Home again, this time from the soccor tournament in Hendersonville, Tn. We didn't do very well, but there were some moments of greatness. After the final loss, we went to my wife's mother's house for a couple of days. That woman is a world class cook. Just what I needed after a seven-day cruise.

Oh. The cruise. I almost forgot.
Having heard all those horror stories about people who miss the plane or have some other delay and then miss the ship, we decided to fly to San Juan a day early. It was a good move. We stayed in a 1940ish guest house in a beach community about halfway between the airport and Old San Juan. Nice beach, good food. It got us into a cruise frame of mind. The next day we took a taxi to the pier and although the ship didn't sail until 10 pm, we were on board shortly after noon. (San Juan taxis are a whole 'nother story. More on that later.)

The ship was the ms Veendam, of the Holland America line. She is a little smaller than the three Celebrity ships we've sailed on,
and also smaller than the Royal Carribean ship we were on in the other end of the Carribean Sea. Still it was a big ship and you would hardly notice the difference. Top speed was 22 knots, but we probably averaged only 12 or 15.
The weather was, in one word, perfect.

Before we left San Juan we had covered most of decks 4 through 12, had a lunch buffet and a 5-course formal dinner. The show that night was sort of a preview of coming entertainment and we got out in time to go up on top to watch the sailing. The last time we sailed out of the San Juan harbor, it was day time. This time it was night and the old fort on the tip of the peninsula was lighted with floodlights. It's not hard to imagine pirate ships sailing out of that harbor.

We sailed west along the coast of Puerto Rico. As the lights on shore became fewer and fewer, I got sleepier and sleepier and that cabin (the nicest and largest we ever had on a cruise ship) was calling me. We were still in the Atlantic so the ship rolled gently and rocked me to sleep in no time.

Next: Domenican Republic
Howard