TROPICAL BREEZES ON MY 'PRIVATE HIDEAWAY' Written by Eddie

Song of America

June 1987

It was June of 1987 and we were on our honeymoon. It was our first time to visit the Royal Caribbean's private resort, Labadee. Beautiful!

Before we left Wayne and Kathy lovingly bought us some matching outfits. After all it was our honeymoon. Our favorite were a pair of red matching tropical print shorts and red tank tops. We were dressed and ready to go in our new duds as our ship, Song of America, slipped into the lagoon. We felt like we were looking at Gilligan's Island. We could see thatched roofs poking out from between the manicured palms. As we tendered to the rust dock we could hear a small local Haitian band playing a tropical number on primitive instruments. There are several small coves with secluded white sand beaches that had obviously just been raked for our enjoyment. Lounge chairs and two-person hammocks were spread around the small peninsula for us to use and we could smell the barbeque smoke emanating from a nearby hut. However, we were young and energetic. We were not there to relax! We were determined to do every activity available. From a scavenger hunt, tug-o-war, and a water balloon toss competition, we joined everything.

When it was time for the water balloon toss we were both hyped up and ready to win. We had already collected ship-shape dollars for our previous wins and we wanted MORE! Christine and I were on the same team. We faced each other about 4 feet apart, then 8, then 12. We were learning that the best way to catch the water balloons without popping them was to squat like a sumo wrestler and let our arms swing under us as we caught them. It was working perfectly. When we were at the 20' mark all eyes were on us. If I caught this one we would win!

I caught the balloon, but this time I had to squat down really far. I heard and felt a RIPPPPPPPPP!! My drawers split from bow to stern! The only thing that held the two legs of my shorts together was the waist band!

I let go of the balloon to cover myself and it fell and popped. We didn't win. But that was the last thing on my mind! All eyes were on me. Christine ran over and gave me a towel to wrap around myself.

We high-tailed it (pun intended) back to the tender dock. As we sailed back to the ship I experienced the cool tropical breezes in a way that I had never experienced before! It was NOT enjoyable!

I changed my shorts and we headed back to land. This time we just rocked in a hammock. I was able to enjoy the tropical breeze this time.