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At about 6:00 P.M. on Friday (April 28) I received a call from the Captain of the Carrousel giving me the bad news that the yacht would be unable to leave the canal where it was docked and we would not be able to sail out to the open bay on Saturday as planned. The only bridge that could give us access to the bay had malfunctioned and was in the down position with no sight of a quick fix since a part had to be flown in to fix the problem. While you were all arriving at the party, I was suffering from a severe pain in my gut since the dinner cruise was now going to be reduced to a short sail up and back a narrow canal in front of the Fountainbleu Hotel. I had no idea of how I would break the news to you guys since I knew you had not flown in from all over the country to spend four hours looking at Collins Avenue traffic. We also had a problem of logistics since many would not be attending the party but would be arriving at the Hyatt on Saturday to board the yacht, which would not be there. We scrambled to get enough buses to accomodate everyone and drive you over to the yacht which was locked in the narrow canal. This was an ordeal because we chose a night when most high schools were having their proms so most buses, limos, etc. where spoken for. During much of the evening on Friday and Saturday morning, I was kept informed of the bridge repairs and thanks to the efforts of the crew and captain, they were able to very carefully get the yacht through half of the bridge span which was forced open by the crew working on repairing the bridge. At 3:00 P.M. on Saturday, three hours before the cruise, I received a call from the Captain telling me the yacht had made it to the Hyatt and that all plans were on schedule. Needless to say, I spent a very difficult evening and had very little sleep (just look at the pictures on the yacht). Nevertheless, the Saturday night affair was great and we had a great time. Of course I was exhausted but that did not keep me from enjoying the company of all of you who came to my apartment after the cruise. We stayed up until 4:00 A.M. and it took me a couple of days to recoup from the stress. Obviously the moral of this story is to keep a bottle of scotch on hand for any emergency that may arise. I will be prepared for our next reunion. Maria Restrepo Forte |