Hodge Podge

I apologize in advance for the randomness that this post will probably entail, but bear with me!

Let’s start with my musical frustration. This is not exactly the most musically rewarding gig I have ever had (funny how it is the best paying with the most perks!). I just got done rehearsing with a duo from the U.K. that covers Beatles tunes, and they are wretched. Oh man, I don’t think I’ve heard such out of tune playing since High School! I expected a bit more quality on a ship, but I guess they get bad acts once and a while. Although as I typed that I realized that they’ve been on this ship before and the audience loved them – I guess the Beatles sell! My other complaint musically has been how loud all of the shows are. I’ve resorted to wearing ear plugs to tolerate things, but then I can’t hear for matching articulations and pitch. I hate playing with ear plugs it makes everything I play seem flat. Okay, enough of the rants!

Today I explored yet another gem of the Caribbean: Tortola which is in the British Virgin Islands. I actually explored more of the island of Virgin Gorda (supposedly named by Columbus because when he saw the island it looked like a fat virgin – go figure!). I went on another excursion which involved a boat ride down Sir Francis Drake Channel and pretty much all of the British Virgin Islands. For all you Pirates of the Caribbean fans (Heidi!), we went by Dead Man’s Island where the infamous Dead Man’s Chest is buried. We then went to the “Baths” of Virgin Gorda, which are giant rock outcroppings that form little pools of water from the sea. I did some good climbing and saw lots of crabs and took a video which hopefully I’ll be able to upload at some point. We then crawled through caves and walked wooden planks to arrive at another beach, Devil’s Bay. They were very nice beaches, but I think spring break must be starting because they were jam packed with a lot of obnoxious Americans – I forgot how obnoxious we can be when we amass in great force! The other down fall was that the weather today was not exactly beach weather. It’s the first day that there’s been sustained rain and lots of cloud cover, oh well, can’t ask for everything.

Before I forget, yesterday’s big news was that I received my first pay check – whoopee!! I almost forgot I was working and not on vacation, so holding all that cash was nice! I’m hoping my direct deposit will start in 2 pay periods as promised, if not I’ll have to figure out how to get money to my bank. The only other excitement of yesterday was that I found the fastest internet connection yet. There’s a bar on the water front in Antigua that has a super connection and it’s free!! It’s amazing how spoiled we’ve become with all of our modern day luxuries. I’m trying to remember if there’s anything else I was meaning to blog about, but I’m drawing a blank at the moment. Oh, Sir Francis Drake Channel has some of the best sailing in the world so the sea was speckled with all sorts of ships today. Quite a spectacular sight! Maybe I’ll buy a sail boat with all my earnings and sail between Grand Turk and the British Virgin Islands for the rest of my life!!