Sharkboy

We left New York (I now say New York instead of New Jersey because the port is really that close and because of THIS…) on the Sunday night knowing it would take 3 full days at sea before reaching our first port of call. We were ready to relax and read and eat and drink and explore and gamble and watch shows and try lots of different activities… We weren’t ready for the bad weather those next 3 days would bring. We expected some medium coldish temperature but unfortunately, we sailed through some stormy weather and the sun was totally absent for rain and clouds.

Finally on day 4, the weather was a bit better, at least warm enough to sit outside on the deck and maybe even use the pools. After an hour reading on a lounger with DR sleeping next to me, I decided to go and test the pool water… IT WAS FRIGID. I managed to sit by the edge and soak my feet, then my legs… it was obvious I was uncomfortable and just as I was about to get up to go back to my reading, I hear this whispering shy voice to my left: “Excuse me. Are you SharkBoy?”

I turned to find this lovely lady crouching next to me with a wide smile on. I replied: “Yes I am, but I want to know how the hell you know that?” She smiled some more and started telling me how she was looking for information about this ship online and fell DR’s blog with this story and started to read on about all the different posts on what he was packing, etc… She easily criss-crossed to my blog and started to read on as well.

I loved Cathy instantly… Not only did she have the “balls” to come say hello and introduce herself, but she was funny and nice and pleasant… the first really nice person we’d met since departure. After talking for awhile, I finally got my frozen feet out of the pool and she introduced me to her husband Raymond. They were on this cruise with their 2 teenagers and her parents as well. I noticed DR was awake by then and I motioned for him to come down to the pool level and joined us. We were relieved to find out they were from Michigan and we had an instant rapport in regards to disliking a large amount of the crowd aboard with us. What DR called the Large Barge, they called SS Geritol, yet all of us were thrilled to still be aboard and enjoy a nice long vacation, at least if we didn’t like the people, we could make good fun of them.

We met up later on for drinks at the piano bar and enjoyed some more conversations for the duration of the cruise.

It definitely was a nice surprise to be able to walk down the promenade or any decks and run into them and chat for a bit. It made a big difference since the first few days had been filled with loud, rude, clicky groups who didn’t care about others around them…

Cathy and Raymond come from good people.

Raymond, Cathy, me & DR on the last day enjoying deals on the Promenade.

We spent one night in New York before embarking on our cruise ship. After a whole day of walking around Manhattan, we bought sandwiches and drinks at a cafe in Chelsea and made our way to the hotel. In the room, we found we could use the business desk as a table if one sat on the bed and one sat on the big chair, we just had to move it closer.

I found this little guy hiding under the chair:

His name was written on his collar: Patches.

We had no choice but to bring him onboard with us and try to show him a good time.

At first he missed New York and kept looking for it through the salty windows of the ship:

We tried to give some distractions such as helping us choose some excursions for the ports to come:

He was still a little bit lost and scared at time:

We found that pizza was a really good way to get him out of his hiding places:

One night after dinner, we found Patches had made friends with a new-comer:

REALLY good friends.

The next morning he was tired and slept with me:

He felt better and requested some cake that night, we were happy to oblige:

Along the way, he made many more friends:

And:

But he wasn’t so keen on the French Bulldog (seriously, we didn’t know what this one was):

One morning, he tried to sneak out of the room to come play with us on the beach, I caught him just in time:

On the last night, the sea was really rough as we went through a storm and poor Patches couldn’t take much more of the ship’s rocking back and forth and up and down:

That night, he never made it back to the bed:

But in the end, he was very happy to leave a little something to Jocelyn who kept him company during her daily visits and made him little friends to play with:

Patches made the trip back to Toronto with us and is now being ignored by two big cats not really happy to see us invade the territories they’ve had to themselves for the last two weeks.

The End.