Diary for Norwegian Jewel Cruise (Punahou '62) September-October 2008

Traditionally, the class agents of each of Punahou's graduated classes plan a retreat or something special for that class's 60th birthday year. My class had a Hawaiian Islands cruise in 2004. Simone, Woody, and the others found that a Hawaii cruise bested an Alaska cruise, but by very little, so they collectively tested the water for an Alaska cruise: "If you have one, they will come," and we did - about 70 of us. We sailed on the same Norwegian Cruise Lines ship as before: the Norwegian Star, and you can see all about the Alaskan cruise in 2006 if you'd like to. This year was then the third cruise, and something over 30 of us showed up this time. We went on a different ship, and here is the lay out of the Norwegian Jewel (click on it for larger diagram).

September 26/27 (Friday/Saturday) - to Summit, NJ:

Arden gave me a ride to SFO as Diane could not and Arden had an appointment in Redwood City. Still, traffic was worse than I expected, and she was probably late. (Actually she had 1 minute to spare!) I checked a bag ($15) and went to my gate to wait for a couple of hours for my flight to Orange County, but the gate was blocked with a flight to Dallas, delayed over 3 hours. (Their take-off roll had been aborted 3 times with problems, and they were on their second or third airplane - an old MD-80.) As they were finishing boarding, I asked the gate agent if I could get out early and bypass Orange County: I could. That flight was about 4 hours late but got me into Dallas earlier than my plan, so I had lunch there. (When I asked the gate agent where the next flight to Newark was, it was next door: a 2:20 delayed flight.) I stood by but cleared the waitlist, borrowed a phone call to Peter (in the train on the way home) to say I would be a couple of hours early, and we met up at EWR. My bag did not follow me, as AA suggested, and they refused to send it out to Summit, so I decided to get it Saturday, which Peter agreed was the best option. Thus we saw a little of the debate, and I went to bed in Jonathan's room.

On Saturday, I got a tour of the house and yard, we went for a walk around the neighborhood, had breakfast, drove to EWR to get my bag (easy and 45 minutes round trip), and then went into town for lunch at an old-fashioned diner for a good meatloaf sandwich. Summit's old downtown is pretty interesting, full of high end small shops in 3-story buildings. Eventually we walked around and the returned to their house. Their house and neighborhood are very nice, with hills (Summit is the summit of Rolling Hills, NJ); Andrea and Matthew were trying to get the hot tub working again but was not 100% successful. Then it was time to get on with things, have dinner, and get to bed. (Peter gave me his home wireless password for wikiwikinet, so I ran e-mail and took care of business Saturday and Sunday morning.)

Day 0: September 28 (Sunday) - New York:

Peter, Andrea, and Matthew drove me from Summit after Meeting for Worship at Chatham-Summit meeting to the cruise ship terminal on Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel. Their Garmin GPS routing was going to take us to a 12th Avenue at 55th Street in Brooklyn somewhere, but Peter had his MapQuest route in mind. It was actually relatively easy to get to the drop off point, and we got there a bit before 2 pm. (Nominally boarding started at 1, but some in our group were on board about noon. Cut-off was 3 pm for 4 pm casting off.) The line seemed long after giving the big suitcase to the grunts to get to the cabin, me with backpack and briefcase (with MacBook Pro inside) got on and fund cabin 11055, which is 3 decks higher up than my last two cruises on the Starboard side between the amidships stairs and elevator tower and forward set. It is one of only a few inside cabins on that deck and side. I was in about 2:40 pm at latest.

I then set off immediately to sign up for shore excursions, which I could not do beforehand from Maine or by phone or Internet from home. So I left the stateroom, turned right, and 4 steps later had my right arm ripped open by some passenger opening a door. She said sorry, but <2" of skin was ripped back, so I headed to the stairs, asked the first staff I saw where the medical center was, and walked down from 11 to 4 clutching my arm. No one was there, so I went the nearby phone and called 9-1-1; they said a nurse would be there soon to open up for me. After about 10 minutes, a tall man in white dress uniform arrived and took me in; he turned out to be the ship's doctor (the nurse had been dealing the NY health and safety and had gone to lunch). He asked me whether I was a doctor since I knew too much, but I said "no" rather than explain about the uselessness of PhDs. (This tear was similar to my May tear, and I knew Wisler's methods.) He rinsed off the wound with bottled (distilled?) water and laid the skin out in the gash, decided it was rolled or folded under a bit (a good catch), so carefully unfolded it to fill the entire rent nicely and completely. It did not bleed much at all, as the epidermis has no blood vessels but gets its nutrition from the dermis below; thus only the lowest couple of cells high grow, divide, and live, pushing the dead cell of epidermis up and away. (I read that the skin replaces itself completely in about 27 days.) He swabbed it with iodine and put a Steri-Strip over the length and width of it, then some a small gauze pad, then two clear plastic sealing things to keep the water out: good idea, so I don't need a second plastic bag and rubber bands, even though I brought a spare pair of rubber bands (from Andrea's asparagus). So after filling out paperwork with the nurse, and they saying they would check the surveillance cameras to see what happened, I was out of there by 3 pm. (They also said all doors open inward for safety - but as I discovered on returning to my cabin, not the laundry door, which is the room next to mine.) They said that there is no charge for injuries aboard the ship, so no $100 bill for this.

