It's been a busy spring and early summer so far for 2016. Also we lost my mother and our last Irish Wolfhound, Cina in February, right after we went on our 2nd "Blues Cruise" to Cozumel Mexico Because of all of these changes, somehow we neglected to get a post put on this Blog for the Blues Cruise. It was another great cruise, full of great music and fun, so we wanted to rectify the lack of posting now, by going back for a quick review of the trip.
It started out like our first Blues Cruise, from Miami. And like the first trip we spent a couple of fun days in South Beach before the Cruise Began
The Weather was perfect for walking along the boardwalk to watch the wind surfers glide through the turquoise waters. We love the colorful lifeguard stations in Miami.
We also walked many miles exploring the cool Art Deco districts of South Beach.
Even our hotel was Art Deco, and right on Ocean Drive....a noisy but fun street right across the street from the beach. Marlene is sitting in the Cheshire Cat's Chair I think, inside our hotel.
Marlene standing in front of a monument, that we can't recall what it was memorializing, however this was in a park where there was an art museum and a life jazz performance going on which we enjoyed for a while before continuing our explorations.
After a long day of walking all over south Beach we topped the day off with these huge drinks, and then rolled into bed.
On our first day of the cruise as we left Miami with the wind blowing through our hair, we enjoyed the first of many performances outside on the Lido deck
One of many of the great artists we enjoyed was Eric Gale, and his unusual left handed guitar playing.
The great thing about these cruises was the opportunity to see new artists. We discovered many on this cruise that we continue to follow.
And of course the highlight of these cruises is always Joe Bonamassa, who we saw in more than one performance. During this particular performance, pictured above, we had unusual viewing position on the rail right above and behind the stage.
This familiar face is that of Anton Fig, the long time drummer for Paul Shaffer's Band on the David Letterman show. He was Joe's drummer on this cruise.
Another highlight of the performances this year was Beth Hart. She had individual performances as well as a performance with Joe Bonamassa
Our one stop on this cruise was Cozumel. Here's Marlene on the dock as we wait for our excursion to begin. Our ship is in the background, the Norwegian Pearl.
At our first stop on the Cozumel excursion was at a Mexican cultural center where we watched a performance of these young men doing a traditional Mayan pole spinning display.
We then went to a small village where we saw this ancient Mayan temple and Marlene posed with a native (for a small price)
An impromptu Mexican flag, near the beach
All in all a great cruise, and now we start planning for Blues Cruise #3
