Port Day #2

Day 4, Saturday, January 6, 2024, Falmouth, Jamaica

We've only chosen two excursions for this cruise. The first was scheduled for 8:45 this morning, Highlights of Falmouth & Greenwood Great House. I was up and dressed early, as we had ordered room service to be delivered at 7:00. It was so-so. I think the only not-wonderful food on the HAL ships is that delivered via room service. Remember, they've got a lot of territory to cover in delivering the food to you. So it's rarely served at the ideal temperature. I didn't realize that the Lido Market opens at 6:30 on port days. Next port day, in three days, we'll go up to Lido for breakfast rather than relying on room service.

We met our excursion group about 8:30 and were loaded on the van and off exploring early—always a good thing. First the driver took us to Glistening Waters Marina at Luminous Lagoon in Trelawny Parish. Not much to see during the day but, from what our guide, Kimberly, told us, it's very special at night. Googling tells me there are only four bioluminescent lagoons in the world. We'll have to make sure our next visit brings us here at night.

The driver then took us around Trelawny Parish while Kimberly told us the history of the area and, of course, bragged on their athletes who traveled to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Our next stop was Greenwood Great House, which was built between 1780 and 1800 for Richard Barrett, a cousin of poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's father. It is a beautifully furnished old home, holding many of the original antiques [pictures]. I was enchanted to see the old piano, the player piano, the harp, and an organ. The home was primarily used for entertaining, and is worth the rocky ride up the hillside to visit. The owner lives on an adjacent property, and can frequently be seen at the home, raking the yard or picking up yard brush.

The rest of our Falmouth tour was in downtown Falmouth, where we saw original old government and church buildings. One of the most interesting—to me—facts concerned all the houses under construction. Getting a bank loan costs 11% or more. The local people begin building their homes. When they run out of money, they stop construction and live in the house, as is, until they save up enough money to continue. They may just have a bedroom and bathroom when they stop, and they may live in that singular space for years before continuing. I can't even imagine that strategy. But it sure would keep the homeowner out of debt! It also seemed that the houses we saw were built completely out of concrete blocks. Interior walls, exterior walls: all concrete blocks. It was a very interesting tour, and I recommend it. If you can get Kimberly as your guide, you're a winner!!!

1) Welcome to Falmouth. 2) The dining room of the great house. 3) And they enjoyed music while dining. Here's the piano from around 1800. 4) That carved chair is a treasure! 5) It appears a harpist played during dinner, also. 6) In another room, there was a player piano. 7) The view from the ocean-facing balcony with 180° views. 8) Tropical foliage. I remember gloriosa lilies from my childhood in Central Florida. 9) A variety of hibiscus that I remember from childhood but can't find the name of. There were also ixora blossoms that I remember around our lakefront home when I was a child. 10) We passed Jamaica Swamp Safari Village, where James Bond runs across the backs of some crocodiles in "Live and Let Die." 11) Eurodam docked at the Falmouth cruiseport. It's always fun to see our ship from a distance. 12) Jas shows off his favorite knock-around tennies on the Saturday rug.

Back at the ship, we walked around the port shops for a few minutes, bought some Blue Mountain coffee beans to take home, and then headed back onto the ship and to the Dive In for burgers and those fries again.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I love those fries.

Jas went to relax in the spa's therapy pool, and I went up to the Crow's Nest to work on the puzzle again. Another lady was working on it when I arrived, and it turned out it was her puzzle that she had brought from home so she would have help with this difficult puzzle. I think she and I were the only people who had worked on this puzzle. I think with some more time tonight and tomorrow, we'll have it finished.

When Suzanne, the puzzle owner, left for her massage, I went back to the room to write and watch another episode of "The Affair." There are uncomfortable spots in some of the episodes for me, so I just fast forward through them. #selectivewatching 🤣

Then it was off to the Pinnacle Bar for cocktails with our pals, and then dinner in the Main Dining Room, all six of us. I love that the assistant maître d' stops by our table each evening to say hello. And we love AA, our server. Dwinda, his assistant, is just the sweetest young woman. We enjoy chatting with her. We were very lucky to be assigned this section on the first port day.

Photos: 1) Arugula and butternut squash salad is one of my favorite HAL salads. I jumped to order it when I saw it on tonight's menu, and dug right in without photographing it. For my entrée, I had Thanksgiving—turkey and dressing a cranberry sauce. 2) My dessert was the Chocolate Caramel Tart with chocolate shavings. 3) Jas and Marilyn ordered Almond Fruit Cake, which is an almond butter cake with cherries, berries, and Frangelico whipped cream.

We left the table before the others as we wanted to go to the World Stage to hear the comedian, Marc Yaffee. We knew nothing about him, but Jas likes comedy presentations, so we went. The theatre was packed! [ We stood along the side wall for about 15 minutes. Jas didn't care for Yaffee's style, so we left and went up to the Tamarind Bar for an after-dinner cocktail. This is where I need to confess that I'm pretty much a one-glass-of-white-wine drinker. I'm a migraine sufferer, and have to be very careful at all times about what I drink and eat. Also, when I have two glasses of wine, as I did last night over the course of two hours, I'm ready for bed by 8:00 p.m. So when the waiter came to take Jas's order, I demurred and then said goodnight to Jas and went "home."

And, in closing, here's the question of the day. Feel free to leave a comment. When I want to read a book, I choose the audio edition. I spent many years as a technical writer, editor, and proofreader, and then a legal writer and editor. When I read a physical book, my brain gets caught up looking for things that need to be changed. I can't just sink into the book. With audio books, if I get distracted, I can just "rewind" and listen to that section again. If someone asks what I'm reading, I say [title of book, author, etc.]. I don't say, "I'm listening to ...." I say "I'm reading ...." If I was speaking to you, would you correct me and say, "You're not reading. You're listening to it" ? If you're an audiobook reader, do you tell people, I'm reading ..." or do you specify, "I'm listening to ...?" #dinnerconversations

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks for playing along. 😊

P.S. I mentioned earlier that there were cruisers staying in the same hotel as us who were headed out on the Zuiderdam heading around the world I hope someday to be able to take that cruise, or at least a leg of it. If you're curious about such a cruise, let me introduce you to a blog written by one of the passengers. If you like what Jo writes, sign up for regular email deliveries of her posts.