This is another of our favourite islands which we’ve been to several times before…there’s lots to see and do on this island. We’ve previously visited, the Botanical gardens which are fabulous, Marigot Bay beach and view point- this is where Dr Doolittle and The Pirates of the Caribbean were partly filmed, the volcanoes at Soufriere, and had magnificent views of Les Pitons. We’ve also taken a catamaran from Castries to Soufriere and swam on one of the numerous beaches……So this time we walked off the the ship and took a local taxi to Rodney Bay, Reduit Beach costing us $20 per person for a return trip. The taxi pulled up at some gates and a helpful man called Kennedy arranged the time the taxi would pick us up and then escorted us to the beach. He guided us to 2 sun-loungers and put up a parasol for us. The cost of the loungers and parasol was $30. We quickly went into the sea to cool off….it was glorious. Although it shelved quite steeply the sand wasn’t shifting under your feet all the time and it was relatively easy to get in and out. We spent over an hour and a half just bobbing around and swimming…it was very warm.
Kennedy was a good guy who took excellent care of us. When the wind came up he tied our parasol to the sun-lounger, he regularly offered to get us drinks and altogether it was a very pleasurable morning.
When it was time to go we wandered back to the white gates at the road. Kennedy met us there very prepared with a soft brush which he kindly used to get the sand off our feet…what a great idea…. We learnt a little about him…we could have booked him direct and he would have used his taxi to pick us up from the ship and transfer us to the beach and back. He offers a good price for this along with the loungers and parasol….we shall know for next time…we can recommend him, he seemed a kind caring guy…. His full name is Kennedy Mervin Joseph…he has a great motto “ Don’t worry be Happy” and he certainly took the worry out of our day, even phoning the taxi to find out why it was 5 minutes late.
Back on the ship we showered and fell asleep…we’re not used to the amount of exercise our swimming excursions are giving us, that and along with the extra steps …to and from the restaurant ..can be quite exhausting…!!!!
21st November 2024….a very special day….it’s our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We had a lovely day which started with us giving each other a card and gift… John gave me a gorgeous diamond eternity ring which fits perfectly below my two other rings. I gave him an engraved tin containing cuff links with J&J on … So I went for the traditional 10th anniversary gift-tin and John went for the modern-diamond. After breakfast before going out on the beautiful island of Antigua we decided to reflect on our 10 years of married life so we made a list, in no particular order, of all the countries we’ve visited together … England, Wales, Scotland, St Kitts & Nevis, Tortola, St Maarten, St Thomas & St John, Grand Turk, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique, Antigua, Grenada, Dominica, St Lucia, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Bahamas , Cayman Island, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, USA & Alaska, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam , Borneo, Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Gibraltar, Madeira, Monaco , Portugal, Vatican City, Italy, Morocco , Malta, Gozo, Gran Canaria , Lanzarote, Tenerife , Las Palmas, Cyprus, Egypt, Hungary , Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe , Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Oman, Umm Al-Quwain, Fujairah, Greece… quite a list 75 countries in total.
Around mid morning we ventured out ….it had been raining but the sky showed promise of a beautiful day. Wandering up the main terminal shopping area we noticed two ladies with a tour board. We asked if they were waiting for booked customers, which they were. However it turns out the customers hadn’t turned up so they asked what we were looking for. We had already decided to go up to Shirley’s Heights and the Block house on Dow hill so we could see the magnificent sights, and a little sight seeing around the island. One of the ladies said she would take us for $40 each and we would need to pay an entrance fee of $15 each to go up to Shirley’s Heights and the block house. We agreed and off we went. Auntie P was a very knowledgable, fun loving person and we were soon installed into her very comfortable air conditioned 7 seater SUV. We then embarked on a quick tour of St Johns with Auntie P pointing out all the sights. Passing the cricket ground and the Hero’s board we headed into the countryside towards Nelson Dockyards.
As we traversed the beautiful island of Antigua Auntie P pointed out lots of the different vegetation, including coco pod, sugar apple and Ackee. The later is poisonous if eaten before it is fully mature and if it’s not cooked in the correct way. Auntie P said they eat a lot of it in Jamaica and many a wife incorrectly cooks it if she finds her husband is unfaithful …or so the stories go !!!
