A Voyage Of Discovery    by Sylvester McCoy
A personal account of his trip on the 1996 Sci-Fi Sea Cruise.

     Hello, my name is Sylvester McCoy, "Doctor Who" number seven, and like any
space traveler, I've been on a voyage of discovery.  In fact, I've been
discovering the Caribbean, with a great bunch of people, who happen to be
"Doctor Who" fans!

     We've been sailing, not the seven seas, but the Caribbean Sea, and visiting
three islands, and having a wonderful time, with some of the things we've seen.
Well, we sailed for two days, and there's lots to do on the ship.  Many
activities- shows, art auctions, swimming, drinking, eating, dancing, cavorting,
just lazing around really.

     And then we arrived at Puerto Rico, which was wonderful.  We arrived there
in the early evening, and it's the most beautiful place to sail into (past lovely
ancient walls and forts that they built to keep the British out...).  When we got
docked and "de-camped" as it were, we set off into the Old Town, as the dark came
down, and discovered a wonderful, fascinating Spanish city.  It was just like
going to Spain, really.  It was the most beautiful place, and in the glorious
heat of the evening, that had a wonderful atmosphere, we wandered around, looking
at the buildings, kind of vaguely looking for somewhere to see, and to eat.  Once
it got really quite dark, we went into this little bar, a cantina, and there was
a great surprise in the cantina (a "Doctor Who" pinball machine, of all things!)
Now, that's amazing synchronicity, isn't it?  I mean, in a Spanish city, in one
of the early first colonies, here we have, well, yours truly, and all the other
Doctors, and a few Companions, tucked away inside that rather interesting colorful
box (which everyone took turns playing!).  Then, we wandered around a bit more,
and had a really nice meal in a restaurant, where we ate some local food, which
was terrific.  We went from there to the odd little bar here and there, and ended
up in an alleyway with a bunch of merry people from the island, and I was given a
dance lesson- I think one of the most exotic ones I'd ever had, and I enjoyed it
immensely!  We arrived back on the ship, all ship-shaped and very merry!

     The next morning, early, although I don't think all of us got up too early,
we arrived at the next island.  St. Thomas- that was glorious, very enjoyable.
Very different architecture, very different atmosphere; the whole thing was
utterly different.  It was a great shopping place, lots of shopping; lots of
things to buy if you wished to do so.  We also found a nice cafe overlooking the
bay, and riding in the taxi was in itself an adventure- just going anywhere was
an adventure.  The people were very welcoming and very nice.

     By the next day, we went to Holland...  well, not really.  Well, France...
no, not really.  Well, we went to both...  well, not really.  Well, we went to an
island, a little island, which was both French and Dutch, called St. Maarten.  It
was discovered by these very civilized human beings, by the sounds of it, because
of what they decided to do; this Dutch lot, and the French lot.  They got two
Dutchmen to walk from one end of the island, and two Frenchmen from the other,
and where they met in the middle, they decided "that's the French bit" and
"that's the Dutch bit" and decided that's what it was going to be, and there were
no borders anywhere, andthey just got on very merrily.  That was very nice too,
having a little hint of those cultures, mixed with the Caribbean culture.  It was
glorious, quite fun!  Oh- and more shopping!

     Then we went back on the ship, to get over it all; two days sailing back,
which was very nice, because you certainly can really rest, after the exertions of
shopping, and more shopping!  By eating...  and a little drinking.  It was great;
I enjoyed it immensely, and the company was good- great- grand- so I enjoyed all
that too.  Altogether, smashing...  I'll translate that: jolly good...  no,
translate that: "ace"...  no, translate that: baaaad!...  oh, well, you know what
I mean!!!