Tuesday

Today is a quiet day at sea as we head from the Caymans to the Netherlands Antilles, or ABC's:  Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, with a full day on each of the islands.  My main activity today is the culinary demonstration at 1pm:  salmon and chocolate-almond creeps for Valentine's Day dinner.  The effervescent hostess provides running commentary as head chef Raj prepares the food (no samples today).  When I return to my suite I find the laundry I sent out yesterday, perfectly pressed and folded as I requested.

On my pre-dinner evening walk around the ship, I run into Patrick, another LGBT passenger, a retired banker from Chicago, who is also traveling by himself (that makes three solo sailors so far).  We chat over drinks in the Crow's Nest and make plans to dine in the Pinnacle Grill on a later night.  Dinner is prosciutto and cantaloupe over arugula, drizzled with balsamic vinegar (I think I shall have imbibed a quart before the cruise ends), with perfect-tasting melon; seasonal greens and garnishes (radishes, green peppers, etc), with low-fat lemon dressing; tuna fillet served over a salad of arugula and bell peppers (lots of healthy greens tonight).  The tuna is tasty but not prepared rare (for health reasons) so it doesn't quite match up to the quality of other main dishes; dessert is chocolate chip ice cream.

Wednesday

I enjoy another leisurely breakfast in the Pinnacle, since we don't reach Aruba until 1pm.  As we sail along the south coast toward the harbor I can see the glaringly pristine white sand beaches, the brightest I have ever seen, even from a distance.  The beaches are Aruba's chief attraction; the main town, Oranjestad, is mostly modern shopping malls dressed up to look like old Dutch architecture.  It's fun to walk around, especially away from the waterfront, where the crowds are thinner and the breezes cooler.

I return to the Maasdam with no purchases (actually things were easy to resist at the prices on offer), and as I'm dressing for dinner discover there is no COLD water (if there is a problem it's usually the hot water).  But a call to the concierge gets that fixed pretty quickly.  At dinner I am joined by David, a real estate wheeler dealer from Chicago, who does a great deal of traveling alone.  Although he usually eats at a large table, the other guests were all off ship this evening (we don't sail until midnight).  It was nice to have company for the meal--but I wouldn't want to do it every night.  David is trying to arrange for some more LGBT meetings as we go along to Rio.

Tomorrow morning we dock in Curaçao and I will write more from there.