San Juan, Puerto Rico

First of all, for those who have been bugging me, I can be reached at:

Andrea Smith
Entertainment: Orchestra Musician
Summit
P.O. Box 019158 (USA)
Miami, FL 33101-9158

Today the sad day came all too soon and I had to say goodbye to my parents at the terminal in San Juan. I can’t believe how quickly the week went by, looking back. I am SO glad they came. I had so much fun. To recap the week a little since my last posting in Dominica:

Grenada: We took a leisurely but somewhat wet water-taxi ride to a great beach, where all three of us acquired the worst sunburns we’ve had in a while. Then we had a little bit of time to wander around town and the famous spice market before I had to be back at the ship for rehearsal.

Bonaire: This was one of the best days. We slept in since the ship doesn’t arrive in port until 1pm, then took a taxi to a beach that is known for its great snorkeling – if fact we met several organized tours there. We took turns with my little kid-sized snorkel mask, and were absolutely stunned by what we saw. Bonaire protects its coral reefs, and their beauty was astounding, as was the variety and colorfulness of the abundant fish. It was amazing, and reminded me of the one chance I had to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef. Apparently there are even sea turtles at another snorkel site, and I have duly promised my parents that I will go and see them in the future. Also, I had my first official day off since I’ve been here, so I got to go to the show (a comedian) with my parents just like a normal person. ☺ We also watched a beautiful sunset and took lots of pictures. It was pretty wonderful.

Aruba: We hopped onto a reasonably priced island tour, and got to see a lot of the island, including the Caribisi rock formation, the “California” lighthouse, and some of the nicer beaches. Since I had some responsibilities on the ship, my parents did some exploring on their own, including parasailing! I still can’t believe they did it. They are brave, and I am jealous. ☺

Sea day: Obviously, lots of relaxing took place this day! I even took a nap in the middle of the day to prepare for the long day that would follow next. All week including this day I have enjoyed meeting my parents for breakfast at the buffet. I will miss that a lot! (My parents, not the buffet☺) My dad and I did a little shopping in the shops on board, and he picked out a nice hat. After the farewell show we all went to bed early, because….

San Juan: …..I had to be at immigration for U.S. customs at 5:15am. Yikes! Apparently no matter how recently you have signed on and passed through immigration, U.S. Customs mandates that periodically all crew have to go through again, on the same day. Which, obviously, is a bit of a logistical nightmare. I was finished by 6:30 am (in time to eat breakfast with my parents again), but due to miscommunications and errors, the last crew member didn’t complete it until almost 1:30pm, which in turn menat that all crew were confined to the ship until that time. I finally got to join my parents in San Juan around 2pm, which was later than I would have liked, but we still had a good time. We had a great lunch where we tried a lot of Puerto Rican food. It was all good, and interesting and different. We took pictures of it, too. ☺ We walked around for over an hour after that and saw some of San Juan’s charming corners. The day ended all too soon, and as I write this they are already at the airport getting ready to board their plane. ☹

It was such a wonderful week. It totally changes your perspective to be able to share the ship with family for even a week. We did a lot of things I might never have done otherwise, and it definitely revived a lot of excitement in me about traveling. Ha ha, one of the lounge singers Michelle said something cool to me – when she found out that my parents were on board, she said it explained a lot: she had been wondering why I looked “super gorgeous, even more than usual. Its because your parents are here, and you are glowing!” I think she was right.