Cacao, Sophie's Choice, and Ze Vails: March 2, 2009

Woke up early, had another room service breakfast. I went out to get our Internet access up and running. While returning, a woman stopped me in the hallway. She said, "Have you seen ze vails?" I said, "What?" and she repeated, "Have you seen ze vails!? Svimming alongside ze ship zere are vails!"

Apparently a couple of humpbacks were swimming alongside the ship. Sadly, I never got to see ze vails. I never saw that woman again, nor did I ever hear a German accent again on the whole trip. Perhaps I had seen Ze Vision of the Disembodied Fraulein of Ze Norvegian Dawn!

We dropped anchor in Samana Bay that morning and got off the ship earlier than expected. As you get off of the ship, people surround you with little books of pictures that show the different tours available or diagrams showing the kinds of whales you might see on a whale-watching excursion. We had to be back on the boat in time to see Lyle Lovett, so we were not able to go whale watching. Finally a nice fellow named Samuel took us back ot his little office and showed us pictures of a waterfall, a beach, and a bay view. Forty-five bucks for the day. A guy named Taylor from Alabama joined us. Samuel drove us to a place by the side of the road where several cars and motorcycle taxis had parked. Then Taylor and I bought Presidente beers and we began the slippery walk to see a waterfall.

As we walked, Domingo, one of the owners of the land we crossed pointed out the various flora and fauna around us. We saw mango trees, banana trees, cacao trees, coffee bean trees, pea trees, pineapple trees, and coconut trees. The waterfall was beautiful. Domingo told us 7 or 8 people who’d received the land from their parents owned the land that the waterfall was on.

At this point we split from Taylor, whom I'm pretty sure left with Samuel to buy pot. We then went to a touristy place for lunch. Polly had red snapper in a coconut red sauce. I had shrimp Dominican style, which involved a red sauce. We also tried a little ceviche. Sitting at the table next to us was Tift Merritt, a great singer-songwriter on the cruise, and her partner Zeke. They were as nice as could be. I complained that they had never played Kansas City. They mentioned they had just played Aspen in a crazy snowstorm, and that it made it sweeter to be there, having beers looking out over the beautiful sunny bay in Samana.

We walked down to the beach and lay down on a few chairs. After half an hour some fellow came up and told us we owed him $5 to sit on the chairs. I paid, Polly refused. We gave ourselves a 50% discount.

Walking back to where we were supposed to meet Angel, Samuel's friend and driver, we passed Kathleen Edwards and her husband (sitting on a beach towel, which I assume is free). We ran into our friends from New Orleans, Rebecca and Lee. We determined we were accidentally stalking each other. We really hit it off with these girls and we laughed a lot. They have the same sense of humor as we do. Polly and I bought some rum and vodka to smuggle back onto the boat. Angel helped us pour it into a water bottle and then he placed the Absolut bottle behind a tree. That's when we noticed the piles of trash everywhere. They have no problem tossing litter out the window, or even using the land in front of their house as a dump. Bags of trash piled up on every corner. Samana is a dirty city. Angel took us on a short tour where we got to see a wonderful view of the city from the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant.

A little jaunt in a shuttle boat and we were back aboard the Norwegian Dawn. We grabbed a quick burger and headed to see Lyle Lovett. During Lyle’s show the ship pulled up its anchors, which made for a loud environment for the show. Glenn Phillips’ fiddle player, Luke Bulla (he and Lyle's mandolin player who used to play for Ricky Skaggs) sat in on a few songs and played some cool solos. Lyle's set was great, with a few obscure tunes thrown in. John Hiatt came out to join him on "My Baby Don't Tolerate," which featured a great section where Hiatt and Lyle's guitarist played dueling solos.

They closed it out with "If I Had a Boat," the perfect end to a great concert on a ship.

As I walked up the stairs I saw Taylor, the guy who had been with us for a while in Samana. He looked quite serene. “How are you doing, Taylor?” I asked. “I’m doing awesome!” He definitely went to get pot.

We then went to see Shawn Mullins. The Accidental Stalking continued when we ran into Lee and Rebecca and watched some of the set with them. He played "Beautiful Wreck." It was a great song. As his set progressed, we started getting a little depressed. The subject matter of his songs was really sad, three in a row, so we all left. We wondered if we could watch “Sophie’s Choice” or talk about 9/11 to cheer up.

We had a few beers at the Pearly Gates, and then Polly headed off to bed. Rebeca, Leigh, and I went to see Oakhurst, a fantastic guitar, bass, banjo, and drum combo. We danced and laughed. I performed a perfectly choreographed dance to an Uncle Tupelo cover of Acuff-Rose. These guys are a great dancing band. Go see them if you ever get the chance. I went to bed at 2:45 AM!!