Dauphin Island, AL - A short solo trip - July 27-28, 2024

I set the alarm for 4:00 a.m. this morning.  I wanted to make the most of the weekend.  The drive was uneventful until the last 30 miles.  Shortly after I left the Mobile Supercharger, the skies opened up and it poured so hard traffic slowed to well below the speed limit.  I knew rain was forecast for the weekend so I wasn't surprised.

By the time I reached the East End of Dauphin Island, the skies were clear although at times we heard thunder rumble in the distance.

I started with a small piece of beach right near my car that was empty at that moment.  A Willet and a couple of Sanderlings scrambled in the surf.  A few Black Skimmers kept skimming by.

Without even thinking, I laid down in the sand to go eye to eye with the Willet for better photos and stayed there for quite some time.

Willet

When I decided to move on to the main part of the beach, I found some rocks to sit on where I could watch the Black Skimmers more closely.

A Tern - Maybe a Sandwich Tern?

Another tern - Maybe a Royal Tern?

Willet

Brown Pelican

Black Skimmers

I then walked along the beach a bit with my camera and found these Laughing Gulls perched on a fence protecting the sand dunes.

By this point, I had realized my mistake - I had not put on sunscreen.  Plus, I wanted to unburden myself of my heavy camera and just walk.  So I returned to the car to put the camera away and find sunscreen.  Note, to future self - put sunscreen on before laying in the sand.  I tried to brush/wash the sand off but the sunscreen still did not go on well (and as a result I'm just a bit red).

Since I had not eaten breakfast, I checked out the food truck and bought a pickle, chips, and a water before heading back to the beach.  I walked more than a mile down the beach before finding a deserted spot to just sit in the sand where the waves could wash over me.  It was also out of cell phone range so I couldn't be tempted to scroll social media.  I probably spent an hour in that spot, just watching the waves and enjoying the feeding frenzy of pelicans and terns with dolphins jumping among them.

This pause was very much needed, as the purpose of this trip was to clear my head and do some self-care with all the challenges I have been facing in my personal life.

Figuring I had probably had too much time in the sun, I started making my way back to my car.  A sand sculpture context was in full swing and people had gathered around some calmer inlets.

A huge container ship was making it's way to the port of Mobile.

Since I hadn't received notice my hotel room was ready yet, I decided to check out the Indian Shell Mound Park.  Although the birds were really singing, I didn't stay long as the path was a bit muddy and the mosquitos were biting.

So I started the journey back to Mobile where I was staying at a Hampton Inn.  Since I was still a bit early, after parking, I walked over to the Mexican restaurant near by and had some really good ceviche on a tostada.

The room I had selected at checkin still wasn't ready (so all my indecision about what room to select was a waste).  They put me in a first floor room, first one with a lock that didn't work, and then a second room facing away from the parking lot.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hotel room, editing photos, blogging, and just enjoying some quiet.  I was so tired from being up so early, not sleeping well the night before, and spending so much time in the sun that I went to bed about 8:30.

I had been planning on going back to Dauphin Island Sunday morning to swim in one of the inlets.  But with how red my skin was, I just didn't think it was a good idea to spend a lot more time in the sun and 35 minutes each way is a long way to drive for just a quick swim.

So I had leisurely morning at the hotel and then started my trip back home.  The drive home was long and busy.  Traffic was so thick that I came to a complete stop about four different times.  Plus, I went through some downpours that made it difficult to see the car in front.  It was a relief to be pulling off interstate into my city.

I took the Model 3, drove a total of 593 miles, and it looks like averaged around 4.2 miles/kWh which I think is pretty good.  Over four charging stops across both days, I added 112 kWh and spent about 60 minutes charging total.  My longest charging session was 28 minutes in Mobile before heading to Dauphin Island.  With the supercharger being north of my hotel, I wanted to avoid having to charge again until I was ready to head home so I sat far longer than normal to get the car up to a 95% charge (charging speeds really slow after about 70% so that last bit takes a long time).

I did not have access to charge overnight at my hotel so had to depend on the superchargers.  I arrived home with a 29% charge so probably will add about 43 kWh over the next 36 hours through the 110 outlet in our parking garage to get her back up to 100%.

Travel Day - Adventure of the Seas Eastern Caribbean Cruise - April 11, 2024

This trip seemed so far away for so long and then suddenly snuck up on us as the last weeks passed quickly.  We booked this cruise two years ago when the itinerary first came out, at a price we couldn't resist.  It was originally scheduled on the Voyager of the Seas, the oldest ship of the Voyager Class, a class of ships that was the beginning of features like the indoor promenade and ice skating rinks at sea.  Then Royal Caribbean moved a few ships around and switched our cruise to the Adventure of the Seas, a sister to the Voyager.

We began our morning early, around 4:20 a.m., plotted out a route, and made our way to Titusville, Florida where we would spend that night.

Breakfast at the Waffle House in Auburn, AL
(this was our longest charging stop at 34 minutes but only because it took us that long to eat breakfast)

Our first view of palm trees

Courtyard in Titusville (with 6 level 2 chargers)

The view from our room

Fish were jumping, birds were flying around, and we think we may have seen a manatee, all right outside our hotel.  The bridge in the photo leads to the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island.

The drive was fairly uneventful.  It took about 11 hours in our new Model Y.  We made 4 stops to charge which included a breakfast stop at the Waffle House (34 minutes), a bathroom break (7 minutes), lunch at a Wendy's (23 minutes), and a final bathroom break and opportunity to pick up wraps to eat later for supper (12 minutes).  Our hotel had free destination charging.  With the free supercharging miles, our fuel costs were free this trip.  If we had paid for those supercharging stops, it would have cost us about $40.  We had a 6-11 mile per hour headwind the entire trip, along with some rain and wet roads, which probably decreased our efficiency by about 10 or 12%.

