Saturday, April 3rd
At 6:00 am, we pulled into our last port, Aruba, gliding to a stop right in front of Senor Frog's bar and disco. Aruba is really a party town; kind of the Caribbean version of Cancun. Since there didn't seem to be much to see on a walking tour, we decided to spend our last "real" day snorkling on De Palm Island.
The south coast of Aruba had a number of barrier islands about a thousand yards off shore, with a lagoon between the island and "real" Aruba island. Many of these have been developed as "day resorts". Like a real resort but with no overnight accommodations.
That's what De Palm Island is. Our bus right from the pier took us through town and past the airport down to the power plant. South of the power plant we boarded and open boat and motored out to the island.
The island is an "all inclusive" day resort. You get free snorkel gear, free bannan-boat rides. There's a water park with slides for the kids. If you want to pay extra, you can go on a SeaTrek in a dry suit with an old-fashioned diving helmet. (You walk along the sea-bed on a hike). The have beach chairs and umbrellas as well as free drinks and free food.
We went for the snorkling and the Parrot Fish. There was about a half-mile of reef right off the island, along with two smaller lagoons for the kids. As soon as we put our stuff in a locker, we got our fins and masks and headed out to explore it.
Although the environment wasn't as pretty as Virgin Gorda, there were a lot more fish; really big fish. The big draw here is the Blue Parrot Fish. It looks kind of like a dolphin fish with a high forehead and a little parrot beak. The smallest ones were about a foot long and the largest were two feet or more.
We snorkeled for about an hour, then got out and rested for a bit. Then, we went back in again and explored the other half of the reef. By this time it was around 11:00 and the fish were looking for shade. So, we headed up to the restaurant that was built out over the water and went swimming underneath it. There were whole flocks of little yellow fish (about 6 inches long) as well as a large pike-like fish that Kathy saw. (I really can't see anything without my glasses unless it's really close, really big or really colorful.)
After another hour or so, we got out for another rest. Kathy wanted to snorkel one last time, so I sat up in the restaraunt and watched her explore. When she got out it was 12:20 and we only had another 25 minutes before our boat left to return us to the ship.
We spent that 25 minutes at the lunch buffet: barbecue chicken wings, crab salad, fried bananas, baked grouper, fresh fruit.
We got back to the ship around 1:30 and took a nap. (I kind of like doing that; I wonder if I ought to start napping every afternoon in my office.) Tonight was the second formal night, so we got dressed and went to dinner around 6:00.
Second formal night was lobster night, and that's what both of us had. We each got a half of a lobster tail, some shrimp and some scallps over a risotto base. It wasn't as good as I'd expected. They also had the waiters carrying baked Alaska in a parade, and the introduction of all the food service staff.
After dinner, Kathy pointed out that it was only 8:00 pm. I tried to drag her onto the dance floor, but she knows how I dance, so we went to the room instead. We were going to read our books. I almost read a page.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Day 8: Willemstad Curacao
Good Friday, April 2nd
With a day of rest and a good night's sleep behind us, we both woke up before six o'clock, got dressed and went up on deck to watch us dock at Willemstead. The city is really colorful and different than any of the other Caribbean ports we'd seen. It is arranged around St. Anna's Bay and all of the houses are painted in different pastel shades.
After watching the docking we walked down to the buffet and had breakfast. Then we made a quick trip back to our room and headed off the ship to explore the town at around 8:30.
Our first stop was, you guessed it, a Fort. The fort on the west side of St. Anna's Bay, the portion of the city named Otrobanda, is called Fort Rif. However, the only thing fort-like about it are the walls. Inside it's been turned into a modern shopping center with scores of restaurants, bars and shops. We climbed to the top of the wall and walked around it, just to get a feel for the view up and down the coast. Then we took off for the city.
The two halves of the city are connected by a pontoon bridge for foot traffic (named Queen Emma's bridge) and a really high arched bridge (Queen Julianna) for motor traffic. At least ten times a day the pontoon bridge swings out of the way so that boat traffic can get through into the main portion of St. Anna's bay.
We crossed the pontoon bridge and started walking through the eastern of Punda portion of the town. The first thing we saw was the floating market. These are boats who pull up to the wharf on the north side of down and sell local produce. There was a lot of tropical fruits as well as large bananas and other produce that I didn't recognize.
There weren't a lot of crowds (locals or tourists), probably because it was a holiday. Many of the shops in the tourist core of downtown were closed for Good Friday, and the rest were closing early at 2:00 pm. There were even fewer people when we went out of the city.