Then we had the emergency evacuation semi-drill and pep talk, after which I got to the shore excursion desk to buy trips and chose some without much knowledge beyond the short paragraph blurbs and my mother's instructions for Peggy's Cove, Fortress Louisbourg, and Green Gables, but wanted to have one at least in every port. It only costs money, but not as much as I thought they might ($30-90). I didn't do the all-day high end excursions.

We Punahou '62 had dinner in one of the best no-cover-charge restaurant at 5:30 with 3 long tables for party of 32. This was very nice and lots of fun. I sat across from Andy and Pam Chang, next to Marlene Peterson, with Gail Young Branson and Sally Corboy Kurtzman across next to me - John Bowman and Grace down a ways. So it was wonderful catching up and enjoying classmates. I began with chilled peach soup, then a good leg of lamb, and finally coconut cheesecake. Fortunately the portions are not too big (but you can ask for more), and it satisfied me even after no lunch. I thought I would not go see the comedian show (one only at 9:15), but in the end went up and caught most of it; I thought it was pretty good, but many others were unimpressed.

I also went to the Internet Café and bought the $50 package of 100 minutes and got 15 minute extra being a Latitude member (cruised with NCL before) plus 10 minutes for signing up the first day. I can plug in via Ethernet in the stateroom (I put an Ethernet cable in the bag at the last minute just in case) or wireless from many other locations, e.g., the Latitudes lounge on the 12th deck or other public area. Thus I got mail out and found a little news, but the connection is slow, and I don't want to have to buy more minutes at 55 - 75˘/minute.

The Norwegian Jewel appears to be the same as the Norwegian Star (Hawaii and Alaska cruises), but it is rather different. We had a bit over 2100 passengers and 1100 crew/staff. The deck 13 walk about seems half as long, deck 12 forward lounge does not have the view into the bridge (it is forward on deck 11), and there seems to be no movie theatre. Also the library is smaller and on deck 12 forward starboard outboard next to the card room and Latitudes room. Other things are very similar.

The relevant specifications: 92,100 gross tonnage; 965 feet long; 125 feet maximum width; 195.2 feet high; 27.2 feet draft; 25 knots maximum speed (28.75 mph); Bahamian registry; completed 8/4/2005 in Germany for $420 million; 2 Azipods at 19.5 MW each plus 2 bow thrusters at 2.4 MW each; 5 diesel generators 14.4 MW each total 72 MW burning heavy bunker fuel B; fresh water produced at 740,000 gal/day. I saw speeds up to 24.2 kt.

Day 1: September 29 (Monday) - Boston:

I slept OK but not great; my alarm got me up at 7. Although Sunday evening the ship was rolling significantly and some got on anti-nausea patches, it calmed down overnight, and I didn't notice it overnight. I bought and brought a little night light in addition to my alarm clock (from Main Street Singers tour) and was glad to have both.

The library has daily Sudoko, so I got mine and worked it. I found the Latitudes lounge and used it wirelessly for Internet and wrote a bit, viz. this diary. I had breakfast on deck 12 in Garden Café after walking around the top deck 13 and also deck 7 after I saw Grace Bowman sprinting/walking by. I checked on my Internet Café minutes, and the bonuses did arrive eventually. Then we finally got into Boston mid-day.

The channel into Boston is quite narrow with bell buoys - red and green - on either side (I explained red-right-returning to some), and in the evening, these all had their lights on. The Norwegian Jewel's length is about the distance between the buoys: ~1000 feet. Arriving was smooth.

