Back at Fun N Sun – January 2014

Once we were back at Fun N Sun, we resumed our regular activities – golf, yoga, stretch class, Toys for Tots, computer club, volunteering at the elementary school, Friday evening country dances and even dance class. We also went to the annual Winter Texan Expo in the Harlingen Auditorium where we were able to pick up lots of information about events geared to “Winter Texans”.

On January 18, we attended the first of three big shows that Encore (Fun N Sun’s parent company) parks are bringing to the RGV – a Beach Boys / Beatles tribute band. It was hard to appreciate the Beach Boys part of the act since we had seen the “real thing” in Atlanta in October 2013 but we did enjoy the Beatles part of the show.

Bernie and Red – a Canadian couple from Vancouver (originally from Liverpool) – gave a great show on January 20. Each time we see them, we laugh even harder since their jokes about RV’ing and cruising are so real.  It is no wonder that they won Best Comedy Act in the Rio Grande Valley two years in a row.

The Hands and Hearts Brunch, a fund-raiser for La Posada Providencia (a shelter for refugees and asylum seekers located here in San Benito) took place on January 25. Jane bid on and  “won” several gift baskets at the silent auction. We enjoyed a delicious brunch during the live auction. The weather turned very cold the week following the brunch, so we were sure that the money raised would be put to good use.   Here’s a shot of our frozen rose bush.

We spent the afternoon of January 27 helping Blair and Sharon man the Ontario booth at the State Fair.  Paul was glad to unload the box of Ottawa brochures from the bed of the truck. We learned that the surplus brochures were taken to the local schools including Fred Booth where Jane volunteers. Our friend Steve brought his full Mountie uniform and was kept busy posing for pictures!

The cool weather encouraged us to go to the movies so we went to see The Butler on January 21^st and Last Vegas on January 28. The cost of $1.25 a person gives “cheap movie night” a whole new meaning..

On January 30, Jane and Sue went to the Rock shop to polish stones to make a belt buckle and pendant respectively.  They both have more stones to work on in the upcoming weeks.

We had a great time touring 5^th wheels at the annual RV show in Mercedes on January 31.  Later that day, we went to La Playa for happy hour margaritas and a plate of Mexican food. 

Southern Caribbean Cruise Continued

The island of Dominica, which was our third port, is known for its waterfalls, rain forest and emerald pool in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park rather than beautiful beaches.  Many of the excursions required climbing which neither of us was ready to do with our bad knees so we opted for a short tour of the city of Roseau that ended at a beach in the northern part of the island. This beach had black sand due to the volcanic nature of the island.  We finished our day at the Garraway Hotel where we had some local beer and used their free WiFi.  It is amazing how expensive and slow the WiFi is on the ship and yet the local businesses in port are giving it away for the price of a drink!!

Our next stop was Antigua where we took a ship excursion to the Halcyon Cove rex resort where we spent part of the day on the beach.  We walked the lovely beach down to the Sandals Resort and enjoyed the warm water. Lunch was served in the open air pavilion overlooking the water.  Although Jane’s favourite stores lined the way back to the ship, we didn’t have time for shopping after we checked our email.

Our last port was Philipsburg on the island of St. Maarten / St. Martin. We started the morning with a bus tour of the island which included an hour to explore Marigot in the French side. We spent most of our time at Sarafina’s, a lovely “boulangerie patisserie” which reminded Jane of Paris.  Once we returned to Philipsburg, we went shopping for a gold chain for Paul and then had lunch at an open air café overlooking the beach and the ships in port.

Our evening dining companions were great fun – a honeymoon couple from Ohio, a couple from south of Winnipeg, two British ladies, and an American woman and her Greek husband who have retired to Greece to run a bed and breakfast. We had some lively and interesting  conversations as we dined on Royal Caribbean’s great food.

The headliner show, a tribute to the Temptations, was excellent and one which had the whole crowd singing along. 

On sea days, we spent as much time as we could in the solarium pool trying to soak up as much warmth as we could.

Fort Lauderdale

Since we had evening flight from Fort Lauderdale back to Harlingen on Monday January 13, we took a four hour bus / boat / walking tour around Fort Lauderdale. The mansions and yachts along the New River and the Intracoastal waterway were quite spectacular – especially Stephen Spielberg’s $200 million yacht – the Seven Seas.   

The tour ended at the Fort Lauderdale airport where we waited to board our plane for Houston.  When we arrived in Houston, we quickly learned that our plane to Harlingen had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties so we were treated to a night at the Park Inn courtesy of United Airlines.  Doug and Sue were waiting for us at the airport when we arrived on Tuesday afternoon and fortunately so was our luggage which had arrived on an earlier flight.