Tues, November 28th – Mayan Ruins of Altun Ha, Belize

Last night, I ran into a friend of mine, Gordon (from South Africa) who’s one of the art auctioneers. He’d had a hard day at sea, and I’d had four sets myself. So we agreed to get out in Belize this morning to take an excursion to the Mayan Ruins of Altun Ha!

It was great fun! I’m only just getting to know Gordon, but we’re quickly learning that we share a lot of the same interests – sushi (makes me miss Reji and Café East!)… coffee (makes me miss A.D. and Prince St. Café!)… and (for Abi!) taking pictures that create illusions of being something we’re not…. like DEAD! [shameless plug: www.deaddani.blogspot.com]

The first one we got right off the bat… or should I say, right off the boat! The Veendam is required to anchor way off shore in Belize (the continental shelf is just really long here, and only the smaller tender boats can get into the shallow waters of the pier). So Gordon and I took the opportunity to enjoy the sun on the back deck of the tender boat while riding to shore. And as the Veendam disappeared into the distance, Gordon’s first idea was brilliant – jet skiing!


Brilliant and fun! And I didn’t even have to get wet! Ha ha! …Ok, on to the Ruins!

I’ve been to two other Mayan Ruins excavation sites, Tulum and Muyil, both in Mexico. Altun Ha is a little bit further south along the Mayan Coast in Belize, but it’s definitely the most prolific that I’ve seen so far. There were at least eight major temples/burial pyramids, just in the two “elite class” plazas we got to wander around, and an adjoining 6-mile path leads down to a pond surrounded by a smaller village, where the lower classes lived. When Dr. James Pendergraff discovered these ruins a few hundred years ago, they were piles of rocks and stones overgrown with vegetation. So he named the place for what he found: “Stone-Rock Pond” or in the Mayan language: “Altun Ha.”

This is plaza A, one of two major areas in which it is believed the elite-class of priests and royalty lived, and commerce was traded. This is “downtown.” It is believed that the earliest generations lived on the foundations of these temples, and as each generation died, they would be buried right on site, with all their belongings, and that block would then become the foundation for the next generation, who would rebuild a new level on top, and so on and so forth.


This is the cornerstone of a smaller temple, in which you can see the depiction of a “beautiful” Mayan face. The forehead is large and flat, and the nose is low, wide, and painted red to draw the eyes to be crossed. The earlobes are huge, and the lips protrude like a pucker. The entire head is about 3 ½ feet high, which is about how tall the tallest men of the time were.


The picture on the right is the tallest of the temples in plaza B, known as B4 or the Temple of Masonry Altars. In the huge stair block at the top was the tomb of an elderly priest along with the largest carved jade artifact ever recovered in the Mayan area, called the “Jade Head”. (Belize is still the world’s most popular place to get great quantities of good quality jade.) The Jade Head was elaborately carved to depict the Sun God, and weighed almost 10 pounds! It’s very intricately carved to look like a Mayan face, with curving fangs, crossed eyes, a large flat forehead and giant earlobes, sticking his tongue out. Ok… so maybe not a contemporary idea of “beautiful” but the jade it’s carved in lends an eerie green luster that actually makes it stunning to admire.

So what else to do with this Mayan religious arena now that we’re fully aware of its sacred symbolism? Climb all over it, of course!

I got to the top of B4 first (in the picture at right, that little speck at the top is me!), then Gordon joined me. Let me tell ya – that’s not an easy climb! There were about 50 stairs that took us up about five stories, and each stair, carved from the stones the temple is built with, was 18 to 20 inches high! Yet it is said that for their religious ceremonies, the Mayans would crawl to the top on their knees with their heads bowed forward, to show reverence. That can’t be easy in the blazing hot sun for a man less than 4 feet tall!


But once we got there, it was quite a rush to look down from the edge. Gordon had the bright idea that this would be a brilliant place for a BASE jump!



See for yourself in the video...



Ok, ok…. So I only jumped from the uppermost level to the top of the tomb – about a 2 foot drop. But still, you gotta admit that’s funny!

Back on the ground, we encountered a few kids holding baby alligators for a photo op. Apparently they’re abundant in that pond at the end of the 6-mile road. Hey Andrea: how do you like my new purse?

The ruins were great, so beautiful to see. But after a few hours in the blazing sun, it was time to get back on the air-conditioned bus and head home. Hooray for Altun Ha!

Mon, November 29th – Formal Night with my boys

Sea Day – four sets: Lido at noon, 2 Captain’s Cocktails, and a Crow’s Nest

I’m well energized after having all of yesterday off from singing. My voice rejoices! And still, I think I’m the luckiest woman in the world to get to be constantly surrounded by these seven gorgeous men – especially when they get all dressed up for formal night!

With all the Christmas decorations that have gone up all around the ship, and the fact that our bass player is leaving in 2 weeks, the nostalgia of “we must take pictures!” begins to rear its ugly head. And boys are notoriously impossible to round-up for picture-taking opportunities, but tonight I tried my best to make it happen.

We got a photographer to take a few group shots of us on the staircase and on the stage. Keep checking in – I’ll post that one a little closer to Christmas time. Meantime, here’s a look at me with each of my boys (except my MD, Daniel, who seems to be wildly flagrant in public, but tremendously shy for the camera). Take one look at these gorgeous (not to mention talented!) men and tell me I’m not the luckiest girl on this ship!


| View Show | Create Your Own

Sunday, Nov 27 – A whole day off!!!

