Wanderung 28

At dawn we awoke to a dark, overcast horizon , high winds, rough seas, and light rain. All together it was not a very inviting prospect and I was just as happy that we had not booked any excursions for the day at Grand Cayman Island. During breakfast the Captain came on the ship's intercom and told us that the high waves prohibited us from using the normal anchorage off Georgetown, the capital of the Grand Caymans, so he was circling to the northern side of the island to see if we could anchor there and tender in to a pier. Coincidentally, the Holland America ship Ryndam, which had crossed paths with the Coral Princess, also accompanied us around the island to see if the conditions for landing were more salubrious on the other side.

As the morning progressed, our ship approached the northern shore very gingerly and the crew deployed the landing pontoons on the side of the ship and lowered lifeboats. But in the end the Captain decided the waves were still too high on that shore--we could see them crashing against the beach--and we retracted the pontoon and lifeboats and steamed off toward Florida. We were not disappointed to miss Grand Cayman as the weather had continued to be dark, windy, and rainy, which would have put the kibosh on most outdoor activities or attractions, and even shopping would not have been that much fun.

I was also curiously tired. We attended the morning presentation on the meteor that hit the Yucatan peninsula and resulted in extinguishing the dinosaurs and about 75% of other species 65 million years ago. Despite the fact that Dr. Greg Wheeler was very good and had fascinating slides, I started nodding off after half an hour or so. Embarrassing! That reminded me of a very soothing philosophy class I had right after lunch during my university studies where I also regularly nodded off. That was not only very embarrassing but ultimately resulted in getting a "B" rather than an "A" because the professor was quite aware I kept falling asleep during his lectures!

So after lunch I slept the afternoon away, I roused myself for dinner with Shelley, Carmen, Eugen, and Brigitte, but then fell asleep again over our laptop early that evening. Some people are just not party animals!