Day 20. 4th of July. Cruise ship – Sicily
Today was American Independence Day, and while we were in Italy, on a ship of 4,000 passengers (plus staff) with something like 50% of the passengers being American this day did not go unnoticed.
We set off to get far away from the port town of Messina and to another more quietly charming town a about 1.5 hours away called Taorimina. We were most disappointed that our pre booked driver Mario (lol, where is Luigie I wonder?) ditched us, or something. In any case he never showed. But it was easy enough to get another driver, though we had to be firm and not let them rip us off by charging more then the pre arranged price. We shared with a couple with two young boys who were ex-pat Australians but live in Denmark. So we had lots to talk about and their kids were lovely.
Once in the town we split up. Raina and I went to a café, I had an espresso and she had an ice cream. Is that the typical mother and daughter order or what? Lol. We had it on many occasions with the coffee always being delivered to Raina.
Then we wandered the stunning streets, poked about the shops and rode the sky gondola down the cliff face to see the views. The water here was stunning. A massive expanse of perfectly flat blue of a shade I have never seen before. The water seems to call you and all you want to do was\s dive off the cliff into it. Despite the logic that tells you that you will die painfully.
Now follows Sarah’s story………“On the way back the driver took us all to a brilliant look out to the most beautiful place I think I have ever seen. I started crying looking at it. The water was so blue and clear that from far above you could see the bottom of the bay, a magazine worthy resort on a peninsular and several cute umbrellas set up on the beach.
Then I heard Raina saying “oh, don’t look behind you Sarah.” So naturally what does that make someone do?
I have previously mentioned my mortal fear of volcanoes. Well this is something I probably blew out of proportion for humours sake, something I was scared of as a kid but not so much anymore. And I had been informed previously then forgotten till the night before that this area has several volcanoes but it is not something that would stop me touring.
Well, let me tell you, when faced with a smoking volcano no more then a few kilometers away the true feelings are revealed. Well I did not scream. But I did burst into tears and was not really able to function or breath. My knees went a little wobbly, I fell into Raina’s arms and I became a blubbering mess and the thought of vomiting occurred to me. At least I remained continent. In fact I am crying a little and my hands are slightly shaky just from typing this. I was not able to look at it after that first glimpse. I have never experienced anything like that. I have been scared of things before yes. But this I now realise this is an actual phobia. I am a volcaphobic. And there I was witnessing Etna’s eruption of 2011.
Not fun.
I was able to laugh at myself a bit as a coping strategy but the fear didn’t stop till we were far away and all the drive I was imagining a pyroclastic flow chasing me and trying in vain to decide on a survival strategy. Driving a smart car into a big van, into a truck, inside a tunnel and hoping inside the smart car occurred to me, before my logical brain told me that even layers will not protect you from an eruption. Volcanies!!!!! They are so dumb. I hate them. Especially when there is smoke coming from them and they are near me. Raina was very kind and comforted me – while looking over my shoulder, at a thought she never thought she would see – since she has a volcaphobic travelling companion.
A quick stop in Messina.
We got back to the ship and poked around some more. We went to ‘Johnny Rocket’s’ on the ship, a 50s style dinner. When you walk in, the first server to see you yells, “Everybody say HelllllOh” Then all the staff yells, “HellllllOh”. They are all dressed in white outfits with the 50s milk bar hats. We had chocolate malts, which though you can fell the calories attaching themselves to your hips as you drink, were worth it. However I do doubt that they were all that unhealthy given the amount of effort sucking, you must burn calories from that alone.
Sarah went Ice Skating, that’s right, ice skating, on a ship on the Mediterranean.
It was formal night so we got all dressed up, had our portraits taken (a dicky thing to do but it is all fun in the end). Dinner was spectacular as usual on a cruise ship.
Sarah did some Latin dance in with Constantine the Romanian staff member. Then hit up the nightclub “the Dungeon” complete with gothic furnishing, art and trimmings. lol. There were people from America (Miami, Arizona) Canada, England (Cambridge, Staffishire, and more.), South Africa, Scotland (in fact Edinburgh, her new favorite city – that is until we went to Athens), Donald, and he even wore a kilt for formal night and sure got a lot of attention for it. She was scooped up by an Ecuadorian who danced with me to ‘Livin’ da Vida Loca’, and danced properly, spins and dips and stuff, that was fun. After drinking and dancing till they closed the club at 3am we set off for the spa on the main deck.
Then a stack more Floridians, Columbians and other assorted South Americans and random mixes showed up. When we arrived the Spa was closed for cleaning but a late night staff member saw us all and opened the spa up for us, OUR HERO. We ended up with about 20 people in the spa and had a whole lot of fun. They even turned some music on for us. Thank you anonymous staff member.
Day 21. 5th July. At Sea, the Mediterranean
Today was an At Sea day, this quite literally means we are at sea all day. While the concept of staying onboard all day may sound boring this is so far from the truth. There is just so much to do on a ship like this.
Sarah stumbled home a little after 5:30am from a fun night with my new cruise buddies, and promptly slept in (though I don’t really know that it counts when you also don’t get to bed at a regular time) till 11.
Then we had a Meet and Greet event to attend for a group of people who use the website Cruise Critic. Here we met a brilliant couple from England who spent quite a lot of time with throughout the day. 
Sarah had entered the silly art action competitions – while drinking the free French Champagne. She got not only a phone message but also two letters inviting her to the art auction and announcement of the winner of the guess the price of the artwork. The fact that Raina entered too and didn’t get an invite made her greatly suspect that she may have won. She didn’t, was off by $100. Lucky – really didn’t want to win an art package of weird paintings of olives drinking martinis and such, worth thousands of dollars. But we did drink their champagne.
After that we went to see the Ice Dancing Show, which was incredible. All the dancers were really good and two were guest stars and were absolutely incredible. This girl was crazy talented and did an act where she skated along while hoola-hooping six hoops. Then we saw a Motown Show, with four male singers. This also was really good and just a fun thing to do.
Our favorite bar was Boleros – those guys made the best Mojitos! The Navigator was a great ship!
Sarah met up with most of the people I met the night before and again stayed out till the wee hours of the morning. Not the best idea when Athens is tomorrow but oh well, holidays aren’t made for being smart.
Next – Athens