So… the time has come to restart the blog! I couldn’t think of a better time to get back into it, considering that a few days ago we sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to begin our World Cruise! I figured that this journey might actually be quite interesting, considering the absolutely incredible itinerary we are embarking upon, so what better time to get back into the world of blogging. Plus now that we have a lot more spare time I thought I could really use this outlet to keep me sane… or perhaps 'less insane' is a more appropriate expression…..
We've already been on board for 4 months. It's been incredible. Ups (a lot). Downs (a few). Amazing times and six million photos to prove it haha… It's been awesome so far, and I have seen some of the most wonderful places in the world. Places like the Pyramids and the Amazon Rainforest, that i've been dreaming of visiting since i was a tiny little nerd studying the encyclopaedia at home. (Those who know me will believe that that is not an exaggeration haha). I’ve dined in Italy and shopped in Turkey. Sunbaked in the Caribbean and floated in the Dead Sea. The list goes on and on and on... Plus I'm having a absolute blast performing in the shows on board (what I’m actually here to do lol), and I’m learning every day from the incredible cast who I share the stage with. I consider myself a very lucky boy, and the World Cruise is the next part of this enormous adventure!
Now at this point I should warn you that in the 107 day World Cruise from Florida to Rome, I believe there are something like 60 sea days spread out in between the ports of call. And sometimes we can be at sea for 5 or so days without touching land, and we even have one stretch of 10 days at sea in a row!! Horrible!! So if I run out of interesting things to talk about on the longer sea legs and start rambling on about nothing at all, forgive me haha…
For now, however, a few fun stories… starting with the stingrays.
You may or may not be aware, but there is a magical land in the Cayman Islands, just south of Florida in the Caribbean, called 'Stingray Island.' It's not so much an island as a little sandbar in the middle of the postcard-picture-perfect, crystal-blue water that is home to hundreds of stingrays. And of course tourists are allowed to go to this sandbar and literally play with the marine life. So when our boat (I'm told I should say ship, but i feel that is boat is much cuter) docked in Grand Cayman, our first World Cruise port, myself and some of the beautiful Spa Girls made our way to Stingray Island to frolic with the rays.
The half hour boat trip to the sandbar was a tour in itself, sailing through the stunning canals leading out of the marina, with mansions lined up along the banks and mangrove forests sprawled out beside us. We drifted past Bill Gates' and Sylvester Stallone's holiday homes, safe to say with our jaws on the floor.
But honestly, nothing could have prepared us for how COOL the stingrays were going to be. I'm generally not very good with wildlife (in the Amazon I absolutely refused to hold a baby alligator and nearly shat my pants when some little jungle kids pulled an anaconda out of a box in their house) so I was filled with trepidation jumping off the boat into the stingray infested water. Plus, we all know what happened to Steve Irwin when he decided to play with stingrays….
Our guide, however, did not share my fears, treating the stingrays like old friends, greeting them literally on a first name basis. He even decided to lick the barb on the tail of his favourite ray, which looked almost sexual in a really creepy ‘you-could-die-doing-that’ kind of way…
After a little while spent squealing like a 10 year old girl every time a stingray brushed past my feet, I warmed to them a little and before I knew it I was actually holding one in my arms. It felt like wet muscly velvet, not slimy and gross as I had imagined, and it was surprisingly chilled out by this time, simply hangin’ out in my arms. The next step was to kiss the ray on the face, which was pretty weird really, considering my intense dislike for anything to do with seafood. But thankfully stingrays don’t smell at all fishy, so I managed the second challenge. The last little part of my hot date with the ray (who turned out to be pregnant by the way, what a hussy!) was to let her give me a back massage with her flaps!!! (No dirty comments please haha)... It felt nice, but I’m more of a deep-tissue massage kind of guy, and quite frankly her pressure was not up to scratch lol...
But all in all it was a totally wonderful experience. It was a BIG step for me, though it certainly doesn’t mean i’ll be snuggling with an anaconda anytime soon, but at least I partially conquered my fear of handling wildlife hahaha... And how many people can say they made out with a stingray??? =)
