I’ve missed you guys!

And now I realize, at least for me, writing is kind of like exercise.   You stop doing it for a week and you forget how to get back into the groove.

I just came back from a 4 night cruise to Bahamas with some girlfriends.  The main reason? To swim with dolphins!!  And yes, I got to cross that off my bucket list.  And along the way we met some wonderful people.

Let’s just say that if a dolphin swim is on your “to do” list, Do It!  That’s not to say we didn’t have many hassles just getting to the dolphins (you’d think this was the first time a cruise line had to coordinate this type of thing). Deep breathing exercises were called upon—and I’m not talking while we’re in the water!  Plus let’s not forget the expense.  But again, totally worth it.  And before you start feeling bad for the dolphins (because yes, I was feeling bad;  why should these sweet creatures have to pull my weight along the water?). Most of the dolphins at Atlantis are rescue dolphins from Hurricane Katrina. And Brewer (our dolphins name) seemed to really love his trainer.  We were pulled by his fin and pushed while on boogie boards, got to feed him and pet him.   Just a delight!

On the Dolphin swim excursion we met two sisters from Chicago.  Both in high school.  So it was just the five of us.  Elena, Nancy (my friends) and I and the two of them.  They were so sweet and enjoying the event as much as us!  It’s amazing when you try something new, it doesn’t matter your age or where you’re from.  It brings you all on even ground and you have so much fun together.  The smiles on all our faces.  We met the girls again while on the ship and they shared with their parents how much fun they had with us!  30+ years older than them.

Now for some fun stories:

My friend Elena and I were walking towards the ship from the pier, with a mom and dad in their late 40’s and teenage son walking a few feet in front of us.  Walking toward us is a very shapely woman in a bikini and very high heels.  You know when you’re on vacation you see all shapes and sizes in all degrees of clothing.   I saw the father and son turn their heads a bit to look at the woman—not surprising.  But then the woman walks past them and now I see why they were looking ever closer than normal.  One boob was totally out of her bathing suit.  Just hanging out.  So, being the considerate person that I am, I walked over to her and told her discreetly that something was amiss.  She looked down, popped her boob back in, thanked me and kept walking.    She wasn’t horrified, or embarrassed or….anything.  Just popped it back in. If it was me, I’d be like….OMG, OMG, OMG covering myself up, crossing my arms, my legs everything!  Now I have to say covering her boob and not covering her boob is only the difference of about one inch.  So we’re not talking major coverage here anyway.  Thirty seconds pass and the mother in front of us turns to us with her mouth dropped.  I said, “ I bet your husband and son didn’t mind that.”   Anyone watch Seinfeld?  Nipple Sighting?

Earlier in the day, while on the pier, I was looking for somebody who sold Sky Juice.  It’s a yummy cocktail that I can only find in Bahamas.  Actually it’s even difficult to find in Bahamas.  They serve it at the establishment Fish Fry (outside of town) or, the last time I was there, at a pop-up tiki bar on the pier.  If you’re lucky it will even be served in a coconut.

The story:   The tiki pop-up wasn’t there.  I walked into restaurants and bars with no luck.  And I really want to share this drink with my friend who never had one.  So I walk up to these two non-tourists and ask them if they know where I can get some Sky Juice.  Besides the Fish Fry, they didn’t know of any other location.  “BUT”, they said, “we’ll make you some—what time is your ship leaving?”  Not knowing what to expect, I said, “soon—-But if you can make us some, sure we’ll wait”.   My girlfriend’s looking at me like I’m crazy.  One of the guys ran into the convenient store to get cups, ice, coconut water and sweetened condensed milk.  The other into the liquor store to buy the gin.  We followed him into the liquor store.  He was so sweet.  All the while, looking behind him, making sure we didn’t leave and if he was going quick enough (our ship really wasn’t leaving for hours).  We paid for the small bottle of gin and all three of us joined him and his friends ( now there’s two more guys) outside on the pier.  Because they didn’t have a can opener, he’s banging the can on the pier wall to open it up.  Then he pours the drinks back and forth between the two cups to make sure they are thoroughly mixed before I add the ice.  I know all you readers are shaking your heads, completely convinced I’m crazy.  I’ll insert a text from one our friends agreeing with you.  BUT,  I’ll have you know we tipped them well and the drinks were well worth it!!  And now I have a story to tell. P.S.—Please don’t try this at home.  The recipe yes, the experience, maybe not 🙂

Ingredients:

2 cups coconut water (4 green coconuts or 16oz canned/bottled juice)
1 cup gin (or white rum, if preferred)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon

Texts from friends at home:

We also had so much fun playing trivia games, Pictionary, zooming around the ship on a scavenger hunt .  For the scavenger hunt, I went up to two different strangers sitting in a cafe’ asking if I could have whatever was on their plate because I needed a photo eating two different treats from that shop.  People are so helpful when they know it’s part of a game.  It’s like they want to be part of it also.  And I was thinking “outside of the box” because I wasn’t going to wait on line.  This was a race man!  And the trivia games?  We won TWO of them!  With absolutely no help from me.  My friends Elena and Nancy deserve all the credit for that.

OK, well this blog is longer than expected.  I guess once I start talking I can’t shut-up 🙂

Let’s see if I can remember how to publish this.

Talk to you soon.

Remember,

Itlbok, really!

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