Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Day One Back to Work; Day Two Jamaica

Well, my return to work wasn't too bad. Lots of emails and phone calls to respond to, but all in all a fairly easy day.

Sunday in Jamaica

Noel skipped Jamaica but his passing left the waves crashing hard against the shore and stirring up sand and silt in the normally clear Caribbean. Sunday should have been our first day to dive and we were deeply saddened to get up early just to find the red flag waving high on the shore, the tanks and regs still neatly tucked in the dive shop, and EB standing there just shaking his head. It was a sad morning for 16 divers ready to hop on the boat and check out the Cayman Wall! Oh well, maybe Monday.

So, what to do next? We were in the dark completely. You see, we're always diving from 8:30 to 11:30, so we had no idea what the non divers do on mornings at Breezes. One look at the activity board and we were surprised ~ it seems there IS more to do than just dive! Imagine that! Frank says it was all just "passing time" until the water calmed, but when you get a chance to see all the pictures, you'll find that boy can really get into volleyball, too. I think maybe it's because the ball looks a lot like a soccer ball. Who knows? Anyway, he had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to use the camera even if it was above water. The picture below shows how turbulent the water was ~ truly the worst we ever seen in our four trips to Runaway Bay.


The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. We checked out the new infinity pool and the swim up bar. The sun came out and went back behind the clouds but it never did rain, well it did, for like two minutes at the most. Amazing! It's like a spritz from heaven just to cool you down for a few minutes. Very nice. I took two magazines and two books along with my journal. I've yet to open either of the magazines but I did somehow manage to read one chapter in one book. Guess lying around the pool with a good book is just not my idea of a good vacation. For some reason, Frank and I both think you "have to be doin' something!" So we walked. We explored! Then we napped, got ready and headed to the buffet.

First thing we did was hunt down a waitress to send Janice a message. The first year we went she told Frank shoes were required, she could rent him some, but she only had a size 12 and a size 7. She was kidding, of course. But to let her know we were back, Frank told the waitress to go tell Janice that there was a man at the door who need to rent a pair of shoes for dinner, one shoe size 12 and one size 7. It didn't take her long to coming running, "Frank and Paula!" And then hugs, hugs, hugs! She looked great. When we last saw her she was a week away from delivering her second child so needless to say she was a bit smaller this time. Hard to believe the baby born one week after Ivan hit Jamaica is now 3 years old and getting ready for school.

Janice and Frank are really funny together. She is pointing at him because last time when she was pregnant she pointed at him as I snapped the photo and it looked like she was trying to tell me something about that baby! Running joke is Frank and I are the baby's step-parents! Haha! Anyway, we will be getting together a little "child support" box to send to both her children, Ofelia who is 9 and Odelia who is 3. They both need crayons, paints, pens, painting aprons, school paper, and back packs for school. They have to pay for everything there including uniforms. The oldest, Ofelia, is really into crossword puzzles, so I am sure Amanda can help me pick out some of those to send to her. She said, "No, don't send those, when she is doing crosswords, she isn't doing anything else." I told her to look at it as educational. I know it helped me tremendously with my vocabulary and it should help her, too. Amanda loves them, too. Sometimes I think she buys the TV Guide and People just for the puzzle. BTW, Amanda, remind me to give you the Air Jamaica Magazine, it has two crosswords!

Well, I am getting sleepy and that pretty much recaps our Sunday. One last thing we did ~ walked on the beach and took a mini-swing in our hut covered hammock. The moon was huge!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can help you with the crossword books. Sometimes I do buy the people for the crossword :)

Anonymous said...

glad you are back and glad you had a good time. See you soon. T

Anonymous said...

you need to keep updating. are you on the writer's strike also? are we not going to see what happens for the rest of the trip? haha

Paula Roberts said...

okay,miss amanda, you are too funny ... and maybe you should be a sitcom writer! As you might have guessed, work had me tied up catching up, but the weekend is here and I will update soon. Right now, I'm waiting for my pancakes from Chef Frank.