Day 85 – the Truth about Otto
Snorkelling was cancelled again today due to poor visibility. We are rebooked for tomorrow.
We had the usual breakfast, but now we know that sparkling wine is always available. We saw our new German friends at breakfast and had a long chat. The wife reminds us a lot of our friend Dawn in London – very strong-willed and very conservative. We also learned that Otto is not “Otto”, but he likes “autos” and hence that’s why S thought that was his name. His name is really Liam and he’s a little gentleman. We don’t think his mom would tolerate anything else. It’s interesting to learn more about how Germany is faring during the pandemic. Apparently just like the UK and US, there’s a lot of misinformation and the government is using this as an opportunity to control people’s lives.
We grabbed a bottle of Takamaka extra dark from the gift shop and headed to Guest Services to book our dinner. S was pleased to hear that tonight there is a ‘Social Sushi Buffet’ with all-you-can-eat sushi.
S spent the day in the clothing-optional pool, while J hid in the air conditioning and dealt with admin.
Before we knew it, it was happy hour time. S ordered his usual while J tried to go into the water as it was finally nearing high tide. The water was warm and visibility was decent, but J didn’t feel comfortable swimming in light of all the coral and rocks.
We headed to dinner at Sakura. S had lots of sushi and J had the black pepper beef. The selection of sushi was a bit limited, but the tuna, salmon and red snapper sashimi were great. The spicy tuna roll wasn’t that spicy.
Although S thought any families with kids would have headed to movie night and beach barbecue, we ran into Liam/Otto and his parents. His dad’s name is Michael and like anybody else who can afford to travel right now, he is in real estate. Liam/Otto’s mom’s name is Nina. But Liam will always be Otto to us.
Liam/Otto, is so well behaved. J now loves him. Nina tried to put Liam on J’s lap, but he started crying. Apparently, he’s quite shy since he’s a COVID baby and hasn’t socialised much. Another clear consequence of COVID, is that young children are not getting proper opportunities to socialise. J’s next plan is to bribe him with Haribo gummy bears.
We got Michael and Nina numerous rounds of drinks and later, at the bar, Michael brought out cigars. This was a proper fun night and completely unexpected given where we are. We will be partying with Michael and Nina again, for sure.
