January 14, 2026
At Sea
I woke up at the usual time and had breakfast via room service, Salmon of course! The steward brought it 15 minutes early and woke Shirley up. I try really hard not to do that, but sometimes it cannot be helped. Then at 8 AM, I proceeded to have my once-a-cruise spa treatment. I met a very competent masseuse named Sladjana whose expert hands removed all the toxins and set me up for a toxin free couple of months, until our next cruise in October.
Then I met Bob and Shirley in the Star Theater for the daily Port Talk. This was about Ocho Rios (eight rivers in Spanish). There are only four rivers in reality so we see another example of Marketing. The Spanish called it Rios Rapidos, rapid rivers. We learned a lot about the history and culture of Jamaica. Bob Marley, Usain Bolt and the bobsled team along with Rum and the Pirate Morgan were featured.
Viking offered 4 excursions and they were detailed by our Tour Director Arianna. The neat thing was that Viking chose to provide each of them free! This was perhaps a bone for cancelling the excursions of Montego Bay. The excursions were promptly booked. Shirley and I chose the panoramic tour where we travel on a bus for a couple of hours before getting off at a tourist village and walk 15 minutes back to the ship.
Other excursions included playing in a waterfall or touring a cave system. Booking was easy. We were tempted to do the cave thing to report back to Cliff and Sarah, the family cavers, but when Arianna said it was not recommended for anyone with back problems, Shirley had an out! So we went to guest services and were seen very quickly to get our tickets for the Panoramic tour through Fern Gully and then to the town where there just might be shopping opportunities Bob and Anna scored the cave excursion so there will be pictures for Cliff and Sarah to add to their wish list.
The weather is sunny and warm as we steam through the Bahama Straight along the north shore of Cuba.
The rest of the day was very relaxing. Reading in the quiet of the upper Explorer’s Lounger. Then off to the lecture from our resident Naturalist, Ginny Stibolt.
(Shirley’s take). The lecture was very interesting. Ginny has written several books on landscaping which are available in the ship store. She recommended reading her many articles at GreenGardeningMatters.com. She has a total of 6 lectures on this cruise—I look forward to them. This one was entitled “The Importance of the Shoreline.” We learned all about tides, shores, reefs, currents, and sand. Did you know that 40% of the human population lives within 60 miles of the sea? We learned that the white sand beaches of Florida are made of calcium carbonate which come from fish like parrot fish, who eat other fish and have no stomach so leave white sand—yuck! Tan sand comes mostly from quartz, red and black sands are volcanic, and green sand is rare—only 4 beaches in the world. I’m not sure of the source but will ask. One fifth of all the water going into the oceans of the world come from the Amazon River! As I said, it was a very interesting lecture. Now back to Paul…
After the lecture it was off to the “Living Room” for a libation and good music.
This was followed by a trek to the World café for Sushi, Shrimp, Crab Legs soup and Gelato. We made it an early night
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