Tuckernuck Island

Under the sub-heading of "What Did Van Learn Today?", I have discovered information about an interesting little island - Tuckernuck Island, off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. What got me looking up information was this quip on the inside of a Nantucket Nectars bottlecap:

"During a storm, the last remaining year-round resident of Tuckernuck Island buried himself to survive, and did."

Well ... How did he accomplish that? Coffin perhaps? He would have needed to breathe. How did he then dig himself up again?

Having never been to Nantucket, I asked myself what more I could learn about Tuckernuck Island.

According to The Fount of All Knowledge (Wikipedia), Tuckernuck Island is about 900 acres and has around 35 vacation homes on it. No more year-round residents, I guess. Supposedly, the island is privately owned by the vacation home owners. It is not open to the public. Any visitors must be invited. There are no public utilities, though they do have home-made electricity (via solar cells and gas-powered generators) and running water. They also use gas for cooking. Very few cars are used on the island, however residents do use golf carts for getting around.

Several areas have either protected or endangered flora and/or fauna, including the largest concentration of Oldsquaws (Long Tailed Duck) in the Western Atlantic. Counts of over 150,000 have been recorded. The landmass is left over from the terminal moraine of the last glacial period (Wisconsin Glaciation) and still retains characteristics of moraine geology.

Image courtesy of NOAA and iNavX

Blog source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckernuck_Island

Royal Caribbean vs. Norwegian

Ok, so here's my comparison between Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas out of Baltimore and Norwegian Star out of Tampa.

Ease - RC without a doubt. Leaving out of Baltimore can't be beat for ease for us. The port in Tampa was very easy to use though once there.
Price - equivalent
Cabin - Norwegian mostly because of the excellent bathroom with a shower better than mine at home
Entertainment - up until last night I was going to say RC but Norwegian had an awesome aerialist show with no spoken words just music and acting so now I'm going to say it's a tie.
Theater - RC for better, bigger and more comfortable seating but Norwegian for having enough seats for everyone no matter how late you arrive.
Service - RC by leaps and bounds. Not that the Norwegian staff weren't nice but things just weren't quite as nice.
Food - RC for sure - both the buffet things and the regular restaurants. The Norwegian restaurant Versailles (the main free dining room) while pretty was incredibly noisy by staff and they had the disgusting habit of scrapping plates of left-over food together onto one plate till it was pilled high enough for them to deem it ready to take away. Gross.
Cleanliness - tie as both had sanitizers everywhere and encouraged people to use them.
Room Service - RC for their early morning breakfast delivery that you could order in advance.
Excursions - tie as both had plenty of options and all were very organized.
Spa - Norwegian for their private spa with indoor pool, relaxation rooms and speciality hot tubs and saunas. It did cost extra but we enjoyed the exclusivity.

I want a cruise ship shower!

Although it could be a bit bigger this cruise ship shower is excellent technology. It has awesome water pressure with three levels to choose from. It is instantly hot at exactly the same temperature every day. You can make it warmer or colder instantly as well. My shower at home needs several minutes to get warm and you can't leave it set for that temperature for the next day and the water pressure is a trickling stream in comparison. Sigh.

Cozumel, Mexico

We took a 45 minute ferry ride to Playa del Carmen and then got on a bus for an hour to get to the Mayan ruins of Tulum. The tour was nice but I guess I had heard enough about the Mayans at this point. I would have loved to explore the ruins more but it was incredibly crowded and pretty hot. It was beautiful though and we got to swim in gorgeous although very strong wavy water. We had delicious fish tacos for lunch - hunger being the best condiment. I had Van get off the bus at the last minute to buy me a wooden red devil carving - very unique item I hadn't seen at any other store - and I only had $15 to spend so he got the guy down from $25. Then we had to do the bus and ferry back so it was a long day. We then walked through the shops at Cozumel a bit and got some food and drinks.

Costa Maya, Mexico

Well, first of all the port itself is lame. No need to spend time there - the shops are all commercial and not local artisans. But, if you take a shore excursion then go to Chacchoben Mayan ruins. Yes, the bus ride is close to an hour each way but it is worth it. The ruins are beautifully restored and the site itself is lovely. Our guides, Daniel and Luis, were very knowledgeable and nice. The bus was much more comfortable than the one in Belize. The tour took the whole afternoon and we got back on the boat at the last minute.

Belize City, Belize

It was an early morning - 7:45 muster for the excursion to Lamanai Mayan ruins. We took a tender from the cruise ship and then a bus for an hour to the river cruise to the ruins and then all back again. We didn't get back to the boat till nearly 5pm. Interesting facts about Belize: they used to be a Spanish colony and then a British one before gaining independence in the early 1980s; their official language is English; and their currency is always $1 US dollar equaling $2 Belizian. The river cruise was fun and the boat went very fast. We saw monkeys and a baby crocodile. The ruins were cool but we didn't climb all the way up like a lot of people did. The lunch after the tour before the bus ride back was delicious - saffron rice, baked chicken, coleslaw, chips and bread pudding - it even made the coke light taste good. We bought a carved bowl from a local as our souvenir.

Roatan, Honduras

We went on an excursion to Maya Key where they have a wildlife sanctuarary with macaws, parrots, jaguar, ocelet and other animals. The beach was lovely and the water cool but not cold. They served us lunch and the sea bass was delicious. After we got back to Roatan we bought a local oil painting (to go with the other ten art pieces we got at the auction onboard!).