Deep love on the deep blue sea

Its certainly been a while since my last post, but things have been going great for me. Judy and I are so absolutely in love that its beyond comprehension. Every moment is like a dream, the more we get to know each other the better we like and love each other. Its as if we were made for each other.

Life is better than I could imagine it to be.

Settling in

Settling in seems to be a rather predominant energy at the moment, both nationally and in my life too. Judy is here and we are getting back into the swing of things, and creating a new home environment for ourselves in this tiny cabin. All is well, and will just get better.

Must keep this brief, but more to come.

One more day....

Judy arrives tomorrow, and I'm about to jump out of my skin. I've scrubbed down the cabin, bought new sheets - not the 700 count thread sheets I wanted, but they're better than the starchy white sheets that are stock in the crew cabins. I also bought some nice sherry and chocolates for her.

Tonight she stays in a hotel in Miami, then she flies to St. Maarten to meet the ship. I'm going to pick her up at the airport of course.

Oh, now for the election last night, its nice to see some sensibilities remain within the minds of Americans. I think we just might something to look forward to.....

Oh, for those of you craving a bit of the crazy ship life, here's an excerpt from a conversation that occurred outside my cabin at 4 in the morning between a woman from Scotland and some American guy, the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Woman: come back to my cabin, we can have some fun.
Guy: I have a girlfriend back home.
Woman: My cabin is right over there come on.
Guy: No, your drunk.
Woman: So. Come on, please
Guy: No, I gotta go.
Woman: Oh god, please, just for 20 minutes.
Me: (pounding on the wall) For the sake of all things sacred, just knock boots and regret it in the morning and let me sleep.

They both carry on for a while longer, and I finally fell asleep.The whole affair was a bit pathetic.

Finally....

Finally, Judy is joining me on the Carnival Valor on Thursday. It took forever and about 3 airlines tickets purchased and then discarded as plans changed. Now, however, everything is locked in and we'll be meeting in St. Maarten, in the Netherlands Antilles. I've been getting the room ready, and I'm search for all of the accessories that make life more livable in such small quarters.

I'm both excited and relieved...

A bad blogger

I'm back. After an extended absence, I here adding a new entry. It was my hopes to post a new entry everyday, but I suffer from two conditions that prevent this: 1) Overwork - 52 hours + week, and 2) inherent laziness.

Having been on 2 contracts now, sleep is the most important thing to me next to getting Judy transferred to my ship. Speaking of which, let me briefly update everyone as to the goings on in my life:

• Judy is still on her ship and we don't have any indications thus far that she will be transferred - this is a major source of sadness on both our parts. But we are going strong.
• I'm getting quite busy at work, and my personal goal of walking away with $25k at the end of my contract is a very real possibility - if I don't spend it all... (new laptop)
• I spend my free time SCUBA diving. Thursday I'll be diving in Belize and Friday in Cozumel. I'll add a post with my latest pics from a Cozumel dive. Very cool.
• Working with a bunch of young, beautiful and often horny women in the spa is an interesting experience indeed. I've had offers that would make Howard Stern blush. However, I resist temptation by keeping my focus on Judy (who is hotter than all them anyways).
• After this contract I'm going to Peru with Judy to meet her family. After that there has been mention of doing another contract. I've got some mixed feelings about that...

So that's the update. I type this from a darkly lit Irish pub smack dab in the middle of the Cayman Islands, while watching Italian soccer. Tis the life of a seafaring fellow.

Navigating the Great Beast

Well, I made it to the ship, with a few minutes to spare. Found my cabin - and wondered where the rest of it was - truly a shoe box. I'll post pics later. I changed and got to work in the new spa, a much nicer design than the MS Elation. Met the spa staff - very young, but nice. I got to work - going until 10 pm. After being up for 38+ hours straight, I slept well...

One thing I can say about this ship - its huge!!! I can't find my way around it yet.

