What a blessing it is to be able to travel! I love it so much, I alway's want to do everything and see everything I can. I dragged David with me on a tour of every Island. He thought the bus rides got a little old, but not me. I found something to take a picture of everywhere. I took about 1500 pictures and that doesn't count the ones I deleted along the way.
Then there were the great beaches and all the fabulous people we met at dinner every night. I loved just talking to people and getting to know them!
We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and I was delighted with this view before landing
My sister is going on the Allure in a couple of weeks
Leaving the port
David playing his Iphone guitar
Florida treated us to a great sunset at sailing
Dinner of course was one of the highlights of the boat
Then there was the pool. Since the average age was about 70, I was the youngster on the cruise. It was awesome!
Lots of great views
Aruba
We took a tour that started at the Lighthouse
Since Aruba is pretty flat and desert like, there were very few vista's. This was from the Lighthouse
The famous Divi-divi tree
Another vista of Aruba was from this rock that took about 20 seconds to climb
And we are looking at the highest spot on Aruba. Now that would have been a great view but I guess they don't let people go up there
Cool murals
They had some interesting cactus fenses
Then we went to the North side of the island
The one of the two bridges that hasn't collapsed. The other one was just a pile of rocks
The waves crashing against the coast was awesome
Here people make wishes with stacks of rocks
Eagle Beach- the perfect beach
This was one of the best beaches we have been on. It doesn't quite beat Panama City but almost- there were a lot fewer people
The Colors of Aruba
After the beach we got dropped off downtown and it was so colorful I couldn't help it. We took these pictures in about 15 minutes. Many of the buildings are painted in bright, fun colors
The night we pulled out I got this great shot from the ship
Bonaire
Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry were waiting for us when we got off the boat and whisked us away to see where they lived and to drop off the Lap Top we brought to them. They had theirs stolen from their car in Aruba the week prior. Anyway, we got to see their nice apartment. They live in the basement of this nice home
It was quite nice and comfy
They knew which direction the tour buses were going and we went the opposite. The first stop was the highest spot on Bonaire called Seru Largu. It looked like a Catholic monument . Like Aruba, it is very flat.
After the view from Seru Largu we drove by the LDS Chapel there in Bonaire. They have a branch and Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry are the only missionaries on the island. Bonaire only has a population of about 18,000. Aruba has about 150,000
Then we drove over near the salt mining area and this was my favorite part
A while back they had slaves that worked the salt fields and they built these little huts for them. The slaves are gone but their homes remain on one beautiful beach. It was a finger coral beach
I have this thing about my feet. I like to show where they have been, especially if they are walking on something interesting. It's illegal to take the coral but throwing it back in the water is probably ok
They have lots of Flamingos on Bonaire
This is their lighthouse
They had these pyramid shaped things all around the salt fields for building fires on to show the ships where to dock. They are now painted in all different colors. We saw blue and orange ones that were cool
There are wild goats on Bonaire
Another cactus fence. I think I can safely say it would keep me out
This western side of the island is where the diving is superb. It is shallow and then drops off pretty quickly
Next on our tour was lake Gotomeer which was beautiful
We drove right through it!
They also have lots of wild donkeys on Bonaire, and from what I heard, stay out of their way, they are the bosses
After the island tour we went back into Kralendijk and ate lunch at a great local Peruvian restaurant
And then we said Goodbye. It was great to see them and they hadn't seen any family for months and so I think they enjoyed seeing us too! We love you and thanks for a wonderful day!
Leaving the port
Grenada
I was delighted with Grenada's lushness and mountains
See the fort on the right? We get to visit it
All the school children wear uniforms
This is from Fort Frederick
I love forts
And I love Caribbean music!
They call Grenada "The Spice Island"
I met Catherine and she told me I could take her picture but I must treasure it always. I will Catherine!
I bought some spices from this man and he also let me take his picture
Almost all the houses were built on stilts. Some were nicer than others
The Banana Ladies
Annadale Falls
I took a picture with this Banana Lady but I liked this one of her. She is holding a Cacao Bean that chocolate is made out of
They had Poinsettia plants on Grenada
They had a black sand volcanic beach
And of course I had to take a picture of my shoes
This is a cashew tree. Can you see them?
They look like this
We visited an old Sugar Plantation
And they had cute kids
I took this reflection photo in the window of the cruise boat
And we ended the day with a beautiful sunset
Dominica
Dominica is lush and mountainousness like Grenada. We did the basic Island tour with rain forest and waterfalls
The first stop was a view of the port
Trafalgar Falls
We stopped and got the best banana soda ever
Then we went hiking through the rain forest
We hiked to the Emerald pool
We met some great people from North Carolina on the cruise and they went swimming so I could take their picture! Thanks Rob, Anne and Peggy! It was a treat getting to know you!
My feet were in a real rain forest!
David was feeling like Tarzan
It made him thirsty for another Banana Soda
I have some real issues. I just can't say no
I even went shopping for a Caribbean dress
Peggy and I both got our hair braided. I think I liked hers better since I couldn't sleep with mine
This day was the first day of Carnival in Dominica. There was a parade but we had to be back on the boat. I was bummed I missed it
See the guys on stilts?
St. Thomas
On St. Thomas we took a tour called "The Vista's of St. Thomas"
The first thing we did was take a tram up to this view
David tried out the Caribbean music drums and they were a lot harder than he thought they would be. He has new respect for one man bands
Then we drove to this vista
Lastly we saw this view of the east side of the island and Magen's Bay. We could also see St. John's and Tortola in the distance
Princess Cays
This was a privately owned Island by Princess. It was small but fun. They had all kinds of beach activities
There was some awesome snorkling with tons of fish
The pictures were better with the sun out
It was a most relaxing day
The best things aboutThe Boat
The hot tub when everyone else was at dinner
Watching Secretariat under the stars with two of my favorites- by hubby and popcorn
Formal night on Valentines Day
I was getting pretty familiar with this carpet. Even our room was only two doors down from when we went on the Baltic Cruise
Sitting on deck reading
