Dodging a Hurricane

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The day we boarded our cruise in San Jaun was the same day that Hurricane Irena passed through Puerto-Rico. Considering that we were traveling to the Caribbean during hurricane season we should not have been surprised. But we were surprised. We actually made it a point to keep track of storm activity every time we had internet connection and last time we checked, about 48 hours prior, there was no storm heading our way. Irene formed in the duration since we last checked from nothing, directly into a tropical storm and was forecasted to head directly to us and to intensify to hurricane level winds of over 120 km/h.

We were not really sure what to expect. Part of us was excited to experience our first such major storm. Part of us was curious how this will affect our nautical planes that were due to start later that day. Part of us thought of the Hurricane Katrina and the Titanic.

I registered my phone to get hourly forecasts.

Out planes for the morning was going to a natural park on the beach. It was a perfectly nice sunny and windless day so we headed to the beach only to be informed by the ranger that the park was closed due to the hurricane watch. We tried to explain to him that it is a perfectly nice day and that in any case we will be out in a couple of hours but he stubbornly refused entry. No sense in arguing with an American official on duty.

So we returned to a rainforest park we visited the day before, a few miles inland, only to find it too is being evacuated. So after a short visit to the visitor center we looked at the map and formulated a new plan – 2 hours of outlet shopping!

At 11AM we entered the mall with the sky still clear and windless.

At 1PM we emerged out to a cloudy sky with soft, but very steady, winds.

At 2PM we arrived at the airport to return our rented car with the sky completely black and strengthening winds.

At 3PM we were in the taxi heading for the port in a complete downpour with the rain falling sideways.

At 3:30PM we were completely soaked just by walking out of the taxi and taking our bags through the 1 meter between the taxi and the sheltered pier.

At 4PM, finishing our embarkation we, were informed that the ship will leave port 4 hours early to escape the storm (had we arrived later we would have missed the ship) and that we should “please” not go on the ship deck because of the winds.

At 6PM the ship left port. The waves were so high that I felt so sick as if I was “in a cloud”. We were informed that we will not be able to visit the US Virgin Islands the following day.

We were worried about the high seas. We were unsure what will happen to our carefully made planes for each port since now we were on a “schedule-less trip”. We felt bad we would be disappointing the virgins waiting for us in the next port.

As we left port we saw the San-Juan historical lighthouse beaconing to us from the ancient fort its repetitive warning signal with a faint light in the rain as if it was saying “come back to Land. Land!”

So this is what it feels like being at sea…

Hitting Rock-Bottom

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Because of that it is much more similar to Miami or Los-Angeles then to its neighboring Caribbean or Latin neighbors. For Hagit it was the first time in the US so I proceeded in showing her the local foods I find so alluring – fast food. A McDonalds breakfast, Subway lunch, Taco bell dinner, Drunken donut desert, Little Caesars pizza, Wendy’s.

The day before boarding the ship we hit rock bottom.

We entered a KFC for lunch. Being on a tight schedule we made used of a Great-American invention – the drive through. We intended to buy the kids a few nuggets and 4 pieces of chicken for us. But the sign was so colorful and we thought we were a bit hungry so we ended up in buying a huge bucket of chicken with endless number of pieces and countless number of side orders.

We ate franticly for the next 30 min.

We barley ate anything more the following 3 days.

The amount of oily food in our system did not allow us to eat anything but a bit of salad.

Our body literally rejected the idea of having more food in it.

For the first 2 days on the ship we were “at sea” - not porting in any location. With little to do, the main pastime for most passengers was stuffing themselves silly in the morning, brunch, lunch, snack, dinner and night buffets.

It might just be that the KFC meal did us a favor…we stuck ONLY to salads.

And jello. And some soup. And fish for dinner. the deserts were nice….

Seinfeld vs. Friends

I’m not sure most readers will get my analogy but after 2 weeks of lots and lots of reruns I can make the following definitive statement.

Travel on a cruise ship is like an episode of Seinfeld and traveling on your own is like an episode of Friends.

Seinfeld, at the time, was the most hilarious, fun filled over the top comedy. What’s left with it a decade later? Not much but a few jokes and memories that you had once laughed from the experience. Just like the fun force fed to you on a cruise ship when the cruise director keeps on telling you on the speaker that we are having "lot and lot of fun"

Friends on the other hand was not as funny and at times could have been mistaken for a drama with its ups and down, twists and frustrations. But it was quite literally a story about friends that you have long-lost but left you with moments to remember that accompany you through life. Independent travel is like this. With all its difficulties it’s memories will remain with you forever and the family stories will be told again and again with only slight improvements each time 😊

TOOOOO many reruns!

As if we did not eat enough:

The only regret is that while in Puerto Rico Hagit never got to eat that Cinnabon cinnamon roll I always tell her about when I return from the US. Next time I’m in a US airport on the way home ill bring some in my bag.

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Comments

[Dayene]

your baby
your baby is wonderful! very pretty!! God bless your travel!