Sitting in the Airport waiting for the connecting flight

Tired. So very tired. Its 8:30 AM EDT and I haven't slept in nearly 24 hours - except fitful dozing in the center seat on the flight from Portland to Charlotte NC, where I write this. I'm waiting to go to Miami. There are wicked thunderstorms here in Charlotte, and the people in the airport all seem lost. The southern accents are thick here - "Fiiiiinaaalll Boaaardin' Caaawwwwl for Orrrrlaaaannndooooo" - if you know what I mean. So here I sit, hoping to God that I don't write too many fragmented sentences.

Oh, here's a link to a website that has the current itinerary for the Carnival Valor, my new ship. I'm trying to add a calendar so you can see exactly where I'm at in the world.

Back to the Ships - Tonight!!!

I'm packing (and repacking) today. I'm catching a "Redeye" out of Portland to Miami. With connections considered, I'll leave tonight at 10:30pm and get into Miami at noon. I start work at 2 pm!! So its a serious case of hitting the ground running.

More to come.

Back to Sea

I'm heading to the Carnival Valor on August 17th, and frankly I can't wait. Judy is being transferred there too. I've been away from her for 6 weeks and that is too long!!!

The Caribbean is my home for the next 6 months!!! The ship does 7 day cruises out of Miami and alternates between Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean cruises. Here are the ports of call (all of which I'll get to see about 13 times):

Eastern Caribbean: Nassau, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI and St. Maarten
Western Caribbean: Belize, Roatan Island, Honduras; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico.

Not too shabby, eh? I get paid to see these places!!!

Finally Back in Portland

I have returned to Portland, and trying to relax. Its strange to wake in the same place as I went to sleep. The stillness of the night in unnerving. Being away from my beautiful girlfriend is truly hell for me.

I return to my next ship on or around Aug 26th. Since I'm on land I'll be posting to my Jousting With Windmills 2 blog. I may post a few reminiscent entries here, but for the most part I'll be on the other blog until I leave for my next ship.

Final SCUBA Dive in Cabo San Lucas

I had my last two dives of my Open Water Certification course in Cabo today. I finally got the underwater camera I was mentioning a few posts ago. So, the fruits of my labors have paid off. Here are some pictures of my dives. They are around Pelican Rock near Land's End. Enjoy:

Just a few more days...

I return to Portland in less than 5 days. Very exciting to be done with this contract. I am returning to do another contract on the Carnival Freedom, but this one is done and I need to get out of here!

I get the feeling that a trip to Peru is in the works...

A Typical Shipboard Evening...

Having returned from the Crew Bar 1 1/2 sheets to the wind to my cabin, I survey its disrepair. Tonight we are saying goodbye to Ellen (aka Dutch) from The Netherlands, she leaves tomorrow for Amsterdam where she can pick up her herbal habit without fear of recrimination.

I think laundry will be the order of the day, hopefully I can sneak in a load in between the Indonesians who hog all the machines and will call a friend when there is a machine free.

Judy is working late tonight so I'm here alone for now. We both leave in 9 days time, expect high drama on both our parts on that day of departure...

What's next? Meet my next ship...

I will be back in Portland in 13 days. I'll be leaving the Carnival Elation behind forever. However, I have been given the Carnival Freedom, one of the newest and certainly the biggest ship in the fleet. Where would this be going? Let's just say that on August 30th, I'll be flying to Rome. That'll be my home port....

Check it out:
Carnival Freedom

Two more weeks to go...

I'm on my final two weeks here on the ship. It has been fairly miserable for this acupuncturist. Very little interest and even less bookings for me. Leaving me making no $$ and reading books. There are occasionally dead spots but this ridiculous. The past 4 cruises have been the worst. Before then, I was booked. Marketing is crucial on a cruise ship as almost no one knows that you are here on the ship and everyone is surprised that there is acupuncture on cruise ships.

With just a few weeks to go, it also means I won't see Judy for a few months. This should prove to be a challenge. I might just have to mosey down to Peru and say Hola! Unfortunately she has been assigned to a different ship than me which has left us scrambling to get her transfered to my ship... More to come with that...

