The last couple of years we have taken to going away for Thanksgiving. The plus side is there is no cooking or cleaning, but the downside is there are no leftovers. When weighing our options no cooking and cleaning is far better than not having leftovers. Plus, who needs leftovers when you're on a cruise ship?
This year, we spent Thanksgiving cruising to the Southern Caribbean Islands. We spent 8 blissful days on the ship and sailed to Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. The day we set sail happened to B's 14th birthday. She was wearing our Birthday Hat and Pin and everyone we came across told her how lucky she was to be celebrating her birthday with a cruise. "This isn't for my birthday," she made sure to explain. "It's just a coincidence." She didn't want anyone thinking that she got a cruise for her birthday when all her sisters ever get are some Legos.
My parents were with us and we had a great time that first night. The next day, my Dad was checking his email (he bought the internet package so he could continue to work. Work on vacation? What???) and saw an email that my Bubbie, my Mom's Mom, had passed away during the night. It wasn't a big shock that she died, given the fact that she was on Hospice, but it was a shock because the Hospice nurses had told my parents they should feel comfortable going on the cruise because Bubbie was doing OK. My parents made arrangements to fly out of Aruba, but that wouldn't happen for another 2 days. We tried to make the best of it, but it did put a bit of a damper on things.
When we got to Aruba, The Curly Girly Trio, The Doctor and I took a lovely tour of Aruba. Our second stop took us to the Casibari Rock Formations. This is a rather large formation of rocks of which you can climb to the top. M was a little scared, and I have to admit I was too. I thought M was going to ask to stay below but then she said, "Remember the waterfall, Mommy." "The Waterfall" is from when I was 14 and took a cruise with my family. I forget where we were, but we had the opportunity to climb an area that would take us behind a waterfall. I chickened out and stayed with my Mom, while my Dad, my brother and my sister went. When the got back, they kept saying how amazing it was and I asked my Dad if I could go. "No, you can't," he said. "You had the opportunity and you missed it." I have told my girls this story whenever I see that they are about to let their fear stop them.
I was so proud of M because with every step up the rock, she said, "I'm scared, but I'm doing it!" As soon as we took the last step up on to the top, she looked around and said, "I can't believe I'm really up here! I did it!"
The next day we were in Curaçao and that was pretty amazing too. The oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere is located in Curaçao and we took a tour that took us to that, the oldest Jewish cemetery, the house of the decedents of the first Jewish people on the island, and the best part of the tour- the Blue Curaçao distillery where we (adults only) got to sample some of the yumminess. Watching The Curly Girly Trio be bored out of their minds while touring the house reminded me of how bored I was when we toured all of the old houses in VA when I was little. I told them that while they won't appreciate this now, they certainly will when they are older. I think the one thing they really got from it was to be thankful for indoor plumbing. All 3 of them got to see a chamber pot and all 3 were disgusted by the fact that someone had to clean them out.
On Thursday (Thanksgiving) we were in Bonaire. We figured the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving was with a trip to the beach. It was quite windy and the current was strong, but the girls still had fun snorkeling and playing in the sand. At one point, L came over to me and asked if she could kayak. I told her not by herself but if B wanted to go, they could go together. When we were in Mexico last year they kayaked together and B had kayaked in the past at camp, so I felt comfortable letting them go. B came out of the water holding her snorkel and mask and I called out to her, "L wants to go kayaking. Will you take her?" "OK!" B replied. She and L walked towards the hut and I returned to my book. A few minutes later, I heard L screaming and shrieking. I looked up and saw them in the kayak and returned to my book. "What is going on?" asked The Doctor. "Oh, you know. L is just being L," I said. You see, L has a tendency to scream at any situation. Whether she's scared or happy, she'll usually let out a scream, so I figured she was just excited. Or scared.