Neither of us especially wanted to look through the tourist shops so we started walking out of town following one of the arms of St. Anna's Bay and then one of the main streets. We first passed a Pentecostal storefront church. We looked inside and saw that there was only one person in the seats. While we were standing there, a woman walked up and invited us to the Good Friday service that started in a few minutes. However, the service was in Spanish, so we didn't go in. We passed a Methodist church, which seemed to be full, but the service was already going, and a Catholic church which didn't have anything happening.
As we kept walking the houses got smaller and less well tended, but were still painted pastel colors. We walked by a graveyard but couldn't get in. After about two miles, the houses petered out and it looked like we were entering a rural and industrial area. (There are a lot of oil wells and oil tanks all over the island. The island is only 35 miles off of the coast of Venezuela, so I assume that they are tapping the same deposits).
Once we ran out of houses we turned right and kept going until we got to the ocean. The entire south-east coast of Curacao is an underwater marine park, but the beach is almost non existent. There is also no public access per-se. According to my guidebook, you can go into the resorts lining this section of the island and pay to snorkel there.
We didn't do that, but as we walked back toward town, we found several abandoned houses and we were able to get to the beach by walking through their property. The houses that are not abandoned are all just pristine. I imagine that it costs a lot to restore some of these old places. (Many of them are UNESCO World Heratige buildings, so you probably can't tear them down and put up a modern building.)
When we got back to the center of town we walked around the other fort, Fort Amsterdam. This is still very much in use as a governmental and police building. It doesn't look at all like an old fort; its walls have all been painted a nice pastel yellow.
After the fort, we walked though the tourist section of Punda and then crossed the pontoon bridge once again. We stopped in a cafe on Howard Johnson's square (right in front of the Howard Johnson's Hotel and Casino) and rested our feet for a bit. While we were sitting there, a yacht needed to get into the inner harbor, so they moved the pontoon bridge, which was kind of interesting.
After catching our breath and resting our feet, we decided to walk in the opposite direction and explore Otrobanda. This is not a tourist section of town. We walked down the main street looking in the shops and taking pictures of the buildings.
Eventually we came to a Christian college and another Catholic cathedral. Inside, in one corner of the curch there were about 25 old women holding a Good Friday service. We listened for a few minutes but really couldn't understand anything.
After leaving the church we found another large cemetery, filled entirely with crypts. I think maybe they don't do underground burials because the ground is rock, but I don't know. We certainly weren't at sea-level, like New Orleans.
Across from the cemetery was a supermarket and we went in and bought some Diet Coke for our stateroom. Because this wasn't in a tourist area, they really didn't know what to do with our American money (and we hadn't changed any into Florins). The supermarket was run by a Chinese family and their young son tried to figure out the conversion rate. Finally the mom just said "they're about a dollar" and so we handed over four ones.
By now it was almost twelve-thirty and we'd been walking for almost four hours and we were both hot and sweaty. When be got back on board we went to the buffet and drank ice-tea after ice-tea. Then we had a little lunch and went to our cabin for reading and a nap.
Next stop, Aruba and some more snorkeling.
With a day of rest and a good night's sleep behind us, we both woke up before six o'clock, got dressed and went up on deck to watch us dock at Willemstead. The city is really colorful and different than any of the other Caribbean ports we'd seen. It is arranged around St. Anna's Bay and all of the houses are painted in different pastel shades.
After watching the docking we walked down to the buffet and had breakfast. Then we made a quick trip back to our room and headed off the ship to explore the town at around 8:30.
Our first stop was, you guessed it, a Fort. The fort on the west side of St. Anna's Bay, the portion of the city named Otrobanda, is called Fort Rif. However, the only thing fort-like about it are the walls. Inside it's been turned into a modern shopping center with scores of restaurants, bars and shops. We climbed to the top of the wall and walked around it, just to get a feel for the view up and down the coast. Then we took off for the city.
The two halves of the city are connected by a pontoon bridge for foot traffic (named Queen Emma's bridge) and a really high arched bridge (Queen Julianna) for motor traffic. At least ten times a day the pontoon bridge swings out of the way so that boat traffic can get through into the main portion of St. Anna's bay.
We crossed the pontoon bridge and started walking through the eastern of Punda portion of the town. The first thing we saw was the floating market. These are boats who pull up to the wharf on the north side of down and sell local produce. There was a lot of tropical fruits as well as large bananas and other produce that I didn't recognize.
There weren't a lot of crowds (locals or tourists), probably because it was a holiday. Many of the shops in the tourist core of downtown were closed for Good Friday, and the rest were closing early at 2:00 pm. There were even fewer people when we went out of the city.
