Thursday, December 29, 2011 – Phillipsburg, St. Maarten – Mostly Sunny – 81 F

Castries, St. Lucia to St. Maarten: 277 Nautical Miles

A beautiful day in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.  We are not on tour today and plan to check out the main shopping area.  Even though we have been here a few times, we have never walked the town because it was either too hot or we were on tour. 

The town is right on the beach but you need to take a water taxi from the cruise terminal to the town ($6 per person round trip) or walk about a mile.

Once in town, we were able to find shade pretty easily.  A nice breeze also cooled things down.

  

The Buddha and me

 

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

 

Better than GPS (Is that Evanston?)

A long long time ago, on a Caribbean Island far far away…

The cruise terminal from the Beach

Ellen on the Beach

 

The beautiful beach at Phillipsburg…

…and then the rains came

We could not find any WiFi in Phillipsburg so after walking a good deal of the town, we headed back to the ship.

We spent some nice time on the deck to round out the afternoon.  We were so comfortable on the deck that we did not go to dinner in the Dining Room but rather had something to eat in the King’s Court Buffet.  We will be back in the Dining Room tomorrow.

Tonight, after dinner, we are going to the Senior Office Party (invitation below).

The deck party was very nice.  I introduced myself to the Commodore (he said he had heard of me from some passengers).  We had some Mai Tais and snacks.  We had a nice chat with Steve, the Broadway Producer, but knew no one else in the group (a few hundred people).

The Headliner tonight was Pianist David Howarth.  He’s talented but we decided not to stay for the show.

We went to one of the lounges for a while. 

Did a lot of walking today so we headed to the room.

Pedometer: 13597 steps; 6.44 miles; 666 calories

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 – Castries, St. Lucia – Mostly Sunny – 85F

Bridgetown, Barbados to St. Lucia: 164 Nautical Miles

It’s a beautiful day in St. Lucia.  We are tendering into the town today – apparently, the QM2 is too long to dock at the town’s terminals.

 

Tendering to Castries

A tender and the QM2 in the distance

Castries Shopping Area

It was hot in the city today so we took shelter in a new shopping complex near the pier.  We found out that the Science Museum in the complex had WiFi and we were able to get the password (for the cost of two Coke Zeros).  The WiFi signal was very strong so, in addition, to catching up on e-mails, we also used SKYPE on my phone for the first time.  It worked fine – just like a cell call.  A new way to communicate.  We stayed in the museum for over an hour and took advantage of the air conditioning and WiFi. 

Returning to ship – Silver Spirit and Carnival Valor

 

After dinner, we attended “Singers In Concert” – a concert given by the Cunard Singers accompanied by both orchestras, the string quartet, and the harpist.  It may have been the best show we have ever seen on a ship.

Cunard Singers in Concert

A great evening.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 – Bridgetown, Barbados – Mostly Sunny – 81F

St. George’s, Granada to Barbados: 173 Nautical Miles

It is a beautiful day in Barbados…

Ellen got room service and I went down for Breakfast.  Ellen’s “Best of Barbados” tour meets at 8:30 AM so she had to hustle this morning.  After breakfast, I spent the morning on the sea facing deck – warm and out of the sun.

There are four ships in Barbados today – the German “Mein Schiff” (original for sure); the Silver Spirit, and a schooner.

 

Top/Center: Barbados Pier – Ships docked; Bottom: Barbadian Coast Guard patrolling

Ellen’s Tour took her to the Sunbury Plantation House for some sightseeing and snacks (rum punch).  The plantation is over 300 years old and has been restored after a recent fire. The pictures below reflect the beauty of the landscaping and the grounds of this well preserved plantation.

Sunbury Plantation

 

The next stop on Ellen’s tour was “Orchid World”, a botanical garden emphasizing orchids.  The site also offered great vistas of Barbados.

Orchid World

The final stop on the tour was the Gun Hill Signal Station.  This station was used as an early warning system for any “slave revolt”.  No such revolt ever took place but the hill and its view station are still there.

From the hill you can see the harbor and the Queen Mary 2 (below).

Harbor and QM2 in the distance

The Gun Hill Station

Ellen and a staff member

After lunch, I headed out to the cruise terminal to meet my tour group - “Barbados – Coast to Coast”.  I had done this tour before but it was a very scenic tour so worth a second look.  Our guide, Ruth, soon started our tour.  It is a “Bank Holiday” today on the Island (and other islands I suspect).  There are two holidays following the Sunday of Christmas.  Not bad.

The first stop was at a Nature Preserve – a small place with snacks and some animals (mostly monkeys).  The main attraction – besides the free drinks – of the place was the spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean.  While downing a local beer - “Banks Beer”, I did get some great photos from the hill.

 

Atlantic Ocean from the Nature Preserve

The tour proceeded to the Atlantic Ocean and the little beach town of Bathsheba.  The Atlantic Ocean beaches are essentially a surfer magnet since the undertow is dangerous for casual swimmers.

Bathsheba and the Atlantic Ocean

After leaving Bathsheba, the bus stopped for a parting view of the Atlantic Ocean (below).

 

The final stop was St. John’s Parish Church.  This church has been destroyed many times by hurricanes and the present building is relatively new.  It has a very interesting graveyard in the rear of the church as well as great views.

St. John’s Parish Church

The Grave of Paleolocus - related the Christian Greek Emperors(1678)

View from the graveyard of St. John’s Church

Tonight was the last candle of Chanukah and present were the ship’s senior staff including Paul O’Loughlin and his assistant, Rachel.

The headliner tonight was David DiMuzio, a juggler-singer (yes).  He claimed he was Jewish (via his mother) so he could work in a Jewish-Native American joke.  His act was OK but he did sing an original song while doing his finale juggle.  I guess that makes him unique. 

After the show, we went to Deck 8 to check out the outdoor party.  It was pretty nice but there were few seats.

VIBZ playing at poolside

The seas are smooth…