I had signed up for the Historic Salem and Witch Museum, a long 4+ hour excursion, and the guide was excellent, with energy, interest, excitement, and great knowledge. (He does educational development programs in museums.) It is nearly an hour to Salem on surface street, but he had information to relate to us all along: We heard about the Big Dig. Lynn was where manufactured shoes were developed, and they got rich; Danvers was part of Salem and where the witches really lived, but Salem was the county seat. Salem was the largest port in early days (before ~1830), and the first millionaires in America were Salem merchant shippers, making it rich on the China trade. Alexander Hamilton was big in Salem. We made many little side trips on the way there and back to see interesting streets, architecture, the replica ship Friendship on the remains of the Salem commercial wharf, and to see the memorial to the 19 killed as witches near a replica of a 1690's house and an 17/18th century graveyard. We had time to explore and get a lecture on the early merchant shipping; this was quite interesting. We also walked the Salem common before the museum, which actually had excellent information, diorama, and narration in two sections. Our guide did not buy the ergot explanation, but it did hold up to the Discovery or PBS shows and my first Recording Clerk who wrote the first book on this. So we got back to the port and heard that its name, Black Falcon, was named for a ship moored there which blew up years ago, and back onboard in time for pushing off at dusk. (They called out names of those who were not recorded as being aboard at departure time, i.e., to call the front desk immediately if on board, and we think we left a few behind in each port of call except the last.)

I had dinner with the Bowmans at Garden Café and then got some reading and writing done, checking my e-mail etc.

Day 2: September 30 (Tuesday) - At Sea:

Amazingly, the day at sea was busy but not memorable. I got up a bit later than 7 am and had breakfast in a sit-down restaurant by myself - Blue Lagoon - before there were very many at all there to get breakfast, and I was about to be put in a small table away from the windows, so I invited a couple behind me to join me at a table for 4 next to the window - the last one left. (He used a motorized conveyance and graduated from Los Altos HS.) We had nice conversation and very good breakfast (salmon omelet, English muffin, etc. without the orange marmalade promised). I sent/received some e-mail (American Airlines is giving me 3000 miles for the flight delays; I wonder what they think, as I got in early), wrote this diary a little, explored the ship (which is not the same at the Norwegian Star, e.g., no movie theater: I remember watching Master and Commander at sea in the Molokai Channel), etc. Simone organized almost all of us to have dinner together again in Tsar's Palace in the stern with view on 3 sides. I sat with some different people, and we had a very good time. I had an excellent melon chilled soup with ginger and mint, loin of pork with apple, potato, red cabbage, & more, and a not-so-good chocolate caramel small dessert. Dinners seem to last 2 to 3 hours, and they are all very good so far. Of course I walked the top walking deck (13), but it is much shorter than on the Star: 3 laps for 1000 yards, or about my morning walk with Sailor around the block at home. I enjoyed the Latitudes Room, but it was full up much of the day. We steamed across the Gulf of Maine, and the navigation charts in the "view the bridge" showed Deer Isle and other familiar places, as we were perhaps less than a hundred miles out to sea.

Many of us went to the Latitudes 'meet the captain' and loud entertainment (good, but very loud, and the dances were not of our era). That was at 5, so with our reservation at 6 for dinner, we hurried along. I sat in the Spinnaker lounge with the Darrochs, Andrades, Sally Corboy, Gail Young, and others. I skipped the show in the evening to do other things, which on some days includes watching a movie on the TV in the room - again there is no movie theatre to go watch a movie with friends. Then we lost an hour.

Day 3: October 1 (Wednesday) - Halifax:

We had a time change for Halifax to Atlantic Time, so I had to get up a bit early since I had an 8:15 excursion departure. I had a quick breakfast in Garden Café buffet. Then I went straight to the Stardust Theater to wait for the excursion to start. I went on the same tour/bus with the two Lindas and the Fukudas. (He grew up in Hilo and appreciated why I took Daniel & Ellen there, a quieter and more relaxing place, even just on landing in the airport). It was the Peggy's Cove plus on-and-off the double-decker busses to see town (I wanted to see the public gardens particularly). The trip along the coast was rather long, and the setting was very much like coastal Maine (the guide said so) except much flatter. Fishing villages looked familiar too. When we got to Peggy's Cove, we really had a too-short time, but we had a short walking tour of the hamlet (of 40 people), saw a couple of small lobster, and viewed the lobster pots and boats - all the same. In that area, they can only put their pots our in April to June, but they can take any large size lobsters they catch. It is picturesque, and I took some pictures. I got brochures and a postcard to send to Mum & Dad. Our time was short, so I hurried to get a good shot of the lighthouse, but there were too many tourists, so I went off the path, stumbled and fell down on my face: disaster. I had blood all over (but did get my picture). I thought I might have broken off my living front incisor, split the lip through, in addition to scraping up my hands and banging my knee bloody - well, I didnšt know my knee was all bloody until very much later. This was not good - a real trip ending event, perhaps. (Aside: I took my new New Balance 4E shoes on this trip, which I had broken in easily at home, and they were very comfortable for the whole trip - not like the ill-fitting shoes I wore to Japan - but I cannot blame the shoes for the accident.)