I have done at least one set every day for the past 16 days straight. This is my first blessed WHOLE day off in 16 days!!! I don’t have to sing a single set today!!!

But let’s not celebrate too quickly – this can only mean one thing: I am the only loser with port manning duty today – the joke’s on me!!! (Grrrrr….)

Of course, my dauntless work ethic won’t EVER let me be still, so in the morning I offered to help out as a showroom model and assistant for the Port and Shopping Ambassador, Rina. She’s the person onboard who tells you where to find all the best shopping, the best prices, the best quality stuff. She puts on a presentation before each port to highlight and tout the sponsoring stores and give away samples and prizes and stuff, so I offered to help her out by doing all her walking around the audience, modeling the jewelry and passing out raffle tickets while she spoke from the stage.

That lasted for only an hour, and as the ship started to pull into the port, I had to scramble to find someone to take over my port manning duty. I was dying to get off the ship, get my Starbucks fix and just find some secluded beach where I could chat on the phone with my best friend all day. (It’s been a long week for both of us, and there is much to discuss, but we didn’t get to connect while I was in Tampa yesterday.)

So here’s what I did in Key West!


Ok, I know… so most people go to Key West to go to the beach or party hearty! Me… I’ve been to this 8-sq-mile island about 3 dozen times, literally, so at this point, I'm just happy to find a quiet pier and CHILL. Luckily, the only ones bugging me were the pigeons and seagulls, and Maria and I had a fun time yelling at them (long story, but funny!).

Ahhhh…. Five glorious hours of strolling through the streets of Key West and then peeling off my socks to attempt to kill the sock tan around my ankles while yammering til my cell phone literally went dead. This was a GREAT day!

Sat, November 25th – Back to Central America

There’s good news and bad news! This week we’re traveling back to Central America for three days in the middle of the week. Good news – we’ll be in Key West on Sunday and another day in the US means another day of cell phone service – hurrah! Bad news – I’ve got port manning duty on Sunday, and Key West is a popular port, so I’ll be lucky if I can get someone to trade with me so I can go ashore.

Good news - It’s nice to have the foreign port days centralized, bookended by the sea days. Bad news - the ports themselves are not particularly glamorous. If you don’t take a tour in Belize, Guatemala, or Costa, there’s really not much else to do. Good news - Most days we’ll be leaving the ports late, just after sunset, so I won’t have to do too many sailaway sets. Bad news - I like to work! But this is going to be a light work week.

Well, maybe I’ll try to get out and do some excursions. ;) Since I’ve been onboard, we’ve only sailed to Belize and Guatemala once, but it was early in the rehearsal process, so I didn’t get to go ashore. Maybe this time!

Here’s the course for the week:

Sunday – Key West, Florida
Monday – Sea Day
Tuesday – Belize City, Belize
Wednesday – Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala
Thursday – Costa Maya, Mexico
Friday – Sea Day
Saturday – Tampa, Florida

Fri, Nov 24 – Another day at sea

Ok, so today would normally have been a sea day anyway. But it feels extra long because we didn’t stop in the Cayman Islands yesterday, so this is our second day at sea. Oh boy, I’d better get used to this – if I ever intend to go trans-Atlantic, it will be SIX long days at sea!

I had almost all my boys gathered around me at lunch today, during our break from the Lido set. I felt so special, surrounded by all these talented musicians, sharing their ideas on how to improve songs and sets, and generally just shooting the breeze. I am amazed at the camaraderie I’ve become a part of in just a few short weeks.

And my bass player, Tibor, is coming to the end of his contract in just a few weeks. So I’ve decided it’s time to finally get some pictures together. Daniel, our music director and pianist, was not with us when we were having lunch, but these are MOST of my boys – my family away from home. They take good care of me. ;)


Standing – L to R: Aaron Koppel (guitar), Nathan Kivett (drums), Tibor Duka (bass), John Patti (percussion); seated: Patrick Mayette (sax), Vasile Ribu (keys)

Thur, Nov 23rd – “Push the Button, Jack!”

(Fans, like me, of the ABC hit show “Lost” will understand this reference better.)

In the plot of the hit series “Lost,” there is a bunker with a mysterious complex computer that runs on a cycle. Every few hours, an alarm will begin to sound, and the inhabitants have about three minutes to enter a specific code and “push the button.” Now, for drama’s sake of course, this alarm never seems to go off when they’re all just sitting around on the couch, reading a book, or having a jovial conversation over a cup of java. No, this alarm is, for some unknown reason, CRITICAL to their survival on this island, and only sounds when they’re all tied up being held hostage, or trying to resuscitate someone’s life, or rescue a wanderer from some deadly smoky apparition! No one has ever dared to let the alarm run out without pushing the button, just to see what might happen.

Veendam has its own version of “the button.”

I work on a weekly salary. I get paid the same amount every day whether I work 20 hours, or 0 hours. Still it is, for some unknown reason, CRITICAL to my boss that I “clock in” at least once every 24 hours. I punch in the same “work hours” every day, 5 pm to 10 pm, regardless of when I actually worked. And the time clock’s day turns over at 10 am every day.

So if I have forgotten to clock in on any given day, as I did yesterday, then the boss calls my cabin to remind me. (Somehow, he seems to know what time my alarm is set for, and conspires to call me just 20 minutes before it goes off.)