Well that worked/SCUBA Adventures

Ok, comments received, so I'll keep posting.
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In my last trip to Cabo San Lucas, I had my first two open water dives as part of my Open Water Certification to be a SCUBA diver. Needless to say it was up there with the coolest experiences ever. The first dive with a group of about 5 people plus two dive instructors. The newbies kept bumping into me, and the one woman who always insisting on being in the exact same spot as I was nearly pulled my mask off as she kept swimming using her arms... a big no-no in diving. We did however see a massive squid about 4 feet long. The dive master stopped everyone and signaled them to be still. These squids are know to attack divers and always manage to pull the mask and respirator off divers and there have been many divers who have drowned because of squid attacks!

On my second dive it was just me and the dive instructor. This dive was the best so far, the water was clear and the area was teaming with fish. I swam within schools made up of hundreds of fish. Among them included clown fish, parrot fish, huge groupers, king fish... basically a whole lot of fish. If I can afford it, I want to buy a underwater camera to take pictures of these amazing sights.

I'll be doing my final two dives in about 7 days. I'll keep you posted.

Hostage...

I'm holding this blog hostage. All I require is for someone to post a comment and I'll post more entries. Until then, its a stand off!!

The Spa Show

I work with the criminally insane. The people of the spa are at best the strangest group of people I have ever worked with, and I've worked some pretty strange places. Perhaps its because we're from all over the world, or maybe its because most of the spa staff is very young (median age: 22).

The cast of Characters:
Claire from South Africa (Manager): She runs this circus of chaos, or at leasts tries to hold a tight as she can as its a bumpy ride at best.

Cait from Ireland (Ioniothermy Therapist): Cait is in a perpetual state of shock and keeps saying "Oh God, Did I REALLY just say that?"

Kelly from South Africa (Ioniothermy Therapist): Kelly provides the spa with a bit of wry incredulity and her patented "raeally?"

Jono from England (Hair Stylist): Only 19 and already with a history of questionable exploits. Camp and high drama are his tools of trade. Favorite quote: "Oh my god, I just had an orgasm" (used to describe anything positive that's happened to him).

Elaine from Jamaica (Teeth Whitening Specialist): Quite and far more mature than the others. She's all about business and is very friendly.

Novlette from Jamaica (Nail Technician): Also very quiet, always found with Elaine.

Ellen from Holland (Massage Therapist): Famous for being constantly puzzled and such sayings as "Woots Zis?" and "Babe, I dond liike!"

Janet, Jennifer, Elisa, Romina, and Cheryl all from the Philippines (Massage Therapists): A fairly tight knit group who insist on teaching my words in their native language but refuse to tell me what exactly I'm saying. They find this endlessly amusing.

There's many more... That's for another post...

A Perfect Birthday

Ok, so I've been really bad about posting, but I'm claiming both slow Internet connections and a very happy relationship as my excuses. No doubt everyone wants to see a picture of Judy, my girlfriend I've met on the ship. Well here they are, we're in Cabo San Lucas in these pictures a day or two before my birthday (I look goofy as always, but she's totally photogenic): Judy is from Peru and is a elementary school teacher there. On the ship she works in the Children's activity center. All I can say at this point is there is a lot of possibility between us.

At The Office, Cabo San Lucas

Happiness...

I am just so NOT single... More to come.

Nerves a Flutter...

I'm sitting in a cafe in Cabo San Lucas trying to get a decent Internet connection, which is worth its weight in gold around here. In walks Judith, a beautiful woman from Peru, whom I find profoundly attractive. My knees having no sense whatsoever have decided to go weak. She and I pass in the hall and smile at each other. I know I need to ask her out, and when I do we'll hit it off. For some reason I feel like I'm 16 again and completely awkward. I usually don't get too nervous when approaching women whom I'm attracted to, but in this case I am. What's up with that?

Well the laptop's battery is quickly draining... So, more to come.