Willemstad, Curacao

So needless to say I got up early. Did the normal routine but this time I took my book to the pooldeck to reserve my lounge chair even before I go to the gym. Work out. Breakfast. Just a small note here. I think the food is good in general. With two exceptions. The eggs are always runny. Get an omlette instead. And the breakfast sweets are awful. They’ve made all of these really delicious looking pastries, but they all kind of suck. They just aren’t really that sweet or they taste weird. So definitely not worth the calories. I keep trying them in case there is one that is decent. So I take a bite. I grimace. And then I put it down and walk away. How’s that for some freakish dietary discipline? Anyhoo . . .

After showering and cleaning up, I head back to the pool deck. And my lounge chair is gone! And now I don’t really care, but I’ve got like 30 pages left in my book and I want to finish it. I walk around and finally spot my chair and book. I just grab my book and walk away. I don’t need any drama thank you. So I pull up another chair and I complete my book. That’s one down. Two to go. So I pull out my second book and a guy a met while we were waiting in line to board the ship comes up to chat with me. He was all bitchy about the ship not leaving on time and staying in Fort Lauderdale for Kimberly Locke. “Some American Idol runner up.” Really, you’re bitter about that? By a 5 hour delay? Well, first of all he says that he saw her and admitted she rocked the house. So there. But then he proceeds to tell me this awful story of how his partner of 4 years apparently decided to end their relationship about 3 weeks ago. And they are both on the cruise. In the same stateroom. And he’s trying to work it out, but his partner just thinks they are friends now. Yikes. It was like a little soap opera taking place in front of me. And while I do feel bad for the guy, I’m also like: Look, I was really happy just sitting here reading my book. Agh! But I did make a dent on the new book after a bit.

Around 1PM we pulled into Curacao and I’ve opted for the Beauties of Curacao tour. It’s supposed to be a tour of the island to see some of the country side and it “implies” that we’re hiking because it says you need comfortable walking shoes (no flip flops) and be able to walk over varying terrain. But no, we spent most of the time on the bus exploring the western & northern part of the island. I try to slip into my tour bus narcolepsy, but the woman’s voice is loud and a bit irritating. I doze, but then I keep hearing her say “young cock.” And the first time I think, wow, I’ve never actually had a dream on a tour bus. But then I hear her say “young cock” again and the two guys in front of me are snickering. So I know I’m dreaming this. Well the third time she says “young cock” I’m trying to figure out what the hell she’s talking about since I’ve missed most of her shpiel. And then I see the sign. “Jung Kok.” It’s dutch, and obviously pronounced “Young Cock.” It’s a salt flat named for one of the original settlers. And out on the salt flat you can see some flamingoes. Too far away for picture, but still kind of cool. After a brief stop at an artist’s gallery, we head to the north shore. And I’m trying to stay awake and I will say that I think Curacao is very pretty. And I think they are lucky to be under Dutch rule. They still have some poverty issues, but overall I think the island is much better than Dominican Republic or Haiti!

We reach the north shore and stop to see the surf crashing into the rocky shore. Very cool and just oddly similar to some of the shore line I’ve seen in Ireland. The sun is out, the wind is blowing, and it feels good to be out in the countryside exploring. After a quick soda break, it’s back on the bus and we’re heading to one of the public beaches on the western shore, near West Point. It’s nice, but I didn’t think swimming was an option on the tour so I didn’t bring a swim suit which is a bummer. The drive back into town takes forever and the four of us in the back of the bus are being bitchy about being trapped on the bus for this long. We return to the ship just as a heavy storm cloud proceeds to spit rain. So I huddled quickly onto the ship. But the town looked so cute and I wanted to go shopping, so after I *thought* the rain had stopped, I headed out. And I get right to the bridge that takes you over into the downtown area (cute, cute, cute), and it starts to rain. Now at this point it’s clear that all of the stores are closed so I’m like, never mind. Back to the ship, a quick dinner, and then I needed a disco nap badly if I was going to make it to the night’s party.

I wake up just before 11PM, get cleaned up and head topside to see the fireworks. The local gay community in Curacao hosted a tea dance this evening and then they were going to have fireworks for us as we left the harbor. And no I didn’t go to the tea dance. I think the men there would be more to Museum Man’s taste than mine. And I’ve got a man. So I slept. The fireworks are good and I’m slowing sipping my vodka and 5 hour energy shot. Now the good thing is that the 5 hour energy shot really worked. I was not tired at all during the dance. The bad thing is that I took it at 11PM. Do the math. Right. So at 3AM when I decided that I really needed to go to sleep, not so much. But in the mean time, it was time to get my groove on!


So the 90’s Diva party is one of my favorites! So much good diva music in the 90s. Madge, Whitney, Mariah, etc. One of my favorite Annie Lennox’s dance remixes came on, “And it feels like you’re 17 again!” Love that. Had the best time. I did stop to get a beverage and ran into the ship’s security officer. I had seen him before and he is HOT, HOT, HOT! Umm, you can take me to the brig anytime you want. Needless to say if he ever went to the 14^th deck forward, he would be *very* popular. But it’s not like there was a shortage of hot, hot, men out that night.


Around 230AM, we ran into a small rain squall. And while maybe half of the crowd disperses for cover, the rest of us stay as Cher is blaring from the speaker: “Cause we’re Strong Enough! . . . . “ And we’re loving it. The cool rain is washing the sweat off of the hard muscled bodies on the dance floor, cooling us off as we continued to burn across the pool deck. Just amazing. The squall passed and then the dance floor becomes packed again. I’m not sure what time the party ended. I quit at 3AM and *tried* to go to sleep. With some success, but tomorrow is the White Party and I need to be ready for that!