Neither of us especially wanted to look through the tourist shops so we started walking out of town following one of the arms of St. Anna's Bay and then one of the main streets. We first passed a Pentecostal storefront church. We looked inside and saw that there was only one person in the seats. While we were standing there, a woman walked up and invited us to the Good Friday service that started in a few minutes. However, the service was in Spanish, so we didn't go in. We passed a Methodist church, which seemed to be full, but the service was already going, and a Catholic church which didn't have anything happening.
As we kept walking the houses got smaller and less well tended, but were still painted pastel colors. We walked by a graveyard but couldn't get in. After about two miles, the houses petered out and it looked like we were entering a rural and industrial area. (There are a lot of oil wells and oil tanks all over the island. The island is only 35 miles off of the coast of Venezuela, so I assume that they are tapping the same deposits).
Once we ran out of houses we turned right and kept going until we got to the ocean. The entire south-east coast of Curacao is an underwater marine park, but the beach is almost non existent. There is also no public access per-se. According to my guidebook, you can go into the resorts lining this section of the island and pay to snorkel there.
We didn't do that, but as we walked back toward town, we found several abandoned houses and we were able to get to the beach by walking through their property. The houses that are not abandoned are all just pristine. I imagine that it costs a lot to restore some of these old places. (Many of them are UNESCO World Heratige buildings, so you probably can't tear them down and put up a modern building.)
When we got back to the center of town we walked around the other fort, Fort Amsterdam. This is still very much in use as a governmental and police building. It doesn't look at all like an old fort; its walls have all been painted a nice pastel yellow.
After the fort, we walked though the tourist section of Punda and then crossed the pontoon bridge once again. We stopped in a cafe on Howard Johnson's square (right in front of the Howard Johnson's Hotel and Casino) and rested our feet for a bit. While we were sitting there, a yacht needed to get into the inner harbor, so they moved the pontoon bridge, which was kind of interesting.
After catching our breath and resting our feet, we decided to walk in the opposite direction and explore Otrobanda. This is not a tourist section of town. We walked down the main street looking in the shops and taking pictures of the buildings.
Eventually we came to a Christian college and another Catholic cathedral. Inside, in one corner of the curch there were about 25 old women holding a Good Friday service. We listened for a few minutes but really couldn't understand anything.
After leaving the church we found another large cemetery, filled entirely with crypts. I think maybe they don't do underground burials because the ground is rock, but I don't know. We certainly weren't at sea-level, like New Orleans.
Across from the cemetery was a supermarket and we went in and bought some Diet Coke for our stateroom. Because this wasn't in a tourist area, they really didn't know what to do with our American money (and we hadn't changed any into Florins). The supermarket was run by a Chinese family and their young son tried to figure out the conversion rate. Finally the mom just said "they're about a dollar" and so we handed over four ones.
By now it was almost twelve-thirty and we'd been walking for almost four hours and we were both hot and sweaty. When be got back on board we went to the buffet and drank ice-tea after ice-tea. Then we had a little lunch and went to our cabin for reading and a nap.
Next stop, Aruba and some more snorkeling.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day 7: All At Sea
Thursday, April 1st
Today is a sea day; we're traveling from Granada to Curacao about 26 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It's been a pretty relaxing day. We got up early and had breakfast. At breakfast Kathy saw some of the Caribbean flying fish playing in the boat's wake.
After breakfast we found a quiet set of deck chairs on the Promenade deck (although the call it something else on this ship), and spent the morning reading and watching the sea go by.
We had lunch in the dining room, and after lunch Kathy did some sunbathing on our balcony while I took a shower and updated our blog.
Today is a sea day; we're traveling from Granada to Curacao about 26 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It's been a pretty relaxing day. We got up early and had breakfast. At breakfast Kathy saw some of the Caribbean flying fish playing in the boat's wake.
After breakfast we found a quiet set of deck chairs on the Promenade deck (although the call it something else on this ship), and spent the morning reading and watching the sea go by.
We had lunch in the dining room, and after lunch Kathy did some sunbathing on our balcony while I took a shower and updated our blog.
Day 6: St. George
Wednesday, March 31
Kathy and I were up early Wednesday to watch our ship pull into St. George Granada. The cruise ship terminal is just outside the harbor, beneath Fort George perched on a tall cliff. Today, though, instead of heading up hill, we're going to climb on a catamaran for some sailing, snorkeling and beachcombing.
We had a quick breakfast in the buffet and rushed ashore to meet our tour at 8:15 on the docks. It was a little bedlamish because the Princess of the Caribbean, which is really big, was parked right next to us and they were all going on their excursions as well.