So at 8:15 this morning, I dragged my tail out of bed to answer my phone, and I hear my boss on the other end of the line. “Dani, you need to clock in before 10 am.” Thanks, boss. In my still half-asleep stupor, he might as well have yelled in desperate anguish: ‘Push the button, Dani!’

And of course, never willing to risk what might happen if I DON’T push that button, I got myself dressed, walked out to the time clock, and pushed the friggin’ button. :::sigh::: I guess it could be worse: I could be living the drama of Fox’s 24. Ha ha ha.

Wed, Nov 22nd – An unexpected detour

Well, I was serving port manning duty today, so I didn’t get off the ship in port today. I was really looking forward to tomorrow though, since we’ll be in the port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman with Carnival’s Conquest and Carnival Victory (as well as four other big ships), and a few of my friends from the Fasc were going to meet me at the bakery there for lunch.

Unfortunately, the weather in Ocho Rios was sort of overcast and bleak. And as we sailed away, the captain came over the loudspeaker with a very important announcement. The port of Georgetown had announced that it would officially be closed to all cruise ships tomorrow due to inclement weather. You know that this has to be bad news, as the Cayman Islands are supported almost 90% by tourism, and denying all seven ships means losing the revenue of 17,000 passengers!

The reports say that winds there are very bad, and the waves are crashing up over the pier and flooding the streets in Georgetown. Three ships will be allowed to port at another pier in Grand Cayman, but as Veendam is one of the smallest of the seven, we were not chosen as one of the three. So, we will be sailing for the next two days to arrive back in Tampa on time on Saturday. In a way this is good, because sailing at a much slower speed means a smoother journey while the seas are very swollen.

But it means that the entertainment department is now scrambling for ways to stretch the shows we have left to cover all of the next 48 hours. Hooray! This is the sort of excitement I live for! Flying by the seat of our pants, never knowing what’s coming next. It’s a little harrowing, but a lot thrilling!

Mon, Nov 20th – Horseback Riding in Costa Maya

This morning I got to go on an excursion with about nine other passengers from the ship. It turned out to be quite an adventure! We took a 16-passenger bus from the port about 45 miles inland to a ranch in the thick of the jungle. They had a small menagerie of animals there, including turtles, chickens, a boa constrictor,
and a toucan! (And no, he was not eating Froot Loops….)



Then we were each assigned to horses that were ‘suited to our personality.’ Interestingly, my horse’s name was Pajarito (which means “little bird.”) I think it’s interesting because my first name, when pronounced in Spanish means “little wing.” Cool, huh?

Once we got acquainted with our horses and got a little orientation on how to drive them, we set out in single file into the jungle. We traveled about forty minutes through some pretty beautiful trees, and we got to sample some of the natural jungle fruits. At some places, the mud got very sticky and sloppy, and the element of danger only heightened the excitement of the tour. Pajarito was an old pro and took great care of me! When we got through it, honestly I was probably the one person of the whole group who had been the least splashed with mud.

A view from the saddle…


Then, close to the end of the trail we turned onto a straightaway. Now, we’d already discovered that the horses were a little bit energetic, since they hadn’t been out on a tour since Friday. But here’s where they got really excited. The group was divided into those who wanted to canter and those who wanted to walk. Well, everybody ended up cantering – you might as well get the full experience, right? The cantering was a bit bumpy, so I took it up a notch and led Pajarito into a full run. It was amazing! I mean, he only ran for about ten seconds before we ran out of track, but it was still pretty intense!

Yes, the next day I was a little bit sore, but only in my knees. I think something with the stirrups must have been turned wrong, and my legs were twisted in this weird position for just a little too long. And I had one small bruise on the side of my right wrist, where I had bumped it on the horn while running. Other than that, the mosquito bites hurt worse – six of them in all. I can honestly say, Mexican mosquitoes are some of the smallest and most vicious insects I’ve ever met. But not one of the other passengers got bit! Maybe Mexican mosquitoes have a preference for Mexican blood…

But the excitement didn’t even end there! We all piled back into the bus to head back to the pier. It’s amazing how much just sitting and riding can take out of you, and half of us were nodding off as we ploughed down the Mexican highway. But then I heard this strange sound and felt the van jolt softly… putt, putt, putt… putt, putt… putt….. coasssssssssst. Um…..?

The van had run out of gas. Clearly this was poor planning on the part of the driver. And we were still ten miles away from the port. It was only about 1 in the afternoon, and the ship wasn’t due to leave until sunset. But I had to be at rehearsal at 2! Luckily, our tour operator, Ramon, was able to radio down to the port to send another van to collect us. Meantime, we all piled out and waited there. Ten Americans in the middle of the desert on the Mayan Coast.


Well, we made it home, and I was happy to report that all of us returned safely. I even had time to grab a Coke Zero and my favorite cookie, Doraditas, before getting back to the ship just in time for rehearsal. What an adventure!

November 18 & 19 - Tampa and Sea Day

This week’s itinerary has been reversed – not sure why, maybe it has something to do with the Thanksgiving Holiday. One thing’s for sure: there are a LOT of families onboard this week, including the lead male singer’s entire family (25 of them altogether!) and 180 kids. It’s a FAR cry from the usual nursing-home crowds we have! It’s almost like being back on Carnival again… almost. ;)

Here’s where we’re headed this week:
Sunday – Sea Day
Monday – Costa Maya
Tuesday – Sea Day
Wednesday – Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Thursday – Georgetown, Cayman Islands
Friday – Sea Day
Saturday – back to Tampa

Worthy to note: On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the Veendam will be in port together with Carnival Conquest and Carnival Victory, and I’m planning to have lunch with several of my friends who are now serving on those ships – hooray! I already have so much to be thankful for….

