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Today the seas are high and the ship Lirica is giving us quite a ride! The wind is howling and many passengers are not really enjoying the New Year's weather display.

 However, our New Year's was fun and our stop-overs in Grand Cayman and Cozumel were enjoyable. This trip, for many reasons, we haven't gone on any of the excursions choosing instead to hire a cab to drive us around and see the sight of the area. We get the driver's particular “take” on the place where he lives and works and sometimes some special delights.

I remember one trip down the west coast of Mexico several years back that my Mom and Dad took us on when we had a delightful experience going inland in a cab to a local restaurant near a river and a place where the children were totally enjoying their own special swimming spot. They were jumping off a suspension bridge into the deep green water of the cool river while younger ones were cooling off by digging holes deep into the coarse damp sand near the river's edge.   One of my favorite paintings is a reminder of that visit.

On this trip in Cayman we visited Hell – named from the outcropping of dead black coral sticking up in the middle of the Cayman jungle. However, the highlight of the ride was the stop over at the Tortuga Rum store where we sampled many, many types of flavored rum and delicious rum cake. Yummy! Yooo Hooo!

Both Cayman and Cozumel, where we visited yesterday, had been devastated recently by hurricanes -- Cayman by Ivan in 2003 and Cozumel by Wilma in 2005. Both have been extensively rebuilt -- a necessity to re-attract the tourists upon which they depend. On Cozumel island we drove to Mayan ruins and then to the windward beach side. It was gorgeous but had obvious road and building damage and the beach, while lovely, showed signs of huge rocks and debris thrown up on the once sandy beaches.   The leeward side where most of the tourists visit showed less damage and many newly constructed or reconstructed buildings. Our driver, Francisco, who lives on the island, said he and his family stayed on the island during the hurricane but it was scary. They lost all of their windows and there was a great deal of damage. There was only one death in Cozumel – a tourist who was photographing the waves. Only three died on Grand Cayman all locals…. Surprising and fortunate after seeing how much damage the winds and waters had done.

 All the outside areas are roped off due to the high winds and dangerous waves, so I'll stay inside and sketch.   We've had some rough seas on previous cruises but nothing like this!   Oh, oh… The captain just had an announcement made saying that due to the 18 foot waves we cannot make enough speed to be in Nassau tomorrow morning and we won't arrive until 2:00 in the afternoon.   Looks like I'll have more painting and drawing time than I expected. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!