It’s Tuesday March 15th and I am in St. Thomas at my favorite place to spend the sunset, Paradise Point. It is on top of a hill just above the ships and only minutes away. You take a ski gondola to get here, which only costs $5 with your crew discount. I have found where ever you go ask if the give a “crew discount”. You’ll find like I have many places do.
So I am sitting here having something to eat, drinking a “Bushwhacker” chased by a couple Virgin Island “Island Summer Ales”, listening to live reggae and enjoying the view.
So I guess it is time that I catch up with my blogging. I do have a couple of excuses, some valid, other probably not.
I’m going to make much of this short as I am reaching back into the memory of an old salt that was much to old to be doing some of the things he did…especially on St. Maarten.
Just before give Seminar
PLAY HARD – 2/16
The week of 2/16 didn’t get posted as I went partying with some of the spa girls and did a pub-crawl in St. Maarten for a “Dirty 30” birthday celebration. The trick was when it came to your name alphabetically it was your turn to buy the round. I know it made it past my name as I remember buying my round and Mark bought his after me. From the point on things get a little fuzzy as there were at least 9 of us plus a few that joined us here and there. To this day some of us laugh about it as none of us really remembers getting back to the ship that night. However I do remember making it to the crew hot tub, which is just outside my cabin. The next day I noticed that I left my leather topped crocs and my sunglasses by the hot tub and they are now history….much like that night.
WORK HARD – 2/23
This week there was no play hard. Lisa from corporate was on board and I spent all my spare time learning any and everything she had to share. If she ever makes the rounds when you are on board I suggest you do the same. She is a wealth of knowledge especially to those of us that are new to this adventure.
WORK HARD - 3/2
Well at least I tried. This week I had a Bakers Cyst rupture in my right leg. I was walk down one of the passageways and I felt what seemed to be an explosion in my right calf. At first they thought it might be a deep vein thrombosis so I was sent off the ship in St. Thomas in a wheelchair for an emergency visit to a specialist. I was told the night before to take no medications so even with the oxycodine in my drawer that the VA gave me for my knee I could take anything. I tossed and turned all night in pain unable to sleep.
It was extremely painful. And even after two days I could not walk or put any weight on my foot. Both my leg from the knee down and my foot seemed to double in size. By the third day I started to do acupuncture and started to chug the herbs. The next day it felt about 50% better and I could walk on crutches. I continued the acupuncture and herbs along with the 500mg of Aleve the doctor gave me along with visits for ultrasound. Something is working though as it is getting better. To me it’s not the Aleve, maybe its some with ultrasound but I know when I do acupuncture I can feel a difference verses when I don’t for a night.
WORK HARD – 3/11
More of the same. I’ve spent the entire week with any free time I have had nursing my leg, laying in bed and elevating both my leg and knee. And of course my bad knee which I tore the patella ligament several years ago while backpacking in the Sierras is now being affected from the altered gait. At least that is something I am familiar with as I have dealt with it on and off for close to 20 years.
WORK HARD – 3/14
Well I am finally feeling better and back in St. Thomas where two weeks ago I was carted off the ship to the emergency room. Today is a little work, but a pleasant version of it. Lisa is in port and getting some of the acupuncturists from other ships together. We spent a couple hours together and I met Kristi from the Noordam. She is on her first contract and only on her second week. It was nice meeting another acupuncturist and I’m looking forward to meeting others along the way and learning from them.
Here is something that Lisa had me share. When asked about the cost of packages my rant is…
“The first visit is $150, on shore they run between $150 - $200. Then they rope you in saying the follow up visit is $75, where I was it was $95. Then a month later you get your bill and it is $150 - $200. You call and speak to the receptionist and say ‘I thought the treatment was $75.’
And she says the treatment was $75 but the office visit was $50 and the ultrasound was $50 and the heat packs were $30 and all of a sudden you have a $200 bill. Here the more you get the less it costs. We also find that we get better results. We get the same results in 3-5 treatments that it takes 1 – 2 months, sometimes 3 months on shore. This is because it has been proven that the body is just more receptive to healing in a stress free environment. And there is not too much more that is more stress free then this.”
PLAY HARD
It isn’t really playing too hard. My knees are still a bit tender but I walked a couple miles through Phillipsburg checking out the side streets and taking a few pictures. Next I headed for Paradise Point. And then it happened….SPA GIRLS...they found my hide out. So now it is a few cocktails and play with the spa girls….
A REQUEST....
And I’ll end with a request. I’ve been asked how the food is. It’s not great but it’s not bad. There is a descent salad bar and a number or entrees. There is always chicken breasts, white rice, usually some sort of pasta dish, a beef dish, and a small variety of ethnic food. There is always fresh fruit as well and some sort of soup. Overall it is fairly good but it does get a bit monotonous over time. Breakfast is scrambled eggs or you can order fresh eggs but I swear they can’t cook anything then over hard not matter what you order. There is also grits sausage, bacon, ham etc. Drinks are ice tea, water, lemonade, punch and apple juice.
So there you have it. I’ll try and keep up now every week and keep answering your question. Thanks for them and any other feedback you may have.
No comments:
Post a Comment