I’ve been away at sea for the last week.  I’m not Captain Ahab.  I did not see the white whale.

I am, however, fairly relaxed, just finished a dinner in my hotel room of beef jerky, mixed nuts and a Kind bar, drank a whole lot of water, washed laundry and repacked it, have decided that I’m pretty much tired of chocolate desserts for a good long while and purchased my third tube of hydrocortisone cream today.  All in a weeks traveling, right?  Why am I so tired after a vacation, especially when I spent so much time sleeping and napping during my time away?

Our cruise with friends aboard the Carnival Liberty went well.  We had some decent-sized swells for a day and a half and I dealt with about 36 hours of mild nausea for the second time in my cruising history, but after that it was smooth sailing.  While Carnival did a decent job of making me gluten-free food, my only options for desserts were Chocolate Melting Cake, Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Panna Cotta.  Normally, I’m all over all that chocolate goodness, but after a week of heavy, chocolatey desserts – I’m ready to start asking for the fresh fruit platter.

Mr. Muse and I arrived too early at our hotel between cruises and I ended up falling asleep as I read beneath the shade of the tiki bar.  Another nap for another day of vacation.

We took ourselves for a walk down to Ceviche by the Sea for lunch and had the most awesome grilled octopus (Pulpo a la Parrilla), nikkei and ceviche (made with Golden Corvino – the fresh catch of the day) as well as a beverage that Mr. Muse has taken to calling, “Purple Apple Pie Drink”, or Chicha Morada.  The Chicha Morada, as it was explained to us by our waiter Andreas, is a concoction of boiled purple corn to which they add apples, pineapple juice and some cinnamon.  It was strange and surprisingly very, very good.  Andreas made sure that I was taken care of in the “gluten-free” department and was very enthusiastic about the food at Ceviche by the Sea.  I highly recommend going.  I’d really like to head back and try the Quinoa Creme Brulee (and more grilled octopus) because I like quinoa and I love creme brulee.

Tonight though, I feel that it’s in my best interest to have an uneventful evening, drink a lot of water and rest up for tomorrows embarkation with Bare Necessities 2014 Big Nude Boat.