Trinidad and Barbados

I just realized I never finished this blog about our cruise.  So please forgive me and I will try to remember what we did. After so many stops and so many beaches, it is hard to keep them separate.

One thing I did though, was to collect a few pieces of shell or (dead) coral from each beach visited and these are labeled!  At Bonaire, our first beach, I saw a really cute mobile made of this type of thing and fishing string, or wire.  It only hung straight down, didn't chime or anything and was really cute.  I have been home now for 3 months and have not made my mobile. But I really do intend to!

I was really looking forward to seeing Trinidad, we even got Yellow Fever shots for this island!  I had read things about the port and all that made Trinidad sound not so great, but I was willing to see for myself.  Landing was really exciting because it was a mini Carnival feeling, with steel bands and people dressed as if it was carnival.  Really exciting to walk through that!  And then there was a market just outside the port. This was good too, I bought Martin a Rasta hat and myself some little bags I might copy for Rangers!

Again, our plans were to get a feel for the island and not do anything else and again, this did not happen!  We ran into Peter and Helen and ended up going to another beach for the day.  Trinidad is more industrial and did not have a nice feel to me. The beach was dirty and not very pretty. Then to top that off, the current was really bad and there were red flags on the beach. So we really could not swim.

Looking back, this would have been a good island to sit out and just enjoy the ship.

I don't remember anything outstanding about the last night.  It did not seem very special.  I seem to remember on other cruises that there would be more of a farewell type atmosphere. But I think Princess used up all that atmosphere on the Great British Sail off they did on Thanksgiving. Looking back, I would have expected more of that type of feeling.

Landing at Barbados was somewhat of a surprise since I didn't know we would have time there to see the island. So Alan and I agreed not to do anything and this time we didn't!!! 

Ok, we did go off ship and look at the little marketplace at the port.  I bought some coffee there, was really excited about that and have not even tried it yet.  Maybe this weekend....

Sorry for no photos, but just wanted to finish this. I really should describe our journey home, but that will have to be another day!

             "The best way to get a law repealed is to enforce it striclty."  Abraham Lincoln

Getting to Trinidad

Trinidad – Our Last Port

Good morning!  We are just about to dock at Port of Spain, Trinidad.  With this being Sunday, we have been told that there will not be much open.  That is fine with me, I have been very good about not buying too much as we have a very restricted amount of luggage allowance. So the less temptation the better!

Doing my blog so quickly yesterday caused me to end it and say goodbye before the real end.  The real end still went out because I am doing this blog as a document and then cutting and pasting.  I have to then cut all the pictures I want to put on, then paste them back.  It can be a very slow process and I missed the picture of the Unexpected Boys, I was going to add it here, but I can't seem to beat the computer into submission and have given up!

We have visited two ports since the last time I wrote – St Lucia and St Vincent.  These islands, along with Antigua have quite a bit of hurricane damage.  St Lucia has a famous landmark – which is two peaks, called the Pitons.  We were told the roads were so bad, it would take too long to get to see them. Although I did hear of one couple who did see them.  They were gone all day though.  Lucky for me to wake up so early every day- I saw the Pitons in the distance from our balcony. I usually wake up early when travelling, it is my way of dealing with jet lag.  I never thought about the fact we do not shut our curtains and the light does start streaming in fairly early. 

I have heard that there is snow at home so I am trying to really enjoy the sight of sun and waves from our balcony.  Every day the ship has retail specials out on the Atrium.  These have ranged from a Jacqueline Kennedy jewellery collection, to chains you can buy by the inch, fashion rings and lots of other things hard to live without!  Last night they were offering fleeces and warm vests and the people were flocking to them!  We are concerned about going home to snow, especially with a 5 hour journey, after landing at Manchester, to get there!

My Mom has cruised extensively and I remembered she had visited St Maarten and St Lucia.  So I was really looking forward to these islands.  St Maarten was fantastic, but I was disappointed in St Lucia.  It was not at all what I expected. 

Every day when Alan and I get off the ship, we intend to wander around and maybe just enjoy a relaxing day.  We don’t intend to have an activity daily.  But, so far, we have!  The only shore excursion planned was my ill fated beach horseback ride, but there are so many taxies and buses and guides to take you places, at a fraction of the cost of the cruise ship, that we end up finding a person we like and going with them.  At St Lucia, we were not going to do this!

