Fay does WHAT ???

Fay has entered Florida and is refilling the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, and some people's basements as she is scheduled to take a turn and form a question mark pattern (?) across the state. Very strange pattern, unlike anything that I've ever seen. By the way, nobody in Florida needs a basement. It's a status symbol for the wanna-look-rich-and-famous, but Cap'n Bob says go get yourself a nice wine rack, stick it in the corner and quit being so foo foo! If you have guests coming in, they don't want to sleep in your stinkin' basement - that's why they build Embassy Suites, for goodness sake.

Over the past few years the Government has declared deadlines for having passports, for travel outside the US. In each case so far, they've extended the deadline. It's currently scheduled to be by June 2009, and this time it may be the real deal. Yes there's been some crying wolf going on (have you ever known the Government to get it right on the first try?), but eventually we have to become like EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE PLANET, and have valid passports to travel outside our borders. We Americans have been very complacent about that basically forever, but in this day and age it's a good idea to know someone is actually doing background checks on the people sitting next to you on the plane. Or boarding your ship. We strongly advise anyone who has not yet secured a passport to get rolling. OK, so it's about $100. The passport is good for a decade -- don't you think it's worth $10 bucks a year to have more secure skies, seaports, etc? For me it's a no-brainer. Plus it's very cool to have your passport stamped in foreign countries, and years later you can look back and remember your trip exactly, day-by-day, based on those stamps.

Another reason to get passports sooner, rather than later....let's say you're going on a cruise between now and June 2009, and one of your family members gets hurt or seriously ill, and you need to get off the ship in Mexico (or wherever) to fly back to the USA. NO CAN DO without a passport!! When you're on a cruise, you are allowed to go ashore for excursions for the day, because it's like having a day-long visa to visit the country. But to physically get off the ship to "land", which is required before you could fly out, is impossible if your documentation is inadequate. No, you'll have to stay on the ship until you reach a US port(such as San Juan or St. Thomas) that is reachable by air back to the mainland USA, and you will only have limited medical care on board the vessel. Is that worth the risk to you or your family? Not me, when $10 dollars a year can make it right.

That's all I'm sayin'.......