Seafarer Sunfarer

Monday, October 27th
ms Zuiderdam
Sunfarer Day 0 - Embarkation
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Departing:  4:00 PM
Sunny - 84 Degrees

The Alaska cruise season is over, and now it's our turn.  After a long summer of working the hotels, the docks, and all those 'Dam ships, the first we have worked together, we are off on a little seafaring sunfaring adventure, a last-minute bit of friends and family fairweather fun.  Sailing aboard the Holland America Zuiderdam, we will call on various ports around the Caribbean, highlighted by a partial transit of the Panama Canal.

Here is the itinerary:

	10/27/2014	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
	10/28/2014	Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
	10/29/2014	At Sea
	10/30/2014	Oranjestad, Aruba
	10/31/2014	Willemstad, Curacao
	11/1/2014	At Sea
	11/2/2014	Cartagena, Colombia
	11/3/2014	Cruising Panama Canal & Gatun Lake
		Colon, Panama
	11/4/2014	Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
	11/5/2014	At Sea
	11/6/2014	At Sea
	11/7/2014	Fort Lauderdale, Florida

We flew into Fort Lauderdale direct on Alaska, arriving Saturday evening, and took up residence at the W Fort Lauderdale

There are moments in life when you realize beyond any reasonable doubt that you no longer have any claim to youth or hipness.  This was one of those moments.  With the music pumping, the lights strobing, and the beautiful people rushing by on all sides, it was immediately clear that this was not our scene.  Very nice, though, and in a great location.

Our ears never really adjusted to the constant din, but our hearts made time with the baseline, and we made our peace with what was probably the wrong choice of accommodation.

Dinner the first night was at the convenient, if unremarkable, fashion-forward hotel meat market.

We did precious little on Sunday, a little walk, a little sun, a little swim, a little nap.

For dinner, we ventured out to a dark and deserted office park on the underside of the A1A Causeway bridge that connects the barrier island beaches to inland Fort Lauderdale.  Market 17, "farm fresh restaurant and bar," has an outstanding reputation, and dinner definitely outshone the inauspicious location.  They offer custom tasting menus with petite versions of each of the mains.  We had a protein party with charcuterie and thee selections from farm and fowl.

• Housemade Charcuterie
  Served with chutneys and picklings.
  
• Petite Spicy Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin
  Coconut Orange Sweet Potato Puree, Hearts of Palm, Sautéed Squash & Kale, Pomegranate Molasses
  
• Petite Slow Roasted Duck Breast
  Brown Butter Cornbread, Caramelized Onion, Romanesco, Kale, Figs, Garam Masala Maple Brown Butter.
  
• Petite Grilled Grassfed Beef Tenderloin
  Duck Fat Confit Roasted Potatoes, Spicy Tomato Sauce, Sautéed Kale, Avocado Chimichurri.
  
• Maple Blondie
  Spicy Pecans, Bourbon Ice Cream.

After another beach walk this morning, we packed up and shipped out...to the ship.  We have sailed on the ms Zuiderdam and her sisters before, so it was a comfortable homecoming to be back aboard.  We are in a standard verandah cabin, Stateroom 6109, amidships starboard, on the Upper Verandah Deck.

Sailaway out of Port Everglades was pleasant in the afternoon sun.  When there was nothing left to see, and dusk blacked out the sea, we enjoyed our traditional embarkation dinner at the Pinnacle Grill.

Next Stop:  Half Moon Cay, Bahamas