Port Power

The next stop was further up the mountains to La Coca Falls and the Yokahu Tower. The tower never fulfilled its original purpose as a military lookout, but certainly has a good view from the top. The falls were pretty tame today, but can wash across the road after heavy rain. It was a delightful area to visit.

This is the bread fruit tree. There is a ripe breadfruit peeping out from under the leaves.

Native species include the coqui frog, hummingbird, tiny Tody bird and the Puerto Rican parrot. The parrots are so endangered that there is a breeding program in the park’s bird centre. During Hurricane Maria in 2017 the cages were destroyed and the birds flew away. There is hope that they are surviving and breeding.

Today’s excursion was to the El Yunque National Park for a rainforest walk. Original rainforest had been removed long, long ago for coffee plantations. The area for some time now has been declared a National Park and has been undergoing reforestation to bring back the rainforest. Red ginger flowers White ginger flowers Yagrumo. Leaves sometimes used as umbrellas. Dark green on the top by white underneath.

Friday, 8 December, 2023. San Juan, Puerto Rico. This morning, all passengers and crew had to present face to face with USA immigration. Also, all passengers had to leave the ship and there be a “zero” count before any passengers could reboard. As I was on the first excursion of they day, our tour was called at 8:00ish. We collected our passports at one station (manned by two of the musicians), and presented ourselves at passport control. On the other side, we waited for everyone before proceeding to our bus. This continued through all excursions, finalising with those passengers wishing to return to the ship after immigration. From all reports, everything went smoothly for the rest of the passengers. I looked out from my starboard balcony early in the morning to see kitchen staff, housekeeping staff and assorted other personnel doing the immigration circuit. The rest of the ship’s staff and crew went through after total passenger clearance.

I though I had answered you, but my iPad sometimes has a mind of its own! The Silversea rep is a paid employee, so I don’t think they earn a commission as well. They job is to seal the deal! When you transfer the booking to your TA, that person does get the commission. There might be a way around this. Usually you have 24 or 48 hours of whatever to pay in full. You can pay a portion on the ship and then transfer to your TA and pay the balance through them the next day.

It was an early departure today at 2:00pm, although the ship pulled out I bit earlier than that as everyone was aboard. We waved goodbye to the neighbours.

Bird Island and another beach. All very pretty. The islands are all served by ferries, but I did notice there were very few small boats about.

There was a fishing line set up at the rear of the boat. There was much joy on catching a decent sized Spanish mackerel.

Thursday, 7 December, 2023. St John’s, Antigua. I did the catamaran tour to Bird Island with snorkelling and light lunch. See @canderson photo above of the yellow catamaran. There were about 26 of us including guest lecturer Mark as escort. It took one and a half hours to get out there, but the scenting the way was worth it.

I forgot to add the delicious cocktail prepared by SALT Bar to complement today’s food. No name yet.

The themed lunch in Dolce Vita today is “American Diner”. Lots of burgers and fried food! I saw one of the dancers departing with a cream-topped drink, but he easily works off any excess calories! Can some only kindly explain how I rotate the images, please? “Format”

I am simply demonstrating that not everything on Silver Dawn is perfect. There are flaws. Also that there are avenues for managing and resolving any problems or concerns. Some people reading this travel blog may be new to Silversea and might find this informative.

This morning’s cooking demonstration from SALT Lab and Kitchen. It was the corn cake we made in SALT Lab the other day, substituting cornmeal with all purpose flour and mashed potato, and using pulled pork. The mash did make the cake more moist, so when I make it at home, I will change out half of the cornmeal with mashed potato. (Chef Drake’s instructions.) Quinoa (a seed) The final dish, dotted with satay sauce.

This morning’s SALT cooking demonstration was about the “Grains of the gods”. The item made was a version of the corn cake we made in SALT Lab recently. This version swapped cornmeal with wheat flour and mashed potato, and used pulled pork in the middle. The mashed potato made the cake more moist, and I will add that to the cornmeal cake when I make it at home. Quinoa (a seed) The final dish, dotted with satay sauce.

