HAPPY EASTER!

Easter treats at home

 

 Easter treats at Nana's

 A family pose before dinner

 Booty!

We had a great Easter and I hope you did too!

Cruising Day Five

We woke up at 6 am (yikes!) to get ready for our 'big' day!  We were just pulling into port as I drew the curtains.  It was always a surprise to open the curtains in the morning which was fun.  Basseterre, St Kitts!  We had only booked one excursion before we left for the cruise and today was the day.  Bike riding tour of the island and beach time.  Sounds good, no?

 

 We enjoyed breakfast delivered to our veranda.  Omelettes for energy this morning!

 We mustered at the pier with about 20 others from our ship and the Royal Caribbean ship docked right beside us.  Our tour guide was quite the taskmaster and I wasn't sure what we were in for!  My bike wasn't working well so we got off to a late start while they attempted to fix it and then gave up and got me a new bike.  The tour guide led the pack and his helper drove a pick up truck behind us with our bags and cold drinks.

 We would stop every so often while he gave us interesting historical anecdotes and island information.  He started to loosen and became quite funny.  We found out that he does this in his spare time and he's actually a police officer.  He was most concerned that we were enjoying his tour.  All Caribbean people that we interacted with were very similar.  They are very direct, friendly and in no way shy. 

 This is the view of our ship from the first of many, many hills we climbed.  St Kitts is a very hilly island.  I think we biked up most of them.  Crikey!  And did I mention the heat and humidity?  Oh right, I did.

 Posing and still enjoying the tour.

 And the summit of one of the steeper hills.  This is where I started to get a bit nervous about what I had gotten myself into!

 A local cemetery.  Morbid, to take a picture but it was so unkempt unlike our cemeteries here.

 Here we are stopped in front of the governor general's mansion.  Our tour guide Leston fancied himself becoming governor general one day. 

 And here he is explaining how the sugar cane industry worked back in the day.  The building is an old run down sugar cane factory.

 And here we are stopped atop another hill waiting to cross their major highway to ride up more hills.  Oh golly.

 Sweet relief!  Shade and a sugar cane stick to eat for energy.  It was tasty!

 First time for everything!

Keith even managed a few 'action' shots.  Still smiling!  What I don't realize is that my sunscreen has now sweated off and my hands and nose are burning to a crisp.

 Click to enlarge this photo.  I took the easy way up that hill in the back of a pick up (no rules in the Caribbean I guess) with 10 other people while the rest of the group RODE THEIR BIKES up that insane incline. 

 The view at the top was rather spectacular though and Keith didn't die from exertion so I call that success.  The sea on the left is the Atlantic and on the right is the Caribbean.  Phenomenal!  This is view point there were vendors selling cold drinks, chips, snacks and trying to put a little monkey on your shoulder and charge you to take a picture of it.  Ewwww!  Our tour guide told us to avoid that like the plague.  He said the monkeys were not healthy or safe. 

 Pretty amazing, yes?

 By the time we pedalled our weary selves to Frigate Bay I was so ready for a dip in the ocean.  This is where they fed us some snacks (oranges, fresh coconut, apples and banana bread) and ice cold juice. It tasted so good!

 We weren't at the beach too long...about 30 minutes or so.  I dreaded the ride back but what could you do?  There were no taxis that I could see to rescue me!

 Getting back to the pier was a VERY long ride and we were beyond exhausted at this point.  Keith really enjoyed the day and I mostly enjoyed the day but had hoped for more beach time.  In total we biked 22 kilometers for 3.5 hours.

 

So we arrived back safely and were given an ice cold Carib Beer as a reward for our travels.  I hate beer but man did this ever taste heavenly!  At least the first few gulps did and then I passed it off to Keith.

 We were a bit bummed that we didn't get to see the town at all but we were able to see many aspects of the island that we normally wouldn't have.  Leston took us to every nook and cranny (at least it felt like it) and he was very proud of his island.  We had a 3 pm departure from port so there was no time at the end of the tour for anymore touring around.

 

 As we arrived back to ship we were given the royal treatment again with drinks and ice cold washcloths.  Also on hand were the ships officers all lined up welcoming us back like long lost family.  The neighboring boat's passengers had no such treatment and I could tell they were a bit miffed.  Ha ha!  Try Celebrity next time, suckers!

So we showered up and had a nap (I never nap but this cruise turned me into a napper big time!).  I truly needed to recharge my batteries from regular life.

 

 We walked around and watched the ship leave port.  It was a good day.

 We dressed for dinner and caught the early show in the theatre.  Tonight it was a finalist from 'America's Got Talent' who was an incredible juggler.  It was quite an act and very enjoyable.

 And then a well deserved dinner.  My appy was a crab cake.  Loved it.

 Keith's was some sort of mushroom concoction on risotto.

 I had penne primavera for my main.

 

I don't remember what this dessert was called but it was good...I can assure you!

Another successful day in the Caribbean.  We had a lovely time at dinner that night chatting with the couples at our neighboring table.  They were two couples from Rochester, NY who were about my parents ages.  They gave us lots of advice about the next ports and cruising in general. 

Cruising Day Four

 

Good Morning!  Keith woke me up today with an excited voice....we're in port!  It was a treat to open the curtains and see land instead of open seas.  It was a beautiful view with lots of sunshine.  We had arrived in Charlotte-Amalie, St Thomas.

