Barbados 12/12/08

What a glorious day we had in Barbados! We started out not having an idea of where we were going or what we would do. First we thought we would walk to a nearby beach (about a 40 minute walk we were told) and then got a cab which would cost us $5 per person to Malibu Beach. Then the cab driver (Ron Rollins) talked us into going to a beach further away for $10 per person. He showed us one beach but we ended up at Payne Beach. (This is odd in itself because normally we would say that we would have just gone to the first beach and we have no idea why we decided to go on.) We rented 2 chairs and an umbrella from Timothy for $15. About 30 minutes after we got there, someone came up to us to say hello. There on the beach were Karen and Steve who were our table mates on the Maasdam last year. They were on the Maasdam again this year and had gotten off their ship this morning with no idea of where they were going today. What are the odds of all of us ending up on the same beach at the same time when we were on different ships and didn’t even know that the other couple was cruising?

We spent the day at the beach with them and it was wonderful. Karen took pictures of us which she plans to email us when she gets home. Then I will add them to this page when I get them. We swam with the turtles and the wave action was pretty rough. We had our snorkel gear but left our fins on the ship. Don got pretty sunburned and my arms are tired trying to keep my head above the water since I was in over my head a lot. About 2:00, we asked Timothy to call Ron and ask him to pick us up which he did. Then he even serenaded me when we arrived back at the port.

When we were telling Timothy our story, he told us an interesting story too that sends chills up my spine. He said that in 2004 he fell into a 50 foot well and laid there for 11 days before he was rescued. He said he lay among rodents and centipedes but since he was severely injured, there was nothing he could do. After 8 days he gave up his will to live and tried to reach for a poisonous frog so he could kill himself. Instead, his hand reached out but couldn’t touch the frog and he heard a voice say, “They who wait shall receive his strength.” 3 days later he kept praying for rain and someone heard him and rescued him. Soon after he was rescued, it rained and the well filled up which would have killed him if he hadn’t been rescued. The doctors said he would never walk again even though they took part of his hip bone to rebuild his lower leg and grafted the skin. His left arm remained useless. Today he was able to walk and even run. I believe God has plans for Timothy and he is a living miracle.

When we returned to the ship we watched the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman which was great! Then we went to the show at 7:00. The show started and within minutes the sound system went crazy making the music go in and out. Then the curtain came down and the show had to restart about ten minutes later when they fixed the sound system. This made the show end later and almost made us miss dinner. I think if they have problems like that, they need to cut out a couple of the song and dance numbers because I couldn’t enjoy the ending of the show for worrying about getting to dinner on time.

It was a wonderful day today in Barbados and we look forward to coming back.