Category: 2018

The last night of the cruise you have two options for getting ready to disembark the next morning. You can keep all your luggage with you and carry it yourself off the boat and do ‘express disembarking’ which means you will get off the boat first at 7 am. The other option is to leave your luggage outside your room the night before and they will take it down to the disembarking area for you. Then they dismiss you by number starting at 7:30 in 15 minute increments. We decided we weren’t in to big of a hurry because our flight wasn’t until the afternoon so we all left our luggage outside our room except for an over night bag. Our time for  disembarking was at 8:45, Kenny and Sherri’s time was 9:15. They asked us to be out of our staterooms by 8 am so we met for breakfast at 7:30. We were enjoying one last breakfast at the Facejammer and at about 7:45 they made an announcement that said there was a ‘slight issue’ that needed to be resolved before they could begin the disembarking process. At 8:15 they came back on and explained that the ‘slight issue’ was that all the taxi drivers and luggage porters had gone on strike and were blocking the airport and cruise terminals so that Ubers and any other drivers couldn’t get in or out. Of course they were working to have the issue resolved as fast as possible, were sorry for any inconveniences this was causing, and would let us know as things changed. Sure enough we looked out along the pier and there were taxi’s as far as you could see blocking the roads. There wasn’t much we could do so we just stayed at the Facejammer and played a game of hearts. We also looked into how much an Uber would cost when we finally did get off the boat and it would be $12 for all four of us and our luggage (Ryan and I paid a taxi driver $18 for the two of us to our hotel when we arrived which was about a 2 mile trip). They continued to make the same announcement every fifteen minutes or so until sometime between 9-10 they started the express disembarkers and then slowly started calling the groups. Ryan was getting a little antsy about missing our flight so we decided we would get in line to leave the boat and by the time we were through the line hopefully our luggage would be ready. Our plan worked and they called our number about the time we entered the the luggage claiming area. Kenny and Sherri got theirs and got in the customs line and outside to start getting a taxi. Ryan and I went to our area and… could not find out bags. We asked someone about it and the look on their face was not encouraging. We ended up walking through all the luggage areas and found nothing. By that time two suitcases the same size as ours were the only suitcases left in our area. The luggage guy (we will call him Bob) called the number and LUCKILY someone answered the phone. Bob explained to whoever answered the phone that they had taken the wrong luggage. The person Bob was talking to did not believe him and kept saying, “I already have my luggage.” It took several minutes for Bob to convince him to just look at the name tag of the bags he took and he said, ‘Oh, I took the wrong bags!’ Ryan had progressed from antsy to irritable to angry and he only got angrier when we had to sit there and wait…and wait…and wait until every single other person had gotten their luggage and left the boat. Then after a little more waiting the person arrived with our luggage. Which other than being roughly the same size as ours looked nothing like our luggage. Different color and style. We then had to take it through customs again to make sure they didn’t do something to it. We got outside and luckily found a taxi quickly. When we got to the airport the driver told us it was $25…we only had $20 and some change on us so we had to stiff him a little. Apparently the solution for the taxi strike was to charge us more so I didn’t feel to bad. Sherri and Kenny were already there in line so we joined up with them. There were a lot of people that had missed their flight or were late like us so the airline split us into two lines, people leaving within 2 hours (we had about 45 minutes) and everyone else. However they forgot the let the people at the front know so they kept taking people from the wrong line. After 10 minutes of our  line not moving Ryan went from angry to irate. He asked several different attendants to direct the line and none of them did so he took matters into his own hands and started directing traffic. He got a few fist bumps and high fives from the people in line with us, and some ‘watch our for the crazy guy’ looks from the airport workers. Miraculously we made it through the agricultural check and regular security and didn’t miss our flight.  The rest of the way home went without any drama. 

Roger picked us up at the airport and brought us home. It was a wonderful vacation but we were glad to be home. Grandma and Grandpa did a very good job taking care of the kids and gave them a good report too. They were better behaved for Grandma and Grandpa then they are for us, which is a little frustrating but I am glad they can pull out their manners and use them for someone. They caught us up on everything they had been doing and we showed them our pictures. Then it was back to real life. 

