La Bombonera is one of my favorite spots to eat in San Juan. A Puerto Rican guest showed it to me on my first Caribbean contract. (Then, months later, back home in Pittsburgh, I saw the familiar storefront in Tom Beland‘s auto-bio comic, “True Story, Swear to God”! His wife and in-laws were taking him there for a “real” Puerto Rican experience. It was trippy; I’m not used to seeing my life cross with other people’s cartoon-worlds!) Anyway, Liz and I used to go there last year, and we were thrilled to see that our favorite strangely-handsome waiter hasn’t left.

So, I’m typing this from a beach bar in St. Maarten , our last St. Maarten of the season. It’s one of the ports that the crew look forward to every time, cause it’s a short, pleasant walk to the beach or downtown. And at the end of the beach  is the Honky Tonk Bar, which is pretty much a big crew hangout. Live music, wi-fi, tasty food, and a friendly bartender named Simon. I know some ships people who have been coming here for years.

I got a late start today because of a crew security drill. Some crew members were woken up at 9 to look for an imaginary bomb; the musicians were told to await instructions in our cabins. Then at NOON my roommate called someone, and was told “Oh, the drill ended an hour ago!” (Yep, it’s a ship…Organized management…) So I got off the ship, bought a camera to replace the one that got filled with sand a few months ago, and then ran for the Honky Tonk!