Ft. Lauderdale

March 7th-8th
Sea Day/Ft. Lauderdale

The 7th was the usual sea day. You’d think that we wouldn’t need a sea day to go from Key West to Ft Lauderdale, but apparently you do need one when you first sail south to Cuba at 8 knots and then come all the way back north. I think the ship does this to keep people on board where they will spend more money on drinks while the ship goes unusually slow saving money on gas. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I’m not the captain so who knows.
I was really looking forward to the 8th because I was planning on meeting up with my good friend from college who now lives in the Miami area. I woke up slightly earlier than usual to go up stairs and make some phone calls to confirm everything, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t get through to my friend. So I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but that was a slight disappointment. So instead I got off the ship and found a fruit smoothie café with free wifi, which became my home for the next couple hours as I organized my life so that I knew I wouldn’t have anything to worry about during my next 10 days at sea. So all in all, what I was able to get done was a better use of my time, but it still would have been nice to see an old friend.
Following the internet place, I made my way to a Win-Dixie grocery store to get some supplies for my crossing, made a few phone calls along the way, and ended up at a Coldstone paying way too much for ice-cream (granted, it’ll be the best ice-cream I have all contract). Then I just had enough time left for a walk over a bridge and back before I had to get back on my ship for a rehearsal.
The show that night was none other than the opera singer that no one really likes playing for. That being said, after you turn each song into some sort of inside joke between you and the other horn players, each tune becomes a lot more fun. So despite him singing “O Sole Mio” and “Time to say Goodbye”, tunes I’ve played for dozens of people, they finally paid off by providing all of us with a good laugh. It really all comes down to attitude, and when you have a bunch of horn players with immature senses of humor, there’s a lot of possibilities to have a great attitude about crap music.
And that’s about it. I made my final farewell phone calls between shows while I still had a signal, and watched the US slowly fade away for what would be the last time until I return home April 18th. It was great having a cell phone signal and being able to call people, or even just check my emails on my phone. But now I’m back to being confined to ship internet and the odd free WiFi café where I can make Skype phone calls. But with under 6 weeks left, I’m not to worried, I’ll be home again soon enough! Thanks!