Starliters was a lot of fun....and now Curacao and the end of the cruise.

We went to the Starliters show last night. Cruising was its theme!  It was very well done, and we really enjoyed seeing our friends up there.  It's is SO MUCH WORK, and I give them all a lot of credit for putting in so much time and effort.  This was the second year that I did not do it, and I won't be doing it next year either due to the seven cruises in 2017 that are already booked.  In fact, at this point I have only done Starliters two times ever, 2012 and 2014.  Guess I shouldn't consider myself part of that group any more.

I walked about half an hour yesterday around the Glendora Pond.  We saw three people and three dogs that we knew, so that was fun chatting.  Also we saw two big gators moving very quickly through the water for fairly long distances.  One went into the rushes along the shore and one climbed up on the bank for a sunny nap.  Great viewing!  Twice around the pond is about a mile and a half and we did it in about 30-40 minutes, although that included the time to chat.  I felt pretty good about that. My back didn't even start to hurt until the very last little bit.

I ate only 1340 calories yesterday and logged it all in.  I am rewarded this morning with another pound and a half off, down to 276 even.  Yay!

Today is super busy.  We have a 2 hour rehearsal from 10 to noon at the Cove.  It's a tech rehearsal for the Cove Singers recital next Sunday afternoon.  Then we will run into Publix for a few things, head home for a quick lunch and a change of clothes, go back to the Cove to pick up Susan and Jonathan and drive up to Dr. Phillips High School for the Maccabeats Concert.  I bought 10 tickets, although there are now 12 of us going in three cars.  We made a dinner reservation for the 12 of us at 6:15 at Bravo Cucina Italiana, not far from the high school.  I just hope the big Italian dinner out does not undo my success.  I will be the driver, so no drinking.  That helps.  If I stick to no appetizer and no dessert, I might be okay, but the appetizers look so good....Sigh.

So today will conclude the cruise.  We went to Curacao and then had two sea days home.  Enjoy!

Docked in Curacao

That's the tallest building on Curacao.  They have a floating bridge that moves out of the way to let ships into the very protected harbor. Our ship was too big to go into the harbor, so we are on an outside dock.  

Flamingos fly over to Curacao from Bonaire, 35 miles away, to eat shrimp in these little ponds that used to be for harvesting salt.  They actually have their nests on Bonaire and feed in Curacao.  Interesting.

Our first stop was the Hato Caves.

Manzanilla tress were everywhere and are poisonous, so they are well marked.

There were 49 uneven, steep, stone steps UP into the cave.  I declined to do that, so Mark took the camera and went on ahead.  Here is a view from the top of the steps.

The cave is just one big room.  Runaway slaves used to hide in there.

View of our ship as we drove to our next stop.

We drove over the very high, very big Queen Julianna bridge going over the harbor entrance. It provided the perfect view of the classic look of Willemstad.

Good view of the floating bridge closed.  People can then walk from one side of the city to the other.  When the bridge is open, people take the free ferry.

Next we went to the Blue Curacao liquor factory.  The name Curacao is a country, so it could not be copyrighted.  Instead, they copyrighted the shape of the bottle.  All the colors taste the same, orange.

The product was established by a Jewish man, so he made sure it always had kosher certification.

Back over the bridge again with a view into the protected harbor.

The Curacao National Museum was our final stop.

They have a carillon, and our tour guide, Michaela, demonstrated it for us.

The bells for the carillon are on the outside of the building.

At the dock on our way back in to the ship.

Curacao seemed really, really LONG as we sailed away.  It was in view for over an hour or more.

A Billy Joel impersonator gave a great concert that night.

After the Billy Joel show, Mark and I went to listen to the pianist in the Ensemble Lounge.  His fiancée was sitting at our table and took this picture of the two of us.

On the sea days, we always went to the morning lectures.  First was Cathy Ace, the mystery writer, and then was a cooking demonstration.

Listening to our audiobook with some coffee in the buffet area.

After lunch I had a choir rehearsal!  Mark came to take a few pictures.

As always, in the late afternoon, we enjoyed the solarium indoor pool and the Persian Gardens.  Mark is relaxing in the aromatherapy room here. No one was ever in there but us.

It was our second elegant chic night.  I'm enjoying a Sidecar with my  Captain's Club Coupon.

Mark is having his Dewar's on the rocks.

Tonight's show was a big production show called Topper.  We liked it a lot. Here is a shot of my choir director, Rachel.  She is a great singer and actress and a lovely person, too.

After the show, we found these big chairs in the Martini Bar.  We took turns sitting in them only because they were very big and high enough off the ground that we can get in and out easily.  So many chairs on this ship were so low to the ground that Mark had to pull me out of them!

I called this my Big Girl Chair.

Our last sea day started with breakfast in the Tuscan Grille for the Captain's Club breakfast and then a walk  on the outside promenade deck.  The weather was perfect.

Then as always we went to lectures.  This was Cathy Ace's final lecture.

Our final time listening to our audiobook.  This time we brought coffee down from the buffet and enjoyed our balcony.

The production cast gave a matinee show of Broadway material.  This girl is singing "Popular" from Wicked.

Rachel and Nikola sang a duet from Rent.

Michael sang "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera.

Orlando and Ganna, our main dining servers, posed for us with Harold and Liese from Toronto on the last night.

After dinner our little choir sang their four songs on the steps of the  Grand Foyer.  After one last show in the theater, we went back to the cabin and got our luggage put out to prepare to leave tomorrow.

Waiting in the Tuscan Grille with Captain's Club members to be called off the ship and drive home.  It was a wonderful cruise.