Ok, we did!  Cyrus was our driver – there were only four of us to start with –Ron and Barbara, Alan and me.  Driving along, we spotted Helen and Peter and they jumped in!  He was not as chatty as Dennis had been the day before and that suited all of us.  Our first stop was a little market place on a hillside.  This was real pressure, I ended up negotiating with a man about a set of jewellery made of volcanic stone.  It started at $28 and I got it for $10.  I think the fact I really didn’t want it was a great negotiating point!  (I wore it at dinner that night and it is really pretty!) Getting back in the taxi, we were all buzzed, possibly comparable to surviving walking across a minefield.  Not really pleasant.

So the next stop was a bit wasted on me and I am so sorry about that.  Only about 5 minutes later we stopped at the highest point in the city, not the island, but it was high.  There was one man sitting there, with a huge baseball cap on – Michael.  He told us how Rastafarians made dishes out of the Kalabash.  Very interesting and pointed out various points of interest.  Then he pulled out yet more necklaces and asked us to support him as he was on his own.  There were really cool, some in Rasta colours, some not, but made with stone ginger seeds from the rain forest.  I resisted and then regretted it the rest of the day. Not only were they really cool, but he was on his own; or appeared to be anyway.

Alan asked him about the hair and the hats and Rastafarian beliefs and he was really interesting.

Michael’s hat was not the highest we saw – and we saw many on this island.  I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but some of the men’s hair required hats so high to cover them that they really looked related to Madge Simpson.  The reason they wear these is to protect their dreadlocks from the elements.  Michael has not cut his hair for 14 years and he said his dreadlocks went almost down to his waist.

After returning to the dock area, Alan and I walked around.  So far, this was the most poverty we have seen at a port.  The people were all very nice to us, but it did not feel right to be walking around in their areas, so we did go closer to the ship eventually.  After a few attempts to visit the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. This was the first church we have seen with open doors and Alan really likes to visit local churches and take pictures!  The first attempt ended due to a funeral, but we returned an hour later and the funeral was over.  There were lots of murals painted on the walls with all black saints and numerous paintings of Jesus as a black man.  The wooden ceiling also had these murals, but they were very faded.

Oh, to give an idea of how isolated I have been on this trip (I avoid news and tv and papers and magazines)  I only found out yesterday that there has been an announcement of William and Kate getting married in April.  How on earth did I miss that!!!!

I did not appreciate that on Granada and Bonaire that there were no duty free shopping areas and with the jewellery stores like Diamonds International and Columbian Emeralds, EFFY and Tanzanite International.  It just became the done thing to wander at all these fantastic stores at every stop.  They are not on St Lucia and St Vincent.  I was surprised at first, but it is much nicer to see real people.  But then, these two islands have been the poorest we have seen.....

St  Vincent

Alan and I had the same game plan on St Vincent – we were going to walk around and maybe not do a tour. Then we saw another couple we met: Sheila and George talking to a man about the same trip we had talked about with another driver, so we went with them and an American couple from Oklahoma.  (that makes a total of 3 Americans I have met on this trip!) We visited a small waterfall, and I bought a Rastafarian necklace! I found the one Helen had bought, but I got one a bit different; instead of the stone ginger seeds, mine are Queen Bean seeds- bright red and black. I also saw the same style necklace made with other seeds, including pussy willow!

Our driver’s name was Conrad and he was nice enough, but very excited about the upcoming election on December 13.  Apparently, “everyone” hates the Prime Minister ("Ralph No More" was one poster)  and can’t wait to vote him out.  It was obvious there was a bit of hysteria building up when we drove through the little villages along the coast.  Not only were there many posters, but also campaign graffiti on walls, buildings and the street itself.  (it was also in both party colours so someone must like Ralph). 

Conrad took us to a black sand beach on the volcanic side of the island – the other side has white beaches.  We only had 20 minutes and only Sheila and I went in.  The water was so clear that I could see my toes clearly in water up past my shoulders.  Mount Wind Bay Beach.

The highlight of this tour was visiting the set of one of the scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Conrad showed us where Johnny Depp stayed while filming.  We had time to wander around and also to have a drink (mango juice for Alan and me, I guess my 11:00 am cocktail hour is becoming a thing of the past) Having never seen a Pirates movie, we didn’t know what to take pictures of!

