Day 3 - Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

Friday February 2 - Groundhog Day - and it used to be my Opa Otto’s  Birthday. Miss him. He was a fine man.

Good night’s sleep. The rolling (side to side) and the tipping (front to back) doesn’t bother me any more. We got notified that we needed to move our clocks one hour forward (at 2 am) and that we would arrive at 8 am. James set the alarm for 7 am.

The ship was punctual and we watched from the balcony. The first picture was taken 7:58 am.

Then we had a light buffet breakfast on Deck 11 with a gorgeous view.

Then we got ready for the excursion we had booked for 10:15 am. We were an hour early but at leisure wanted to look a bit around.

Somebody from Papa J’s Tours found us. There is our boat.

We were three couples (John and Debbie, Jerry and Paula, and us) and two crew (. ). The boat went for a while and took us to a tiny island. The ride was pleasant but at one point it got a little choppy and we got a little wet from the spray. 

Getting in and out of the boat was no big deal even for me. The crew was very nice and helpful. First thing happened was that John found a huge conch shell. A little worn but without any breakage. Lucky person. The sand/beach was incredible. 

James was going into the water to the left of the boat but I called him because I saw that Egbert was trying to make stingrays come ... and there they were! He was feeding them. Everybody had fun watching. Then he befriended one who seemed to cuddle up with him. The other rays left. We went close and he gave us facts about the rays. We also saw other fish swim around. I saw a long skinny one which is called “needle fish”. 

Egbert invited us (one after the other) to come and hold the ray. Honestly I think the lady ray seem to enjoy it. 

I am usually first in line for things like this but the waves would knock you over and it was difficult to stand steady. But finally I didn't want to miss out on this experience. When do I have a chance again to be kissed by a wild stingray?

After everybody had a turn who wanted she swam off and we climbed back into the boat. We were offered bottled water which was very welcomed by me. Somehow the ride back was even smoother. We all agreed that it had been marvelous and tipped generously. 

Photo: coming around our ship almost back at the beach where we started. 

We were wet, sticky and sandy but wanted to see whether there was WiFi in that shopping center at the quay. “Margaritaville” did and we sat down and had a beer. Turns out we could sign on but it didn’t do anything. Too bad. And the beers were incredibly expensive but tasted good. 

We went back to our ship the Veendam. 

We had to shower, wash our salty stuff and put it out to dry. 

And we then we went for lunch. We found a nice place on an outdoor area on the deck in the shade, had salad and shared half a small pizza. Just very nice.

Back in our cabin we watched the quay from our balcony. Next to our ship was another which had arrived shortly after us and was much bigger. We had asked at the cruise line desk about the size of the Veendam. It has room for 1350 passengers. All rooms are occupied but because some rooms are only single occupied there are a few less. The ship has about 600 crew.

Since today at 2 pm there is even one passenger less. It was written in the program, said over the intercom several times and really stressed to be back at 1:30 pm because the ship would leave at 2 pm. Keeping track of us is very organized. When we get off they scan our stateroom key. And they scan it again when we are back. After 1:30 they called out several names of people who should contact them. Obviously these were late. We also heard the horn toot. Shortly before 2 there were still 2 names being called out. James was watching from our balcony and saw one just entering then. Still one missing. We saw crew anxiously waiting on the quay and scouting about. People were getting on and off the other ship. Every time we saw a single man turning the corner of the quay we were guessing our ship or the other? Nope. Finally the ropes were loosened and the ship pushed off and going. Just then a man arrived and was waving. Too late! We were very sure that he was a passenger who missed our ship. We wonder what happened to him?

The rest of the day was very leisurely. We read. We walk around on the different decks. It’s amazing. In a short time we are already acquainted with several people and keep meeting them. Some hardly talk and some like waterfalls. We change our assigned fixed table at 8 pm to open seating anytime between 5 and 9 to have more flexibility. When we meet the couples from the first “fixed” dinner table we tell them that’s about the time and that we enjoyed their company. We ate with totally different new strangers and had lively conversations.

There is food somewhere on this ship at anytime. Our stewards even leave fruit for us in our cabin. 

At 10 pm we went to the show. Tonight it was a magician/commedian. He was introduced that he had even performed for the royal family in Buckingham Palace. He was really really funny. We enjoyed his show very much. Of course we are never allowed to take photos at the shows so here is one of the program.