Post by K Man on Oct 27, 2009 9:57:21 GMT -5
Hey kids! It's KMan (the real one, not someone using my ID) and I'd just thought I'd drop in and let you all know I'm still alive.
I'm busier than ever, but school is nearing and end and it's my hope that I can return once I graduate. The shop is doing well, we still role-play in person once a week - in fact Udjat has joined us for that weekly game via webcam - and I'm still constantly brewing up new ideas for games here when I come back. I hope everyone else is still doing well and I'm glad to see things here are still moving along. I have been dropping in occasionally and I swear I'll be back one day.
Now, my post here has a second purpose, fulfilling one of many very old promises to friends. I recently returned from my annual cruise and I've got some pics to share and hopefully someone will be happy (looking at Zebrashakes)
If you would rather flip through the whole photo album, here's the link; s183.photobucket.com/albums/x93/Bigdaddykman/2009%20Cruise/
Alright, so this cruise was early this month to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico. It's a repeat of an earlier cruise I went on were we missed Grand Cayman because of high winds. We arrived in Galveston TX to the usual foggy, rainy days...further proof that cruising is a slight against some forgotten pantheon of gods.
Day's one and two were spent at sea and exploring the ship. It's the Carnival Conquest, a Moulin Rouge ship that we've been on before so nothing really new to report there. Here are some pics of the ship;
(Notice me in my Cap'n Morgan's Pose)
And a couple of sunsets at sea...who doesn't love those?
So day three we pull into Montego Bay Jamaica. I know the pics are a little hard to see, but if you look dead into the center of the picture you should see the faint outline of dolphins chasing us into the bay.
It was a misty morning...and freakin' hot. Just like the rest of the Carribbean.
Out tour here was to the Rose Hall Great House. (http://www.scaryplace.com/Jamaica.html) Basically an 1800's haunted plantation where the woman of the house murdered husband 1 for money, husband 2 for love and husband 3 for fun. She was in-turn killed by her slave lover - strangled during sex (which is ironically the EXACT way I want to go). Anyways, the mansion was very cool and the island natives refuse to go near the mansion after 6pm. It sits atop a hill overlooking the ocean and was purchased by billionaire John Rollins in the 60's to renovate...but no one ever lived there for more than a week because of the scary things that would happen.
The last picture above, the oval one, is actually the first lady of the house.
So yeah, after checking out the ground and the house, they take us into the converted slave pens beneath the house. They have been converted into a bar where they serve us booze and we listen to singers.
After that, we get to go outside and check out the grounds.
The tomb of the White Witch as they call her.
After all this, they took to a few places to shop and eat. Now, let me tell you, if you've never been to a Jamaican flea market - DON'T FUCKING GO!! Seriously, I wouldn't return to one of those places with less than the National Guard. They welcome you at the door, shake your hand...and don't let go. They drag you to their booth and try to sell you the same cheap shit as the fifty guys you just passed! Absolutely crazy. I didn't get any pictures because we were warned not to take cameras in there for fear of losing or trading them for plastic fish that sing and dance Jamaican tunes.
Seriously...stay away.
Day four was spent in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is the largest of the Cayman islands, part of the British commonwealth. One more reason to hold a grudge against Wicksy in all my games. In all seriousness though, it is a beautiful and rich island - home to 320 banks and over 500 insurance companies, million dollar condos abound!
Sunrise over Grand Cayman as we pulled in.
Our tour this day would take us to Hell, to the Turle Farm and to Stingray City. That's right Shakes, you reading? TURTLES!! Anyways, they drove us past some of Grand Cayman's oldest buildings and the Governor's house.
Then it was on to Hell. You can mail postcards from Hell, you can get your pictures taken with the devil, fill up at Hell's gas station, even dance the night away at club inferno! It's a total tourist trap. Essentially it's an exposed black coral reef that literally looks like black flames of hell frozen in time.
At least I got to be the devil I've always wanted to be.
Next stop, Boatswain's turtle farm.