Embarkation Day - Adventure of the Seas Eastern Caribbean Cruise - April 12, 2024

 Having been so tired the night before, we went to bed early and thus were up early for sunrise this morning.  We could see the first light of colors from our hotel room window as we were getting ready and then headed out to watch from the river bank.  It was such a peaceful sunrise.

Our stay at the Courtyard Inn in Titusville has really nice.  Staff have been friendly.  The place is quiet and clean.  The front desk found us some toothpaste when we discovered we hadn't replenished from our last trips and would likely be a bit short this week.  And breakfast at the Bistro was really good.

Paul had a breakfast sandwich and I had avocado toast (with roasted tomatoes and arugula plus a hard-boiled egg on the side).

After breakfast, we relaxed in the room, watched the cruise safety videos so we would be ready to stop by our muster station after boarding, and packed up.  Our arrival time was 10:30 a.m. but they asked us to come a bit later due to an annual coast guard inspection.  Paul wanted to make sure we got a parking spot he liked so we still headed over to the port fairly early with plans to just take our time admiring and photographing the ship before entering the port building.  The car is charged up to 90% from the hotel and the port is less than 20 miles away so we didn't need to stop for charging before parking.

We arrived at terminal five at Port Canaveral about 10:50 a.m.  The Disney Wish was docked at Terminal eight right near us.  Further towards the Atlantic, the Allure of the Seas was docked at terminal three and the Carnival Liberty was docked at terminal 1.  We found a nice covered end spot with a view of the ship and then walked up to the top level to get a better view.

We entered the terminal at 11:06 a.m., quickly moved through security and check-in and were in line waiting to board at 11:12 a.m.  The area with seating had already filled up so we were in a standing line.  With the Coast Guard inspection, the ship had not yet cleared yet.  Shortly after we got through, they stopped letting people into the terminal building and we could see the line build up outside and continue well into the parking garage.  That line would persist for quite some time.

About 11:50 a.m., those in the priority lounge were released to board and we finally stepped on board the ship at 12:16 p.m.  I think we arrived at a good time to make it as painless as possible of a process given the Coast Guard inspection.  

Our muster station (C10) was on the other side of the ship, so we crossed through the interior to the port side of the promenade deck, checked in with the muster station attendant and were ready to enjoy our cruise.

We have started making a tradition on Royal Caribbean ships with Johnny Rockets to have embarkation day lunch there.  It comes with a small fee that we discovered has gone up but the peace and quiet are well worth that small fee.  The temperatures were quite comfortable with a breeze making for a really nice lunch

Paul found his first car on the ship outside the arcade

After lunch, we played a round of mini-golf.  Most of the course is up a level but there is a unique hole towards the end where your ball spirals down a deck to finish the last few holes.

The cabins still weren't quite ready so we meandered down to the promenade deck and ultimately to the dining room.  I had discovered in the app that our table number was listed and we wanted to find it.

Our cabin is the third window from the right in the middle row.

See that table for two right up against the window?  That's ours!  We were beyond thrilled and couldn't have asked for a better location.

What a gorgeous three-story dining room!

First drink of the cruise, a Coconut Mojito at Boleros as we waited a few more minutes for our cabin to be ready.

An announcement at about 2:05 indicated cabins were ready so we finished our drink and then headed up to find our cabin.  Paul was pretty excited to have this view out our cabin window.  We had booked a Promenade Interior cabin.  We wouldn't have views of the ocean but we would have some great people watching views.

Here is a tour of our cabin.

Our suitcases still hadn't arrived by the time it was time to sail away so we headed out to the helipad before even getting to unpack.  Sail away was a bit windy but otherwise a beautiful day.  The Disney Wish was parked right in front of us.  In the distance, we watched the Carnival Liberty turn around and leave first.  Then as we were starting to leave, we could see the Allure of the Seas start to leave as well so we followed them out.  Meanwhile the Disney Wish was still in the middle of traditional muster drills.  We could see all the passengers packed on deck.  I'm so glad all the other cruise lines have switched to an eMuster drill.

I love having access to the helipad for the best forward views on a cruise ship!

SpaceX Ships Megan and Shannon, dragon capsule recovery ships equipped with a medical center and helipad.  We forgot to go up on deck later that evening to see if we could catch a glimpse of the rocket launch.

Can you see the Allure of the Seas in the distance?

Disney Wish

We walked the promenade back towards the aft to see if we could get a glimpse of the Wish leaving but it was still back at the dock.  The Adventure of the Seas has a really nice wrap around promenade dock (that does require some stairs in the forward where you go up a deck).

Our suitcases were waiting for us when we returned back to our cabin so we unpacked.  There were only about half a dozen hangers in the closet so we called our cabin steward who brought us more.  Finally being all unpacked, we felt the cruise was really beginning.

I love this window seat!

After relaxing a bit, we dressed for dinner, stopped by the Crown Lounge for a drink (and some really good fried shrimp), and then headed down to the promenade deck to catch the sunset before finding our table.

Dinner was really nice.  Food was a bit slow coming out but our servers were pretty attentive and the Head Waiter seems very enthusiastic in meeting passengers and finding me some good food to eat with my dietary restrictions.  And we really appreciated having our own table.  The assistant waiter also seemed to handle well drink orders which was a nice contrast to the Freedom of the Seas last year where every order for a Chardonnay came back as something else (first a Pinot Grigio, then a Riesling).  

After dinner, we walked the promenade where we didn't really find any music we enjoyed, then stopped at the Champagne bar for a drink, before grabbing a latte and a couple water bottles on the way back to the cabin.