Our last full day of the cruise was in St Thomas. I thought this island looked more like the United States than Puerto Rico did as far as buildings, shopping, things like that. There roads actually had two full lanes with painted lines dividing the lanes. For our last day the guys felt like they wanted to change it up a bit so instead of finding a taxi to give us a tour. Kenny rented a Jeep and he drove us around. Sherri and I did some last day shopping while they went and picked up the car. To make it a little more fun even though it is a US Virgin Island, they drive on the left side of the road. We had to stop really think before we turned so we knew where we were going and were sure we weren’t pulling in front of someone. Kenny said his auto-pilot wanted to keep taking over. The research from the night before on where to go in St Thomas resulted in two beaches that we wanted to try. Another indication that we were getting closer to America is that you couldn’t just walk up to the beach anymore, when we arrived we had to pay and they had restrictions posted all over the place.

The first beach we went to was called Megan’s Bay. It is rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It did not disappoint. Of course it was very beautiful, but the sand was so fine and soft. It was like walking on powdered sugar. Another difference at this beach was as soon as you stepped into the water you could see thousands of fish swimming around you. They started tiny, just an inch or so. The further out you went they kept getting bigger. The would move away from you as you walked which was fun to watch too. When we were about as far out as we could go and still touch if you held still a fish 6-8 inches big would come and start swimming around your legs. Kenny had one that stuck with him for a long time so he named him Frenchy. The name stuck and we started referring to all the fish as frenchies. The pelicans were at this beach too and they seemed to know the big fish liked to hide by people because they were not shy to dive right next to you and try and catch them. We stayed here for an hour or so and just enjoyed the moment. Kenny started trying to catch fish like the pelicans because he didn’t think it seemed that hard. That was funny to watch. When we got hungry we dried off and left to find some lunch. We found a little hole in the wall pizza place. It was really good pizza and their garlic bread was even better. Not very authentic I know but it was delicious. 

After our bellies were full of delicious pizza we carefully made a right turn without causing an accident and went to the last beach of our trip. Ryan and I took a long walk down the shore line. I decided to make a little sand castle too. Kenny and Sherri and Ryan were floating around out in the water and found some cool rocks to add to my castle. There were a few people on the beach but not many. Most of the beaches we went to were surprisingly crowd free for the most part. There was usually some stray dogs and cats wandering around too. They were not very interested in people. They seemed a lot tougher than american dogs. Not aggressive but street smart, and content. No begging or puppy dog eyes. Just content to play or nap in the sand or swim in the ocean then wander around and find some food or shelter. We stayed at that beach until it was time to head back. We stopped at an ice cream shop at the docks right by our ship and enjoyed more of the perfect 85 degree temperature. Sherri and I meandered back to the boat while we shopped and the boys returned the Jeep. St Thomas is only about 70 miles from Puerto Rico so after we left port we went about as slow as possible back to the disembarking dock. There were lots of games and activities going on for the last night on board. It was an incredible vacation. We really did love every minute of it.

Thursday morning we had arrived at St Maarten’s island. There were two other boats docked by us in the morning. By the afternoon there were five cruise ships docked. Our ship is nothing to sneeze at but it was the smallest one. I think I decided I like that though. In talking with people from other boats through out the day it seemed like our boat had a little more homey feel to it, not crowded, no lines for anything, excellent food. We could always find a place to hang out on the boat that no one else was around. The bigger boats do have more on board activities though which kids would probably like. I felt thouroghly entertained throughout our seven days. I think the quality of shows would be better on a bigger boat though. That is something I felt like was lacking on our boat. We went to three different shows one was ok, one was tolerable and one was awful-we would have left but we all fell asleep instead.

Anyway St Maarten continued our beautiful island cruise and did not disappoint. It had more of a modern, lots of rich people live here look the islands we had seen so far. Ryan and I had booked a SNUBA excursion with a company we found online and were supposed to meet them at 9:30 am. Kenny and Sherri went to do some exploring and shopping and we went to ‘Bobby’s Marina’. When we arrived it was just the two of us. There were about ten other people that were supposed to be booked at our time but they were on a different boat that was about an hour behind schedule. So the company decided to take Ryan and I out to the bay a let us SNUBA with two of their divers while the boat went and picked up the rest of the people and then came back. They kept apologizing because they were ‘leaving us’ but we didn’t care at all. Instead of SNUBAing with ten other people for 25 minutes, we had a private tour for 45 minutes. It was pretty awesome.

