Coco Cay Oct 8

We arrive in Coco Cay to beautiful skies and bright sunshine. The weather gods are nicer to us than the weather forecast.

Many passengers enjoy the day on the island. Nearly every passenger gives good reports of Coco Cay. Personally I stayed on the ship.

A relaxing day for me. The aches in my body from the fall are getting better. I expect in a few days to be back to normal, whatever normal is. The plastic wrap is making it possibe to use my phone so I am able to write these posts.

As we did last week we share the pier with the Navigator.

Rumors about the future of Coco Cay are rampant. Two of my favorites are the construction of a bridge to the next island which is used by Norwegian. The other is construction of a resort hotel on the island which would allow passengers to arrive by ship, stay a week at the resort, and depart by cruise ship. I doubt either makes economic sense.

The weather remained perfect until after our departure. By nightfall as we speed to Nassau at about 5 knots, lightning could be seen in the sky behind us.

Back to the Mariner, Oct 7

As I pack, I watch the weather and news. My usual route to to the ship includes a portion of the Florida Turnpike, traffic is backed up for miles due to a multi vehicle fatal accident.

The weather is showing heavy storms all along the east coast of Florida stretching past the Bahamas.  The week is not starting well.

I arrive at Adrienne's at 10 to pick up the four passengers riding with me. As I step out of the car, I step on a seed pod about the size of a tennis ball, twist my ankle and fall flat on my face on the concrete. With phone in hand, the front glass is smashed to a thousand pieces. A neighbor helps me to my feet.

I appear to have suffered only a few cuts and bruises and fortunately no broken bones.

The screen appears to still work, but it is impossible to wipe a finger over it because of all the glass shards. I wrap the phone in plastic wrap which seems to help.

Steve, my son in law, finds a local repair shop. Arrangements are made to have my phone repaired Friday when I get home. 

I take a few acetaminophen, I am already beginning to hurt.

As we head to the port, Adrienne attempts to message a friend only to find her phone does not work at all. It had worked fine earlier at her house. Definitely a bad phone day.

The rain comes and goes as I drive to Port Canaveral. The car is parked, and we board the ship just as the cabins are ready. I unpack my carryon, read my emails and send a few messsges. My phone appears to still function.

My first stop is to talk to the dining room and modify our dining reservations. I get a window table for us on deck 5 at 8:00 pm. Not my favorite dining time, but I will make the best of it.

After the muster drill, my luggage has arrived and I put everything in its place. Even for a four day cruise the shoe hanger I hang on the outside of the head door with its 24 pockets comes in very handy to keep things easily reachable without covering the very limited counter space.

The lounge is very busy as expected. The gin does wonders for the soreness in my ankle, arms, hands, knees, and shoulder.

The ice show is almost the same as last week. The major difference, none of the skaters fall.

Dinner is as expected except I do indulge in apple pie for dessert. Not the tasteless pastry that comes from a factory, but a fresh apple pie baked on board and delivered by the head waiter in person after a little prodding.

Like last week there is a slight gentle rocking to the ship as we head to Coco Cay. I retire for a good night's sleep. The weather forecast is for thunderstorms.