Just before being dropped off at the ship, Conrad took us to St George’s Cathedral.  There was a choir practising for the Christmas service and it was absolutely beautiful.

I got back early enough for book group!  We all met at the Champagne bar.  Not what I expected though.  At my own book group, if we had met at the Champagne bar, we would have been drinking champagne!  We merely met to discuss the book “Vision in White” by Nora Roberts.  (the bar was not open anyway) We agreed that we thought it might have been a bit “light” for a book group book, but the discussion was really fun and interesting.  Last month’s Princess Book Group book is the one I had actually planned to suggest to my own group in two weeks.  I was pleased to hear it had been very successful and I just might use some of their discussion points when we meet to discuss it. 

Just coming into Trinidad now.  Alan has spotted 4 shipwrecks already, so I am going on the balcony now!

“The man who is content with what he has is a very rich man”

Happy Belated Thanksgiving from St Vincent!

Hello from another internet cafe near the ship!  We have had trouble getting good signals and I will try to catch up again:

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is very early morning on Thanksgiving day!  Strange not to be at home and celebrate with family.  However, since I moved to Scotland, Thanksgiving has become a moving feast, usually happening on the weekend following the Thursday.  I tried the traditional timing, but with no day off, it was too much like hard work and not enough enjoyment.

The anytime dining is working fantastically!  We sit at a different table every night and have met such a wide variety of people!  The conversation flows and this has been a really good move for us.  Now we cannot seem to get anywhere on the ship quickly as we have met so many nice and interesting people!

The service in either dining rooms is absolutely superb too.  I have an intolerance to the spice Cumin.  This was noted on my passenger information and the head waiter discusses tomorrow’s meals with me at dinner so that I can order anything I want.  It is not as easy to avoid Cumin as you would expect.  For example, last night I ordered the rib eye steak – simple enough.  When it was served, I got a separate gravy dish, everyone else had the gravy on their steak.  Why?  Carlos, the head waiter, explained that there was Cumin in the gravy.  Who would have guessed that?

At first, it felt very strange to have such personalized service, but I am getting used to it and am grateful that I don’t have to think about what I am eating, at dinner anyway.  Tonight’s menu was such a problem though:  I wanted every main course; Alaskan Halibut, Maine lobster tail, a turkey dinner with all the works and Sirloin Steak.  Best menu of the trip!  I told Carlos my dilemma and he said I could have a little bit of both.  I didn’t go that route, but will have lobster tail for appetizer and turkey for dinner. 

                                                                     Alan and Pat - Tortola

On Tuesday morning, after 3 days at sea, you could really feel the excitement at breakfast! The whole ship was buzzing with the chance to escape.  I think we were all a bit stir crazy.  Alan and I got off the ship and found a taxi with the couple we met at Bonaire and about 20 others on it.  They were going to Cane Garden Bay beach, so we jumped in!  The taxi driver’s name was Byron and he asked us if any of us knew the Queen.  Strange question, but his point was, if we did, could we tell her about the state of the roads on Tortola? They were really bad, as we got to see firsthand whilst going up a very steep mountain and then down the other side to the beach.  (Tortola is part of the British Virgin Islands)Tthe damage on both Tortola and Antigua roads is due to the most recent hurricane.

Having lived in the Miracle Strip (the Fort Walton Beach, Florida area), where what I consider are the world’s most beautiful beaches, I must admit I am a bit of a beach snob.  So when I say this beach was one of the best I have been to, I really mean it!  The waves were the best I have ever encountered for body surfing.  (I have the scraped legs to prove it!)  they were just perfect and seemed to demand that I spend most of my time in the water making the best of them! 

Cane Garden Bay Beach, Ron and Barbara behind me

We did have time for a frozen marguerita, then noticed it was only 11am.  Eleven o’clock in the morning is becoming my cocktail hour and I am a bit concerned about that! (Not really!)  Later, I discovered a stall selling Fritos corn chips!  Have not seen them in years and truly enjoyed that!

Tortola didn’t have much shopping or anything else for us to do. A tour of the island would have taken too long after a morning at the beach.  But we loved being there.  Another thrill was walking on actual grass!  (3 days at sea makes you a bit crazy!)

This view of our ship docked at Tortola looks really impressive.  But our next stop – Saint Maarten – had 6 cruise ships all docked together and one of them was the current biggest liner, which can carry over 5,000 passengers.  The Sea Princess we are on, was the smallest one there! 