So SNUBA is basically scuba diving but instead of having to get a lot of training and carry the oxygen tank on your back, you don’t have to have any training and the oxygen tank is on a little raft and there is a long tube with the respirator attached to you so you can swim and the raft follows you around. You wear snorkel goggles and fins and a weight belt along with the belt that the hose and respirator are attached too. Ryan liked it a lot and said he would definitely do scuba diving. Your vision is pretty limited (zero peripheral) so my claustrophobic self liked knowing that I was tethered to something. It took me a little longer to get used to the breathing than Ryan. It is compressed air so if I breathed in and out like normal (which is what they said to do) I was getting way more oxygen than I was used to and even though I was breathing I felt like I was suffocating. I figured out to breath out about twice as long as I breathed in and I was able to keep my O2/CO2  levels more normal. I still had to stop and concentrate on relaxing and not freaking out a few times. Since we had 45 minutes our ears were able to adjust to the pressure and by the end we were about 20 feet deep. It was pretty amazing. One of the divers took pictures for us and we just swam around and explored the ocean. A lot of the coral was ruined in the hurricane but we still saw some cool stuff. There was a ship and a helicopter crash sunk that was cool to explore.  We saw a squid and a moray eel among all the many different fish sea anemones and urchins. About one minute after we ran out of air and surfaced the boat came back with all the other people. We got out and dried off while they got in. I was looking around the water and saw 2 dorsal fins about 30 feet away. It took my brain a few seconds for it to register what it was and then they were gone. I didn’t think it was a very good idea to start yelling shark and not that I am a shark expert but it didn’t seem like a shark to me for some reason. I kept watching and then I saw three and realized it was dolphins not a shark. I pointed them out and people started to look. Our guides didn’t believe me at first but then they saw them and they got pretty excited. It was kind of funny. They kind of forgot they were helping people dive and got really excited to see the dolphins. One of the guys staying on the boat immediately dived in and started swimming towards them. One of them told me he has lived there for 35 years and never seen a dolphin in this bay. He told me when I yelled dolphin he thought I was seeing a buoy. By the time I got my camera out to film them they had moved further out but you can see them pop up a few times on the video. It was a really fun excursion, made even more fun because it turned into a private excursion.

After we returned from our SNUBA we met up with Kenny and Sherri. The day was about half over so we didn’t have to much time to explore. We had heard of a really nice beach so we decided to grab a taxi to the beach and spend the afternoon there. It took us a little bit to find a taxi that would just take us to the beach but we finally did. Traffic was pretty congested on this island too so it took a good 40 minutes to get to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach though. We grabbed some lunch at a questionable restaurant but it was the only one around and we were starving. We also learned that St Maarten islanders are not good about estimating time. Everything took at least twice as long as they told us it would. Getting to the beach, making our food, and going back to the ship. It was a little slow going. After we enjoyed the beach for a while we luckily decided to head back a little earlier than we originally planned since we had to find a taxi. We were able to ride in a taxi that was picking up some other people but it took us over an hour to get back to the boat-even with our driver driving on the wrong side of the road a few times to pass everyone. Everyone seemed to have the same issue because when it was time for the boat to leave there was still a few people missing. We made it back though and had a fun evening on the boat and enjoying some delicious hot chocolate from Veneesh at dinner.

When we woke up on Wednesday we were in port at Dominica, which is called the rain forest of the Caribbean. All the islands have a lot of trees and forest up at the higher areas. Dominica was all jungle with a house occasionally peeking through the green. They get 200-400 inches of rain a year!

Our exploring plan worked out pretty well on Grenada so we decided to do the same thing on Dominica. We found a taxi driver that took just the four of us on a tour. He drove around and showed us different views of the islands. We ended up at Trafalgar Falls. After a short hike the trail opens up to a little look out area and there are two beautiful waterfalls right by each other. You could stay there or walk down and climb around in the water and rocks. So we did. We climbed and explored for a while, we found a small pool that we all got in to refresh ourselves. It was cold, but how many times do you have the opportunity to take a swim in a river on the island of Dominica?! 

Next on the tour was some of the islands hot springs. They have one as big as a football field but we didn’t have time for that one. They get a lot of mud and minerals that are good for your skin from their hot springs. They were trying to rub it on us the whole time we were there. It goes on gray then dries to brown. Someone tried to give us a tattoo with it with a leaf. A sneaky old man rubbed some on my arm when I was walking by and I had a brown blotch on my arm for the rest of the day. Dominica was the place we felt like we were being haggled the most. You couldn’t walk two feet without someone wanting to sell you something. I tried to just avoid eye contact because I was not very good at saying no. I decided to not carry any cash on me after I spent two dollars on a paper flower made of crepe paper so some little girls could go to school so I could just say I didn’t have any money. A little bit later a guy with a guitar started following Sherri and I around singing a made up song about how our husbands looked like Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis. I told him I didn’t have any money and he said that Ryan and Kenny had told them to come find us and sing his song after he sang it to them because we had the money. 🤦‍♂️ 