So the two Lindas (who share a room near mine and who have been trying for 3 days to get their cabin cards/credit cards and picture for immigration set to the proper Linda) took me over and helped me through the rest of the day. Others in the Punahou party have also been very supportive and tender, which I have really appreciated - and said so. So we abandoned the in-town part and went straight to the medical center and got the doctor (a different one - woman who had 4 years at Tripler in Honolulu - but the same good looking nurse, who noticed the Main Street Singers nametag on my backpack and said "you've got my county's flag". It turned out that the doctor thought I had only rammed the incisor into the jaw a quarter of an inch or so, so no immediate attention is needed. She did not think the lip was split all the way through and opted against sutures, so eventually the nurse gave me a mid-mustache shave to get Steri-Strips to stick and told me to rinse out with hydrogen peroxide thinned out with water. The doctor took X-ray of the left wrist/hand but found nothing. They told the Lindas that this injury, being part of the NCL excursion, was their responsibility, so I guess no bill again. So the Lindas took me to get a little lunch of soups, straws, and pudding. The lip continued to bleed a little for a day. (I went back to the medical center late in the afternoon. in addition to the 1 pm initial visit. to get the lip bandaged more securely.)

The Lindas invited my to dinner, and we had a table of 9 with Rupert & Sue Chun, Judy & David Fukuda, the Lindas, Brian and Micheline Lederer, and me. I managed the chilled soup, spinach quiche, and flan, asking for tiny spoon to help get things in the mouth without opening it much and chewing or mashing the food on the right (good) side. The crew had a birthday for the wrong Linda (see above). I felt pretty exhausted so went to bed at 9 pm but watched the end of a movie since we were gaining an hour on the way to Québec. Through all this disaster, I only took a few acetaminophen for pain, and I slept better than usual.

Canon wrote an e-mail that they did fix the PowerShot SD850 for free and have shipped it home. I forwarded it to Ellen Mann (but she could not sign for it so I had to go fetch it from FedEx in Sunnyvale after I got home).

Day 4: October 2 (Thursday) - At Sea:

I slept well and awoke about 7 am; no blood on the pillow which was a hopeful sign. After getting my toilet done, I turned my jeans right leg inside out and washed it to get (most of) the blood off, as the knee was scraped more than I had initially thought and remained bloody or oozing for the rest of the cruise. I take Woolite in my toilet bag on nearly all trips. (The nurse bandaged the knee up yesterday.) Those new jeans were not torn.

I carefully had breakfast by myself at Garden Café, then partly brushed teeth and swished with hydrogen peroxide, then went to the Latitudes lounge to read and write and do the daily Sudoku. I read my last WSJ of a week ago and later sent e-mail and checked the disaster in the news. I wrote up missing days in the diary and wrote e-mail to the boys on my 'kissing the blarney stone' Nova Scotia. Late in the morning I was thinking about lunch and found Simone on deck 7 without Leonard: Leonard came down with the intestinal virus and had to see the doctor mid-night, so we went to lunch together at Blue Lagoon, and again I was able to eat carefully a meatloaf lunch with tea using a straw. Linda Sutton Kemp then found us and asked about my lip and mouth (better), so we squeezed her in, then Linda Cockroft Schoephoerster arrived and found room as well. I followed the news a bit on the TV, which, as the evening comedy said, about all we have is Fox News and the ship's navigation channel.

At 4 pm I went down to order the $35 transfer from NYC pier to EWR and to go to the doctor's office. The line in the medical office was longer than I expected, so I didn't touch anything and stood. The tall South African doctor was on duty, and the attractive/cute nurse had been replaced by another less attractive one. I did get to see the doctor pretty quickly, and he reviewed both injuries. With the lip in better shape, he checked me out and was able to see more easily than in the blood: the tooth was not rammed into the jaw bone but splintered off, and he said there are other cracks showing as well. Thus I probably don't have the risk of immediate internal decay of a traumatic impaction - ramming of tooth into jaw, but I likely will need a cap or crown for that incisor and possibly a root canal job given the amount of damage. I think I can gently wait until I get home to my own dentist.

