{"id":2106,"date":"2013-04-29T04:09:12","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T04:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2013-04-29T04:09:12","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T04:09:12","slug":"eventide-st-lucia-caribbean-04272013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=2106","title":{"rendered":"Eventide \u2013 St Lucia, Caribbean \u2013 [04\/27\/2013]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Volegov_Malta_waterfront_FS\"<\/a>And so here we are, in the eventide of the season. Our last port of call is behind us and now there is nothing left to do except steam steadily homeward. Well, homeward for most of us.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t honestly say I\u2019m sorry to see this world cruise go, although in some ways it\u2019s been the most fulfilling yet (I mean, cable jumps, elephants, cheetahs and heaven knows what else) \u2013 it\u2019s also been one of the most exhausting. I\u2019m also not sorry to be staying on an extra few days. My bank account needs the boost (the money that was taken from my account in South Africa is still tied up in red tape) and it means that I get to debark at home, which makes a massive difference.<\/p>\n

What few of the guests realize is that just because this voyage is drifting steadily to a close doesn\u2019t mean we get any \u2018rest\u2019 per say. Our contracts simply go on. While we wrap up the last of the admin for this voyage I\u2019m also prepping everything for the relocation cruise through the Panama Canal that starts next week, not to mention the Alaska season, AND as much prep as I can for the 2013 Grand Asia. That\u2019s a lot of paperwork, and I\u2019m still trying to finish my cataloguing.<\/p>\n

Truly it\u2019s like a swan: everything that goes on under the water to keep the appearance of moving smoothly and effortlessly.<\/p>\n

At the moment we\u2019re concentrating on making sure that everything is smooth and polished and presentable, everyone looking their best and speaking their best. Final ratings are, after all, coming and the last thing we want to do is accidentally offend someone at this point.<\/p>\n

The emails have gone out asking for flag bearers for the farewell show, and the order forms for the final prize voucher redemption will flood my desk in the morning at the same time that my coworker and I are trying to manage all the returned books that are flooding in by the hundreds.<\/p>\n

Truly I cannot wait to pack up and get home; sleep in my own bed, walk on my own beach.<\/p>\n

Home will feel good this time around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so here we are, in the eventide of the season. Our last port of call is behind us and now there is nothing left to do except steam steadily homeward. Well, homeward for most of us. I can\u2019t honestly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,11,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-grand-world-voyage-2013","category-reflections-below-the-waterline"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-xY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2108,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}