We were seated just before 7:45pm. It was after 10:00pm when are mains were served. Every table around us were either gone or eating dessert. I totally agree with @drron29 about a good waiter keeping an eye on the order that mains leave the kitchen. Our waiter was most definitely missing! Other waiters were serving water and topping up our wine. Anyway, I spoke to the overall Restaurant Manager this morning at breakfast, so he will review last night’s service (and possibly staff). And speaking to Grant also provided valuable answers. I always find it better to speak directly to management about an issue rather than moan and do nothing, or write about it in the feedback after disembarking.

We did notice there had been a long wait but we kept thinking the main would appear. Or the waiter! The second starter was the vegetable course. It was definitely the conversation that kept us from noticing the time even though we were sipping 🍷. We did speak up, needing to go to the front desk to do so. Nevertheless there was still further delay. The person who left did have the very light quinoa salad and another starter, but not the main course. Naturally that appeared one minute after he left! I’m wondering if the kitchen ran out of 24-hour marinated prime rib? That could explain the different butterflied steak and the time delay while it was marinated for an hour.

Most unfortunately, dinner at Atlantide didn’t go very well tonight. There were five of us at the table. Our appetisers arrived in a timely manner. Two of us had ordered a second starter, and they also arrived in a reasonable time frame. However, an hour later we were still waiting for our main courses! As we were all having such a good time, we hadn’t noticed how long it had been. The waiter who took our order hadn’t been anywhere near the table since! A visit to the maître d’hotel seemed to get things moving, but no apology. One of our group left the restaurant without eating! To add insult to injury, the “prime rib” was not. It was steak, but butterflied! No idea what cut. For two of us, the meat was tender and delicious, for the other two it was tough. The succotash was delicious though, as was the potato galette. The sauce as demonstrated this morning was rich and tasty. Again, we had to speak to the maître d’ to order dessert. It was after 10:00pm by this time. The other couple were first time SS clients; they probably won’t be back, either. They do prefer Holland America and have also found life on board Silver Dawn somewhat boring. I really think Dolce Vita needs a piano man like Mark Farris, especially on transoceanic cruises. This is not the first time there has been an overlong delay in both Atlantide and La Terrazza. A small blip on an overall great cruise, but we think management needs to be informed.

In my opinion, these recipes are worth trying at home.

Next up was sirloin steak with a Jack Daniel’s sauce, and southern style corn succotash. This will be served in Atlantide tonight, although with prime rib. For Australians, Grant does so remind me of Kim Beazley. Always crumpled!

Executive Chef Grant, an Australian, lives in Thailand with his Taiwanese wife. He told us they gave two kitchens. Indoor for him, and outdoor for her because of the strong aromas from Taiwanese cooking. In the Venetian Lounge today he made Thai fish cakes and a dipping sauce. It serms di much easier after seeing it demonstrated. I eat Thai fish cakes weekly, but will now actually make them. They are on the menu today at The Grill on the pool deck.

Tuesday, 5 December, 2023. At Sea. A greyer morning today. Although rain is not really expected (10-15% chance), it is certainly grey outside. 27 degrees Celsius and very pleasant. I have lots of activities circled in the Chronicles, starting with a destination lecture about St John’s, Antigua.

SALT Lab class making wrinkled potatoes and ropa vieja from the Canary Islands. Wrinkled potatoes are simply unpeeled potatoes boiled in salted water so the skin wrinkle. Ropa vieja literally translates to “old clothes” and is a stew that originated to use leftovers. It tasted very good, of course. Cooking up the chickpeas and other vegetables, herbs and spices in stock: The finished dish incorporating “leftover” beef and chicken:

Monday, 4 December, 2023. At Sea, Atlantic Ocean. Blue sky and light cloud on the horizon. 25C today and about that already at 8:30am. There will be plenty of people in and around the swimming pool today. There is a bit more swell than yesterday, and a few white-capped low waves about. Tonight is the Venetian Society “cocktail party”, which means well over half the ship’s passengers in the Venetian Lounge with a glass in hand.

We have a great solos group, hosted by “gentlemen hosts” Mark and Mo. Tonight most of us were at the early show by a female comedienne and didn’t arrive for drinks until later. I wonder why those who didn’t go to the show are all the male solos? (Air drop photo. Sorry it’s upside down.)