We have just left the island of Fiji on Valentines Day, the first place on Earth to celebrate and a full day before most of you celebrated– and much thanks to all of you for following along.

The Valentines Day card that my bride gave me.

So what better way to honor Valentines day at sea than to mention Philip Baptiste (better known as  Phil Phillips), who working as a Bellboy in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1959, composed the lyrics to “Sea Of Love” and along with George Khoury (local record producer) reached number one on the US Billboard R&B charts.

“Come with me my love
To the sea
The sea of love
I want to tell you
How much I love you…”

When we entered Crystal Cove that morning, it was stunning to see what took place while we slept– the crew of Crystal are unmatched to anything we have ever experienced– mind boggling….

Crystal Cove Lobby

Where do they store all these displays?

Entrance to Waterside

After our shore excursion that morning, having attended to my island of Fiji responsibilities as Chief David, we returned to the ship, had lunch, went back into town for some shopping, returned to the ship and read for a couple of hours up in the Palm Court during afternoon tea, listening to Irina Guskcova, then walked the deck a second time for the day, showered and dressed for the evening.

Dressed for the evening’s festivities.

Post dinner celebration with Trivia Team friends: Kathy and Renee

Let the party begin…….

The details Crystal goes to for these events

One day I hope Crystal names a ship after Benjamin, he is their secret weapon on the high seas

The always lovely and captivating, Irina Guskcova on violin.

Dancing, dancing, dancing.

Crystal Cove Band member

Crystal Cove Band member

As the night’s celebration came to an end, the guests drifting away to their staterooms, some to late night hideaways they call for their own, eight of us remained at the Crystal Cove Bar for a nightcap, and we were glad we stayed. This is where the night began… and Jonathan has been telling us this for awhile now, but here we were, a late night jam session with one of the ship’s officers on trumpet, Richard, who plays at the Cove, on the keys– but then, from somewhere, a gentleman nudged down beside Richard and they began to play, no beginning or end to the music, each musician lost in the trio of sound– and it was beyond words, everyone transfixed as if we ourselves were the catalyst for this to occur… and poof… it was gone and like crossing the International Date Line, this day never existed as we crossed over into the next.

Late night jam session

Richard and guest performer, Kym Purling

Jumping ahead, tonight is a black tie event