This left just enough time to change for the Mystery Dinner, meeting in the Stardust Theatre. (These are scripted, viz. there is a summary for each character and information about the character known only to the person assigned to it, along with information to be revealed or asked about in each of the 4 scenes, and only the murderer may lie.) We should have had 2 tables of 8, but some were late and a few didn't show, so it looked like one table of 8 and of 4 or 5, and we decided to accept duplicate roles at my table with two taking double roles. I was pointed to be the lead and hold the guilty secret envelope, and we went to the restaurant and had our 4 courses and 4 scenes. Sue Chun had 2 roles who were the twin sisters. Brian had my role of 2 years ago plus a villain; I was the murder (Gunner), and Rupert Chun and the couple from St. Louis HS (Godwin '62 and Vicki Young) filled out the table. Micheline arrived to take on Rehne from Brian. We were lucky none of double roles had the murder, and we had a very good time, with me trying not to laugh at all. Some of the food was not satisfactory, and we sent those back.

Then we went to the theater again for a comedy team "Second Cities," which was very funny and gave me real trouble pursing my lips to avoid splitting it open again. This was improvisational theater. This was 7:30 to nearly 9, when many went to watch the VP "debates", expecting not much. I went to my room, turned on the debate, and worked on computer (diary and e-mail) plus organizing.

The weather has been rain and getting much colder this afternoon, so it will be bundle up for Québec; fortunately, we don't get there too early. The Steri-Strip in my upper lip washed off when I took a shower, and the second bag made from the bag for gauze pads did not keep the right arm dry, so I had to use 2 new big bandages (knee and right arm).

Day 5: October 3 (Friday) - Québec:

I woke up a little early and was up before 7 am, worked through the toilet, more laborious with more wounds, tried to walk around deck 13 (rain/wind/40° or so) so went around deck 7, and went up to Garden Café where I ran into Marilynne and joined the end of the Darroch 5 breakfast, catching them up on accident & teeth. Today we were not allowed to get our own food or drink: staff did that for us, which meant huge lines for juice and tea, so I never got any at breakfast. (I stopped in the bar in deck 7, and they would have made tea for me at a price, so I got a tea to go from deck 8 Blue Lagoon.) I then picked up the daily Sudoko and prepared for my morning Old Québec walking tour when we arrived. I ended up with Andy and Pamela, and we were usually in the front of the group. The clouds were parting, and although it was cold to begin with, it did warm up by noon - still I did need my Punahou 62-62 sweatshirt, jacket, gloves, wool cap, and scarf. We saw old settlement ruins, that the river level was once way higher in 1600, 1700, and 1800, an interesting mural, churches, architecture, history, statues and busts, and rode the funicular up to the top of the escarpment, plus walls of the fortified city - only one in North America north of Mexico. We also saw a cathedral and early Presbyterian church plus Anglican and Catholic, nunneries, etc. The guide was very knowledgeable and made the old city and its history more alive for me - enough so that I went back after lunch on the Jewel to see the Notre Dames des Victoires church, an Inuit gallery, other things, and to find the Citadel on top, which took a while. Eventually on an upper outer pathway, I got to an entrance after looking in at offices and cars, and went inside, getting to a gift shop. I was told that there was only one more tour that day at 3 o'clock (in 5 minutes) and that it would be in French. I opted for it, along with a couple from California, and I gave my English guidebook to one of them and just understood as much French as I could (about a fourth or a third of it), but the guide was very helpful and told we 3 Americans the gist of things, as there were only 2 others - the French speakers (Francophones). It turned very cold up there late with the sun disappearing, wind coming up, and temperatures dropping, so I put on my jacket, scarf, and gloves, as I had in the morning. I found my way home for a second time in the day and think I had pretty good guided plus self-wandering tours of the parts I liked but were not included in the former. I got back around 5 pm. So I walked up and down and around a long way, visiting many views, battlements, gardens, parks, and narrow streets. Québec was more interesting than I had thought it would be, and I learned a lot about its history, the evolution of Francophones and Canada as a nation, etc. (Others also found Québec to be a high point.) Some (a few) maple tress in parks had fall colors, but no more than in Maine earlier.

In the middle, I had lunch with Leonard and Simone at Garden Café, with Leonard being better but still not eating much. I also ran e-mail twice to ask Joseph to call Chris Lindsey for me. I am shocked to see how much I have lost in the stock markets in the past 2 weeks: about 25%. (Little did I know that the 25% would turn to 40% when I got home.)

