Diving and hoovering

We had a wakeup call at seven to ready ourselves for today’s scuba-diving trip in St. Thomas, booked through the on-board dive shop SeaTrek. We found ourselves docked next to the Disney Magic and the Grand Princess, both large cruise ships but still girlie boats compared to our omnipotent Explorer, floating there in her vision and sovereignty. Disney Magic had a life-sized figure of Goofy off her stern, painting the trim on the ship with an artist’s brush.

We got ferried to the dive shop and picked up our equipment then motored out to Andre’s reef. It was decent diving and not too deep so we got in a full 40 minutes well under 60 feet. Somebody saw a turtle but all we saw were pretty fishes. The second dive was at the wreck of two U.S. Navy barges that they blew up when no longer needed. As wreck dives go it was pretty uninteresting but also pretty easy with a maximum depth of 40 feet. The crew was great and the whole thing went professionally and smoothly.

Hunnybear went out to shop and I caught up on my email in the afternoon. We were supposed to sail at five and the casino was supposed to open at six but we had to wait in line behind the other ships. Disney magic pulled out and her whistle sounded “When You Wish Upon a Star,” a nice touch. We pulled away slowly and for some reason it took forever to get into international waters so I was chomping at the bit while we inched away from the fatherly protection of our vices by the U.S. government, currently in turmoil over a matter of dimples. I took a tour of the upper decks and discovered a goldmine on deck 13: the rock-climbing wall, which I would not be utilizing, an in-line skating track, which I similarly would not be trying out, and a beautiful nine-hole miniature-golf course complete with 19th hole bar. What an incredible ship!

The casino finally opened and I hammered away at Deuces Wild until dinner but to no avail. Dinner was the fancy one, moved from tomorrow night because Thanksgiving. We started with excellent escargot, then a decent onion soup, then a nice salad with white asparagus, then the entrée. We all asked for filet mignon with lobster tail as well. It took a while to put it all together but at least they didn’t say “no” like in the gourmet restaurant upstairs. The steak was good and the lobster was superb. Next time I’ll just have three or four lobster tails. As a rule I don’t eat dessert but there was a flourless chocolate cake I thought I’d give another try along with a little ice cream. I recalled correctly that I don’t love flourless chocolate cake.

The rest of the gang went to hear comedian Gary Mule Deer but Hunnybear and I went to the casino to try for the elusive jackpot on our machine. A lady was illegally playing our machine so we breathed down her neck until she left. She must have jinxed it though because I got the worst hovering of the trip although Hunnybear hit her first Wild Royal. I even lost a bit at the Blackjack table during a break. Midnight delight came and went with exactly the same hors d’oeuvres and marzipan candies as every other night. Finally I went down to the cabin for some sleep, glad I was only playing a 25¢ machine instead of what I usually play in Vegas.


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I hope you enjoy my Lion Tales. For photos, past travelogues, subscriptions, and more, see www.liontales.com

[This message has been edited by QuietLion (edited 11-24-2000).]