When we met our tour guide, he led us single file into the Sendal tunnel, through the mountain capped by Fort George and to the inner harbor named the Carenage where the Carib Cat was moored. The tunnel is just wide enough for a compact car, but in addition to a steady stream of cars there are two lines of people snaking through the tunnel on the shoulder.
We had about 25 people on our trip. You could sit on the cabin under a tarp, or spread out on the hulls or the nets between the hulls. Our boat was actually a trimaran, not a catamaran. As soon as we motored out into the harbor, they raised the mainsail. There was a 15-20 knot breeze that filled the sail, but it wasn't really a large sail for the size of the boat; most of the power was still supplied by the outboards.
We sailed north along the coast and met up with another Carib Cat at Flamingo Bay, where we were given fins, masks and diving vest. For the next hour we got to explore the fish and coral underneath the bay. We both saw a lot of fish, but Kathy saw them a little better than I did.
Once they called us back to the boat, the crew hoisted the sails again, unfurled the jib and headed south to Grand Anse Beach, where they brought the boat ashore. We had about an hour and a half to walk or swim. Kathy and I chose to walk up the beach to the end. It's really beautiful, and the water is so clear.
Finally about 12:00 o'clock we were called back to the boat and we motored back to the harbor. We got back on board ship around 1:30 where we had some lunch, and then a quick shower and nap.
We didn't want to let the rest of the afternoon go to waste, though, so at 3:00 we got off the boat again and hiked up to Fort George. For $2 each, and a tip to the tour guide, we got to explore the Fort. There were several old cannons, plus the courtyard where Prime Minister Bishop and his girlfriend where executed by firing squad right before the US "intervention".
When we left the Fort we climbed down the other side. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 struck Granada really hard. Immediately to the north of the Fort is the clock tower and remains of the Presbyterian church with only the walls still standing. Apparently the hurricane also de-roofed the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals as well.
Climbing down into the city we looked in at the public library and then walked around the bay looking at the boats. We got back to the ship just as they were putting away the gangplank at 4:45. Another shower and dinner in the dining room and then, like the old folks we are, asleep by 8:00.
Kathy and I were up early Wednesday to watch our ship pull into St. George Granada. The cruise ship terminal is just outside the harbor, beneath Fort George perched on a tall cliff. Today, though, instead of heading up hill, we're going to climb on a catamaran for some sailing, snorkeling and beachcombing.
We had a quick breakfast in the buffet and rushed ashore to meet our tour at 8:15 on the docks. It was a little bedlamish because the Princess of the Caribbean, which is really big, was parked right next to us and they were all going on their excursions as well.
When we met our tour guide, he led us single file into the Sendal tunnel, through the mountain capped by Fort George and to the inner harbor named the Carenage where the Carib Cat was moored. The tunnel is just wide enough for a compact car, but in addition to a steady stream of cars there are two lines of people snaking through the tunnel on the shoulder.
We had about 25 people on our trip. You could sit on the cabin under a tarp, or spread out on the hulls or the nets between the hulls. Our boat was actually a trimaran, not a catamaran. As soon as we motored out into the harbor, they raised the mainsail. There was a 15-20 knot breeze that filled the sail, but it wasn't really a large sail for the size of the boat; most of the power was still supplied by the outboards.
We sailed north along the coast and met up with another Carib Cat at Flamingo Bay, where we were given fins, masks and diving vest. For the next hour we got to explore the fish and coral underneath the bay. We both saw a lot of fish, but Kathy saw them a little better than I did.
Once they called us back to the boat, the crew hoisted the sails again, unfurled the jib and headed south to Grand Anse Beach, where they brought the boat ashore. We had about an hour and a half to walk or swim. Kathy and I chose to walk up the beach to the end. It's really beautiful, and the water is so clear.
Finally about 12:00 o'clock we were called back to the boat and we motored back to the harbor. We got back on board ship around 1:30 where we had some lunch, and then a quick shower and nap.
We didn't want to let the rest of the afternoon go to waste, though, so at 3:00 we got off the boat again and hiked up to Fort George. For $2 each, and a tip to the tour guide, we got to explore the Fort. There were several old cannons, plus the courtyard where Prime Minister Bishop and his girlfriend where executed by firing squad right before the US "intervention".
When we left the Fort we climbed down the other side. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 struck Granada really hard. Immediately to the north of the Fort is the clock tower and remains of the Presbyterian church with only the walls still standing. Apparently the hurricane also de-roofed the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals as well.
Climbing down into the city we looked in at the public library and then walked around the bay looking at the boats. We got back to the ship just as they were putting away the gangplank at 4:45. Another shower and dinner in the dining room and then, like the old folks we are, asleep by 8:00.
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