On Saturday, nothing happened.
The End.
No, I kid. But not so much. So, to make this quick and easy, this post is mostly pictures.
Saturday was a day for the birds.
[These are Mexican seagulls - so don't say I didn't bring ya nothin']
Saturday was the day for the onshore activities, though many of us declined and stayed on the ship. By many of us, I mean people from the firm. The ship was empty and quiet, and we really did wile away the hours. Here's as far out as mom and I got:
It was a bit chilly, hence the jackets and the scarves.
We sat in the lounge on couchy seats, tip tapping on the computer or listening to books on tape, we chatted with passing friends, took pictures (lots of them, and probably only interesting to us) and waited until dinner. Somewhere in between, there was napping. Some folks enjoyed massages or the jacuzzi. I did not bring my suit for the jacuzzi, though I doubt anyone could have prevailed upon me to get nearly nekked with temperatures in the low 60s.
Dinner was a slightly more formal affair on Saturday night,
[With Ivy, who looked gorgeous]
though things degenerated fairly quickly.
The dinner show involved the entire dining room singing "Wheeeeeeeen theeeee moooon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amoooreeee" and of course there was some waving of arms involved from some of us not all of us but many of us I won't name any names but pretty much all of Kim's table. No one can accuse our firm of being passive or not fully participating in whatever bird-brained scheme is being hatched.
There was dancing, again, and the Evil Gnome was out, again. Saturday night he met willing partners, one of whom was a tall blond woman whose dress barely covered her ass and crotchumous area. There was also a woman in a bright orange prom dress who kept making rather raunchy advances towards her date, who managed to look mildly bored even as she did a full forward bend and rubbed her butt against his front package area. I'm not sure who I felt more sorry for in that little domestic drama. I hereby make a sweeping generalization based on nothing but conjecture and say that when you have to resort to such measures to get your date's attention, and fail, it is time to move on.
Some pole dancing occurred
And some of this happened too, though I'm not totally sure what "this" is.
And in all fairness, some of this:
In other words, we had a good time. Some of us were drunk, some were not, and the undrunk kept the drunk from falling off the boat. It's good to have friends.
Sunday was our Day At Sea. By that I do not mean that we were all confused, but that the ship stopped in the middle of the water on the far side of Catalina Island, and on board activities and such were enjoyed by many. I'm not sure how, but the day frittered away. I took some scenic shots, and I even saw a whale cruise by. She was not really close enough for pictures, but I saw the water plume a couple of times.
I took a couple of scenic shots:
At 11 on Sunday morning I attended the debarkation debrief. The cruise director gave us all the info we could possibly ever want about how to debark, which amounted to pick up your shit and get out. I think I could have figured it out myself. Had the weekend benn even a tiny bit more productive, I might have demanded that hour of my life back. But since I had nothing to do, it would have been more like demanding a wasted hour back so I could go waste it on something equally unimportant.
Sunday afternoon we gathered for a little cocktail party
After the cocktail party, some of us made a beeline for the "sushi" bar - extremely popular, judging by the length of the line, which to me indicates that sushi needs to be a staple of cruise ships. I mean, they're on the water for pete's sake, it can't be too difficult to have fresh fish, right?
By Sunday evening we had all pretty much collapsed. We napped until dinner, and then soon after everyone scattered and went to bed. Except for Jamaar and Shani, who danced till 4 am. Crazy kids!
Monday morning we were up with the chickens (birds again!) for breakfast, and we took our shit and got the hell off the boat, into cold and rainy weather. Vacation was certainly over, but not without fun memories, stories that will be told for the next several years, and some choice photographs that will be used as blackmail, or for a firm calendar. I vote for firm calendar.
