10 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise on the Emerald Princess- Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas and Princess Cays

I think a cruise is the best way to break up the Winter. Our boat was the Emerald Princess - the same one we took to the Baltic two years ago. We chose this particular cruise because David's Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry were living on Bonaire and we knew they would give us a great tour of the Island. We were right. They were awesome and it was the highlight of the cruise.
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