The last day does not bring extinction, but a change of place.

C-Day +6 Sea Day

Finally, no more having to get up early in order to make some boat! Today was supposed to be a day of relaxing, but then again we're on a cruise ship. I'll sleep when I get home! After grabbing breakfast, I hung around the Lido deck to watch some of the competitions. Apparently they had a game of 'Izzy-dizzy' which involves spinning around a bat a bunch of times and running to a couple of different points. Since I wanted to stay balanced for the rest of the day, I decided not to participate.

The next game though I thought would be fun; alligator wrestling. Apparently the object was to jumping into the pool with an inflatable alligator and wrestle around for a set time and then be scored by the crowd. I was one of those chosen for the competition and lined up with the others. I watched as those that were wrestling basically used variations of wrestling moves that they had probably seen on TV or Ace Ventura movies. I decided to take a different approach for something special. Everyone else did their show in the bathing suit, though I was in full clothes; jeans, dress shirt, etc. Instead of immediately jumping in with the gator at the round start I set it down and, Steve Irwin style (RIP) slowly approached it. Only those in the immediate area could here me, but the gist of what I was saying was something like 'Here was have the Australian crock, thank goodness it isn't a Stingray, those things are deadly!' and then proceeded to make it jump out and tackle me into the pool. I used several rolling techniques that I know is actually closer to real life, but if jumping in wearing full street clothes wasn't enough to win the crowd, I figured I had a clincher. I had a plant in the crowd that, once I climbed on top of the gator. tossed me their straw cowboy hat. The match turned into a alligator 'bull riding' frenzy with whoops and hollers in Slim Pickens style. That immediately met with much approval from the crowd and though I couldn't see it, I think my ratings shot up. I ended up winning the competition and received a 'gold plated plastic ship trophy'. I had to quickly change so that I could make it to the start of the hash trail.

The trail took us to several other sections of the ship including the water slide, crew portion of the dining room, gaming rooms, and several other spots supposedly 'off-limits'. Oh well. We met back up at the top deck for the circle and last bit of partying. While the group was distracted with the hash activities, I asked everyone if they remembered their muster station and evacuation drills; for I had noticed quite a large tanker that really seemed to be bearing down on us. A water spout had been sighted just off the ship when we were starting the trip and now it looked as if we were going to get creamed by this artificial monstrosity. How the bridge did not notice these large blips on RADAR is beyond me and though there was still quite a bit of distance, I admittedly did start looking around for quick escape routes. Fortunately I think the combined efforts of all the hashers waving it off must have saved the ship, so we felt satisfied for doing our part. After we finished, we returned to our rooms to get dressed for the sarong party in one of the lounge areas. I brought in the laptop so everyone could download their pictures and volunteered* to bun everything to DVD and distribute them to the group (*note to self: Stop volunteering for stuff). So far, I have collected about 6900 pics from the various hashers from this trip. After the party we headed to our last dinner and then to PIERCE's room to hang out and rest for a while before going to the 'Legends' performance that was put on by passengers that were lip-syncing to various songs. I probably would not have gone had it not been for one of our folks being in the show; which ended up being pretty decent. Afterwards we hit the improve show as well followed by the dance floor with a vengeance and shut down the club. Refusing to accept defeat with the battle against slumber, a few hearty souls headed to the pizzeria for some tasty calzones and goat cheese pizza. I'm not sure if we were punchy from the lack of sleep, realization that there was still some blood left in the alcohol stream, or whatever, but we had a great time over the next hour or so joking around and having a hoot of a time. At some point we tried to rouse some of those that foolishly had gone to bed hours and hours ago. We finally were able to get into one room for a final game of 3-man before the brick wall finally hit us. I think it was the yucca that was the kiss of death for us all. I walked onto the deck just long enough to watch us pass under the Sunshine skyway bridge around 4:55, thus completing the cycle. I finally made it to the room after being waylaid by fits of laughter due to something or other being recalled or mentioned in the group, it don't take long to drop off; exhausted and with sore muscles, but with a fully belly and a smile on my face.

C-Day +7 Back in Tampa

There was a pretty significant lack of sleep, as would be expected, since we had to get up early enough to pack before getting kicked off the ship so they could clean the rooms and prepare for the next boarding. Some of us were hypothetically wondering how hard it would be to remain on board and simply ride out for another week. It was hard leaving the folks that whose company we had come to so enjoy. Going through customs carrying all the stuff was a major pain, but eventually we made it outside and waited as my dad drove over with the truck and trailer for the luggage to take us back to the vehicles. Some of the goodbyes were particularly tough, but everyone realized there would be more events throughout the year and definitely time for the cruise again next year. I cannot remember when I have had such a pack and fulfilling week. Everything really seemed to really come into place and there were so many unexpected positives. I came away with so many great memories and enough pictures that I could not possibly forget if I tried!

After downloading some of pictures and getting a little rest, I still got to play host of one last evening since RING's flight wasn't until the next evening. We had lunch at Appleby's (I almost got up to walk out with even thinking of paying) and then went to the Zendah Grotto for some swing dancing since I promised my friend Adrienne that I would get some practice shots of her and Jesse dancing since their wedding was the next week. We didn't stay out too long since everything was catching up to me and I just hit my limit after the first real dance. Sleep came easily enough with it finally feeling good to be in my own bed again. It's going to take a few days before I realize that if I leave the towels on the floor, no one is going to pick them up for the wash and if I want a calzone at 3AM, it is probably going to have to be a Stouffer's Pot Pie.