a naval base on Grand Turk.   When John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, he cane here after splashdown.  There are monuments to that occasion in the cruise center and in front of the international airport.

Our adventure today was called "Coast to Coast Grand Turk Safari."  We rode in an open-air safari bus and got a brief tour of the island.  We learned that the island has no source of fresh water except rain.  Vegetation is not lush, I even saw cactus growing!   The historic district is in Cockburn Town, built by Burmudians during the salt-raking era.    Would have liked to explore some of the old homes.  Later, at the lighthouse, in addition to seeing an incredible view, we learned that Columbus' first landfall in the New World may have been at Grand Turk.

The island is very rustic -- hard to believe it is the capital -- but there are sattelite dishes EVERYWHERE.  And no, I'm not just referring to the airport and the former naval base.  Every house, even the poorest looking shacks, seems to have a dish.  Tour guide said something about a hurricane a few years ago -- the island lost electricity for two months, and television was out for 7 months.

There are no traffic lights on the island.  Seems many people opt to travel by horse or donkey.  The animals are allowed to wander, untethered.  Occasionally during the tour we had to stop to let horses or donkeys get out of the road.

And about riding in an open-air vehicle:  I fought the wind, and the wind won.    I had my hair pulled back in a headband, and it was so windy the headband blew out of my hair.  I'm glad the ship's photographers take pictures before you leave the ship, not after.

We briefly visited Margaritaville, but didn't stay long.  Very commercial.  Jimmy is busy selling the rest of us a phony adventure so that he can go on real ones.

Lunch on the Lido.  With "all aboard" at 2:30 and sailaway at 3, everyone came back from the various shore excursions and headed to the Lido for lunch.  We had deli sandwiches and pizza.  Pizza is excellent, but small slices of thin crust puzza will not fill you up.  The deli sandwiches are NOT New York style and the meat is a bit too fatty, but the sandwiches are good.  Mini cupcakes were a bit dry and not sweet enough.

So far the best food on the Lido has been Guy's burgers, pizza and the Mongolian Wok.
 

Lazy afternoon on the balcony for me while the pirate king explored the ship, and came back with some jellybeans from Cherry on Top.

Our before-dinner entertainment was the Hasbro Game Show.   Our cruise director Butch pretends to be a game show host.  He selects members of the audience to come up on stage to play the games.  There's Connect Four, where contestants throw basketballs  and try to get four of the same color in a row.  Simon, where participants wear light up cubes and have to get themselves  in the right order.  The pirate king says it reminds him of that old tv show, "Beat the Clock."  Very family-friendly entertainment, but I will say there are adults on this cruise who take this game far too seriously -- especially when you realize the "grand prize" is a few Hasbro games.

Background music: "Tequila Sunrise"

Did a little more exploring  before dinner.  The pirate king's very expensive camera decided to pay a visit to guest services when we left it in the theater, so the king had to retrieve it. (I blame that mishap on the tequila sunrise he drank in the theater.  Mostly tequila, very little "sunrise".)

Dinner in the main dining room.  Service was excellent, as usual.  The waiters danced tonight, to "Low", the same song our staff on the Valor danced to 3 years ago.  The food, however, was disappointing.  I really didn't care for my appetizer or entree.  But we loved the cheesecake dessert.

After dinner we wandered over to the Limelight Lounge and got on line for the comedy show.  We got there 1/2 an hour before show time and were at the back of the line.  They warn you, several times before the show starts, that this is an adults-only show (they do family-friendly shows earlier in the evening).  So we laughed our way through half an hour of filthy but very funny stand-up.

Deck party on the Lido interfered with our stargazing, so we decided to call it a night.