We enjoyed meandering through the villages. Coming across a taxi with the driver flagging Auntie P down we stopped. They had broken down and our kind driver offered the 4 French speaking Canadians from Quebec a lift to Nelson Dockyard so they could get a taxi from there back to their ship. We were pleased when they got out as they were very noisy and we couldn’t hear what Auntie P was telling us about the island. We stopped on the way to the Heritage site dockyard to take a photo of Clarence House on the opposite side of the harbour. This is where the Queen Elizabeth II had stayed. However due to the rain the photo didn’t really do the area justice. We didn’t go into the heritage site as we had done this on a previous visit to the Island. We passed by many disused windmills which would have been on sugar cane plantations in the olden days…we also experienced a variety of domestic animals roaming freely by the roadside.
When we got to Shirley’s Heights and Dows Hill we went up to The Block house first of all. This is where the soldiers monitored the southern Atlantic and Caribbean approaches to English Harbour. The remains of the ammunition store and the barracks are still clearly visible. The view is magnificent. The white building was built by Eric Clapton and is a rehabilitation centre.
After this we went up to Shirley Heights. This was first used as a lookout and a signal station since the days of the war of American independence in 1774. The sentry would spot approaching ships and use flags during the day and guns at night to spread the alarm across the country…evidently the whole island could be on alert within 10 minutes. Today it’s regarded as offering the finest view of English Harbour and the dockland. Unfortunately the rain didn’t do the views any justice in the photos.
On we continued to Curtain Bluff and Tamarind Cove before getting to Fryes Bay. Here we stopped for a complimentary drink. While people watching we saw a Monarch Butterfly which Aunty P told us were quite rare these days.
We returned to the ship past Auntie P’s house and the primary school she had attended. Auntie P was a preschool teacher and had also had her own day care centre prior to becoming a tour guide. Her love for children still means that she does occasional supply work in the local school. She was a really interesting person who shared her knowledge of the island and island life generously with us….a wonderful tour. We can recommend her to you… . You can contact her directly either by email or phone her email address is kidsplace63@hotmail.com phone number (268)770-9195
Once back on the ship we rested a little before getting ready for supper and our photo session. We were gifted a complimentary photo session by Princess Cruises so we got ready for supper early and went up to the photographic studio…. Tomorrow we’ll see what they turn out like. We had booked a table in the Crown Grill restaurant -which you pay to eat in, unlike most the restaurants on the ship which are covered within your cruise fare. We had a lovely meal of crab cake starter, surf and turf, both the fillet and lobster were cooked to perfection, I then had sugar free ice cream and John had caramel creme brûlée. A perfect meal to end a perfect day….
Thanks to everyone for making our Anniversary an extra special day.
We both woke up early and watched from our bed, whilst drinking coffee, as we pulled alongside the pier in St Kitts…….what a decedent life style we live 🤣. It was a grey day with the cloud hanging very low on Mount Liamuiga, there was no view across to Nevis. The extraordinary sight of a bright rainbow coming out of the bottom of the rain cloud into the sea put a smile on our faces. Breakfast this morning consisted of yogurt and fresh berries, John followed this with a full English cooked meal, whilst I had smoked salmon with cream cheese on a toasted bagel. After breakfast we returned to the cabin and people watched ….it was windy and wet. We decided to wait a bit before going ashore and I took the chance to have an after breakfast nap……after all I’ve been up early every day 🤣🤣. I was finally ready to disembark at about mid-day. By now the sun was shinning and we walked the several thousand steps to the cruise terminal entrance. Once again we had not booked anything…we have been here 5 times before. Last time we went to Nevis by speed boat and explored the island with a Princess excursion. Prior to this we have always taken the train through the old sugar cane plantations. Princess had offered us this trip at a discounted price of $145 per person …the 3/4 hours would have cost us $290 ……it seems that the Americans and Canadians don’t think this is a lot but to us British that is a shed load of money….So we wandered down the quay and caught sight of local a tours lady…She offered us a 2.5/3 hour island tour for $25 per person …Yes Please !!! We had to wait 10 minutes so she could coerce another 3 people into doing the tour…..Castella went and got her air conditioned mini bus and off we went.
