A supposedly fun thing I might do again

We honestly did thought a cruise was never going to happen. Never, ever. Just not our vibe, we are more of the do-it-yourself type and cruising was about as far afield from our prior travel. One of my favorite articles I have ever read is David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I Would Never Do Again (http://mark.levengood.people.cpcc.edu/HIS132/LessonDocs/Wallace1.pdf). The late DFW does a very deep dive into the cruising experience which is captivating and did not leave me wanting to try it out myself.

Well it turns out we were wrong. For our babymoon, a concept I did not know existed a few years ago, Mu and I headed on a 7 southern Caribbean day cruise in and out of San Juan. As mu wrote about in her post on Santiago (http://livingthekoroldream.blogspot.com/2013/05/travel-thoughts-babymoon-in-santiago.html): “A babymoon is the trip that a couple takes before the baby is born.” Pretty simple.

We gravitated towards the cruise for a couple of reason. First, the southern Caribbean is surprisingly inaccessible coming from the Bahamas. Basically all travel to that part of the region is via Florida and hence at least as expensive, if not more, as coming from the United States. A cruise seemed like a good way to see a bunch of places in one shot. Secondly, a cruise was a nice for Mu while she was pregnant, with nice food options and a simplicity that fit this period in our life. We actually just barely squeaked in for the medical guidance and clearance required for pregnant woman. Thirdly, the cruise industry is huge here in the Bahamas so it piqued our interest in that mode of travel. Lastly, and one that loomed large as the cruise approached, was the focus on relaxing. We tend to travel via movement, and a cruise fit that preference, and we wanted and even needed some of the relaxing that is part and parcel on a cruise ship.

Our cruise on Carnival Valor left out of the old city of San Juan and then headed to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, then had a day at sea followed by consecutive days in Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Maarten/Martin. The routine on those days was consistent starting with arrival at shore at 7 or 8 am, usually at some duty free port a bit out of the main town or city. We had to be back on boat by 4:30 and that is a hard stop. People are often missing their cruise ships here in Nassau and it is a huge pain as your passport is often onboard and it is up to you to get back to wherever the cruise left from to get your stuff. Not fun and hugely expensive. So I knew directly that we had to be on the boat comfortably for those departures.

My favorite stops;

- US Virgin Islands: for some reason the USVI had always been interesting, probably just based of the name. We landed in St Thomas and then I did research to learn we actually wanted to get over to St John and work out a schedule. We ended up taking a ferry over there and then took a return ferry and a public bus back to the boat. All worked great and we used public transportation which proved to be a great way to get a feeling for an island. St John was so intriguing because it has a delightful national park, http://www.nps.gov/viis/index.htm. Once we reached the park Mu and I did a invigorating hike up over a couple of peaks and to a beautiful beach, which had great snorkeling. Really good day.

- St Lucia: Of all the stops heading in to the trip, this was the one I anticipated the most. It delivered. We rented a car for the day and headed south to Soufrière. This town sits at the base of the iconic and breathtaking Piton mountains, which are reminiscent of Rio de Janeiro. Basically the opposite of the flat Bahamas. The entire island is incredibly rugged, formed by volcanos. It is so rugged there are hardly any roads in the interior and almost the entire population lives around the coast. The drive south was only 30 miles but took well over an hour because of the windy roads. No matter--as the views were spectacular. Once we arrived we parked and walked around, stopping in a cute art cafe for some wifi and the some of the best coffee I have ever had. The art cafe grows its own beans, dries them on the patio outback, and then roasts them on site. Single estate coffee at its finest. We also found time to hike 2 miles to a black sand beach with some amazing snorkeling. Then it was time to get in the car and head back north, don't want to miss the boat!

- St Kitts: did not know exactly what to expect on St Kitts, I knew we had to get to the Brimstone Hill Fortress (http://www.brimstonehillfortress.org/) but beyond that the day was pretty open. We grabbed a “bus” (read mini-van) heading north right after we got off the boat and had it drop us off at the entrance for the walk to the park. I am so glad we went there first as Mu and I had the park to ourselves, high up on the hill in a fort that began construction in 1690. The views of St. Kitts main volcano and other mountain islands in the area was stunning a mix of the Greek Isles and Bali. Then we headed back to the road and made our way around the island, eventually catching a ride from the director of food safety for the government of St Kitts. (We thought his minivan was a bus when we waved him down but lucky for us, he stopped and we talked about everything on St. Kitts from sports to energy supply.)

Those days were the best and even the day I was most concerned with before the trip was the single day planned at sea. I thought: Would I feel trapped? Would I get stir crazy? What would I do? I needn't have worried. The day passed wonderfully with a nice mix of working out including lifting weights in the gym, doing yoga in the room and playing basketball on the 11^th floor of the deck, which was kind of a trip as the boat moved along at like 12 mph. I also really enjoyed the sauna in the spa, which had windows looking out on the ocean and became a favorite spot on the ship. Beyond sweating, also got to read and work through the backlog of longform articles I had been wanting to read for weeks and months. Oh yeah, we got to sleep in too. Loved that.

Overall it was a great week. Who knows if the confluence of our travel will line up again to get us back on a cruise, but my personal stigma has been disabused and it is certainly an option moving forward – a supposedly fun thing I might do again.