After the hot springs we asked our driver to take us to a beach. Dominica isn’t as well known for its beaches as some of the other islands we visited but he said he would take us to one that was actually a black sand beach. I thought that was pretty cool because I had never been to a black sand beach before. It sticks to you more than white sand. The waves were black too which I did not expect and looked pretty cool. We rented a little palm tree shade area and some chairs to relax in. This beach was the first place we saw pelicans. They were flying and around us and diving for their food. All of us swam and took a nap on our chairs. I spent way to long trying to catch a pelican diving on camera. It was a wonderful afternoon.

After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the boat a little early. After we changed Sherri and I went to the rock climbing wall. We were the only ones there so we raced a few times and then tried the harder climbs. It took me a few tries but I was finally able to get to the top of the hardest one.

Our third day on the boat started with waking up in a new port at Grenada. We all agreed this was our favorite day overall. After a delicious breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe (we started calling it the Facejammer) we left the boat.

The guys convinced Sherri and I to live on the wild side and not book an excursion/tour through the ship. So we walked past all the buses and vans crammed full of people going on the same tour and we found a very nice taxi driver named Ricky who agreed to take the four of us on a tour of the island, bonus- for less than a third of what the cruise line would have charged us.

Grenada is known as the Isle of Spice, so the first place he took us was to a nice little old man named John’s spice shop. John gave us a demonstration on how they make nutmeg and cocoa and all kinds of information that I thought I would remember but don’t about the many different spices they make on the island. It was very interesting, and of course my natural herbalistic side was intrigued and we got some spices and herbal remedies to bring home with us. They had some highly recommended cocoa balls that they recommended making ‘cocoa tea’ with. We got a few of those and thought it would be a fun drink to try and we got a few to give as gifts. Later when we boiled some water, dissolved the cocoa ball and added twice the recommended amount of sugar we tasted it. It was disgusting. I have tried an herbal tea called Matte so I was expecting something kind of like that. It was way grosser than that. Even after adding more sugar and then chocolate milk I couldn’t handle it. So that went down the drain. I feel bad for giving it to everyone I did too. Hopefully someone likes it. But I feel like I should say sorry if you are reading this and I gave you a cocoa ball. I didn’t know they would be that gross. At the back of his shop there was a little balcony that gave you an amazing view of the island. It was a great little place to stop. Our tour was off to a good start.

The next stop on our tour was up in the mountains a little bit. He dropped us off and showed us where to find a short trail that lead to a waterfall. When we got to the trail head there was a man with his pet monkey. For a small donation he would let you hold it, so of course we all did it. The water fall was very pretty, we explored a bit then headed back to Ricky. He drove us around a few more places. There was an old Fort you could tour by the prison. The prison was pretty small and actually looked like a farm with walls around it. We asked him about it and he said that if someone went to prison they had to work and grow food so they weren’t just sitting around. He also said there really wasn’t a lot of crime on the island. He said that everyone watched out for each other and kept tabs on each other. I noticed that on all the islands people were very helpful and kind. Sometimes you could tell it was more of a tolerance because tourism is their bread and butter but in Grenada especially the people were very genuine and welcoming. As we were driving around we passed one of our churches. We pointed it out and he said that there are two missionaries on the island with white shirts and ties that he has seen. Ryan told him to talk to them next time he saw them and tell them he drove a bunch of Mormons around for the day. 

We wanted to check out a beach for a while so Ricky took us to one that was not as crowded and was a calm area. We walked into a restaurant with two people eating at the counter and giant open windows overlooking the ocean. It was gorgeous. Kenny said he felt like we were in a picture. I agree. I took a lot of beautiful pictures. We ate some local food. I tried the creole fried chicken and it was delicious. Everyone else tried something called rotie. It was alright, way better than mafungo. After we ate we spent some time swimming in the crystal blue water and hanging out on the white soft sand beach. After a few hours it was time to head back to the boat. On the way we came down a hill that overlooked a little bay and there was a beautiful complete double rainbow. Ricky stopped right there on the road so we could take pictures. It was an incredible view. Ricky dropped us off just outside a strip mall so we could walk through and shop a little on our way back to the boat. It was a wonderful day. 

That night we went to a comedy show, played more cards and, stayed up late talking, and watched a dance contest between passengers and the crew.