Russell Darroch called for our dinner date, and we met at 7 pm at Mama's Italian but had to wait 15 minutes. This costs $10 each, it seems. Linda Cockroft Schoephoerster joined us (Russell, Marilynne, and me), and we ate etc. until nearly 10, by which time the rest of the Australians (Anette Moulds & David/Judy West) joined us and Linda Sutton Kemp too; I was the first to leave for bed, since it takes a bit longer to deal with the cleanup and I was tired. The dinner was good, but not the best (mediocre lobster ravioli); the company was the whole point anyway.

Day 6: October 4 (Saturday) - At Sea:

I got up around 7, which turned out to still be 7, organized, wrote e-mail, and headed to the infirmary at 8:30 am, where I got fresh bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a handful of bandages. (They get used up on fingers from washing.) I am a walking bandage: 6 of them. I went to Garden Café for breakfast and was joined by Sally and then Gail; we had a good time talking about high school and feeling socially not "in" despite others thinking so. Neither remembered that I was shy and stuttered all the time. Then I joined a larger group of us in Mama's for an English muffin and was told I had to get to Trivia in the Spinnaker Lounge at 10:45, went to clean up, and just made it. I was a bit surprised that I contributed several right answers which garnered Team Hawaii first place with 20 of 26 right: recto, mu, sclera, computing machine, iodine (recently used on me). We go the trophy, and the girls redecorated it to have hula skirt, lei, palm fond, and HAWAII. Then I got the day's Sudoku, ran e-mail, and by then it was noon as I wrote this.

I didn't get around to lunch until too late, so I had to go to Blue Lagoon by myself late. Then I read a bit but was tired, fiddled around, and met up with the Bowmans in Spinnaker, telling them that the 5 pm group photo was dress up. Then to Internet Café before 5 to make a complaint, to no avail, and then for pictures on the lower stairs. Simone got to hold the redecorated trivia trophy in the pictures of just classmates and the whole group. We had a good time.

Then just about all of us went to Le Bistro, which cost me $15, but I had got on Clifton & Renee's (Furukawa) dance calendar, so we ended up at a table with Brian and Micheline (Lederer), where we had a good dinner (rack of lamb) and talked religion, although I was mostly quiet. Since we had an hour to lose going back to Atlantic Time and I had an early excursion, I went to bed without a shower or cleaning up. I set my alarm for 6 am and set the time to new time before I went to bed.

Day 7: October 5 (Sunday) - Prince Edward Island:

My alarm went off early, it seemed, at 5 before 5 by my watch, but it was time to get up, I did as quickly as I could with mini-shower and cleaning, hydrogen peroxide, stretching, and all, and upstairs for early breakfast from Garden Café. I didn't find any of our group until I left, but I got teeth brushed, backpack packed, and down to the theater well in time for a 7:30 am 'departure' for drive and Green Gables tour.

We could not dock at the cruise terminal, which holds one ship, as it turns out because Holland America brings 2 ships in a week and gets first for the dock; we did station keeping out in the channel, so had to 'lighter' in. It went quickly. I had no other Punahou on my coach, a rather old one. Another town on another Maine-like place was my first reaction, but the guide did a good job and took us to a few relatively unique places, including a beach with iron-rich dirt and sand and an old working village. I learned about mussels grown on ropes, and we saw foreigner-purchased housing. Prince Edward Island may have under 150K in the winter, but it has over a million in summer. Our stop at the national historic site of Anne of Green Gables gave us an hour for short film and walking around: it was reasonably interesting, but I don't know the author or her books., having never read any. There were beaver in the environs; the house itself was an upscale upsized version of Restawhile. Our stop at the PEI Preserves Company was at least as interesting, and I bought some preserves for folks at home plus black currant for me. M&D get a Green Gables postcard.

Thus I got back to the ship at about 1 pm, so went to Tsar's Palace for a real lunch after hurried breakfast early. The place was more than 95% empty, so I got good service and a light but complete (low calorie) lunch. Thence to deck 7 walk around, the daily Sudoku, and regrouping in the cabin after a visit to the deck 11 bridge viewing and extended discussion of trucks and Mack Trucks and diesels in particular.

PEI has lots of agriculture, lots of fruit, corn, grain, etc. This year (summer) they were inundated with rain and lost pretty much their entire grain harvest and 40% of the potatoes. The total population is small, but its agriculture is surprisingly large. Lobstering is restricted to only a few months, with different months in different areas. They are big into mussels too. Tour guide was informative and got us to a variety of quick stops to see the red iron-rich dirt, sandy beaches, mussel coves, drive on the beach, etc.

