Koh Samui

January 31

This is Terrie’s day and did it ever start early.  Seems there was a fire alarm at 414 am followed by silence from the crew.  When the fire alarm goes off in a ship you wake up.  Actually you wake up standing straight up.  We realized from the drill at the beginning that it was a first level of alarm and that meant we were to stay in our cabins and wait for instructions.  So what did some people do but put on their life jackets and head to the lifeboats.  About an hour later the Captain sheepishly came over the load speaker telling us that the alarm was for smoke from an air conditioner fan belt in the Crows Nest bar on the 9^th level.  So smoke but no fire.  While they were sounding the alarm the speaker system failed therefore there was no notification to the passengers about what was going on.  What the result of all that was for us was an adrenaline filled wake up call that had you totally awake way too early (except for Terrie and she went back to sleep).  Made for a very long day.

But again it was Terrie special day named “Sun, Sea and Sand” on the Thai island of Koh Samui.  We had never heard of this place when we booked this cruise but it turned out to be a vacation island with beach resorts along some nice sandy beaches.  We took a tender into land and then got on vans.  Seems the island roads can’t handle buses.  30 minutes and we arrived at the Hotel Ozo where Holland America had rented ½ their beach and set up chairs and umbrellas.  We used some rooms to change and spent the next 4 hours lying in the sun.

Well some of us did anyway.  Terrie will have to put a picture here to show you what she did for the first hour.  For me a chair and watching the natural beauty of the place was good enough.  Local beach merchants stopped by but couldn’t come in without permission.  The hotel had beach guards to keep them from being pest.  Things available at your feet:  scarves, swim suits, silk robes, bracelets, and ice cream.  All it took was a bit of bargaining.  We skipped lunch just so she had the maximum number of sun hours available.  The Gulf of Thailand is nice and warm and a nice place to hang out.

What a perfect day.   Sun, Sea and Sand…. Terrie was happy.