The trip was very enjoyable, we kept pretty busy seeing the sights and eating (usual for a cruise). If you're interested, lots of information about our itinerary was at http://www.hollandamerica.com/siteindex/siteindex.htm, look for the 7-day Western Caribbean cruise leaving from Ft. Lauderdale.
Friday —San Francisco to Miami, arrived 11 pm and just went to Ft. Lauderdale to the motel.
Saturday — Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where we arrived for the annual art fair. Surprisingly, we saw some of the same things we had seen the week previous at Palo Alto's Art Fair. Boarded the ship about 3 pm, got settled in. Looked around. The Holland America's Zaandam is brand new, and a very pretty ship, decorated throughout with many art treasures and reproductions. There was a 3-deck high wooden organ, with hundreds of pipes; lithographs of Escher's art; paintings of previous Zaandams and other Holland America ships; and many other interesting art pieces.
Sunday — At sea, explored the ship (it even has a cybercafe!), attended the Captain's Cocktail Hour, had a delicious formal dinner, the first of many.
Monday — we took the Tulum Mayan ruins tour option from Cozumel, Mexico. This colorful excursion highlighted the ancient world of Mayan Mexico. A 7 a.m. launch took us to Playa del Carmen on the mainland, where we boarded a motorcoach for a drive south to the Mayan city of Tulum. This ancient walled city is the only Mayan settlement built on the seashore. Dedicated to the Setting Sun, Tulum is magnificently situated atop a towering cliff overlooking the crystal-blue Caribbean Sea. It is a city dominated by sacred temples, including the Temple of the Frescos, the Temple of the Descending God and the pyramid-shaped Castle of El Castillo. The temples, made of stone, are all that is left —the wooden houses are long gone, only the stone foundations are visible. We admired the architecture as our guide explained the intricate designs carved into stone hundreds of years ago. Local beer and box lunch were served on the motorcoach ride back to Playa del Carmen. There we boarded a ferry for a return to Cozumel, where our ship was waiting. It was a very interesting glimpse into the ancient Mayan civilization. They are still excavating and restoring the site. It was hot and humid, and we were glad to have dressed for the heat and brought sunscreen, water and hats.
Tuesday — Georgetown, Grand Cayman where we took the Nautilus One, a luxurious semi-submarine tour. We saw reefs, wrecks and an abundance of marine life from the cabin of the Nautilus riding 5 feet below the water's surface. This underwater observatory provided us with a chance to see two of the many wrecks in the area, sea turtles, stingrays and an abundance and variety of fish while the staff described the history and biology of the area. A diver hand-fed dozens of fish, which followed him around like pigeons following someone who feeds them seeds. Then walked around town, looking at the various stores. Good deals on coffee, cigars, rum, jewelry.
Wednesday — Ocho Rios, Jamaica where we took the Dunn's River Falls tour option, which included:
Thursday — At sea, and another formal dinner.
Friday — Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, the Island owned (or leased?) by Holland America where we didn't do any of the organized tours, but just enjoyed swimming in the beautiful Caribbean and had a barbecue provided by the ship. Half Moon Cay had no city and almost no permanent residents, it was just a tiny island (maybe 1/2 mile by 2-3 miles), but it had a beautiful beach, with white sand (like flour) and very pleasant in the water. It was tropically hot and humid on land, though.
Saturday — the ship returned to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. About 10 a.m. we headed south on US 1 for Key West. On the way, we went through the beach-front part of Miami, admiring the hotels, condos and houses, then stopped by the Everglades to see what it was like. We found it was hot, humid, wet, and mosquito-infested, and we didn't see any alligators. According to the brochure, it's a 50-mile wide river, about 4 inches deep. Wouldn't want to live there!
Sunday-Monday — Key West, Fla where we arrived in time for the WomenFest 2000 celebration, a celebration of alternate lifestyles. Our motel was the Southernmost Motel, so called because it is just down the street from the southernmost point on the continental US (a part of the Big Island of Hawaii is farther south). We ate conch chowder, conch fritters, Key Lime pie, Cuban coffee, giant pink shrimp, took the Conch Train tour (well worth taking for an overview of the island and brief history), shopped Duval St. (did the "Duval Crawl"), and visited Ernest Hemingway's house. I drove by Key West High School, my Alma Mater, and the house where we lived, but didn't really recognize either one.
Tuesday —drove back up the Keys to Miami Airport, departed to San Francisco
Interestingly, all of the cities we visited had cybercafes with access to the Internet, that cost around $5/hour to use. So it would be possible to stay in touch for a minimal expense with a Internet email account. The cybercafe on board cost $0.75/minute, so was rather expensive.