Saint Maarten

When we found the internet cafe yesterday morning and I called the blog that day Sint Maarten, I had not yet experienced this island.  But now that I have I am so impressed by it and wish we could have spent at least 2 days there!  They recently gained their independence and officially are called Sint Maarten now.  The half of the island that is French is called Saint Martin.  A bit confusing!

The reason we chose this particular cruise was because it docked at Saint Maarten, Alan has always wanted to see the famous beach where the planes go right over your head and folks get blown into the sea by the plane exhaust.  I did not think this would be my idea of a good time, but I went along for the beach aspect of the trip!  Another couple joined us for the journey.  With at least 20,000 people coming off the ships, we were very concerned about traffic and when early.  Not only was it really exciting to see these planes come so close but the beach was also really nice.  Tiny compared to the pictures I have seen, but the water was perfect.  We were told there was NO sand at all on this beach 2 weeks ago as a result of the recent hurricane.  But I am grateful that it came back. 

Not one of the biggest we saw, but the best showing Alan in the beige shorts right under it!

Alan and I had gone in early to scout out how to find a taxi to take us to Maho Beach to see the planes, and also to find the internet cafe.  I feel so lucky that we did this because we experienced a completely different island than most people.  Peace, perfect peace!

No one on the beach!

After swimming and seeing the planes, we did the obligatory shopping since this island is famous for shopping! We had a great time too, very successful – from jewellery to Liz Claiborne handbags to beach dresses and a bottle of rum!

We are just about to dock in Antigua, so I will say goodbye for now. We have been told there is an internet cafe at the casino, so we will go there first and then explore.

Antigua

We decided not to go straight to the casino and spent a lovely day being driven around Antigua by Dennis Friday!  He is a 70 year old man who loves to talk and take visitors all over to see the island.  We had agreed to go somewhere with another couple, Helen and Peter, and had gone out early to see what sort of trip we could arrange.  Dennis seemed the most fun and he was great.  We were taken all around Antigua and shown a variety of things about the island, like the football stadium.  Not the new one apparently, but the most historic one, where lots of famous football (soccer) players originated.  Funny how only the men got off at this stop!

Dennis gave alot of history and took us to Shirley Heights, showed us Eric Clapton’s house way over in the distance and drove us through the rain forest.  This was one thing I was excited about, and it was really a non-event.  I think this was not the best example of a rain forest....

Eric Clapton’s house (we think it is the house with the red roof- upper left corner, got confused by Dennis!)

Then he asked if anyone wanted to go to the beach, there were only about 6 of us and he dropped us off and a nice, quiet beach called Dark Wood Beach.  We spent two hours there and almost immediately – both Helen and I injured ourselves!  I was not watching where I was going and hit a rock with my right foot.  For a few hours, I was not sure if one of my toes was broken.  Now that it is morning of the next day and the toe is only a bit sore, I think I am ok.....Not happy with the idea of dancing yet though!  Helen was more spectacular – she got slam dunked into the coarse beach sand by a wave, landed on her knees and bled for a long time.  Strange thing though; we could not stop laughing.  It happened so fast and really was funny, I just wish someone had videoed it. For most of the two hours, Helen and I hobbled around together having a great laugh about it all.  I had to help Helen get past the strong waves going in, she had to help me get over the steep drop of sand getting out (I could not put weight on my right foot and this would have been very painful without her help.) This would be the lame equivalent of the blind leading the blind!

Sadly, I must admit that this was not one of our favourite destinations.  But at least we can say we have been here.

We found a different place offering free wifi – Cheers Bar, just up the street from where our ship was docked.  So our plan was to spend the last hour or so there, which we did.  While Alan was setting up the laptop, I went to get two of the local beers  - Carib.  Coming back to the table only to learn that the system was down   L  There was a man at another table, who told us about two other signals and we found Behive2.  This was amazingly slow and almost impossible to use, meanwhile the clock is ticking.......  I managed to just get out a Happy Thanksgiving message on Facebook and virtually no more.  I had wanted to be a bit more personal, but glad I got out something general. Better than nothing.  Maybe today we will have more luck and more time.

We will be on St Lucia in about 2 hours.  I think Alan and I will spend time just relaxing and getting a feel for the island rather than doing too much.  But time will tell...