Last night the band and I finally attempted to do “Conga” for a public audience. And not just any audience… the first night’s “Let Us Entertain You” (LUEY) show audience, where each performing group gets a chance to give the passengers a sample preview of what to expect throughout their week. We’ve been rehearsing this song on and off for a few weeks, but it’s been tricky, as the band had separate charts from the vocal charts that Dan and I had; they were in different time signatures and had different forms… it’s been a chore to pull this song together. At first I really didn’t think this song was at all appropriate for the LUEY show, as there are separate solos for each of the seven players, which leaves a LOT of time for me to just stand there and…. What? Shake my ‘groove thing’? Look lost? I’m not a choreographer, and I’m surely not about to make up some ridiculous dance breaks…

So for a long while, I’ve been resistant to the idea of putting this song in this show. But reluctantly I must admit: it’s not only a crowd pleaser, but it makes my boys very happy, especially our percussionist, as they all get a little machismo-rush with all the solo material they get to highlight. It would be just plain cruel not to indulge indulge them just a little.

And so when it finally got to the point-of-no-return, when I realized that we were going to do this song for the LUEY show whether I liked it (or looked like an idiot) or not, I did the best thing I could do with my perceived lemons – I made lemonade. Late on Friday night we had a last ditch rehearsal of the song, and I started to pay attention to who played what and where throughout the song, in all my lyrics breaks. I had to find a way to get the spotlight off of me when I wasn’t singing. Ideas were cooking.

Throughout this week, God has been humbling me, in a great way. I’ve had a lot of passengers stop me to compliment me on the job I do, that ‘celebrity factor’ I had such a hard time getting used to on the Fasc. I remember I learned to use it as an opportunity to compliment my dancers, and throw attention to all the hard work that they put in onstage as well as behind-the-scenes. I recognize how much harder they work than I, and I wish they were given more applause for it. So I do what I can with what I’m given.

Well, I’ve easily slipped into doing the same thing here, for my boys. I know how hard they are working and how little it is noticed… my job is easy by comparison. In any given 90-minute set, I might sing 5 to 10 songs, but they are playing for the entire 90 minutes. They play for me at deck sets, sailaways, cocktail sets and nightclub sets, but also for all the production shows, and all the fly-on entertainers. And that doesn’t include all the countless hours of rehearsal they dedicate individually! So some days I look at a schedule and I can see they have two rehearsals, and four sets, half of which don’t even require my attendance. To me, four sets is great! I love getting to work hard, and it’s just enough to be fun without being a burden. But these guys are really working their tails off! How come nobody knows it?

So when I started to put this idea together with all the solo opportunities in “Conga,” it finally clicked. This is for the introductions show… if all these singers are going to get their names mentioned and get their personal moment in the spotlight, then I’m going to make it my job to see that these boys get their names and their moments too. After the Friday night rehearsal, I ran back to my cabin and re-wrote a lyrics sheet with the new introductions written in. Essentially, as each guy plays his solo, I introduce him by name and instrument, and the spotlight hits him. It’s supposed to induce applause for him. I made a spotlight script and ran copies of it straight up to the lighting guy, Emiel, to give him as much prep time as I could.

Even so, I was still feeling anxious. This whole big change was happening very last minute, and at the LUEY run-thru on Saturday morning, we still weren’t completely on the same page with the form of the song. We ran through it three or four times, and only finally got it right the last time. But as it was our only day to be in Tampa, and we had four more sets still to go, we decided to call it quits and hope for the best.

I scrapped any thoughts of trying to go into Tampa myself that day. Whatever “things” I needed would have to wait. I spent every moment between sets going over my new form and new lyrics. I put together my five-points choreography and memorized the script faster that way. I had woken up at 6:30 am and started with a cappuccino, praying all the while that God would not just instill confidence in me, but BE my confidence.

And eight hours later, it happened! The first LUEY show got wild applause, thanks in part to the lead singer’s family being there. ;) The entire audience was great! They clapped for each individual band member as he played his own solo, the spotlights all cued in all the right spots, and you could see the pride in each guy as he finally got the moment he’d worked so hard for and so deserved. Praise the Lord for His provision of a great idea!

And then the Evil One tried to throw us a curveball. As I was making my entrance for the second show, the sound guy accidentally cued up the next song and it started to play as I came out to sing! The band stopped, and I stood there, doing my best to keep my calm for what seemed like an ETERNITY as the mistake was recovered, and we cued up to start again.

But once we launched into it, I felt more determined than ever to make this routine work! Even as the opening lyrics were coming out of my mouth, my head was spinning the prayer that would see us through. Once again, the audience clapped in all the right places, and each of these boys got his due. At the end of the song, the collective sigh of relief from the band was palpable if not audible! Thank you, Father!

Overnight, all the hard work has paid off in the response we’ve received. Everyone from cast members to administrators to passengers, have complimented the idea of giving credit to each player. And at this afternoon’s deck set, all my boys were clearly ego-boosted. It’s all I could have asked for.