Shortly after, I heard The Doctor yell out, "Stay in the boat!! Do not get out of the boat!" I looked up and saw the kayak was well past the white buoys and my heart nearly stopped. I went running up to The Doctor and asked, "What happened?" "They got caught in the current," he replied. "They started to jump out of the kayak but I told them to stay in. B isn't strong enough to row them back"
"Well, how are they going to back here??" I exclaimed.
"It's OK," he replied. "They are sending someone after her."
Sure enough, I saw a girl in a kayak rowing out to them. The manager of the beach hut came and stood next to me.
"So, has this happened before?" I asked.
"Never," he replied. "This is the first time."
The Doctor, who was watching intently, said, "She can't get them back in." He turned to the manager and said, "If you have rope, we can take a 2 person kayak out and tow them back."
"We don't have any rope," the manager said.
Hysterical, I started screaming, "How are they going to get back? We can't just leave them there!" A man in a wet suit came up and said, "I'm going to swim out the them" and jumped in to the water. The manager then took of his shirt and jumped in too. The Doctor looked some more and said, "They are way too far out to be rescued by swimmers" and my heart stopped. The girls were about a mile off shore.
Meanwhile, M was standing next to me and started sobbing, "I don't want to be an only child!!!" I kept screaming, "Someone, please help my kids!" As if a prayer were answered, a group of kayakers on a tour appeared. I ran out on to the dock, screaming, "My kids are out there! Please save them!!" The tour guide turned to his group and said, "Stay right here. I have to go rescue those kids." As he started out, The Doctor came up to me and said, "They are calling for a rescue boat; it should be here in a few minutes."
"This man in the kayak is going to try to save them," I gasped.
The tour guide made it out to the girls, hooked them up with rope and towed them in. He helped them out of the kayak and I thanked him profusely. I would have ran up to him to hug him, but he got back into his kayak and paddled off with his tour. B was a sobbing mess and L was excited. B later said that L didn't really seem to know what was going and B was more worried that we were going to be upset with her. Both of them stated, "I am never going kayaking again!" but then about 30 minutes later, L walked up to The Doctor and asked, "Will you go kayaking with me?"
After everyone calmed down, the girl who had first kayaked out to them came over offering us some food and said, "I guess we really should keep rope here. If we had rope, I could have towed them in from the start."
Later, The Doctor, B and M convinced me to get on to a raft with a clear window where you could look into the water. The Doctor and M were holding on to the raft, pushing me to where they wanted me to go. When I was ready to get off, I jumped off the raft, pushing M into the dock. M started screaming and crying, "My arm!!" and The Doctor and I figured she just scraped her arm against the dock. As we were walking back to the beach, M still in hysterics, another tourist started talking to us in Dutch.
"What?" I asked, not understanding what she was trying to say. She said something again and gestured just past me.
"Oh, OK," I said, looking around, wondering what she was going on and on about. Finally she stood up, walked to the other side of me and said, "The sign explains it."
I turned and saw a sign that said "Do not brush up against the dock. Fire coral attach themselves to the sides and while we clean them off once a week, you stand the risk of getting stung."
"Ohh. . ., " I said, finally understanding. I showed the sign to The Doctor and he and I walked M up to the Beach Hut, where the manager was. The Doctor explained to him what happened, and he took a washcloth, soaked it in white vinegar and gave it to M.
"Hold it against your sting for about 15 minutes," he said to her. He then turned to me and said, "Wow, I'm just saving all of your daughters today."
The rest of the day was so surreal because every time I looked at B and L I had to remind myself that they were OK and that they weren't actually lost at sea.
The rest of the cruise was smooth sailing (see what I did there?) after that. We enjoyed down time, lots and lots of trivia, high tea, bingo and watching Grease by the pool. I did my part of embarrassing the girls by singing and dancing in my lounge chair.
The mark of a good cruise is one that feels longer than it actually is and this one most certainly did. We were only on the ship for 8 days, but it felt so much longer and despite the hair raising experience it was one of the best cruises we've ever taken. I am hoping to continue our tradition by cruising next Thanksgiving too, and hopefully next time B and L will only go out in the ocean on the actual ship.