One thing I have not mentioned so far  on this blog is the evening entertainment.  Which has not been exceptionally memorable, apart from three acts.  There was a ventriloquist that was so funny and fun to watch.  One part of it was to get two people from the audience and give the dummy mouths. Then he spoke for them, very clever and really funny.  His name is Jimmy Tamley and really worth looking up on Utube or something.

With the bad weather on Grand Turk, the changeover of acts got a bit confused and we missed a few getting on the ship. Somehow the entertainment staff got ahold of an American group called “The Unexpected Boys”. They are a tribute band based on the show “The Jersey Boys”.  They were absolutely fantastic. I don’t usually like tribute bands, but these guys were so good I bought the CD!

I will have to write about Saint Lucia  and St vincent another day, poor Alan has fallen asleep beside me waiting to use HIS computer!

The Unexpected Boys

Last night a Scottish man called Kyle Esplin played the piano for us.  We almost did not go to this because we were too tired.  Boy am I glad we changed our minds.  You would have thought Jerry Lee Lewis was onstage.  Having seen Jerry Lee Lewis at the Ramada Inn, Dothan Alabama when I was about 16, I am able to say this.  OK!  He was only eating breakfast at the same time as me, but it is the best I can do!

Kyle was amazing and told us he has actually been invited to play at Jerry Lee Lewis’ birthday parties a few times.  We had been advised by someone who had seen the first show to sit where you could see his hands move.  Great advice.  They flew across that keyboard!

The ship was all decorated for Thanksgiving and my decadent Thanksgiving dinner of Maine Lobster tails and turkey with the works was fabulous.  Topped off by delicious Pumpkin Pie.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  It was odd being so far from home and not being able to communicate.  I don’t recommend being away from family and friends on such a special day, but if it had to be – why not spend it on a Caribbean cruise!

“Life is a journey, enjoy the ride”

Sint Maarten!!!

After over a week of being on sea and not finding any internet when on land, we are on Saint Martin or however people chose to spell it!  Beautiful island, too early to comment but I have all my blogs stored up and will post them now.

Having a great time! 

RELS

We have had the most relaxed day ever.  This is an “at sea” day, meaning we are at sea all day, travelling from Granada to Bonaire.  We have been driven away from the pool once or twice due to heavy showers, and I mean heavy!  We had to wring out our towels, before we realized we merely had to ask for dry ones.  After all, there is alot of staff onboard to see to our every need!  Or at least dry towels....

The majority of the passengers onboard are from the UK.  So far, I have not met anyone else who is not British, apart from the staff.  I feel like I am the only one drinking iced tea and actually putting cream in my coffee!  It was very obvious last night at the first show of the trip just how jet-lagged everyone was; the audience was half asleep!  The comedian headlining this show must have been used to this and based his whole routine on getting used to being onboard and also being extremely tired at his show.  He mimicked someone getting off the elevator and doing a sort of figure eight - is it this way, is it that way, no it’s this way - to remember which side of the ship their stateroom was on.  Well, this is the third day onboard and I found myself still doing that, so I developed a word to help me remember, similar to POSH (port out starboard home).  Mine is RELS-Right Elevator, Left Stairs.  I have tested this all day and found my room no problem!  I usually just follow Alan but was out and about on my own today, at the pool and at line dance class!  Alan just informed me we are on the starboard side.

Although this is my third cruise, I have never had a room that looked out upon the ocean.  This time, we have a balcony!  I thought I could take it or leave it, but it is fantastic to wake up and look out and see little islands in the distance or amazing stars or flying fish and seabirds.  Alan saw a pod of dolphins while I was at the pool earlier today.

Dolphins

Alan is suffering bravely by allowing us to eat in the formal dining room!  He prefers the informality of the buffet and, based on our first experience last night, it is also much faster to do the buffet.  We are with a table of eight.  I really wanted to do this for two reasons:  1. so we could do the formal nights!  And 2.  So we could meet more people.  Unfortunately, all 6 of the other people are much older than we are and we feel like children.  Not sure how long we will last at this.  However, there is another option – any time dining.  Still in the dining room, but not with assigned tables and times.  I feel this one coming. 

