Safely Back in Vancouver

We arrived back in a foggy Vancouver a little ahead of schedule on Friday night and are now in time and appetite adjustment mode.

 

The cruise was a great way for Marlene's Mom to get her whole family together - lots of opportunities for visiting in small groups and as a whole, great weather and great food.  So all in all a wonderful 11 days with lots of laughs and some great memories.

 

After leaving Half Moon Cay, we had our final family dinner on the last night of the cruise. 

 

The food was all excellent, but especially the desserts.  Marlene had the Baked Alaska and I had the triple Creme Brulee (Chocolate, Espresso and Vanilla).  Hmmmmm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also added below a couple of photos from our kayaking / snorkelling trip in St. Thomas, that I could not upload while travelling (it's impossible to load a CD into an iPhone).

 

 

 

 

 

We will head home on Monday afternoon, to unpack and prepare to leave again.  It is hard to believe that in less than two weeks we will be in New Zealand, where I am looking forward to some more adventures and great food, but I may need to buy larger sized pants first.

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

As we have sailed Northwest the weather has cooled a little, but definitely still more tropical than Vancouver Island. 

We spent our last full cruise day at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. The island is owned by Holland America so they make a point of stopping here. This was the only port where we could not dock so were tendered to the island. 

We were glad that we had not signed up for any of the excursions as we could easily walk the island and we took in the Stingray Adventure by simply standing on the dock - we didn't get to touch the stingrays but we had great views of all the sea critters that were on hand - rays, fish, sea cucumbers, conch and starfish. 

We walked to the far end of the beach with its beautiful soft clean sand, then back to the dock area for a barbecue lunch, before tendering back to the Noordam. 

We could have rented bikes, but they did not look to be up to Qualicum Beach bike standards!

Ft. Lauderdale here we come, but not before one last cruise ship dinner. I guarantee that I have gained weight on this trip, and a diet will definitely be required when we get home!

At least I am still awake!

St. Thomas, US Virgin islands

Today we are in St.Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We did not dock in the main cruise ship area but in the next bay over, so not great views of downtown from the ship. Here is what we are seeing - 

This morning Art, Bob, Beth, Marlene and I went on a kayaking, hiking and snorkelling  excursion. It was great and Beth says it was the best Caribbean snorkeling that she has ever done. Unfortunately we don't have any photos but we did buy the CD from the tour operator so we will have some great photos of the people, fish and coral, but not until we get home. 

Transportation from the dock to the excursion location was in the back of a truck - what passes locally as a taxi. The crazy thing about St. Thomas is that the vehicles are all left hand drive but they also drive on the left side of the road, making passing a real joy (lots of missing right side mirrors). 

We started off kayaking in a mangrove lagoon to Cas Cay. From there we snorkelled for about 45 minutes and then did a short hike to examine the shoreline before kayaking back. 

It was a lot of fun, we saw lots of fish, rays and corals, raced crabs on the sand and learned a lot about the Eco system. 

Since it is a slow news day I will throw in a couple of photos of last night's desserts. My favourite was the three flavours tiramisu.  

My three favourite lines that I have heard on the trip so far are -

Tourism is our biggest industry, so keep coming or we will have to come to you. 

Rum is not just a breakfast drink anymore. 

In dog beers I am still on my first. 

It is time to head back down to the Promenade deck, a Coke and my book. There is no need to steal food from the buffet as it is always open (at least it is while I am awake). 

Tomorrow is a sea day, sailing to Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, where I do not expect to have wireless coverage, so probably no more postings until Ft. Lauderdale on Friday. 

Roseau, Dominica

We docked this morning in Roseau, Dominica (not the Dominican Republic) and it was raining as we went ashore. The rain turned out to be a blessing as it kept the temperature down to something tolerable. 

Roseau is a bustling town and the island has a lot of natural attractions, including 300 miles of hiking trails. Needless to say, Marlene was in her element. 

We walked from the dock, through town, up to the Botanical Gardens. The highlight of the gardens was a school bus crushed by a baobab tree in Huricane David in 1979?  Luckily nobody was on the bus when it got crushed. 

We saw several men in camouflage as we hiked up to the top of the hill above the gardens and one of them told us that they were special forces protecting the judge of the high court who lives at the top of the hill and also protecting the tourists from locals hassling them. The views were great from the top of the hill. 

We then wandered back down, followed a narrow road through a housing development, and then walked back through town to the ship. Back to the air-conditioning before the real heat of the day. 

As I write this, in my deck chair on the Promenade Deck, the crew are casting off the lines in preparation for our 200 mile overnight journey to St. Thomas. 

Until tomorrow....

Fort de France, Martinique

ON Sunday morning we docked in Port de Fort de France (try saying that after a few drinks). 

I had read that everything on Martinique is closed on Sunday and that the local francophones don't like tourists, especially those who speak only English. 

But actually I loved Fort de France and it may have been because everything was closed and we were not being constantly hounded to buy or take a tour. I especially liked the architecture and the narrow streets and lanes, which would have been packed with cars on a week day - main shopping street, Rue Victor Hugo, is in the first photo below. 

We took in a show of traditional dance, visited the Shoelcher Library, Hotel de Ville, and other high spots but Fort Louis was closed. 