Now I’m feeling much more confident, even energized, about making “Conga” the standard intro song for the LUEY show. I love being able to give credit to my boys. And I’m humbled to give credit for the inspiration and completion to my Lord. Praise the Father!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 – Montego Bay, Jamaica

I’ve done 10 sets in the first three days of this cruise… I’m a little tired. Today is the only day in my entire three months that we were going to port in Montego Bay, Jamaica, but even so, I really didn’t feel like getting out there. But something kept telling me I needed to go. There was a small matter of business I needed to attend to, but nothing so urgent that it couldn’t wait until we are back in Ocho Rios in 9 days. Still, something kept calling me out.

So, reluctantly, I put on my shorts, my sturdy runners, and my dark sunglasses. Maybe, I figured, I’ll just do a little walking and shopping right close to the ship in the tourist section. I don’t feel like getting all dressed up for a tour, even though I’ve only got three more chances in Jamaica to see the Dunn’s River Falls, something I don’t want to miss. Even as I stepped off the ship, my legs were getting heavy, but my heart was urging me onward.

The bus taking tourists to downtown was $3 per person. Still thrifty, and eager to dodge all the very pushy vendors, I opted to walk, and was quickly joined by a couple of passengers, Robin and Brian, who were like-minded. They had a map, so we were sort of all following each other.

Well, what I thought was going to be a spiffy little jaunt turned out to be about a 3-mile hike along a busy highway, with no shade in the 86 degrees blazing-hot Caribbean sun – much more sun exposure than I had anticipated. I was sweating buckets. Still, something in me was determined to journey on.

I don’t think we ever really reached “downtown.” But after that much walking, we started turning down streets and searching for the place where the buses were dropping off their loads of passengers. We had passed a straw market along the way, but collectively decided to keep going. Still, something about that straw market was calling my name.

We wandered into a very busy and dirty section of commerce where there wasn’t a single white face to be found. But Robin was looking for a mall. Problem was – every “mall” we passed was more of a shopping centre, and usually we’d take a look at it from the distance and agree, “Uh… let’s find the next one,” and we’d keep walking further.

So with this same adventure happening at every new corner, we zig-zagged thru the streets of downtown Montego Bay: me insisting on returning to the straw market, Brian and Robin fruitlessly searching for a ‘decent’ mall. Probably not the best idea. I was quickly discovering that not only did Brian’s sense of direction usually keep us on the sunny side of the street, it was also leading us in circles. In our attempt to dodge vendors, we began mostly ignoring the people we passed, for which I sort of felt bad (this is the way foreigners begin to get the impression that all Americans are stuck-up and snobbish). Until one of the taxi drivers that approached us finally got downright angry and told us, “Look, I’m just trying to warn you that the direction you’re headed is the wrong part of town. You really don’t want to go that way.” About that same time, we saw three military policemen walking down the center of the street wearing Kevlar vests and carrying M-16s. Yeah, at that point, Brian finally gave in to my insistence to turn back in the direction of the straw market.

When we got to the market, I knew we would find other passengers there – it’s the same sort of trinkets-and-cookie-cutter-t-shirts place that is found in every port. Still, Brian and Robin weren’t convinced that they wanted to shop here. So finally I had to put my foot down and wish them a safe journey, but that I was going to stay here and look for a taxi back to the ship. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of wandering around by myself, but somehow I had a peace that I’d be ok with God’s direction.

I wandered back through the vendors, and actually peered into a few shops, presumably seeking some new sort of blue dress or skirt and top to add variety to my performance attire. But as I ducked my head into one small hut, the shade seemed to be considerably cooler, and something stopped me in my tracks. There was an old woman sitting there with an American baseball cap and a toothless smile, along with one called “the Birdman,” who was putting the finishing touches on his latest mahogany bird sculpture to add to the collection of five he had to sell today.

This woman asked what I was looking for, and I told her I was just looking for a spot to rest for a moment. She pulled up a stool beside her, and we began the normal conversation. ‘Where ya from? First time in Jamaica? How you like eet so fah?’

And then there was something else. Nothing in this shop was even close to what I might have come shopping for, and the time was growing close for me to return to the ship. As I fanned myself with a page folded in half, the old woman and I began to compare and contrast ourselves – old/young, preferring the heat/preferring the cold, and the obvious: white/black. That’s when she said the words that confirmed why God had brought me here, to this hut: “But we are all one world – one Maker.”

She saw my eyes light up. Two Christians now recognized each other. Her name was Nita Thompson, and she is more than 80-years old. Without hesitating she went on to share her testimony of God’s Goodness in her life: how He had brought her a husband and taken him too, and how she had been miraculously healed of gallstones after his passing. Praise the Lord! During the course of our conversation, I was blessed to meet her daughter, granddaughter, and 6-months old brand new baby great-grandson, Everton. She never stopped smiling, not once. There was so much wisdom in Nita's eyes, such unbridled compassion in her heart.

The fruit man came by and for about $30 Jamaican (about 50 cents, US), gave her a yellow banana and a green orange, peeled and ready to eat, as was his daily custom. She shared the orange with me, which was surprisingly sweet, and told me her daily routine with the ripe banana for breakfast was to keep her young. [Jamaicans rarely eat ripe yellow bananas – instead, their Official National dish is aki-and-codfish, a style of mashing boiled green bananas and mixing it with shredded fish, and most Jamaicans eat it for breakfast every single day. They love it!]

