Time is flying... already halfway through the cruise and the days are sailing past.
On day 5 we docked at St. Maarten, and I enjoy this island more every time we have a chance to visit.
We decided to take the opportunity to experience the "beach at the end of the runway", which is fairly famous around these parts. Planes of various sizes land right over your head, which is not something we see every day. They do a turnaround at the terminal and then cruise to our end of the runway for takeoff. That's when things get wild sometimes, with the strong gusts of winds from the engines.
Plus it was a chance to hang out at the beach for a couple hours, something we don't often do.
Enjoying the beautiful day, lovely blue colors, and an occasional plane right overhead:
A plane that made a rather sharp bank on the way to the runway:
Scene from the beach during takeoff - hang onto everything!
A plane in the hand is worth...
Dave took a selfie while the above picture was in progress:
Having a good time on St. Maarten!
Until next time, you pretty little island:
Walter Koenig, aka Chekov from the original series, did a really interesting Q&A on the main stage. He spends less time in the spotlight compared to Sulu and Kirk, but seems to enjoy interacting with fans and talking about his long Star Trek-filled life. So great to have the chance to listen to him, and he's still as sharp as a tack.
The Starfleet museum had some costumes from the upcoming Strange New Worlds (yay for Anson and Ethan!), neat to get an advance look:
Tim Russ dressed as... I don't know... doing the introduction for Robert Picardo and Jordan Bennett's show:
We enjoyed the music, comprised of mostly new (to us) songs and acts, and the occasional interjection from one of Bob Picardo's alternate personalities - fun!
As dressed up as we get, for our renewal of vows with John Billingsley:
Aww, they made us a "Live Long and Prosper" cake:
Dr. Phlox performed a really nice and also humorous ceremony, thank you sir! Then he surprised us by offering to let everyone take their photo with him. What a wonderful gift! I hope I expressed enough gratitude:
Dave got our picture as our picture was being taken (ECP will eventually have the official version available for us to download):
"Getting some action" figures:
What a wonderful evening!
The next day I took naps in between activities. I wanted to do more, but the combo of lots of talking (for the first time in a couple years), staying up late (also not normal), and mingling with a large # of people (ditto) conspired to throw a minor cold my way. At least the covid self-test was negative, and I had plenty of masks I could wear to try to keep from spreading it to too many other people.
Happily I was able to make it to morning yoga with Mary Chieffo, such a calming and joyful way to start the day.
My favorite science talk of the trip was Erin MacDonald's "Time Travel in Star Trek" presentation. Especially her brainstorm list of all the scenarios she could come up with and how they related to each other, this made me laugh, thanks Erin!
I saw the end of the Dungeons and Dragons game with Anthony Rapp and friends - quite an ambitious undertaking, even if I didn't follow along completely.
The highlight of the evening was John de Lancie's Lost World play. The actors were all superb, the story was entertaining, and the guests who signed up to do the audio effects were fantastic. Lots of jungle noises and even a dinosaur.
Dave captured one of the exciting scenes of a boat floating down a fast river:
I came back to our room to find this note on our door - Garrett Wang and his girlfriend Megan roamed the halls and left messages for a few lucky people! Well that completely made my day:
Glad to hear more music from Tim Russ and his talented band - so good!
With my recovery naps I was ready to stay up a little longer to see the costume party. There are great costumes all week on this cruise, but this was the night everyone pulled out all the stops.
Hey, it's Leeloo! We're not the only ones inspired by The Fifth Element:
An alien and an astronaut walk into a bar...
Rodney and Siobhan did a really nice take on characters from The Expanse:
Abe Lincoln strolling down the promenade:
And... I'm not quite sure:
Hanging with Dave and Michelle where we can costume-watch and drink coffee:
A costume party isn't complete without Austin Powers and a T-Rex:
Going all-out with Star Trek inspiration:
Friendly Andorians:
And one last thing for the night - John, Isa, and Evan introducing the premiere episode from the next season of Picard:
Last day - so sad and yet still so happy just to be there.
A fitting door decoration:
This simple meme just made us laugh:
And this one is rather disturbing:
It's the Voyager! Wow, I can't believe this cake is structurally sound:
Nana Visitor did a program called "Ask Mama Nana", answering questions from people seeking advice. She's so sweet and insightful, always listening and staying present in the moment. Love her.
On a different note (literally, in some cases), the Gorn's Gong Show was entertaining, partly due to the talent (or lack thereof) of the cruisers who came on stage to sing or play an instrument, and partly because of the Enterprise actors who were the hilarious judges. I believe John Billingsley was so enamored with this lady's opera singing that he ended up at her feet:
The final evening's entertainment was a variety show, which was great! Many of the stars came out for short bits of performing or skits or to participate in a JT game show. Perfect way to finish the week.
Thank you all, especially the wonderful and funny Star Trek doctors we got to get our picture with:
Until next time!
[Photo credits include Dave Bogle and John Beard]
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