The Atlanta Parrot Head Club presents:
Off to See The Lizard
Parrothead Cruise 2009 to:
Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize City, Roatan

March 14, 2009 2:47 am.....
Tampa, Florida

In room 424 in the Hampton Inn between Clearwater and Tampa are, Tall Paul and Kristie, and us CalypsoNuts (CalypsoMagic) if you met us aboard Disney Magic. We are 7 hours from boarding Carnival Legend for what has been warned as being 7 days of absolute Parrot Head madness and debauchery on the high seas.
This blog, like the many before, will chronicle not only the trip itself, but the antics and goings on of our fellow cruisers. Who's going to do what? Who's gonna say what? Who's gonna show up in a diaper instead of a toga?
We're all looking forward to a great time cruising with some great people, enjoying the sunshine, seeing the sights and hearing the stories of cruises from years already gone.

The CalypsoNuts, Tall Paul and Crawdaddy with Kristie as their very special guest, and Parrot head favorite Jerry Diaz with Mike Mireles are the featured musicians this year. DJ Jeff Allen will also be onboard spinning the tunes for the shipboard world. Many cool things have been said about this year's entertainment line-up, and while that makes us feel great, it also adds that "No Pressure" factor. Knowing all of these musicians, we'll be fine.

So, off we go, unto the wild blue wonder, where sun and fun are the norm and cell phone contact to the mainland is 8 bucks a minute.

Deep sleep for now and an update tomorrow evening after day 1 festivities. Lots of fun so far..

Peace

March 16th, 2009 2:30 am
Aboard Carnival Legend with Certified Crazy people

Finally all of us and all of our luggage is onboard. Kristie was late in getting one piece because someone liked her piratey name badge more than she did and they stole it, leaving K's bag untagged and all alone in the middle of the main Atrium. Long story short, we got the bag, they got the cool piartey thing and all is well.
The 6 of us: Paul, Kristie, Lynley, Gretchen, Crawdaddy and Me, are all sharing a dinner table in Truffles Resgaurant all week. Our bartender is Yo-Yo and our waiter is, ready for this.....?..... ELVIS!!!

Dinner was awesome. Cured Salmon with field greens, poached pears, etc rocked. The Indian Vegetarian dinner was the score of the night though. Authentic and spicy. Several shrimp dishes and fish dishes were also way above average and made bellies happy. Dessert? Chocolate Melting cake and Creme Brulee. That's two different desserts yes, but when you can't decide, you just order both. Yummmmm, good food for the rest of the week too I'm guessin.

Directly after dinner, the Parrot Head Pub Crawl started in the artium bar. One drink and a bunch of sing alongs, with the musician who until we all came in at once, had 4 people to play to. Obla Di Obla Da gets a LOT louder when 400+ parrot heads bomb the room. As quickly as we came.....we left. No crowd, full rowdy house, no crowd, take a break, the Parrot Heads are on their way to the next stop on the pub crawl aboard Carnival Legend.

We're told that this craziness is going to continue in one way or another all week long. Jimmy Buffett, you've created a monster that not even you have the power to stop. These people have the stamina of mutants from a far off distant land where alcohol, good food and sushine are necessary for life to continue, and we're sooooo damn lucky to be a part of it.

Peace

March 16th, 2009,,, late night
ABOARD CARNIVAL LEGEND, SAILING TOWARD GRAND CAYMAN

Today was what I think a Parrot Head cruise should be. Although everyone was completely worn out from last night, they were on the top deck early for Tall Paul and Crawdaddy's show from noon - 4. These Parrot Heads absolutely "Took Over" the pool and the party was "ON". Paul and Crawley had the place rockin' all day!
A few of the cruisers did something called "The great shave off". The shaved their faces and heads (and 1 back), for donations that will be donated for breast cancer research. Carnival didn't want them to do it on deck because of the impending flying hair, so they took it to their cabin balcony. The strong upwind had hair tufts flying stright up to...yep,,, to the top deck. Fun.
Formal night tonight and lobster dinner. It's pretty amazing to see the dinig room staff hustle like they do. 2400 people on a ship with 2 dinner seatings means that everything needs to run like a well oiled machine and it does on the Legend.
Cabin parties were EVERYWHERE after dinner. People gathered in groups to talk about the day, the dinner and to look forward to the rest of the week. Tequila Ski shots were just the start of the nightly rampage. Everyone ended up in the forward lounge to hear Jerry and Mark play till late late late.
Real fun out here! Grand Cayman tomorrow!!!

