Dean, Drinks, and a Dingo ate my Baby...

Well folks, here it is, the double whammy! My first blog in almost two weeks AND an eyewitness to what it’s like to be miles and miles away from a hurricane. First though, a couple of things to get you caught up with my last couple of weeks. I ate a lot of slop on rice, had more than a few cocktails in the crew bar, worked an ass load of shows, and had a few laughs. There you have it folks, 2 weeks on a ship abridged!

Really though, the highlight of the last few weeks was my trip to Costa Maya. It was my first official “day off” without any training, maintenance, or heavy sleeping to keep me on the boat. I debarked (eh? eh? pretty snazzy ship talk,huh?) with 3 people from my department (two techs and a piano player) and headed directly to the beach. We had to take a 15 minute “zebra bus” (which essentially is a glorified 1980’s troop carrier painted like a zebra) over 3000 or so dirt roads, but the relative discomfort soon became well worth it. The bus dropped us off and we of course had to run the usual gauntlet of natives pushing their wares (“Hola Senor, you want Cuban cigars?”, “Hey big muchacho, you looking for Mexican ladies?”, “Buddy, come buy some useless crap at or above tourist prices”). We were determined to find ourselves a new crew hangout, as some plunker had given the cones a lead on our old place. In recent weeks it has digressed into a Mecca for middle aged guests who want to feel “hip” by buddying up with the staff.

We foraged through the cheap massages, the authentic plastic Mayan sculptures, and the freshly grilled carne de burro with steadfast resolve. About a half a mile down the thoroughfare we came across a place without the usual 7 or 8 people begging us for our business. I have sworn an oath not to divulge the name of this place, but needless to say, we had completed our mission. We had an outstanding time and delicious Mexican beer and food was had by all. Our waiter (who for some reason thought we would believe his name was “Sam”) was absolutely amazing. The man would (without hesitation) sprint towards us every time we looked his way and easily gave the word attentive a run for its money. I won’t bore you with inside jokes, stories sinking boats, or revues of Mexican ladies, but I will post a few select pictures so you can get the general Idea.

I should also let you know that the first “four pack” of pictures is of Belize. This port is a bonafide shithole, but (for some ungodly reason) it does have a phenomenal Chinese restaurant and makes a decent beer (Belican).

Now on to what everyone wants to know (and keeps calling me about), Hurricane Dean. I think it is important to point out that we will miss the storm by ages, but we are definitely feeling its affects. First off, to say the swells are pronounced would be an understatement. To give you an idea, I have ratchet strapped my TV to the mini-fridge and everybody is walking around the ship like the village drunk from an 18^th century Irish novel (I know that was a blatant rip off from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but it works so fucking well). I was out on deck 4 earlier, and I was easily looking at 10 to 15 foot swells. Luckily as watercraft go we are bigger than most, so the hull absorbs most of the impact (which is loads of fun, especially when you hear 3 or four loud crashes ever few minutes). We had to switch shows on short notice because of the rough seas, and from most reports, tomorrow will be worse (we are heading towards St.Thomas and the area dean has already skated through). I am not feeling seasick, but the word around the ship is, the cones are not faring as well.

It looks like Cozumel is going to get clobbered (again) so there is a good chance I may never see it again. There are contingency plans so if a port gets wiped off the map, we just go someplace else. That is really all I have on that subject. I will definitely keep you updated on our situation, but unfortunately I don’t think I’m going to have any harrowing tales from the angry sea. I will try to get better about posting; I just sort of fell into a routine of not doing it and got all sorts of lazy. Sorry again, and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Best wishes,

Seabag