Snorkelling on Eden Beach, Bonaire, Dutch Antilles

Yes, we are truly in the West Indies now!  After our amazing day at sea yesterday, we docked at Bonaire this morning.  This island looks beautiful and we are told no one hassles you here, great!

Kenneth

After convincing Alan we had to go on a snorkel trip, the excursion was cancelled!  So when we disembarked, we found a couple asking the taxi drivers about going to a snorkel beach!  Perfect, we joined them and had a great morning at Eden Beach.  The taxi driver was Kenneth and looked perfect! 

The fish were absolutely beautiful, all turquoise and purple and yellow and shiny and everything.  I have not been snorkelling in years and it took a while to remember how to breath, but was so worth it

Bonaire (view from our balcony)

Lucky for us, the sky fell in just as we were finished at Eden Beach! We actually beat the really bad rain and are now safely sitting on our balcony watching all our fellow travellers arrive back completely drenched! 

We saw the Syd Little show tonight.  He was half of Little and Large, probably not known in the US, but they were very popular in the UK from the 70’s to the 90’s.  This show was just his memories and experiences and was really interesting, even for me.  I was aware of their act when I moved here, but I never watched them get discovered and all that part of their career.

Curacao!!

So far, the perfect day!  Not only did we not get hassled and not get rained on, but we also just had a nice day, complete with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream!   This island is part of the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.  They are in the Dutch Antilles.  The Dutch heritage in Curacao is very obvious from the very first view:

Willemstad, Curacao

There is no unemployment and very little crime on this island, mainly due to the oil industry.  And you could see the refineries in the background, but we wandered up and down the little streets all day and the refineries were never a problem.

We discovered a floating market, and a delivery truck full of watermelons arrived. The delivery people had decrepit rowboats and they were thrown the watermelons.  Then rowed them to the respective boats. 

Other people went to the beaches and had a good day, but we spent our time taking pictures and enjoying the ambience of the place. 

Once back on board, I had to go to the library and get my book group book! We will be reading Nora Roberts “Vision in White”.  It will be interesting to see how this group operates – the one I belong to at home is fantastic, but based more on enjoying each other’s company than dissecting plots, etc!

We had to leave Curacao at 3:30 because we are travelling a huge distance now – to Grand Turk.  Tomorrow will be another at sea day and I am looking forward to that!  There was supposed to be an island party tonight on the upper deck at the pool area.  For the first time, ever, Alan and I got there early enough to get a table!  Which we then had to move – too close to the pool and the ship was hitting huge waves and causing tidal waves to come out from the pool and over our table.  Once moved, we were then told the party had to be rescheduled due to bad weather, but we could go down to the Vista Lounge and have an indoor Caribbean party.  Too bad though because they had done so much work to prepare for this.....

We, I really should say I, had a great time at the Caribbean party.  It was meant to be solely Caribbean, but they could not get anyone on the dance floor, so they gave in and played a few line dance songs to get everyone out. After that, there was no going back and I learned a lot of new Caribbean dances.  Funny though, we have passengers from Barbados and Trinidad onboard. They did not need to learn dances with steps; they just had the rhythm anyway.  (At one point I looked up at Alan and he was asleep!)  What a weird feeling to dance on a floor that might not be in the position you would expect when you move your feet! 

At Sea

These at sea days are absolutely wonderful! So far, two hours of early morning sun, followed by line dancing and then Martini demonstrations.  I won an Appletini and am struggling to finish it so I can go to lunch!  After lunch is a 5K run/walk to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  What happened to time to relax?

Later – The “On Deck for the Cure” 5K event raised $500.00  and Princess matches that amount.  They say this cruise had the best turnout for the run/walk.  However, as a result of having such a good turnout, I never got a hat!  I am really disappointed too, since this was the first Breast Cancer event I have ever done.  They might get more in when we dock in Barbados, but we will be on our way home then......I had put off buying a hat waiting for this one. 

We had to set our clocks one hour back this morning.  So we are now 5 hours behind the UK and the same time as the Eastern US.  This won’t last long though, I think once we leave Grand Turk, they go forward again....

Today I was lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins!  It is amazing to see them cavorting in the waves in the open ocean. We are on the 11^th deck, called Aloha.  Being this high makes the dolphins look about 2 inches long!  I saw lots of flying fish, and am amazed at how far they can fly. They look like little birds and the seabirds just wait for them and take them out!  Poor little things.

