Homeward Bound

Saturday 2/16 – Day Six of our Cruise, At Sea Headed to Ft Lauderdale

Everyone slept in this morning. As we are at sea all day, our plans are simple... relax, swim, relax, play bingo, swim, relax and, oh yes, eat! So that's what we did! Late in the afternoon we did our final packing and placed our bags outside the cabin. Eventually, around 5:30pm, we went to dinner followed by the final show performed by the ships main cast of singers and dancers in a tribute to Broadway. We enjoyed it thoroughly and after a final drink in one of the lounges, called it a night and retired to our rooms.

Sunday 2/17 – Arrival at Ft Lauderdale and the drive to Naples

Up early for breakfast, our luggage having been taken care of the night before, we waited our turn to depart the ship. Eventually our group was called to the gangway and down to the departure lounge shoreside. We collected our luggage, went through customs (no problems) and out to the street where we caught our shuttle back to the parking lot and our car.

The drive home was uneventful ... one stop for gas, lunch in Naples, picked up the dogs from Doggy Day Care and made it home tired but safe and sound.

To see all our photos go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

What will be our next adventure? Stay tuned!!

Grand Turk - British Virgin Islands

Friday 2/15 – Day Five of our Cruise, Grand Turk Island

We slept in this morning as there was no urgency to get up. We wouldn't be reaching port until 1pm, so after getting dressed and bringing coffee back to Tina we all made it to the dining room for breakfast around 9:00am Following a leisurely repast the girls headed for a shopping opportunity then they were going to see a movie in the outdoor theater. Meanwhile, I grabbed the laptop and brought the blog up to date.

On the Pier at Grand Turk

Grand Turk is part of the British Virgin Islands. The administrative and political capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Cockburn Town has been the seat of government since 1766. Formed  over centuries from uplift of coral reefs, Grand Turk is six miles long and just over a mile wide. Like the other islands, Grand Turk is blessed with miles of quiet sugary beaches and is close to several uninhabited cays just waiting to be explored. At the north point of the island, a channel to the sea gives access to North Creek, the only hurricane shelter for yachts traveling between Nassau and Puerto Rico.

Around 12:30pm our ship was docked at the pier and by 1pm we were going ashore. The cruise ship port was developed by the Carnival Cruise Line several years ago. Once on the pier, Tina and Denise led the way to shore. On both sides of the pier were beautiful sandy beaches with umbrellas and lounge chairs with people enjoying a dip in the water or just soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, you couldn't get there from the pier. First we had to pass through several tourist shops and into a courtyard  surrounded by more shops and collection points for people doing a shore tour. 

Wild horses roam the island

From here you could reach the beach. After walking through several shops, we decided to take a taxi into town, look around and maybe have a bite to eat. One of the tourist staff directed us to the taxi stand where we joined several other intrepid souls for the 15 minute ride into town.

Passing the airport we saw a small herd of 'wild' horses grazing along the road. Then, as we passed the old salt pans, we began to see the true nature of the island. Flat and with little vegetation, most of the homes we passed were of stucco, some nice, most poor. 

Arriving in town, we were surprised to find that we were in a very poor (to us) collection of buildings of indiscriminate style and color with two small, collections of stalls selling tourist items and a ramshackle storefront housing a hair salon, bar and linen shop. We walked along the street (literally) and after half an hour decided to return to the port.

One of the vendor stalls in town

Arriving back at the port area we found there were no restaurants, and not being ready for the beach, returned to the ship for lunch. As with our stop at St Maarten, Grand Turk was a disappointment. But we discovered one thing, the best way to visit the Caribbean is to pick a destination island with the resort of your choice and fly there for a week. The other way is to fly to one of the islands and book a cruise on a large sailboat that can leisurely cruise from island beach to island beach! The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to lounging by one of the pools, book in hand and with a frozen strawberry daiquiri at hand!

Tina wanted to make sure we made it to the theater early so we dressed for dinner and ate in the DaVinci dining room. Every meal we ate at the formal dining rooms was absolutely outstanding. From appetizer to dessert, our choices were varied and exquisitely prepared and presented. Service was always superb. I'm sure we are all bringing home a few extra pounds of excess baggage from all the food consumed! After dinner we made it to the theater and found good seats down front. The performer, Steve White, performed a comedy routine predominately around the fact that he is a black man, not white as his name implies. Anyway, he was funny but I'm sure many of the older people in the audience mayn't have enjoyed his style.

After the show we watched a couple performing Flamenco dance in the Piazza where the crew had laid down a wooden platform over the marble tile. They were both quite good though the man was a true professional from Madrid. From there we returned to our room to change. Tina went up to the outdoor theater to watch a movie while I stayed in the room and watched “Hugo”, a story about a small boy living in the clockworks of the Paris Train Station in the 1920's, his efforts to reanimate an automaton left him by his father and how he brought love into the lives of those around him. It was quite good.