 We got ready quickly and headed to the buffet for breakfast.  It was extra busy as so many people were getting ready to leave ship. 

 We disembarked and were immediately overwhelmed with taxi drivers wanting to drive us to town.  We opted to take the 15 minute walk because we had been so sedentary for the past several days.  After being in the air conditioning it was quite a shock to step outside and be hit with the heat and humidity.  My anti-perspirant was working overtime.

 The walk to town was beautiful and hot!

 We stopped several times along the way to take pictures.

 

 

 Just as we approached the start of the shopping district we found the town's fire station!

 Our planned destination was to tour Blackbeard's Castle museum.  We wanted to see the pirate history.  It was up a very large hill....everything takes a lot more effort and energy in that kind of climate!  This is a picture of one of the streets in the shopping area. 

 At the bottom of the 99 steps which are technically 103 steps!  This town was so pretty with alleyways, streets, quaint houses and historical things to see.  We felt safe wandering around where ever we wanted.

 Resting about 3/4 of the way up the steps.  You can see our ship in the distance.

 We arrived to Blackbeard's Castle to find it closed.  We were bummed...but not for long because we were on holidays!  Easy come, easy go!

 At least the views were spectacular!

 And back down the stairs.

 We walked around the shops a bit.  It was not our kind of shopping.  It was all high end perfumes, diamonds, watches, jewellery and liquor.   

 It was raining in this picture...not that you can tell.  It was a warm rain and quite refreshing after all the huffing and puffing from the hilly walk.  This church was established in 1666! 

 Down this quaint alleyway was a chocolate shop that we bought a treat from.  It reminded me of Disneyland with all the tidy streets and historical buildings except this was real and not built to look historical!

 Chickens ran rampant around the main square in town. 

 We had finally seen all we wanted and I told Keith that I wanted to go and find a beautiful beach.  Wandering around shops was not my cup of tea when there was more to see on this island!  So we walked back to the ship for lunch.  On the way back we found this photo op for Chad....he loves turtles!

 Our massive ship among the massive yachts.  This is the playground of the rich and famous.

As we arrived back at the ship we were greeted by the crew just outside the gangplank with ice water, juice and an ice-cold fresh facecloth to wipe our hands and faces.  Seriously!  This was an unexpected but perfect extra touch that impressed us very much. 

The lunch area on the back deck.  We were going to eat here but decided it was too hot. 

 After lunch we got ready for an afternoon at the beach.  When we left the ship we didn't have to look hard to find an eager taxi driver to take us to any beach we wanted.  We chose 'Magen's Bay' as it was touted as one of the top 10 beaches in the world by National Geographic.  It cost $8 each.

 We had about a 15 minute drive to the beach up a very steep and windy road as it was on the other side of the island.   The truck badly needed a tune up and we were happy to finally arrive safely!

 

 

The taxi driver had a crackly P.A. system and gave us some touristy info as we road in the back of his truck-style taxi.  All the islanders speak with the same accent...yeah mon!  Very musical.

 And so we arrived at Magen's Bay.  It's a national park so it was a $4 admission.

 The clouds started to roll in as we settled down on our beach towels but we didn't mind...it was still plenty warm.

 Not a bad view!  I didn't even read...I just soaked up the atmosphere.  I told Keith to pinch me...I was in paradise!

 Very tropical and picturesque.

 Time to get some sun on the pasty white body!

 Happy girl.

 We left at around 3:30 pm as our ship was leaving port at 5 pm.  We didn't want to risk being late at all!  It's so easy to find rides in the ports.  You never have to worry about finding a cab...they will come and find you.  The MOMENT they spot you packing up your beach towel or walking to a parking lot they run up to you and ask to drive you back to the ship.  They all want to earn your money very badly!  On this taxi the back of the truck was full so we got to ride in the front cab with Mr. King.  He was about 70 years old and quite the character!  Full of stories and advice and interesting facts.  We enjoyed the ride very much and gave him a handsome tip.

 We got back to our room and just lounged on our veranda a while.  The storm clouds were still rolling in and out of the bay.  We snapped some pretty pictures.

 And then it rained again for a while!  So we got ready for dinner...had to wash off all that sand, sunscreen and sweat.

 Just leaving port and all cleaned up.  This evening we decided to catch a show before dinner.  This was our first show that interested us. 

 We ordered room service on our interactive Apple TV for the next morning as we had an early start at port.  Very cool! 

 And we pulled away from port in a full rain storm that blew over in 15 minutes to show more sunshine again!  Two other ships left port at the same time. 

 Waiting for the show to start in the Equinox Theatre.  The show was a comedian who was quite funny actually!  He mocked out the seniors on the ship real bad.  Ha ha!

And then off to stuff more food in our faces. 

My starter salad was an iceberg wedge.  I had bleu cheese dressing which usually I don't care for but this was amazing!

 Keith ordered the grilled salmon.

 

 I had turkey parmigania.

 Keith's dessert was a banana walnut cake.

I indulged in the cheesecake with strawberry sauce.

As our waiter was taking our plates he told me that in his 6 months working on board he had never seen a lady clean her plate like I did.  He was really impressed.  It made me feel a bit like a pig but then I understood from his perspective that he sees a lot of food go to waste on the ship and he enjoyed seeing me really appreciate the food.  He was so sweet and soft spoken as he told me this that I knew it was a compliment.

And then it was off to bed as we had an early start in the morning for our island excursion!