All About Trey

Day at Sea and Aruba

So I get up relatively early (damn that internal body clock) and go to the gym. It’s only half packed, and I get some good cardio in and little bit of lifting. Then I’m up on the pool deck by 10 AM. I manage to snag a good chair and I rub the SPF 15 oil into my body. I’m definitely into the oil these days. It’s just so much sexier than regular lotion. The worst part of the oil? Asking the big hunk next to me: “Would you mind putting some of this on my back?” And then feeling his big strong hands work the oil into my skin. It doesn’t suck.

My day is spent reading my book, checking out the hotties, jumping into the pool to cool off, checking out the hotties, hydrating myself with frozen margaritas, checking out the hotties, talking with some folks, and pretty much just checking out the hotties. Okay, so that’s not really true. I didn’t really read my book that much. Malcom, the cruise director, leads the pool games. They are fun to watch and very funny. Tom and Joe stop by and help me put some oil on my back. They invite me to watch sunset from their cabin after the T-dance. After 5 hours of some hard sun bathing, I’m starting to get tired. You know it is really stressful to lay out that long. So I go back to my cabin for my disco nap. Thankfully my cabin is on the 2^nd deck, so I don’t hear the Classic Disco T-dance. Classic disco just really isn’t my thing. I know, bad gay man, bad. But it’s the truth. But apparently it was a huge success and lots of people had brought costumes to include multi-colored afros, etc. Hello, how many suitcases did you bring? I hook up with Tom and Joe after the dance had ended, but unfortunately the sunset is on the other side of the ship. But we manage to find something else to do. Then it’s time for dinner and then a show. The special mystery guest that came onboard in Grenada is Deborah Gibson. Yes, she goes by Deborah now that she’s a serious singer. Yeah, whatever. She looks good and she certainly knows how to work the crowd. The first half of her show is all Broadway stuff. She’s been in a couple of Broadway play and has an album out of Broadway songs. Yawn. Then she goes into her old pop stuff and you know what? I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s like it had gone stale. Which is what most pop stuff does eventually, but half the crowd was up and singing along to “Only in my Dreams.” Yeah, not so much. After the show, I wandered around a bit until it was time for the next dance at 11PM. DJ Tony Moran again and he was awesome. I think I made it till 230AM, not bad for someone running only on Redbull.

By the time I wake up, we are pier side in Aruba. I’ve got another excursion planned, so I quickly grab breakfast and then head down to the pier. I’m on a catamaran & snorkeling trip today. The catamaran is docked close to the pier so it’s a short walk to the boat, we set sail, and then the rum drinks are flowing. The shoreline is pretty as we head out to our first snorkeling stop. I love snorkeling, but I hate the aweful inflatable vests you *have* to wear. The florescent yellow is clashing with my blond highlights!! We anchor off the first spot where the water is no more than 20 feet deep. We enter the water, which is fairly warm, and explore the coral reef there. We get some bread as we enter the water and the fish just swarm around us. It really is fascinating. I swim into a huge school of minnows that just clear a space for me and then keep going. Kind of cool. I’m almost the last one back on the boat and then we move about another 200 yards off shore where the sea floor has dropped to probably 50 or 60 feet but where an old WWII German freighter is lying. Apparently it was forced to leave Aruba without sufficient fuel and ended up running aground and sinking just off the coast. A small part of the wreck is actually above the water, but the rest is just under it. The current is very strong and only strong swimmers are encouraged to go swim. The wreck is amazing and the ship has actually broken into two pieces. There are several holes in the wreck and I stupidly try to swim into one. Not a good idea and I end up scraping the hell out of my leg. It’s bleeding and the sea water stings. Well that’s what I get for being stupid. But still the wreck was amazing. After we get onboard, and have some more rum drinks, we head to one of the beach area to eat lunch and hang out. Lunch is okay, and then (again stupidly) I decided to go parasailing. I’ve done it before, it’s fun, no big deal. They take me out to the boat and I get hooked up in the sling (and no, not that type of sling). Then the one guy sort of tosses the parachute into the air and *whew* it gets caught by the wind and fully opens. They basically just let the line out and up I go. The view is amazing and the wind is so strong the boat just sits there and lets out the line. As I bounce up into the air, I get higher and higher, and the wind is strong. I can see a sea turtle below me and all of the different colors of water below me. It’s pretty even as I get tossed around up there. I can see the ship in the distance as the wind gusts and I move higher. And then it dawns on me. You know, the wind is REALLY strong here. And I’m up really high. And I shouldn’t have had the greasy ribs for lunch on top of about 3 rum drinks. So know I’m thinking, you know, if the ride ends early, I won’t be overly upset. I do manage to enjoy the ride and make it down safely without hurling. But it was kind of close a couple of times. Once the catamaran docked, I headed into town to do some shopping. I bought some cologne and then a pair of white shorts for the White Party. Then its time for the disco nap and then dinner.

At 10PM, there is a special show. At the forward end of the ship, there is a really cool bar called “The Bar at the Edge of the Earth”. It has windows all around it and at night it’s really cool. It’s also kind of special since Cirque Du Soleil does a lounge show there. Tonight, they are doing a special show called, “The Edge of White.” So I go there and it really is a phenomenal show. It’s not like their circus stuff, it’s more personal and interactive. Lots of music and light interaction and holograms and projected imagery. They have performers in costumes who do different things. Towards the end of the performance, the performers shed their costumes and you get to see their bodies. Umm, hello twinkville. There was only one who was a hottie. Oh well. Then it was time for the real White Party. The White Party was fun, and crowded, and lots of people had costumes (apparently it’s a serious fashion mistake to *just* wear white underwear to the white party, okay good to know). So I was looking okay in my white shorts I had bought. The problem with the White Party is that it really is techno driven to appeal to those who might have used some “manufactured joy” for the evening. So after awhile I head up to the 12^th deck to “look at the stars.” The 12^th deck is above the bar at the edge of the earth and is where the “topless” sun bathing happens on a straight cruise. Apparently on a gay cruise it’s where the nude sun bathing happens. And at night, there are any hardly lights up there so you can see the stars better. And on a gay cruise, at night it’s called the Dick Deck. I did a quick tour of the scene and then headed back to my room. However, I did later hear that several of the Greek ships officers (Oh my gawd what hotties) wandered up to the 12^th deck and received some “special attention.” So apparently some of the crew *really* love the gay cruises.

posted by Trey @ 12:58 AM