Wednesday, April 23. High haze, F 81, moored.
Day 109 of 113. [5 more sleeps]
Morning came fast! Tea and coffee and then a quick bite to eat in the Lounge, a visit to The Fedex Lady regarding our luggage on the way to the Queen's Lounge to await our turn to join the other Whackos going swimming with the horses today.
We had a short wait and a 20 minute ride to some remote horse ranch in the middle of a banana plantation. We donned our safety helmets, got dressed for riding and swimming and off we 12 went. The guides matched us up with appropriate horses based on our look of fear and experience with horses. Usually the name of the horse is geared to the temperament or gentleness of the horse. I did not want to get Diablo, [devil in Spanish] or Coyote, Mustang nor Jumper. I also did not want Mary, Lucy or Jane. I got First Born [?] Fellette got Lady Jean and was quite happy. I did not know what to think about my horse's name actually.
The horse was fine, as a matter of fact, they all were, of course. The route to the beach meandered through open fields of grazing cattle, [all cattle seem to be tethered with rope to a steel stake], banana plants forever, mangoes and just pleasant countryside. The pace was gentle and along the way the horses seemed to sort themselves out in an order that they felt comfortable with. The riders were just along for the ride, excuse the corniness.
At the beach, the sand was coarse but free of any hunks, and the water was a pleasant temperature that nicely cooled us down from the really boiling heat. Most frolicked for some time but some actually had quite a swim, Fellette included.
Soon, one of the guides appeared riding a frisky horse bareback into the ocean and took a plunge in and swam about. Those that wanted to could ride the horse as the guide swan with the reins in his foot, up and down the beach, the rider with a big grin on the face, clutching the main for dear life. It was really quite an experience. It was only spoiled by having the life jacket on, but I suppose there were some people who could not swim, and therefore everybody had to wear it, regardless it was great.
We then dried off, got dressed best we could and rode the beasts back to the ranch, hopped off, had a cool drink, water this time, and we were back in our cabin 1/2 hour later. We immediately went to the Lido, for a light lunch. Fellette showered, I fell asleep on the bed. It appears I did not drink enough water it seems, judging by my urine colour, [excuse me] and awoke around 4.00 and wrote the blog. Another great and exciting day for us.
We have not been to the Caribbean since my brother-in-law and best friend died near 20 years ago. We have had some fun trips to the islands and we are not sure, but this may have been one that we visited. It was only our second 'cruise', we took a cruise on Royal Caribbean in 1980 and had so much fun the next year or so we went on a short cruise with my sister, Moe and husband Ralph, with all the kids. Eight Islands in seven days! Four adults, five kids and one wife-to-be. What a gas that was. The ship was a One Star, held 105 passengers and every meal was a buffet.
Oh yes, ' Thank Heaven for Toenails'… my friend for the day, 'First Born', stepped on my big toe as I was mounting him in the water today, thank heaven he was not shod and it was a sandy bottom!
The pictures pretty well tell the story today folks!
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