A quick drive around Basseterre, the capital, showed us a variety of sights ranging from schools and universities to churches of all denominations. We headed along the coast road passing Bloody Point, where the French and English had combined forces and massacred over 2000 Caribs. From here we went to the Old Road Rum area.
Continuing on passed one of the oldest churches and Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. Eventually the coast road got to where the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas meet. We stopped at a view point to take photos.
Our journey took us a little way inland and we enjoyed the beautiful street art prior to stopping at the Lava Rock.
We walked out to the viewing platform and enjoyed the spectacular jet black rock formations. These are formed by lava, from the volcano. As an aside, it’s probably important to explain that all the natural sand on St Kitts is black volcanic sand. One or two of the upmarket resorts do have yellow sand which is imported. There were a few souvenir stalls at the Black Lava Beach and I purchased a nice little leather purse for my forex and a hand painted Christmas decoration.
Our final stop was a view point over Frigate Bay, this offers splendid views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
It was a superb tour with lots of information and we saw a great deal of the island which we had never seen before. Back in the cruise terminal we stopped to buy…..yes you guessed, John a t-shirt…..they had 2 for $10, as we like a bargain it would have seemed rude to buy one so we ended up with two!!!
Back on board we changed out of our hot and sweaty clothes, the humidity had been very high, and we headed to the buffet for a light lunch and a few games of cards. Tonight is the second evening of “The Voice of the Ocean”, auditions, which we are looking forward to hearing….don’t worry Dad I am not singing…..for those of you who don’t know me well I have a voice like a howling dog !!!! More about our evening tomorrow…Thank you for travelling along with us and thanks to those of you who have left such encouraging comments, we are glad you are enjoying our trip.
Before I we move on to our first port day, we’d like to share the end of day 4…….It was a black tie evening, so John looked his usual handsome self in his “bib and tucker” DJ or as the Americans say in his tuxedo. I put on my newly discovered ( I can’t remember buying it and I’ve never worn it!!!) black evening dress with a beaded top along with one of my many evening over jacket…..We had decided to go to Capri Dinning room and try to get a table with Ernesto’s serving lady …but alas it was full so they took us down to Santorini Dinning room and guess what? …….we were seated in Ernesto’s area…it couldn’t have worked out better if we planned it. We both started our meal with crab cakes and followed on with roast duck, adding a pecan caramel cheese cake as dessert……it was immaculately cooked and served…now this is the standard of food we expect . If you are wondering why Johns not smiling in all the photos it’s because he is self conscious of his broken front tooth!!!!
Feeling more than satisfied with our supper we waddled along to the theatre. It filled up quickly and it was good to see at least 3 officers ensuring that people didn’t save seats etc. The show was “Spotlight Bar” . It really was of the West End, or perhaps we should say Broadway standard. Both the choreography and the vocals were superb. We delivered a standing ovation before hot footing it along to the Princess Live Lounge. One of our favourite games to watch is the “Yes No” game….it never fails to amuse us. The contestants are asked lots of chit-chat questions and they are out if they say yes or no …if they last 3 minutes they win a bottle of champagne. Two ladies managed it…it never fails to be hysterically funny…we met the nice couple we’d sat next to the previous evening at supper and they decided to play but unfortunately they weren’t called up. After this we stayed where we were and enjoyed the first audition of “The Voice of the Ocean”. 7 contestants sang….the standard was amazing, eventually we voted for a lady who had belted out “ Black Velvet” and our second vote went to another lady whose rendition of “My heart will go on” was better than the original. …….so that was the end of Day 4 …what a great day we had, had at sea.