G

Gannet after catching a flying fish

I am hoping after my horseback ride on the beach tomorrow morning, that Alan and I can find an internet cafe and send this blog. 

At Sea – Again!

Due to gale force winds, a high current, a reef too close to the harbour and Grand Turk not having a tug boat, we were not able to dock today.  It was an odd feeling.  Alan and I were eating breakfast and expecting the ship to dock any minute.  The next thing we knew, we were nowhere near land!  The Captain came on the intercom and announced what I started this with.  So no internet and no horseback riding on the beach.  I must say I am really, really disappointed about the horseback riding.

We never even saw Grand Turk! 

Alan and I spent the morning at the pool.  I have read half of my book group book; really good too!  Then I went to another line dance class.  There must not be many feelings stranger than doing a grapevine on a dance floor that leans a different direction than you started.  It was very bumpy and quite challenging to dance today.  After a few screams and lots of laughs, it was worth it though.  (No one was injured during the dance!)

I also got to go to a craft class! These are usually scheduled at the same time as line dance and can’t compete with dancing.  We did little gift boxes.  Cute and easy!

The Captain explained that they tried to find another port for us to visit, but this is a busy season and there is no room for us anywhere else. Tomorrow was another planned sea day, which means we will be at sea for a total of 3 days before being able to land at Tortola.  I sure hope they have a tug boat!

 Looks like it might be time for a nap on the balcony! 

Still at Sea!!  Day 3

Today was yet another very relaxing day at sea.......giving us a total so far of 4 sea days and 3 days visiting islands, one of which was too intense, one that was rained out and one that was lovely.

I did the mundane task of laundry today.  In between loads and drying,  Alan and I guarded our sun loungers!  With so many people stuck onboard for so long now, there is a bit of tension regarding sun loungers!  One couple we met told us they witnessed sun lounger rage yesterday at the pool! The rule is you cannot reserve a sun lounger for more than 30 minutes.  When they saw this situation begin, there was a man on a lounger and a woman came up and told him he was on her’s.   However, he had been on it for over 2 hours....she was not amused, tipped up the lounger and kicked him in the stomach!  That is where the story ended, unfortunately.  But it is true that there are not enough loungers and if you do not intend to return in decent time, why not let someone else have it?

Yesterday, we sailed between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  We were supposed to go north of Puerto Rico today, but the weather conditions are not the best, so we are retracing our steps a bit. Then, with any luck, tomorrow we will be ON Torola and OFF the ship!

Today was the last of the planned sea days, and I was able to attend the line dance class again. We got certificates of attendance this time!   I don’t think I will ever enjoy line dancing as much anywhere else though.  Using the ship’s movement or protecting yourself against this same movement, made dancing so much more of a challenge. 

I also attended the last official arts & crafts session.  We did really cute butterflies from wrapping paper.  You can take the girl away from Guides, but you cannot take Guides away from the girl!  Meaning, I have now have two really cute activities for my Ranger unit. (we did little gift boxes yesterday)

This is the second formal night and our first in the anytime dining. So I am looking forward to that.  We switched to anytime dining a few days ago and really like it so much better.  It is the same menu and same level  of service. The people all dress up for dinner just the same.  The only difference is you go when you want and get placed at random tables. So there is more opportunity to meet people. 

“What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”

photos for previous blog

The World

Me taking pictures of the little volcanic islands, note the running clothes.  Alan and I are running/walking to enable us to take better advantage of the beautiful food!

A short lived UK/US invasion of Granada!

Hello from the lovely shore of Granada! And when I say lovely shore, what I mean is lovely Sea Princess.  Alan and I attempted to discover Granada this morning and did not last long.  As we docked this morning, it was to pastel pink and blue skies over little volcanic islands, just beautiful. 

We took our time leaving the ship as we were not joining any official shore excursions, we just wanted to wander and get a feel for Granada.  Well, that lasted less than one hour!  Now I understand why people pay for shore excursions!  I had been warned by a colleague at work at how hard the locals hassle the cruise line guests, but I really did not believe it.  Now that we have lived it, let me tell you – it is extremely unpleasant.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone was lovely and friendly with huge smiles on their faces.  They also informed me how grateful they are to America for the invasion in 1983.  Since I did not fully understand what that was all about, it was very interesting to hear the story from people who live on an island that the United States actually invaded!

