Towel Art

Months from now, when we look back on our recent vacation, we’ll recall a number of events, incidents, adventures, and misadventures—spotting whales, gorging on lobster rolls, getting an eye-boggling glimpse of Fantasy Fest, and being surrounded at dawn on the Lido Deck by herds of animals and flocks of birds.

 It would have been a nightmare worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock movie except for one thing—these creatures were crafted from towels.

Still, we were startled. Up until then we’d seen only single critters, and only in our stateroom. 

We’d marveled at the way a few choice tucks and folds and a pair of stick-on googly eyes could transform simple towels into a seal or a koala, a penguin, a squid an anteater 

or a . . . 

Say, what are you anyway? 

 

The Lido deck display, however, took us well past mere marveling and into the awed-and-amazed zone.

   

A giant towel monkey sat at a table as if waiting for a refill on coffee to enjoy with the morning paper.

Spiders hung from the rafters of the gazebo.

 

 Alligators and lobsters made their way across the deck.

A giant cobra slithered up a pillar.

 Smaller creatures swarmed the pool enclosure, occupied every lounge chair, and perched on the branches of potted plants.

  The stewards aboard the Rotterdam had risen earlier than usual that morning and created hundreds of critters—all kinds, all sizes, all shapes.

  Like many of the others on board, we grabbed our camera and darted here and there, making ooh and aah noises, clicking away, and trying to stay out of others’ shots.

One passenger, however seemed unmoved by the whole experience.

 

Who knows, maybe he overdid happy hour at the Crow's Nest Bar.

 

 As they say, “if you snooze, you lose.” Within a few hours, the on-deck zoo was no more. The towels were back in service. And only the photographs remain. Carolyn and I were, as usual, astounded by the talent, smiling can-do attitude and artistry of our Holland America crew. They made our trip a memory we'll cherish forever.