nite,

March 17th, 2009,,,4pm
GEORGETOWN, GRAND CAYMAN

Me, I'm blogging. L?, Napping!
There's no cruise ship pier at Grand Cayman because of the hurricane a few years ago, so we had to tender in. Tendering is when you anchor just offshore (150 yards maybe?) and then ride small boats (tenders), to the island. Some tenders seat 100, some seat 30, it all depends on which one is tied to the ship at the time you're leaving. They come and go like taxis all day long, carrying sober passengers to the island and drunk ones back to the ship.
Paul, Kristie, Lynley and I went into town, did some shopping, had lunch at a great spot with awesome hot sauce and took the worst cab ride/ sightseeing tour ever. Our driver (Bonnie) stopped for fried chicken and nibbled on it for most of the trip, and drove us through the industrial section and out near the airport, never really telling us anything about the island unless prodded. Cool. I mean, not cool. I mean, what's that over there? I mean, swallow before you try to tell me, sheesh....."How's the chicken?" All in all, it was a great time though.
Coming back onboard with two bottles of liquor in your backpack normally means "out of sight out of mind" and the scanner person turns their head when they see it. Normally they don't want the hassle of having to confiscate it, tag it, etc etc and hold up the line, but I guess we had an over-zealous newbie working today. When my bag went through the scanner a woman bellowed, "BOTTLE OF LICKA, BOTTLE OF LICKA", and all of a sudden I was standing in front of a table where a man tells me I have to give up my "bottle of licka" and it will be returned to me on the last day of the cruise. I poke out my lip, open the top zipper on my backpack, reach in and hand him my bottle of cuban rum. I sign the release form, re-zip the backpack and join the others, happy. Not happy that I gave up my bottle of cuban rum until day 7, but happy that the bottle of rum cream was still in the backpack and that tonight it will be poured over softserve ice cream like an odd sort of offering to the gods of the caribbean.
The last tender back to the ship is 3pm and she sails at 4, so if you're at Carlos and Charlies drinking and you see that your watch says 4:00, you'd better walk out to the street for a great photo op of the ship as she sails away. It happens every cruise, somebody gets left behind. Seriously! And, it's up to them (the cruisers), to either get to the next port or get back to the home port to pick up luggage when the cruise is over, your choice.
Hmmmmmm, we just set sail and I just heard this announcement over the ship's PA...."Will Miss Carrie Foster and Miss Amanda Malone from cabin number ####, please contact guest services on deck 2 midship immediately". Like I said, it happens every cruise.

More later, Peace,
ps. the whole "give him one bottle, not both, was Lynley's idea. She's cool........

March 18th, 2009 ...really the 19th 2:10 am
Onboard and steaming fast toward BELIZE CITY

Wow, been a while since our last little chat, but lots has been happening back to back and their hasn't been time to even think. That's probably a good thing, because when I think, it normally spells T R O U B L E.
Yesterday (3/17)was Saint Patrick's Day and the whole world seemed green. Green blazers, green tees, green hats, and the unproven promises of green underwear. The wait staff and even a few cruisers danced the macarena at dinner tonight as just a little special treat. Yep, I jumped right in because I knew that Lynley wouldn't think I would. I ROCKED. I mean, i rocked.
The Saint Patrick's Parrot Head party was put on by Carnival and the usual Parrot Head suspects in the Firebird Lounge last night and the hour of open bar was a nice touch. Open bar on a cruise ship means that the wait staff works really hard for 2 hours, the first hour is trying to answer all the open bar requests from green covered Parrot Heads with specific dietary concerns when it comes to alcohol and the second is getting drunk people to understand that they are indeed drunk and need sleep. Great time!!

Today (3/18) was Loooooooong, but very much worth the effort. After being some of those folks who needed prodding toward the cabin way after the parties had all ended, all us musicians and event sherpas, schleped our gear off the ship and down the long dock to cabs so we could get to Senor Frogs for a collabrative start time of noon.
Deemed "Fete at The Frog", today's gig was supposed to be one of those, "you play a few, I'll play a few, we'll all play a few" kinda gigs. Nada. Nope. Nil. Nix. Nein. We all got there, got our gear out, tuned those that could be tuned, plugged necessary cables into the instruments and handed the other ends to a less than clueless sound man who spoke some english.
In the states, we call a snake, a box into which cables are plugged so they can be routed to their final destinations. His idea of snake was a mass (MASS, I MEEAAAN MASS) of cables that he just kinda plugged here and there until he got it to work. Wow. When DJ Jeff Allen was finally able to announce us, the eight of us just stayed up there, and played together for the whole show. The audio was less that perfect, but who cares, the crowd loved it so so did we.

P,K,L, and I made it back to the ship in time for sushi, with an immediate exit into the buffett and then a calorically induced comanap that ended just in time for dinner. Of course dinner was great. Petit filets, medium rare and boneless short ribs with potatoes rawked. No time for L and I to have dessert because of a 10:30 pm start time in the Firebird and setup time was needed. However, GretchenDaddy strolled into the lounge while we were setting up and ,,,,,,,,,brought me a warm melting cake. Wow, love her.