However, as I had been forewarned, once you leave the air conditioned little shopping mall right at the cruise ship dock, it is fantastically down hill from then on.  People come out of nowhere asking if you want a taxi, offering to sell spice – but the worst one was Mr Percival Smith.  At first he seemed like a gregarious older gentleman, down on his luck, but easy to talk to and really nice.  But we realized he had elected himself as our Guide and we were not going to get rid of him for any reason under the sun.  So we ended up back onboard.  Honest!  Well, at first, we dodged him and then he found us, then others just like him were everywhere we looked. Very unpleasant and, hopefully, not to be repeated on other islands!

We will be going back onshore soon because there is free wireless internet there.  The wireless package on board is too expensive for limited minutes and we are told the satellite connection causes the signals to be very slow. So I will not be posting blogs unless I stumble across something similar to the set up on Granada.  Ok, I guess Granada is not all bad then!  (It does look beautiful, we were just not given sufficient time to take it in.)

Getting here, again, had a few obstacles.  On the drive down to Manchester, my car developed a metallic ringing noise.  And this is the only car we could use at the moment as we are in the midst of changing our big car.  We held our breath, driving through snowy mountains, but made it ok.  The hotel was lovely, just a cheap airport hotel – Premium Hotels. But perfectly fine in everyway. And the restaurant was not overpriced for the captive audience. 

Would it be a surprise if I went anywhere in the UK and did not know someone? Well, that did not happen.  At Manchester Airport waiting for the same flight to go on the same cruise is a woman I know from Ayr.  She remembered me just fine, but I could not remember her name, which is Evelyn. I have not seen her since we got off the plane either.

Another obstacle course, remember when we got a deal to compensate for the inconvenience of travelling to Manchester due to Princess CruiseLines mistake of overbooking the Edinburgh flight?  We were supposed to have onboard spending money, it is not here.  Just something to keep us occupied for a few days getting that straightened out.  Life would not be interesting without the little obstacles!

Oh, when we boarded the Sea Princess at Barbados, she was docked along side “The “World”.   I seem to remember that this cruise ship was the biggest ever built, once upon a time.  It was out at Ayr Harbour a few years ago and seemed enormous.  Well, cruise ships get bigger all the time, and our ship is actually bigger than the world!

I had tried to add photos to this blog, but could not do it in the limited time we had, sorry!

I saw a little saying at the mall on Granada and meant to write it down, but I will try to remember it and share it with you:

Dig the garden and plant the seeds. Don’t wait for someone else to bring you flowers.

Just about on our way!

I started to post this in mid-September, but got sidetracked.  Since it is now mid-November, that might give an idea of how easily I do get sidetracked!

In the meantime, we did find a cruise that we liked - the Sea Princess, leaving from Barbados and visiting 10 other Caribbean islands!  We are actually leaving on Monday for this.

But it was not without obstacles!  That would have been too easy.  All went well for over a month, with me making lists and buying lots of clothes.  I have never bought so many clothes to go on vacation with.  Usually we go to the US and buy our holiday clothes there.  The thought of having to plan and second guess the weather and how I am going to feel on a certain day is a bit overwhelming when I have never had to deal with all these decisions before!  But I have adjusted to this and gotten into the habit of shopping (again).  I may have to do another 100 day challenge of non-impulse shopping when we return to the UK to break the habit.  Oh-maybe not - it will be Christmastime when we get back, shopping time extordinaire!!

Alan did retire on the 15th of October and it was a very special day.  Martin and I were able to go up to Cowcaddens where he worked to see him get piped out of the  building.  He was so surprised by it all.  I felt very honored to be invited to be part of it.  Martin was asked to film it and edit the other cameras (there were 3 altogether).  He has not done this yet but maybe we will see it before we leave for our cruise.

Last Friday, the 5th of November (remember, remember....), Alan phoned me to tell me the big 7 seater car was dead and our flights to Barbados had been overbooked so we had no way to get there.  Ok, I said, now tell me what you really want to say.  No, both of those were true......We had expected the car to play up and were planning on replacing it soon anyway, but the flight was a huge deal.  So we spent Saturday looking at and then buying another car.  and on to the travel agent to negotiate how on earth we were going to get to  Barbados.  So now we will drive to Manchester airport to catch the plane. 

Another obstacle overcome!

Bring it on, we are packed and ready!!!