November 30th, 2003
Well, here's the news since Thanksgiving.
For Thanksgiving we got some decent food--not great, but better than usual. We had real Turkey, real mashed potatoes, all the fixings, and free wine. Besides that it was mostly just a normal day, though.
On Friday I went on one of the ship's shore excursions in Nassau to a place called Blue Lagoon Island. We took a 45-minute ferry ride to a small island, and hung out there for the day. The reason we went was to do the "snorkel with the stingrays" thing (which sounds pretty cool), but it ended up being a disappointment. It was just snorkeling with a lot of other people (and lots of kids) in a small pen, with about 6 stingrays. There wasn't really much else to see there either. After that, we just hung out at the beach. It's a pretty small island, and the unique thing about it is that there is a lagoon running through the middle of the island that is about 20-30 yards wide. I walked/swam in the lagoon part for a while, which is about 5 feet deep at the deepest. The water there is exceptionally clear, and overall it was just a really nice beach.
Yesterday I was outside and it was kind of a blustery day, and my glasses got blown off my face as I neared the top of the stairs. Luckily they're fine.
Today is our musical director's birthday, so he had us take him out to Hooters in Canaveral. Dan's a cool guy, and although he turned 49 today, he looks more like he's about a decade younger than that. After that we went to Wal-Mart and I bought some stuff, including a Jackie Chan DVD for only $5.88.
We also had our first rehearsal for the Christmas production show today, which starts Saturday. My part is almost all on flute, which doesn't make me very happy at all. It's a short show, though, and I think we only have to play it about seven times.
This Thursday I might start my scuba certification in Nassau. There's some people that are going, and they said it costs $300 and takes about 5 sessions. After I'm certified, there's two different dives I can do through the ship's shore excursions for free. I'm still debating it, though.
Also, I have just finalized my signoff date, and I will be returning to Spo-cane on January 11th. Before Y'all know it, I'll be back in the snow.
Brian Einstein Lassiter