Day 8 March 10, 2015 Exploring the Grenadines
This is for anyone who has ever or will ever study from a Barron book for SAT, ACT, or GRE etc. Marcy will remember well us studying for her GRE tests. We wanted to burn the books when it was all over. However, we must admit that the books did help a great deal.
Well, of course, everyone on the Sea Cloud wants to know who is staying in Marjorie’s room because it is way more expensive than the other cabins on ship. Well, it is Mr. Barron himself. When people ask if he works for the Barron Publishing company, he says, “No, I am Barron.” The man just wreaks money. It is all very fascinating and adds romance to the journey.
Another passenger we met used to work for Merrill Lynch. She worked with them before computers. Her stories of logging in all of the data by hand are very interesting, and what it was like when computers first came on the scene. We found it interesting that she hides money all over her house and is heavily invested in gold and silver. Her children and grandchildren tell her she is crazy, but she says they are the ones who are foolish.
Another man used to run full marathons, but after twenty marathons had both knees replaced, so is reduced to only walking. He met his partner with him on the ship through MatchMaker.com. Never knew anyone before that did that. The common thread between them was the mountain hiking that they both still do. She is a retired French teacher but still has a full booking in her home of private students who want to learn French. She teaches them by having them watch French speaking movies that they later discuss after the students have watched the movie at home.
Our main chef is named Simon, and he is a very colorful character. He has been on the Sea Cloud for over thirty years; so if you want to know anything about the ship, we all ask Simon. Wow can the man cook! The food on the ship has been most delicious. We had roast turkey on the carving board the other day for lunch, and it was the best I think I have ever had. He went into great detail on how to prepare it, and I am going to give it a try. Cook it very slow to start, so the juices can go in and out, and then raise the temp to brown it. I always do it the opposite of that. Every night they serve a fresh fish picked up that day from a fisherman at one of the islands we visited. Today he picked up a 44 pound tuna and paid the islander $350. It was fun to watch the transaction. The islander counted his cash before taking off in his boat.
We also met a pharmacist, who really doesn’t have much good to say about the drug companies. One interesting tale is how when the name brand drug’s patent is up and companies can come up with generic; the company itself comes up with a generic form to keep up with the competition. In his opinion, which I have always believed, generic is normally not as good as the real thing.
“As you begin to pay attention to your own stories and what they say about you, you will enter into the exciting process of becoming, as you should be, the author of your own life, the creator of your own possibilities.” – Mandy Aftel.
More to follow from the Sea Cloud
Tom & Holly