Late in the afternoon several of us got together for the Name that Tune contest down near Le Bistro; the team was limited to 4, so I pleaded bad tooth and just confirmed and cheered: Judy and David Fukuda, Sally Corboy Kurtzman, and Gail Young Brandon. After a tie 17 to 17 and a couple of tie breakers, Team Hawaii won with Hey Jude in 4 notes thanks to Judy. Then we went up to Garden Café so the Fukudas could have just hot dogs, and we actually all had a pretty good dinner and conversation before turning in a bit too late after ordering pictures of the class photo shoot. I took a shower, and most bandages got wet and fell off or had to be discarded.

Day 8: October 6 (Monday) - Cape Breton Island:

I had an 8:15 excursion to Fortress Louisbourg so was up earlier than I would have liked, especially given the extra time to bandage and clean up, and got breakfast, cleaned up, and got to Stardust Theater for departure by lighter again, since the Eurodam followed us and got the dock again. They were particularly late and slow getting us off, so my 8:15 was more like 9.

I was not too eager for an expedition this day, being a bit tired of early departures for excursions in busses and places of only limited interest, so I was glad that the day brighten up for me - not just in warming up above the upper 40's, rain being kept away by my umbrella, but by things being interesting. Our guide to the fortress worked as a head cook as a recreator in the fortress through September, but the place shuts down pretty much by October, except early in the month when they are one-third staffed with recreators of 1744 AD for cruise ships, even though nearly all buildings are open.

They have rebuilt perhaps a fifth of the original fortress. It was overrun by British or American colonials, after being erected up in 1713, from behind (land side) in 1745 and again in 1758. The first time all were sent back to France and could take their furniture, etc. The second time the place was burned and destroyed, as the British did not want the French in Nova Scotia. Our guide noted that the Acadians were earlier French immigrants who intended to stay and were farmers. These Louisbourg folks were cod fishermen who intended to make their money on cod and go home. (See Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky; he also wrote Salt.) We learned that a 25 pond code dries to nearly nothing but can be reconstituted by the people who buy it. Also, cod was big because France and Europe were Catholic and could not eat meat Friday or Saturday; hence need for preserved fish (salt and dried). We learned how they protected the fish when it rained. So I went to the import government warehouse, illustration/demonstration on construction, a couple of houses with people working in costume and saw a very interesting clockwork rotisserie in action, etc. In the bastion, we were there for a musket firing demonstration and a couple of folks in costume, but no cannon firing. I found Russell Darroch and Marilynne there too: they had not been able to get excursion tickets but had found another couple dockside to get a taxi out there not to expensively; we took pictures of each other.

I would have enjoyed having gloves and scarf because of the wind, but it turned out fine so long as I kept moving. I talked to the gardener about their crops, etc., and how they did use the leaves of the rhubarb, cooked down to mush and used to kill insects and other creatures eating up the gardens, the mush is so toxic in oxalis acid. The Governor's place was pretty nice, and the captains of industry houses were also rather nice, but troops and ordinary folks were 3 to a bed, etc. (It was very cold there in winter.)

I was back around 12:30, didn't find anyone in cabins for lunch, but found a group at Garden Café; we talked on at much length and had a good time. I missed a trivia, but we did get together most of us for dinner a 6, and although I had planned to skip the show, it did look like the best of the week and I did get there barely in time. It was acrobats, dancers, singers etc. in a big production and very well done - best this cruise. Then writing, Internet, and to bed on a fall back on the clock night to EDT.

Day 9: October 7 (Tuesday) - At Sea:

I woke up a bit too early but did not have to rush, getting the toilet things done and bandages wrapped. Then up to Garden Café after a couple of wind-blown circuits around deck 13 on a sunny morning with winds called gale force. I found the usual early group finishing up and joined them; they seem to be out of English Breakfast tea, but the rest was good enough. Then I was back to the room to write, organize, etc. until the stewards threw me out. Up to Spinnaker for trivia, but we did exceptionally poorly (mine of 3 Punahou groups of 4) but had a good time, after which I went back to the room to give David & Judy their photo and went to Garden Café for tea with various, including Sally, until folks came in for lunch. They have scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam in the afternoons on the back deck bar/fooderie!

I encountered the Bowmans, to whom I had given a brochure in Fortress Louisbourg early in the day, so went to Blue Lagoon and joined the Australians for lunch (Darrochs plus Annette Moulds and Judi & David West), some of whom were finishing up, ending with time to chat with Russell Darroch. Lunch not the best but the company good. (They will be driving up to Nova Scotia via Bangor.) Then back to the room for Sudoku and organization. Medical will not give out any medical records onboard, so I will have to get the address from reception and go write Miami asking for copies.

