Well, here's a bit of an update. I think I can get this up on the blog now, although it still seems too slow to upload any pictures. It's a pity, because we've seen some beautiful sights both on and off the ship.
Once we got back on the ship in Samana, we cruised along the coast of the Dominican Republic. This island of Hispaniola is quite different from the flat little islets of the Turks and Caicos and of Half Moon Cay of the Bahamas. Hispaniola is volcanic and thus has far more altitude and much more lush vegitation. It was interesting to see palm trees all among other deciduous-looking vegetation -- kind of like a forest with a liberal sprinkling of palm trees.
Next we sailed on down to the first of three islands of the Dutch islands -- Curacao, Bonaire, and Aruba. Curacao is the largest of the three and also seems to be "in between" the other two in style. It's more developed than Bonaire but less so than Aruba. It's independent, but still very Dutch. It uses its own currency, but like most Caribean Islands, is quite open to the use of the US dollar. We went to Blue Bay Beach on Curacao. We had a bit of a tour on the way to the beach -- nice area. The beach itself was great -- the water was warm and calm and the sun was bright I managed to get some pretty good bug bites and a bit of a sunburn in spite of having slathered on lots of #70 sunscreen. Actually, I think the redness and tenderness was as much a reaction to the sunscreen as it was to the sun. No harm done, but I think I will take along a t-shirt on our next beach expedition.
Lots of shopping on all three islands. We took a tour on Bonaire. It is small, much less developed, and more laid back. The people seems much more concerned for their environment -- their entire shoreline is protected, and while they welcome divers, they insist on the most careful regulations about touching and taking. We saw lots of wild donkeys -- cute little creatures and very friendly. There is a large donkey preserve on the island as well. Aruba is more cosmopolitan and had plenty of shopping -- some very touristy but some lovely shops as well. We had wished we had sprung for a tour, because we are about sated with tourist shops!
We're now nearing the end of several sea days as we sailed back up to Fort Lauderdale and now on down to Philipsburg, St. Maarten. We have a tour planned for that island tomorrow. Half the island is Dutch and the other half is French -- two separate countries in a tiny island -- have been coexisting happily for a number of years. I've been to the Dutch side, but not the French city of Marigot, so I'm looking forward to it.
As anyone who has been on a cruise knows, it is a long series of wonderful meals -- FOOD, FOOD, FOOD. It will be the "diet from hell" for me when I get back.
I'm going to try to send this early in the morning when I can get on with my netbook during a time when few people want to use the internet connection. Hopefully it will be just a bit faster.
Great dinner again tonight. The desserts , especially, are so good and so pretty. I took pictures tonight, but probably won't be able to upload them till I get home!
Well. I couldn't get this sent again this morning, but the tech guy said he would open the cabinet in the morning so I can use my usb key to copy this document into the blog. I also may have to download java (I thought I had it on this netbook already) so I can get logged on with this netbook rather than having to use their computers -- which are all locked up with no usb slot available. There is a new techie on board and he is much more helpful.
It's the US Thanksgiving today, so we will be having a traditional turkey dinner in the dining room tonight. All the Kentucky kids are at Mary Ann's, but, unfortunately, without Mary Ann. Too bad she has to miss this important family holiday, but we'll try to celebrate here as well.
We spent today on both sides of the island of St Martin -- Dutch on one side and French on the other. We even went on an undersea boat (I think we were aout 6-8 feet below the surface) to see the various kinds of coral and brightly coloured fish. It was a fun day, for sure. We couldn't believe the crazy traffic jams though. The roads are very narrow and winding as they traverse the fairly steep hills. Traffic is supposedly controlled with round-abouts (only 1 traffic light on the island, apparently) but even so we waited often and then inched our way along. Good thing we had an air conditioned bus. It's plenty warm and sunny.
I surely felt some nostalgia when we could see St Kitts and Nevis off in the distance from one viewpoint today. We will be sailing by this "home away from home for me" later this evening. I hope it's not too dark to catch sight of familiar scenes.
We will also be passing Montserrat this evening. The captain warned us that we might smell a burning odor as we do so since the volcano is still active. It was just before I spent time on Nevis that the volcano erupted and almost everyone was evacuated. I'm not sure whether it has been repopulated now or not, but apparently the volcano is still very much an issue.
I guess I'll try to get this sent in the morning.
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