Rhonda Bracey: At Random

The cruise was all over by 9am today. We arrived in port just after 6am, had our final breakfast delivered by Jemeesh, and after disembarking in groups to better manage the process of clearing Customs, it was about 9am.

Downtown Miami from the ship, while waiting to disembark

We caught the shuttle to the rental car depot, found the hotel after a few shaky starts (luckily it was Sunday morning in downtown Miami!!), and dropped off our luggage in the room. Then we drove down to Key Largo. The traffic was horrendous so we didn’t go any further down the keys.

We had a late lunch at Key Largo Conch House (pronounced here as ‘konk’, not ‘conCH’ as many other parts of the world—including Australia—pronounce it). I had a conch fritter to try, but the conch meat was cut up very finely and, with the curry flavours, I couldn’t really taste anything except something like a deep-fried samosa. We ended up splitting a vegetarian wrap and a spinach and feta salad with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing, so I’m not really sure why we bothered going to this place. The wrap and salad were excellent, but this restaurant specialised in conch, which Sue, who’s a vegetarian, couldn’t eat.

Conch fritter

Once we got back to the hotel in equally horrendous traffic as going down to Key Largo, I felt very woozy and dizzy and lay down for a while (I had ‘sea legs’). We were going to go to Little Havana for a bite to eat, but I didn’t feel right—the room kept moving in odd discombobulating ways.

I watched the Oceania Riviera sail away about 6:30pm from the hotel room’s windows (Sue was at the waterfront watching the ship leave).

We arrived at the Navy pier in Key West, Florida, so had to be shuttled from there to Mallory Square, downtown. Our first task was to find a taxi to get us to Kayak Kings for our mangrove maze kayaking adventure. Pete was our taxi driver and he took a bit of a shine to Sue. We hired him to come back and pick us up and to take us around the main sites of Key West once our kayaking was over. Which he did. More on that later…

The mangrove maze kayaking was just AMAZING. AJ (the owner of Kayak Kings) was our leader (there were only two of us under his guidance). We left the Cow Key Marina and skirted some mangroves close by that were the roosting location for heaps of pelicans. After going under a road bridge and along a canal with waterfront homes on one side and mangrove thickets on the other, we split our paddles in half and entered a tiny channel using a half paddle ‘canoe style’. Inside the mangroves was just unbelievably beautiful and so far away from the sounds of ANY civilization (except when planes went overhead). It was a jungle in there, but with well-defined water channels. There were lots of little creatures in the water – star fish, various corals, thousands of small cassiopeia jellyfish (which swim right side up, but live in the algae upside down!), some tiny fish and fish that were up to 6” long. We didn’t see any manatees, but what we did see was pretty amazing.

I thought I heard banjos…

Cassiopeia jellyfish look like small flowers when they are upside down

After we got back and changed into dry clothes and shoes, Pete turned up to take us around town and show/stop at the highlights – Southernmost Point, Hemingway’s house and the rare polydactyl cats (6-toed cats), Kermit’s for key lime pie (OMG!!), and the port area for the yachts.

Polydactyl cat at Hemingway’s House

Then we walked some of Duval St and had lunch at The Lazy Gecko (excellent Cuban sandwiches – Sue’s vegetarian, so she asked for hers without meat and with extra cheese [cheddar] to complement the provolone). Duval St was PACKED with people, many of whom were likely on Spring Break.

Cuban sandwich

We had to be back on board the ship in time for a 4:45pm sail away (all ships docking at Key West have to leave port before sunset so that the locals and visitors can view the sunset unimpeded!)

Our last dinner on board was at Red Ginger, the specialty Asian restaurant. We sat with Bill and Miriam (ex UK and Australia and other places), and Ed and Lil (also veteran cruisers). My meal comprised rice paper vegetarian spring rolls, crispy skin chicken, and a mango tapioca with ginger biscuit. All delicious.

We had strong winds last night (~35 mph), so the boat rocked a little more than previously. But as we’d had so much heat, humidity, sun, and wind yesterday, I slept like a baby.

It was a relaxing day at sea today, cruising from Belize City late yesterday afternoon, to somewhere west of Cuba (I could see it in the distance!) by mid-afternoon. We are due into Key West, Florida tomorrow morning, where we will be processed by US Customs and Border Protection on board. As I’m not a US citizen, I have to get processed separately from the others, but Reception has said there aren’t too many non-US citizens on board so hopefully it will be quick.

We had a late breakfast in the Terrace Café, then I had a culinary class (Asian cuisine from the Red Ginger restaurant on board) from 10 am to almost noon. According to reports, this is the only cruise ship line with a culinary center on board its various ships.

The chef who took the class was Noelle Barille. She demonstrated some basic knife skills, talked about various Asian ingredients and sauces, and showed us how to make five different dishes. We created three of those dishes (two were for demo purposes only, but we got to try them)—Pomelo Banh Trang Rolls (rice paper rolls made with grapefruit instead of pomelo), Watermelon and Duck Confit Salad, and Lobster Pad Thai. All dishes tasted great, but as I’m not a big fan of grapefruit, duck, or lobster, I’d probably substitute other ingredients for each. We also tasted Tom Kha Gai (chicken and coconut soup), Chilean Sea Bass in Miso Plum Sauce, and some sort of yummy lemongrass and something else ice cream.

After the cooking class, we hung out by the pool for a while (me in the shade, Sue in the sun) until the sun crept over to me, and I went back to the stateroom to start packing away all the stuff I know I don’t intend using/wearing before I get to Miami or Pittsburgh.

Tonight dinner  was at Jacques, the Jacques Pepin specialty French restaurant on this ship. Mine was absolutely delicious — duck foie gras with black cherries, onion soup with gruyere cheese, which was so rich and unctuous I didn’t eat it all as I wouldn’t have had room for the main course, which was the house special that night–a filet with foie gras and a truffle sauce (I think!).

Tomorrow we have to be admitted back into the US, then we will disembark to spend the day kayaking and cycling in Key West. All bags have to be packed and outside our rooms by 10:30 tomorrow night, so I’m glad I spent some time packing today—and sorting out what to wear for the various activities tomorrow!