We have a ways to go to complete our nearly 3,280 nm round trip to Québec and back to NYC. Most of us spent part of the afternoon organizing, packing, and preparing; I did too. We gathered for dinner at 5:30 at Tsar's Palace again; I stopped at the bursar to pay in cash my $5 Canadian and got only $4.55, but what else would I do with it. (Once home I discovered that the US$ is really worth $1.15 Canadian, so we poor sots were rooked by the Canadian merchants who exchanged one-for-one!) We had 4 tables and nearly all of us, including Godwin and Vicki Young, whom we adopted, even though he went to St. Louis and Vicki wasn't Punahou. May Yamamoto Uemura apparently had a fall today (actually in Sydney) and was injured; later I found out from Simone that she did fall in a child's play area and is cut and scraped on her face worse than I am and that their son, and ER doctor, patched her up in the ship's surgery. The count of intestinal virus victims is now rumored over 150. [The report to CDC said 144 of 2132 passengers and 9 of 1071 crew got sick.] (The Uemuras did not join us for dinner, but I said my good-bye to Roy when I saw him and the kids.)

Dinner food was and has been not as good as previous cruises. I had chilled black cherry soup (good), the beef and Yorkshire pudding, but the pudding was a waste, then a coconut soufflé (OK). [I sat with the Bowmans, the Witts (Merlyn and Melanie Maiden), plus the Changs, and we had a good conversation and dinner before we said good night to go pack and watch the Obama-McCain comedy show on Fox News, since the CNN channel was non-functional most of the cruise - actually many of the channels were out of commission most of the cruise. (I e-mailed Marvie and said the cruise was not up to snuff, which distressed her; she also sent me information on the insurance I do have for the trip, and it may cover reconstruction at home: she said to call as soon as I get home.)

Leonard seems to be back to good enough health, as is Gail, now back to her usual bouncy self, and David West is doing OK.

I find that my huge scab on my upper lip is getting a bit lose around the edges, and it has been less than a week. (The scab or clot of blood on the chin came out yesterday.) I changed bandage style yesterday to use sterile pads on the arms, and it works with only my paper tape to hold them in place. I noticed that the left arm stucco removal center scab has come off, which I hope is good, after 6 weeks.

Day 10: October 8 (Wednesday) - New York City and to San Francisco and Home:

I didn't sleep very well and was up before 6:30 am; the ship's computers showed us in Sydney as we came into NYC. My Internet account was dead, but it did have 0 minutes left. My bill was fine based on draft of yesterday. I looked like just about 10% of the passengers got the intestinal virus, and reports were that the Jewel had this virus active on the ship in its prior 2 or 3 cruises. Also it seems USA is very strict on this and might well quarantine the entire ship for a week; one staff member said they had to fog and sterilize the ship. Anyway, I packed and dressed, my cabin steward poked in at 7 to check. I went up to Garden Café, saw Judy getting breakfast, and found David & Judy in Mama's, so I joined them with my omelet and fruit. The Jewel ran out of English Breakfast tea by day 8, so I was stuck with Lipton's. Then I went down to my cabin and completed the packing and checking.

I went to visit Simone and Leonard and talked about the quality of the cruise and what we do next. Leonard was not pleased. Since they called express disembarking early, I went on down to deck 7 to wait for Gray (after Green, White, and colorless), the color for EWR transfer. After long hold up at the exit, I got off and into the endless line for immigration and customs after finding my suitcase relatively easily. From there I found the Newark bus and got on, waited, did Day 10 and a second Day 7 of Sudoku, and then we were off to the airport, getting to EWR around 11:15 am.

American had no space on the earlier flights, so I checked in and waited my two and a half hours for 2 o'clock for my flight in which 4C is window seat. There is no free wireless in EWR, so I will wait to see about St. Louis; none there either. I then had a run at Trust division as of end of Monday 10/6 and checked out 10/7 based on WSJ I bought, but changes today mean I need to do it again based on today's close. St. Louis arrival was on time, but no earlier flights to SFO, so I waited my two and a half hours for the 6:50 pm, an MD-80. In honor of flying over Mike Befeler's house and not having read his first novel, Retirement Homes Are Murder, I read the whole thing on that flight, finishing as we approached SFO. Bags were very slow to get out, I found mine, and Diane Pasta met me very soon thereafter on her first go-around. Home again!

Updated: October 19, 2008 (Created October 15, 2008)