Finally I could wait no longer and made up my mind to get back to the ship. But I did promise to remember her in my prayers, and to share her testimony with all of you back home, that you might pray for her also. We took a picture together, and she blessed me with a palm-sized wooden plate, decorated with scenes of Jamaica.



THIS is the part of Jamaica that you can’t buy on an excursion. These are the people God sent me here to learn from! These are the lessons you can’t learn in church, or from a book. THIS is the entire reason I sing for retired senior citizens who can’t hear me anyway – so I can receive the blessings the Lord has set before me, and so I can pass them on to you. Please keep Nita and her family in your prayers, as will I. And remember that God is so Good – He will show Himself to you in all the places you least expect it!

Monday, November 13, 2006 – Georgetown, Cayman Islands

“Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.” -- Italian Proverb

Today I had the luxury to spend a few hours on a secluded beach I found hidden away in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. I was marveling at all the coral bits along the shoreline – it seemed like everywhere I looked there was another shape, or texture, or growth pattern. God’s creativity is breathtaking! But all the coral that is washed ashore is already dead, and it’s all white and stony. When the waves have washed over it enough, it degrades back into sand and is washed out to sea to be a bed for the new sea coral to grow in.

You can tell where to find the most vividly colored coral reefs by the expense of the excursion tour that takes you there. Ostensibly, we put a higher value on the most beautiful ones – the more colors and shapes you can see, the reefs with the most variety of textures and sea life, are worth paying more to see. But how often do we stop to remember once we get back to the shore that God created all things, and God recalls all things?

The lesson is this: Beauty is fleeting. Status and rank are created by man. Money is “easy come, easy go.” The only thing that lasts eternally is God Himself. He is mighty, and worthy of all glory. He shows us so, over and over, in the nature He has blessed us to behold.

Friday, November 10, 2006 – Tampa

Finally I’m working!!! Last week we did thirteen sets in six days. Yesterday we only had a quick rehearsal where Dan and I went over a couple of songs, then we did a few of those with the boys, and next week we’ll be adding “Conga,” “New York, New York” and a couple of country songs, “Top of the World,” and “All I Ever Need Is You” to the repertoire.


This week’s itinerary is basically the same as last week’s, with one little change up: Montego Bay instead of Ocho Rios in Jamaica on Tuesday. Same island – other side.

And on Thursday I’ll be celebrating my birthday in Costa Maya, Mexico! I started throwing hints at my boys earlier this week about the surprise party they should be planning for me. ::wink:: Of course, we’ll probably have to do at least one deck set that day, as we sailaway, and the boys will have to play two production shows that night. But hopefully I’ll get to do some kind of cool excursion that morning, maybe horseback riding on the beach or something fun.

Ok… I know I said I wouldn’t add any more videos, but this one has very special significance. Be aware: it’s about a three-minute video, so load at your own discretion.

Some of you know about the charts show that I had commissioned over the summer. Well, here is the first song I’ve performed from that show, “Stuff Like That There.” The Veendam has a sort of previews-style show on the first day of each cruise, to sort of give the passengers an idea of what sort of entertainment they’ll be able to experience around the ship during the week. Each of the production singers get a song, the string quartet and the Filipino band, each of the piano soloists, and at the end – me and my boys! So here’s how I hit ‘em on the first night of every cruise. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 9th – Costa Maya

Today I spent two glorious hours on a private beach in Mexico. Somebody pinch me - I can’t believe this is my life! Bless the Lord, for I’ll never know what I’ve done to earn this precious gift.

Today is my thirteenth day on the ship, and the whole 'celebrity' factor ("Oh! You're the singer!!") is finally getting on my nerves. So I donned my baseball cap and dark sunglasses and decided to wander by myself into town to get my Doraditas, and then walked a little ways further to get a cab. Honestly, I didn’t even care how much it was going to cost; I just had to get away to somewhere where I knew no one would recognize me.

So the first cab driver to greet me was a man named Arturo. I put on my smile and quickly recalled my broken Spanish. I asked him the name of the tall white lighthouse we can see from the pier, and I learned a new Spanish word: “el faro” – the lighthouse. He took me in the cab to the lighthouse.

Turns out that that lighthouse is actually a restaurant, and it’s not as pretty up close as it had been from the distance of the pier. :) So I asked him (still using my kitchen Spanish) to take me to a beach a little ways further down, “una playa sin turistas” (a beach with no tourists). He thought a moment, then continued driving.

We passed several patches of beach which looked like they would have served just as well, but he kept on driving. We were headed down this sandy path, where they lay the lines that tie up the boats across the road to serve as speed bumps. Not that you’d need them – it’s impossible to speed through the maze of sandy sinkholes.

But finally we got to a little clearing in the jungle’s edge where you could walk down the water, and I asked Arturo to pull over and drop me off. There was one little man there, named Angel (say “ahn-HEHL"), who was kind enough to warn me that the water is not so clear, as there is lots of seaweed and rocks. But I told him that that was ok, I only wanted to lay out in the sun for a few hours. So he agreed to let me spend a few hours on this little patch of ‘la playa.’


Arturo put the car in park, and that was when I learned that this wasn’t just a cab… this was a Tour Taxi service. Anywhere you want to go, they take you, stay until you’re ready to leave, and then they are there to take you back to the pier. Well, since Arturo had sort of figured out that my kitchen Spanish only goes so far, I was content to let him stay and chat with Angel while I kicked back in the hammock that was set up between two palm trees.