The gig went really well. People stayed and partied even though most of them (including us) have to be at the excursion debark at 7:30 am. Great fun, Great people, Great ship, I get it now. I thought I was losing it a bit (and I was), but this cruise has really re-opened my eyes. I get it. Party/Purpose/Fun/Friends/Smiles/Tequila/Tin Cup Chalice. Yep, I get it all over again.

Crawdaddy and Gretchen (Mama G), Paul and Kristie, Lynley and I, have to leave at 7:30 amd for the Belize trails and hike an hour to where our cave tubing excursion will start. We're hoping it's a lot of fun with no mexican sound men with snake issues.

Sorry to run on, too much happening for the quick entries. Nite!,

Thursday, March 19th, 2009......7pm
BELIZE CITY, BELIZE
Just back to the cabin after the group "Toga Photo". Wow, does it get any crazier? Dinner soon, but here's the day so far.

The 7:30 am rendevous for the tender to Belize went exactly as planned and we were on the island by 8. Let's just say that Cave Tubing in Belize is amazing. The bus ride was longer than we had planned, but the hike was much shorter, so that was a great start. The hike through the rain forest was easy and slow. No machete hacking of Flora and Fauna was needed, but it was pretty remote. Giant palms were everywhere like subtropical sequioas and you could feel the sweat start to rise just a bit as we walked toward the river bend where we got in the water. Was the water cold? Yup, pretty darn cold, but we got used to it quickly and it wasn't ever an issue at all. You start by sitting in innertubes in 12 inch deep water and rafting together with your legs. Then, the slow float downstream led us to the mouth of an ancient cave system. Once inside, we turned our headlamps on to kinda light the way.Mineral formations were everywhere with a bunch of them resembling well known artworks or statues. Paul and I were in the back 2 rafts and the guy said that we were the brakes. What he really meant was, we were heavier than the others and that our butts were gonna drag the rocks in the real shallow places to slow us down. Beautiful up there in the Central American rainforest.

The tour included lunch. Basic rice and beans really, but the hot sauces were wild. One was bottled and for sale in town, but one was made by the mom of one of the girls there. Cut onions and Habaneros with a bit of salt in vinegar. You guess how hot. Go ahead. Ok, double that! Wow. The ride back was as good as the ride there. Charlie the tour guide guy was born and raised in belize and the history and geological facts and stories just kept on coming. Really interesting and really beautiful.

...late night

The toga photo became the toga party and then became the toga parade and then the toga dinner. The Parrot Heads took over the ship again and this time it was with chants of "TOGA TOGA TOGA". By now, most non-parrot head folks have not only come to expect what's going on, but have embraced it. The few who haven't, are just a bit too snitty and will have to learn to get over themselves, it's really as simple as that. the dining room staff led a conga line around the restaurant and then Fins came over the PA. Yup, parrotheads lost their minds as they raised their fins high in the air. Those few snitty people? Well, they're probably still snitty, but we'll get 'em by the end of the cruise. Jerry and Mark played the night out in the Firebird and then everybody crashed because of the long day and the crazy early excursion times tomorrow. Us, we're zip lining through the rainforest, if the muscles don't cramp into granite from today.

Cruising is cool, and it's usually the best travel value for your buck. Do it, send us pictures, write a blog, eat too much, get tired, sleep, see some way cool things in new countries, eat some more and then thank us.

peace

Friday Night, someday in March, aboard a ship with crazy people
....and I love them...

Ok, wow, today was cooler than I would have ever expected. Yep, last night was a late one and today started really early, but hey, it's Roatan and I had to get out there and do Roatan stuff.
For a bunch of us, Roatan stuff meant Zip Lining through, in, and over the rainforest. Most people don't know this, but Robbie (me, I), is afraid of heights a little bit, so this might not be the geatest idea in the world. It actually was the greatest idea in the world. This was a blast. We got separated from Crawdaddy and Mrs. Daddy, but we found Brent and Tammy. Brent has been organizing this cruise for years and I figured he'd be tired all the time and too overwelmed with cruise stuff to partake in the craziness. Ok, once again I was completely wrong. Nuff said!
So here we go. We're all hooked into our harnesses and we've all been schooled on the best way not to lose fingers in the cable, and now it's time to fly. Uh huh, we flew!!! I don't know who in our group went first, or where I was in the line-up, but I do remember the wild rush of flying through Central America on a wing of wire! At one point I thought I heard a howler monkey, but once again....wrong,,,, It was a "WoooooHoooo" coming from Tall Paul as he came in for a touch down. Wild Wild Wild!
Afterward, the general idea was, Iguana Farm and food. Brent hooked us up with a young kid, wo hooked us up with a cab, who hooked us up with a great ride up to the Iguana Farm. I was expecting....well, I don't know what I was expecting, but this place was cool. There were a few animals in pens (monkeys, parrots, an ant eater), but it was mostly about iguanas. Iguanas were EVERYWHERE! They were in the trees, on the ground, in a banana box having a snack, underfoot. See what I'm getting at? The place was lousy with Iggies. Paul pets one, Lynley pets one, Kristie pets one, Brent and Tammy pet one, and I get chased by one that I was trying to give a banana to. cool.
Remember that young kid that got us the cab? Well, he jumped in with us and told us that he was going to take care of us and make sure we had a good time. He did!
Food ended up being at a little local place right near the ship. Chicken, rice, plantains, beans and Hosauws (that's hot sauce for people who have never been wasted at an IHOP). Great food and another great adventure!

