The Next Adventure

Three ladies I met at last new year's cruise and I decided to go on another new year's cruise to celebrate 2024. The cruise was on the Celebrity Apex, the same ship I took for the British Isles cruise in September. I drove down from Maryland on December 16, and stayed with my friend Debi (my old running buddy in Italy) who now lives in Hollywood, FL, before the cruise. The cruise departed from Ft Lauderdale on December 30, with port calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, and Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis. Here are some highlights. There were lots of cakes decorated to commemorate the new year, in the Oceanview Cafe onboard the Celebrity Apex The Apex Theatre: the shows were very good. I also enjoyed the series of talks by award winning author Cathy Ace on mystery/crime fiction, covering the history of the genre and the different characters/plots in books, films and tv series. She was a very good presenter, knowledgeable and entertaining and funny...

San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jan 1, 2024. Our ship arrived late due to a detour because of an emergency that required a medical evacuation of a passenger. We did not have pre-paid excursions. Instead two of us disembarked and just walked around the town. Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Jan 2, 2024, Bus tour plus a few hours on the beach Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, Jan 3, 2024. Kayaking and snorkeling, awesome experience. Wish I had an underwater camera to take photos of the fish and coral I saw -- will have to get one before my next snorkeling excursion. The outfitter passed around rum punch for us to imbibe before the minivan took us back to the port. After the minivan dropped us at the port, there was time to walk around town and window shop. I bought some chicken wings from a street vendor and ate them on a bench next to the street. Also bought a johnny cake, filled with salted fish and salad, at one of the local dives. Have heard about johnny cakes but had never tried i...