DAY 5 – Tortola ….I’ve never visited Tortola before and it is 30 some years since John was here last. We watched from out balcony as we approached and docked. After breakfast we made our way to the gangway and disembarked. We hadn’t really decided what to do, but thought we might hire a taxi to show us the sights of the island. The cruise terminal area is so like most of those found on Caribbean Islands…posh diamond and gold shops and expensive mass produced souvenirs. Having asked a nice local where to find a taxi we made our way as directed. Before getting to the small individual taxis we found open sided taxi buses offering 2 hour island tours for $25 per person….it was a no brainier and we hopped on to the back seat. it was a really informative tour, with several stops for photos, toilets, shopping etc. we went through the capital, Road Town, then we stopped at various view points on the climb up to Mount Sage National park.
The tour then wound its way back down the mountain to Cane Garden Bay. This looked a beautiful resort town.
We stopped at the only remaining rum distillery on the island, before heading along to the beach area. The beach was lively with sun-loungers, parasols, people swimming and the usual beach sellers. We had 15 minutes here, in which time we managed to buy John the essential t-shirt, just another to add to his massive collection!!, and he paddled in the sea whilst taking a photo.
The tour then ended back at the Cruise ship.
Wandering through the modern terminal area we stopped to buy a Christmas decoration…..for those of you who don’t know us we have Christmas tree decorations from special places we have visited around the world …we are very global at Christmas time.
We are looking forward to another enjoyable evening …more about that tomorrow,
Yesterday we set off from home for a 3 week holiday. It is to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Those of you who know us will remember John proposed to me in the Caribbean.
We flew directly to Miami..good flight…spoilt by the huge queue to get through immigration….just under 2 hrs we made it through…for the first time ever we used Uber for a lift to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale…it was $68 a good price…..how were we to know that there are several Marriott Courtyards of Federation Highway !! Another Uber for $21 got us to the right one. We were exhausted and went straight to bed…..Unfortunately our old red 10 year old cases had expired and we had brand new John Lewis yellow ones….one is already smiling at us!!
We woke up very early 3.00am ….Uk time was 7.00 am body clock all adrift! After the necessary trip to the bathroom we both managed another long sleep and finally made it down for breakfast at 9.30am…USA time. We used our new skill to call another Uber and for $45 he took us to the port…dropping us at pier 21 to embark on the Enchanted Princess. Wow!!!… to say we were amazed is an understatement…the queue for the terminal went right the way to the end of the pier and back around again. It took us an hour to join the end of the queue and another hour and three quarters to embark on the ship…nearly 3 hours most of it queueing in the hot sun….come on Princess that is not good enough…..they should have allocated embarkation time slots like they used to, so that customs scanning doesn’t get overwhelmed … the actual embarking with Princess staff and getting our medallions was only a matter of minutes. After dropping our carry-on bags off in our cabin…..an obstructed view balcony especially selected as it looks over the middle of the roof of the lifeboat…so I can’t look down and feel seasick…..there is always method in my madness!!! ….we hotfooted it up on to the sun deck for a Key West Cooler mocktail…”Cheers everyone!” And a light lunch – hummus, pitta bread, olives salad. Followed by fresh melon and pineapple…….lovely….two glasses of water and we are ready to fight the crowds for a slot on top deck to watch the sail away……..The usual array of singing, dancing, shouting, cheering, the “love boat tune” played on the ships horn and the pilot boats guided us out of the port 50 minutes late but yeah!!!! We are on our way.
Deciding we needed a rest we descended to our cabin….and our suitcases were already inside awaiting the unpacking….John kindly helped me and we soon had it all in the draws and wardrobes and the cases stashed neatly under the bed. Our cabin Steward for the next 20 nights came and introduced himself…”Lucky” from the Philippines. I think we are lucky because he instantly said he’d change the bar fridge for Diet Coke and he went and got us a kettle for our early morning coffee….which incidentally I bring with us….he also made certain that our shower has a flexible removal pipe, as I don’t like the fixed ones which don’t allow you to deep clean individual areas!!!!! I was very impressed with him so he will be lucky as I can already feel a big tip going his way..
So far so good….we have booked a table for supper at 6.20 every evening, so hopefully we won’t have to queue…but if we do we do…..
Two sea days now, then an island which is new to me..Tortola….but in the mean time let’s eat, drink and be merry…..
2 J's World of Adventure 