I hadn’t been lying in the hammock for even ten minutes when I heard Arturo calling me down to the beach. “Mira los cangrejos,” he told me. I learned a new word, “Look at the crabs.” There are silver dollar-sized holes all along the beach, and if you stand still long enough, the sand crabs will peek out to see what’s going on. There were dozens of them, so clear-brown that they nearly blend in with the sand! (It made me more aware of where I’d lay out my towel later.)



When Angel noticed how this delighted me, he invited me and Arturo to wander with him down the beach a little ways, he had something to show us. He started climbing up in this tree that was hanging over the edge where the water meets the sand. He grabbed a handful of fruit and passed it to me saying, “juvos frias.” Grapes. Absolutely fresh! Straight off the beach, a blessed gift from God, as Angel explained to me that they shouldn’t even be ripe at this time of year. Not as sweet as vine-grown grapes, but certainly tasty!

Still further down the beach, Angel started grabbing large coral rocks and turning them over to see what sort of treasures we’d find. A lobster tail, some beach spiders, quite a few blanched conch shells of various sizes, mostly empty, and tiny tiny nautilus shell creatures, and a baby red crab.



Grateful for my mini-tour, these guys at last got the hint that I really had just come to spend a few hours laying quietly on the beach, and they let me be. But they continued with their scavenging, and about 20 minutes later I look up to see them approaching me, and Angel’s got a machete! Not to worry… they brought me a couple of coconuts with holes in the side, for a refreshing drink. Once I’d finished that, they split them in half, and scraped the fruit up into bite-sized pieces, using the half-shell as a serving bowl – what a treat! This is not like the flaked coconut you buy at the store and put on top of your cupcakes at home. This was smooth, actually slimy, but so sweet! No processing, no preservatives, just sweet beautiful fruit of the Lord.



Finally it got late in the afternoon, and it was time to return to the ship. I thanked Angel graciously for allowing me to spend time on his private beach. I asked him what he called it and he threw his hands up. So we all agreed to call it “La Playa de Daniela,” at least when I’m in on Thursdays. ;)

Arturo had spent three hours chaperoning me around, and I braced myself for the price when we got back to the pier. He told me $10. I was astounded, I couldn’t believe it! ‘That’s it? For the private slice of heaven I just experienced? ALL this for ten bucks?!’ This was a section of Costa Maya unknown by the weekly ship passengers; no pushy vendors, no loud music, and best of all NO TOURISTS. All I had was a $20, and Arturo looked sad because he had no change to offer me. So I told him that he’d just have to take me again when I come back in two weeks! He agreed, I got his cab number, and I’m already looking forward to doing this again!

Bless the Lord, how did I ever get so lucky?

Wednesday, November 8th – Sea Day

I witnessed a marvelous wonder this morning – flying fish!

We crossed into the Central Time Zone today, so I had an extra hour to kill after breakfast this morning. I decided to take a stroll on the Sports Deck, deck 12, which sits above the main pool and the bridge. I stood at the railing looking across the sea, which is calm for the very first time since I boarded 12 days ago – no white peaks at all! We’re traveling at about 60 knots, and as I peer over the portside railing into the water, I see these slivers of light streaming across the waves, perpendicular to the ship’s course. At first there were only few, and then many of them, and in a staggered formation.

It was then that I figured out that those little slivers were really fish! Flying fish! They’re about six to twelve inches long, and they have these long thin bones along each side, about three-quarters the length of their body, webbed to their side and retractable. I guess we must have been sailing through schools of them, because every once in a while you’d see group of them speed toward the surface, leap out and spread those side fins, sailing through the air for 200 feet before they’d just touch the tops of some waves to get another wiggle of acceleration and keep on flying! They’d keep on like this, grazing the surface for a few feet and then flying for another 200 feet or so, up to 1000 feet before plunging back beneath the surface, once they were a fair enough distance from the ship’s wake.

It doesn’t seem physically possible for such a phenomenon to occur, but here I was witnessing it hundreds of times, over and over. I was amazed at how far these little fish could fly! And it just reminded me of how clever and creative God is, and occasionally how whimsical.

The amazing price of gas in Jamaica

… Yes, that’s $52.64 for a gallon of unleaded gas. But don’t worry, the exchange rate is $65 Jamaican dollars to $1.00 US. That means a gallon of gas in Jamaica costs about 81 cents!

Tuesday, November 7th – Ocho Rios, Jamaica

As promised – pictures of me and the band!


This was taken at today's sailaway deck set on the Navigation Deck Aft. From left to right: John (percussion), Vasile (keyboard), Nate (drums), Aaron (guitar), Daniel (MD, piano), me, and Patrick (saxophone). The only one not in the picture is Tibor (bass); you can see the end of his guitar above Vasile’s shoulder on the far left. I’ll try to get some good posed pictures with the whole band soon, maybe after a Captain’s Champagne set or something, if I can talk these guys into it. They really do look good when they’re all suited up on formal night.

Went river tubing on the White River this morning in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! It was great fun, with about ten other passengers, including my drummer, Nate. A few rapids here and there kept it exciting, but the best was our river guides, three native Jamaicans who kept the jokes coming and still kept us all safe enough to feel relaxed.

The tubing tour ended at this botanical oasis, where I saw so many wild and crazy flowers in astounding brilliant colors. The pictures look great, but the camera still just can't do justice to the beauty of these Jamaican wonders.