Now they breed the typical green sea turtle here for release into the wild. To date they have released over 31,000 turtles into the Carribbean, but that is not their only purpose. Most of their turtles are bred for commercial use (turtle fin soup, shell items etc)....sorry Shakes. Anyways, the place is a giant turtle farm with tanks for the 600 pounders down to the new hatchlings.
You even get to hold a turtle if you want to. I named mine 'Soup'.
So there you have it, turtles freakin' galore. It's actually a pretty cool place despite what they do. They do educate the population about turtles and rehabilitate wounded sea turtles, so I can't entirely fault them.
After that, it was on to Stingray City. Now, I've heard about this place before but it was unreal. They load you into boats, you take a 20 minutes ride out into the middle of freakin' no where, they drop ladders and tell you to get out. The water here - keep in mind a mile from any shore - is only about three feet deep. You have to shuffle your feet because the whole place is crawling with Stingrays. They range in size from 5-6 inches to 5-6 feet. It's crazy. I had an underwater camera but haven't gotten film developed yet. Still, I can share the above water pics you get an idea. Any large dark spot in the picture is a huge Stingray.
I'll see about the other film pics when I can. And, in true ironic fashion, we got a stingray towel animal in our room that night.
Ha!
And day five was Cozumel Mexico. Now, we get the Carnival Cruise magazine and we saw this article on underwater scooters and we thought to ourselves that if we saw this, we would do it. Well, they had it! Basically they are little one-man submarines where your head is stuck in a plastic dome and you are fed fresh air from a scuba tank in the front. It has handle bars and you can steer it left to right underwater - about 20 ft down. Again, I haven't developed the film pics but it was beautiful. Fish come right up to you, you can see for hundreds of feet all around you, it was awesome.
The underwater scooter;
Cozumel in general.
Lastly, we boarded the boat and had another day at sea. It's funny though, the first few days everyone is all gung ho and about the ship. By the sixth day, people are sunburnt, recovering from being drunk and just plain hermetic in their rooms. So not much to report on our last day. One last sunset picture and I'm out!
Alrighty, it was good to post again, I'll checking back in every now and then and I hope to return soon!
- Khttphttp
I'm busier than ever, but school is nearing and end and it's my hope that I can return once I graduate. The shop is doing well, we still role-play in person once a week - in fact Udjat has joined us for that weekly game via webcam - and I'm still constantly brewing up new ideas for games here when I come back. I hope everyone else is still doing well and I'm glad to see things here are still moving along. I have been dropping in occasionally and I swear I'll be back one day.
Now, my post here has a second purpose, fulfilling one of many very old promises to friends. I recently returned from my annual cruise and I've got some pics to share and hopefully someone will be happy (looking at Zebrashakes)
If you would rather flip through the whole photo album, here's the link; s183.photobucket.com/albums/x93/Bigdaddykman/2009%20Cruise/
Alright, so this cruise was early this month to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico. It's a repeat of an earlier cruise I went on were we missed Grand Cayman because of high winds. We arrived in Galveston TX to the usual foggy, rainy days...further proof that cruising is a slight against some forgotten pantheon of gods.
Day's one and two were spent at sea and exploring the ship. It's the Carnival Conquest, a Moulin Rouge ship that we've been on before so nothing really new to report there. Here are some pics of the ship;
(Notice me in my Cap'n Morgan's Pose)
And a couple of sunsets at sea...who doesn't love those?
So day three we pull into Montego Bay Jamaica. I know the pics are a little hard to see, but if you look dead into the center of the picture you should see the faint outline of dolphins chasing us into the bay.
It was a misty morning...and freakin' hot. Just like the rest of the Carribbean.
Out tour here was to the Rose Hall Great House. (http://www.scaryplace.com/Jamaica.html) Basically an 1800's haunted plantation where the woman of the house murdered husband 1 for money, husband 2 for love and husband 3 for fun. She was in-turn killed by her slave lover - strangled during sex (which is ironically the EXACT way I want to go).
