June 5, 2012

Already starting day 3 of my 8 day cruise aboard Carnival Freedom, in the southern Caribbean. The first day, embarkation day, the cruisers are kept busy with formalities. It is a busy and lengthy sign-in process to get on board, there’s the obligatory “muster station” gathering for the life vest and life boat instruction, and it takes time to get oriented to your new floating city. I didn’t run the first day, being occupied with all the initial activities, plus being social and seeing my wife’s brother and his family, also on the cruise.

The next day, officially the first day, and as they say on board, a fun day at sea, I planned to get up around 5 and run on the track, which is on the uppermost aft deck. Well, after 3 hours sleep the night before boarding, I didn’t quite make it by 5, but did get out there by 7:15. The track is not long. I was told 10 laps to the mile, although it turns out 9 is the right number. Whatever, keeping count in my head as I ran was not possible. So, I ran according to time, going for 54 minutes at around a 9 minute pace. It was tough to go faster due to the number of walkers and slow joggers, but there were a few jackrabbity types who seemed able to scoot around better than me. Later that day, I found my way to the gym for a session on the weight machines. That night was “elegant” night in the dining room. Yup, broke out the tuxedo for the first time in years, struggled to tie my bow tie (old school, no clip ons), and enjoyed a nice dinner.

Next day was our first day in a port, on Grand Turk, the capitol of Turks and Caicos. It’s not that big. Seven miles long by 1.5 miles wide, and best known as the site where John Glen was brought after splashing down in his Mercury space capsule, in 1962. Three months ago, they had a fifty year anniversary celebration, which John Glen attended. My wife and I had signed up for a kayaking adventure, which turned out to be a lot of fun. In addition to the active part, of kayaking around a tidal estuary for about two hours, we were introduced to amazing forms of sea life, getting to pluck conch and sea cucumber from the water. We saw sting rays, a lion fish (not welcome because it eats all the other fish), octopus, sea urchin, and myriad sea birds and mangrove trees. We got to eat a taste of conch prepared right from the shell, which was delicious and is an island staple, according to our guide. After re-boarding and having a salad for lunch, I went back to the gym for the weight machine circuit. I’m starting to feel the sore muscles.

Now, we are arriving this AM in La Romana, in the Dominican Republic. My plan is to do a land-based run today. We will see how it goes.

Frank