Create Your Own!

Monday, November 6th - Georgetown, Cayman Islands

Turns out that last night's wobbles were caused by winds up to 43 knots and swells up to 7 ft! But Praise the Lord we made it here today to the port of Georgetown in the Cayman Islands and we had great weather all morning!

Although it was a bit hot and humid, and I'm a weird one who prefers it cold and dreary - I miss PA!! It did start to rain just a bit on the back deck about three or four songs into our sailaway set, which made it gross and humid. John's steel drum got all wet and our music was blowing around a bit. But the captain did great and sailed us right out of the rainstorm and the band kept on! We got to finish the set and it was great fun. (Don't worry, don't get any dreadful visions of us being the band who plays until the ship is completely sunk... most of the boys have already admitted: if this ship's going down, we're getting our happy tails in a lifeboat!)

So, I don't have a picture of this week's itinerary, but for those who are interested:
Sunday - at sea
Monday - Georgetown, Cayman Islands
Tuesday - Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Wednesday - at sea
Thursday - Costa Maya, Mexico
Friday - at sea
Saturday - back to Tampa

I also have a few more videos to post (a tour of my cabin and what the crashing waves sound like at night; a few samples of the band at work) but I realize that the loading of so many videos is slowing down the loading of the blog, so from now on I'll try to stick to pictures and journaling. ;) If I can find an internet place on land that's a little cheaper than the satellite we use onboard, I'll give them another shot.

Didn't do much in Georgetown today. Only had a few hours, so I wandered downtown, sent out a few postcards, and found the Olde English Bakery that Dave had suggested to me. (Thank you, Dave!) I had the most fabulous cinnamon roll and an oatmeal raisin bar made with thick rum molasses! Makes me miss my oven!!!

Just wanted to let you all know how much I love and miss you, and that I'm doing alright out here in the Caribbean. Love you!!! God Bless!!!!!

Sunday, November 5th - Sea Day

I survived the first week! Now I’m starting to get into a groove with the boys, and I’m learning more than I ever could have imagined about musicianship. It’s a very different feeling – not at all like musical theatre, which is so prescribed, and especially some of the places that I’ve worked at where every last detail is so structured that you fear for your job if you don’t turn your head on the right word or get off your number one too many times.

Singing pop songs with this band is a little more off the cuff, something I’ve only barely tasted with the few jazz songs I know. I can arrive to a set with a pocket full of songs, never knowing which ones will be called for until we’ve learned the crowd a little bit, and what kind of mood they’re in, or – in the case of this cruise line – what AGE they are and how much they’ll be able to dance, or what volume they’ll be able to stand before they’re all covering their ears. Ha ha.

Today I actually worked! 4 sets and an hour of rehearsal – hooray! It was a day at sea, and a rocky one at that! (The captain says we are sailing through the Gulf Stream against crosswinds, but that all should be smooth sailing again once we round about the end of Cuba and head back east towards the Cayman Islands.) But with no ports at all today, the band and I were booked all over the place to keep it hopping. At 11:30 we did a 90-minute double-set on the Lido deck by the pool. Unfortunately, with the overcast skies they had the deck roof closed and it was like a sauna inside! Blech! But I sang six or seven songs, so it was a pleasant afternoon for me.

Next was the Captain’s Cocktails’ sets at 5 pm and 7 pm. This is my kind of music – slow dancing jazz ballads like Blue Moon, It Had to Be You, and Moon River. Unfortunately, since the ship has been rocking hard all day, not many people got up to dance. However – funny story! It’s the third song of the set, and the first song with me, so I’ve just made my grand entrance onto the stage. Everyone in the room (about 500) are looking right at me – a vision in a long blue ballgown, with a white rose in my hair, doing my best to channel a 40s songstress. I’m singing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” for the first time. About two lines into the song, the ship hit one really big hard wave and sea legs or not, I tripped a step – me and simultaneously the other four guys in the band who are standing! The entire audience GASPED, as everyone had felt the jolt and they’re all looking at us losing our balance! But praise the Lord, and bless these guys – none of us missed a beat or a lyric, and the audience was quickly relaxed again.

The rest of those two sets went fine. Then we had a 90-minute double-set up in the Crow’s Nest at 9:30. When we got there to take over from the pianist, there was no one in the entire room except two or three seniors in the very back, and the three very bored-looking waiters. Wow! That’s a tough crowd! So I decided to make the most of it. Now that I’ve got about 15 songs that I’ve performed at least once, this was a good opportunity to just cut loose and make choices, and if they turn out to be mistakes, well, at least no one was around to hear them. It was great! It was like a good solid 90-minute rehearsal, which went mostly well! I just took all the lyric sheets I have and set ‘em up in alphabetical order on the music stand. We were all just flying by night – throwing out whatever song came next. I sang a total of eight songs, including a new one, “Rock Around the Clock.” Finally, as we were wrapping up for the night to turn it over to the dj, a crowd was beginning to form. But it was really nice to have the chance to rehearse WITH the boys, WITH a mic, in a performance SPACE. It was the best kind of education.

Now as I sit here, we’re only about six hours away from the Cayman Islands, but the ship is still knocking about quite loudly. Oh well… it’s been a long day, and I am looking forward to only one set tomorrow. Pray for good weather in Grand Cayman – or this will be the third new country I’ve been to with bad weather!!