later, same night, same ship, same people, same wow !!

Paul and Crawdaddy played in the lounge tonight. I really don't know how these parrotheads kept going all night long after this day, but they did! DJ Jeff Allen introduced the guys and said that they would probably play an hour...looks like I wasn't the only one who was wrong at some point today! The guys were 100% "ON" tonight and they kept people until wayyyy late. Crawley was wailing and there was never a waiver in Paul's voice! Kristie joined them for a few and brought the house down. Lynley? Singin' her butt off too. Me? Sang one, recorded some audio, videotaped, and tried to figure out what planet all these people were from.

now? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Early gig tomorrow.

Saturday, sometime, somewhere, on the ship, lovin' it

HA, we started poolside at 10 this morning! I was tired of being wrong, so I decided that I'd bet that people would indeed be up and partying at 10am after last night. I was right for once!!!! The parrotheads once again invaded the aft pool and by now, those snitty people from earlier in the week were either joining in, or nowhere to be seen. Fun time today. The ship's video guy came around and filmed a bit. Lynley was rockin'. It was Mambo Italiano from the shallows of the pool. Pretty awesome day gig.

Left the pool gig and ran to the main show room for the "Songwriter's Showcase". 7 barstools and 7 mics were on the stage, that's it. There was no Bose rig, no firebowl lights, no backing tracks, nada nada nada. Lynley and I were on the stage with legit songwriters who had stories about the songs and the whole nine yards. Jerry Diaz started it off and then threw it down to me on the end. I quickly announced that we weren't really songwriters, but more songsingers and figured I'd get the crowd to give me some facts from the cruise and I'd make up a ditty about the one that was easiest rhymed. Nope, that was not to be. The minute I asked the crowd, Crawdaddy said, "Hey, I lost my passport for a couple days, but it ended up being in the safe... run with that". Yikes, no pressure, but I got it. i don't remember it, but I got it. Applause, thanks, send it down the line. Everybody else does one and it was great. When it comes back around to our end, Lynley says, "I wrote a song today". Uh ohh, I knew she was jotting stuff down , but I really had no idea what was happening. She said, "Key of C, you'll be fine". She did this thing called I need a vacation from my vacation and rocked the world. It's this spoken, Dear Diary thing over an Island groove with a cool sung chorus. Day 1, was happy and gushy about cruising and by Day 7 she was asking God to smite Brent Jones, the cruise organizer guy. Only standing ovation of the whole show. Her work was done!

We went around a few more times, told some stories, sang some songs and had a ton of fun.

Off to dinner! Double entrees, double desserts, double double double! Gretchen Crawley ordered double something and felt like such a rebel! By now, the stories are starting to fly around the table and around the restaurant. Cruise stories are the greatest! The "May-Trrrrra Dee" made his nightly announcements and once again wished everyone a "Bright and Sunshiney Tomorrow", but this time he also thanked everone for sailing aboard the Legend and asked us to all come back soon. Then he called out the parrotheads! The place went crazy as Fins started over the PA!

We've lived and played and partied with these people for almost a week and shared an incredible vacation experience, so our stories are now intertwined. In some cases, the only thing that these people had in common was the fact that they are all parrotheads, but now they can all tell a story that everyone on the parrothead maniphest can relate to.

.....late night

We leave for home in the morning and this is the final entry for this cruiseblog. After the incredible time aboard, an entry tomorrow would just be sad. It's going to take a little time to recover from this trip. It's funny how you never know that you're in a rut until something or someone grabs you by the collar and yanks you back into reality. This group of cruisers had the power to drive us musicians to the absolute brink of exhaustion and rock us as hard as we tried to rock them and although we all feel the need to get home for while, I don't think anybody would scoff at the idea of extending for another 7 days.

Peace, Love and Trop-Rock,