Finally, around midnight we called it a day and sacked out.

To see all our photos go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

St Thomas Island - US Virgin Isles

Thursday 2/14 – Day Four of our Cruise, Valentines Day on St Thomas

The ship was just entering the harbor when I got up and went for coffee. Getting to the buffet at 6:30am I decided to eat breakfast and give the girls a chance to catch a few more Z's before getting them up. This let me watch how the ship was able to pivot in place then push broadsides to the pier with her side thrusters nearly doing a 180 before tying up to the pier. Since we had a tour scheduled for 9:30, I took coffee down to Tina at 7:15. She was already up and getting ready to go. Connecting with Denise we headed to the buffet for their breakfast before going down to the pier for our tour.

Arrival on St Thomas - Another day of adventure

St Thomas is a protectorate of the US and is part of the US Virgin Islands. Home to the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie, it has been the heart of St. Thomas’ activities from colonial times to present. Historic buildings found throughout downtown Charlotte Amalie take visitors back to the Danish era when the town was a bustling port of trade; while modern additions of taxis, shops, souvenir vendors and cruise ships in the harbor remind that it is tourism that currently drives the economy. Charlotte Amalie is home to almost half of the islands 51,000+ residents. St. Thomas is largely mountainous. Many roads around the island offer terrific panoramic views of the island and ocean.

We met our group and headed to the bus about 9:40 for a trip to the Atlantic side of the island and a photo opportunity. Our next stop was at an overlook of the Caribbean side of the island for more photos, then it was on to Blackbeard's Castle and our tour.

Blackbeard's Watch Tower

Blackbeard's Castle is actually a collection of properties perched on a hillside overlooking the harbor. Entering into the courtyard we immediately came face to face with a nine foot bronze statue of the infamous Edward Teach, known the world over as “Blackbeard the Pirate”. Our guide gave us some of his history as one of the most successful pirates of his time, having such a fierce reputation that most ships surrendered to him without a fight. On both sides of us were half a dozen life size bronze statues of pirates in various poses.

Immediately behind the Blackbeard's statue was a round lookout tower erected as part of the harbor defenses. Reaching three stories and made entirely from 'ballast rubble' held together by a mixture of sand, lime and molasses, Tina and I climbed the winding staircase to the top of the tower for an unobstructed view of the town and harbor below. Descending the tower we started through the various buildings and gardens that comprised the estate. An old hotel, a Dutch East Indies managers residence, a  bankers home, pools and gardens wound across the hillside. Each of the buildings had been restored  with period pieces in the rooms, giving a sense of the conditions that existed at the time for those of higher station.  On our way to the “Bank House” we walked down a series of steps. Just after Tina reached the bottom, Denise missed a step and fell on her hands and knees giving all of us a scare. Fortunately she was unhurt, just a little shaken up.

Famous Amber Waterfall

After leaving the bankers house we continued our tour down the famous “99 Steps” to the Amber Museum and million dollar Amber Waterfall. The waterfall is a twenty foot tall by six foot wide wall of Amber, collected from all over the world, down which cascaded a sheet of water to collect in a pool at it's foot. Very beautiful!

From the waterfall we entered the museum which had a large display of amber identified as to type, age and location found. Attached to the museum were two shops with amber jewelry for sale and very friendly sales staff. I found several pieces that Tina liked but prices were well beyond what we were willing to pay. Even so, t was nice to look at such a large collection of beautiful pieces.

Eventually we made it down the last of the steps to arrive at Fort Street. As it was now well past noon we stopped in at a small cafe for lunch. We took a seat at an umbrella table in the small courtyard to the rear of the cafe where Denise ordered Rice and Beans, Tina chose a Blackened Chicken Wrap and I ordered a bowl of Conch (pronounced Conk) Chowder in honor of being in the Caribbean! Everything was very good and our waiter, a young man from Minnesota, provided some comic relief!

From the restaurant we proceeded to the waterfront and a series of open air shops or stalls selling everything from jewelery to dresses to hats and offering to do your hair in “Dread Locks”. Finding little of interest we crossed Bay Street and headed towards the water taxi stand. Eventually we came across a group of people from our ship and joined them. As the group moved along the quay toward a replica pirate ship a two masted schooner with a pirates flag atop the foremast pulled alongside us and tied up. Announcing that they were our transport back to the ship we were herded aboard and took seats along the railing. 

As soon as we pulled away from the pier one of the crew started mixing large pitchers of  rum punch. Passing out plastic cups to all who were willing, one of the crew began pouring as another began mixing more. In all I saw over three gallons of rum and four gallons of fruit punch mixed and served. What a fun trip across the harbor to our ship!