Anyways, the mansion was very cool and the island natives refuse to go near the mansion after 6pm. It sits atop a hill overlooking the ocean and was purchased by billionaire John Rollins in the 60's to renovate...but no one ever lived there for more than a week because of the scary things that would happen. 
The last picture above, the oval one, is actually the first lady of the house.
So yeah, after checking out the ground and the house, they take us into the converted slave pens beneath the house. They have been converted into a bar where they serve us booze and we listen to singers.
After that, we get to go outside and check out the grounds.
The tomb of the White Witch as they call her.
After all this, they took to a few places to shop and eat. Now, let me tell you, if you've never been to a Jamaican flea market - DON'T FUCKING GO!! Seriously, I wouldn't return to one of those places with less than the National Guard. They welcome you at the door, shake your hand...and don't let go. They drag you to their booth and try to sell you the same cheap shit as the fifty guys you just passed! Absolutely crazy. I didn't get any pictures because we were warned not to take cameras in there for fear of losing or trading them for plastic fish that sing and dance Jamaican tunes.
Seriously...stay away.
Day four was spent in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is the largest of the Cayman islands, part of the British commonwealth. One more reason to hold a grudge against Wicksy in all my games.
In all seriousness though, it is a beautiful and rich island - home to 320 banks and over 500 insurance companies, million dollar condos abound!Sunrise over Grand Cayman as we pulled in.
Our tour this day would take us to Hell, to the Turle Farm and to Stingray City. That's right Shakes, you reading? TURTLES!! Anyways, they drove us past some of Grand Cayman's oldest buildings and the Governor's house.
Then it was on to Hell. You can mail postcards from Hell, you can get your pictures taken with the devil, fill up at Hell's gas station, even dance the night away at club inferno! It's a total tourist trap. Essentially it's an exposed black coral reef that literally looks like black flames of hell frozen in time.
At least I got to be the devil I've always wanted to be.
Next stop, Boatswain's turtle farm.
Now they breed the typical green sea turtle here for release into the wild. To date they have released over 31,000 turtles into the Carribbean, but that is not their only purpose. Most of their turtles are bred for commercial use (turtle fin soup, shell items etc)....sorry Shakes. Anyways, the place is a giant turtle farm with tanks for the 600 pounders down to the new hatchlings.
You even get to hold a turtle if you want to. I named mine 'Soup'.
So there you have it, turtles freakin' galore. It's actually a pretty cool place despite what they do. They do educate the population about turtles and rehabilitate wounded sea turtles, so I can't entirely fault them.
After that, it was on to Stingray City. Now, I've heard about this place before but it was unreal. They load you into boats, you take a 20 minutes ride out into the middle of freakin' no where, they drop ladders and tell you to get out. The water here - keep in mind a mile from any shore - is only about three feet deep. You have to shuffle your feet because the whole place is crawling with Stingrays. They range in size from 5-6 inches to 5-6 feet. It's crazy. I had an underwater camera but haven't gotten film developed yet. Still, I can share the above water pics you get an idea. Any large dark spot in the picture is a huge Stingray.
I'll see about the other film pics when I can. And, in true ironic fashion, we got a stingray towel animal in our room that night.
Ha!
And day five was Cozumel Mexico. Now, we get the Carnival Cruise magazine and we saw this article on underwater scooters and we thought to ourselves that if we saw this, we would do it. Well, they had it! Basically they are little one-man submarines where your head is stuck in a plastic dome and you are fed fresh air from a scuba tank in the front. It has handle bars and you can steer it left to right underwater - about 20 ft down. Again, I haven't developed the film pics but it was beautiful. Fish come right up to you, you can see for hundreds of feet all around you, it was awesome.
The underwater scooter;
Cozumel in general.
Lastly, we boarded the boat and had another day at sea. It's funny though, the first few days everyone is all gung ho and about the ship. By the sixth day, people are sunburnt, recovering from being drunk and just plain hermetic in their rooms. So not much to report on our last day. One last sunset picture and I'm out!
Alrighty, it was good to post again, I'll checking back in every now and then and I hope to return soon!
- Khttphttp