The library was built in France, disassembled and shipped to Martinique where it was rebuilt. It is named after a French anti-slavery campaigner. 

It was nice to have a quieter day with less hustle and bustle. A local man in the fruit and vege market explained to me in French the different uses of green and ripe coconuts, and the scary part is that (eventually) I understood him. 

Onward to Dominica!

Bridgetown, Barbados

Last night was our roughest sailing even though we were only doing 7 - 10 knots. But when we arrived in Bridgetown this morning the sea was calm with very little wind. 

We were off the ship at 9 am for the Tiami Catamaran Cruise, a 5 1/2 hour trip with the sails furled, snorkling with sea turtles, then after lunch on board, snorkling on a reef to see the tropical fish. 

It was our first attempt at snorkling and we eventually got the hang of it, thankfully before we swallowed too much water. We had about 45 minutes with the sea turtles and managed to see a few of them. 

Lunch was fish, chicken, rice and macaroni pie with salads. All very tasty. 

After lunch we moved further up the coast to do the snorkling over the reef. The boat was moored at a beautiful sandy beach and the reef was about 100 metres off the beach. Lots of fish of all colours and many different corals. 

It was then a liesurely cruise back to port and overall a great day out.  No excursion would be complete without exiting through the gift shop. 

The only regret was that we didn't get to explore Bridgetown itself, but it looks like a great destination. 

Next stop, Martinique

Castries, St. Lucia

When we woke this morning we were docked in Castries and we were the only cruise ship in port, unlike Phlipsburg where there were 5 cruise ships in port. 

Marlene's brothers were doing a zip-line (flying fix) adventure so we sat and had a liesurely breakfast before setting off into town for a look around. 

The trade winds provided some cooling, but it was still hot in the sun even though the temperature was below 30 C (high humidity). The walk into town was not at all attractive and the town itself was very rundown looking. We stopped into the public library and the books were generally very old - encyclopedia from the early 90s and a book on Women in Sport from 1976. We took a few pictures around town, then walked to the airport and back to the ship (in time for lunch). 

I have found the perfect spot in a deck chair on the Promenade deck and that is where you will normally find me when not eating or sleeping. It is under a lifeboat (shaded) and behind a rescue boat which blocks the wind. I am on my third book this week and enjoying the relaxation. 

In 45 minutes we will be heading to Bridgetown, Barbados. 

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

After two days at sea it was nice to step onto dry land again on Thursday morning, but I am getting ahead of myself. 

We left Ft. Lauderdale 3 hours late on Monday night after waiting for other delayed passengers. MS Noordam is small for a scariness cruise ship - 1900 passengers and 820 crew....nothing compared to some of the 6000 passenger ships that we have heard about. The executive officers are all European and the balance of the crew mainly from Indonesia and ThePhilippines. Strange to think of young people from Bali heading off to the Caribbean whine they live in such an exotic place. 

There is lots to do on board, and Marlene has been working out and walking, but I have been content to eat and lie reading in the shade on the promenade deck. 

So, St. Maarten. A 39 square mile island that is half French and half Dutch and colonialism is alive and well. We opted for a ship-sponsored event, a downhill trek from the top of Pic Paradise (Paradise Peak) on the French side of the island. Our guide, Claudette, met us at the pier and the 16 of us who were doing the trek were transported most of the way in a bus, transferring to a truck for the climb to the top of the hill. We sat on planks on the back of the truck with no sign of a seatbelt as we edged our way slowly up the side of the hill. 

Claudette was born on the French side, lives on the Dutch side and speaks neither language, but she does speak English, Spanish and a local Creole dialect. Claudette regaled us with stories and much information about the island, it's people and history. 

From the top we had great views of St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Bart's. 

The trek down was very steep and slippery after a rain shower passed through. At least 4 people slipped and fell but thankfully we both stayed upright. We dried quickly in the 27 C heat. 

After the trek and a rum punch (sans rum) we walked around downtown Philipsbug and then walked back to the ship for a 2:30 PM departure. 

Overall a great day out!

We set sail for St. Lucia at 4 PM after again waiting for latecomers. 

Caribbean Here We Come

After a shaky start we are onboard MS Noordam and ready to sail when the last passengers are on board. 

Norm dropped Fredda, Nick and ourselves at Vancouver airport at 9:30 am on Sunday, where we found that our flight to Minneapolis was delayed and we would miss our connection to Ft.Lauderdale. 

No problem, Delta gave us hotel and meal vouchers and booked us on a 7:30 am flight on Monday to Ft. Lauderdale. 

Minneapolis airport was a zoo with some people having been trapped there for three days, and it was sooo cold!  And here is me without a coat. No issues getting to the Ramada, a quick dinner and then a short night's sleep. 

This morning we were up at 4:45 am to find that our flight was delayed an hour and the window of opportunity to catch the cruise narrowing by the minute. 

We finally left Minneapolis's -25 F temperatures at 9:00 am and arrived in Ft.Lauderdale's 77 F at 1:30 pm. A temperature difference of 104 degrees!

No issues getting to the dock and no line to get on the ship, all with at least an hour to spare. So we are now ready to go eat and hopefully sleep. 

Stay tuned and I will try and post again from Sint Maarten.