Aboard the Pirate Ship

After landing at the pier we made our way back to the ship and a brief nap before dinner. After our refreshing naps, we dressed up for dinner in the formal dining room. Once again we had an excellent meal served by efficient and friendly wait staff followed by a nice desert. Our table guests turned out to be two ladies we had shared a table with several nights previous and so we had enjoyable companions for dinner. After promising to save a couple of seats for them in the theater we excused ourselves and headed for the evening show. Our dinner friends made it in just before the show started. The show was a fantasy production built around a young girls dreams of love and with a very clever production set took the audience through a series of fantastic dreamscapes with songs and dance numbers matching the sets, some underwater, some in forest and some in Las Vegas. It was all very well done and the audience loved it!

After the theater we went to one of the lounges and listened to a Scots comedian who also played the piano. He was really good without resorting to crudity or swearing, plus he played a mean jazz piano style all his own. Leaving the lounge at the end of his act we decided to call it a night and retired to our cabins.

To see all our photos go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

St Maarten Island

Wednesday 2/13 – Day Three of our Cruise, St Maarten Island, Dutch Territory

I was up at 7:15am to go get coffee and watch the ship pull into port and dock. Getting back to the cabin with coffee, Tina was getting dressed and putting on her makeup. We were ready to go by 8:30 and called Denise. Leaving our room we met at the elevator and went up to deck 15 to have breakfast in the buffet. Our land tour said to meet on the pier at 10:30 so we had plenty of time to have a leisurely breakfast before joining the line of passengers departing the ship. Reaching the dock we found our tour guide and waited another twenty minutes for the rest of our group to arrive.

Getting ready for our tour of the St Maarten Zoo

Located at the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, approximately 150 miles southeast of Puerto Rico,  St Maarten Island is often referred to as the crossroads of the Caribbean, first settled by the Arawaks and was discovered by Christopher Columbus on behalf of Spain in 1493. Columbus sighted the island on November 11th, the holy day of St. Martin of Tours, and so named the island after him. For the next 150 years the island was passed between Holland, England, France and Spain. The old stone forts that guard many of the island's inlets are proof of the island's turbulent past. In 1648 St. Maarten was peacefully divided between Holland and France, and today is the smallest landmass in the world to be shared by two sovereign nations.

When everyone was gathered together our guide marched us over to the bus for our ride to the St Maarten Zoo. Leaving the harbor, we traveled through an industrial area which appeared to be in need of rejuvination. Traveling around the perimeter of the inner harbor we pulled off into a small driveway next to a cement plant and parked. This didn't look very promising... but sure enough, there was a sign over the the entrance to a fenced in area that said, “St Maartin Zoo”, so in we went and met the Zoo guide.

St Maarten Zoo

It turns out that the Zoo has been sadly neglected for the past six or seven years, with little maintenance or investment in new facilities and certainly did not match up to the description given in the brochure. However, our guide and the new Zoo director were very passionate about the animals they had there and the plans being put in place to make major changes as soon as ownership passes from the local government to a certified Zoo trust.

There were a large variety Parrots, Macaws, Cockatoo's, Tortoises, several types of Monkey, lemurs, Peacocks, a Coatimundi, Capibara, an aging Baboon and several species of snakes and lizards. 

Holding an Albino Python!

At the end of the tour, we had an opportunity to have our pictures taken with a large parrot on our shoulder and a small albino (yellow) python draped around our upper body. Though the zoo itself was somewhat of a bust, our guide was very informative and shared her knowledge well.

The bus returned us to the dock where we caught a water taxi into town proper and explored some of the shops along Front Street. Lots of jewelry shops, clothing and restaurants. We walked around for a while finally winding our way back to the beachfront for an ice cream. While we got our treat, the sky darkened and a quick rain squall passed overhead. Five minutes later the sun came out and we resumed our stroll along the 'boardwalk' to the water taxi pier where we caught a ride back to the ship.

AA great looking couple!

By now it was 3:30pm and time to take a break. We all headed to our rooms to change then went to the pool to read and relax before dinner. Around 4:30 the ship left port and headed to sea for a slow cruise to our next destination, St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. 

Since we had dinner reservations for 6pm at the Michaelangelo Restaurant, we returned to our cabins and dressed for dinner.

 Arriving at the restaurant on deck five we were seated with several other couples. We had an excellent meal with good conversation in a very nice setting and vowed to do dinner at the restaurants rather than the buffet from here on out. After dinner we made our way to the theater and got seats for that evenings show, a musical review. Along with the ships band, there were two principal vocalists with four other singers plus about a dozen dancers. They performed a number of show tunes and the hour went past quickly. That pretty much wrapped up the day so we retired to our cabins for the night.

To see all our photos go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski