Yesterday we took a self-guided walking tour of Barbados, which was nice but not noteworthy. Today we took a tour in St. Lucia. We ate cassava bread with banana catsup, mango jam, and nutmeg jam. We also heard many interesting stories about St. Lucia, some of them true ;-). This was the first day we had any rain at all. The rain was quite heavy for a while. Fortunately, we were under cover stuffing cassava bread in our faces. I put some pictures in the website, if you are interested.

The big mystery is the man who left the cruise yesterday. There are lots of staff all over the ship. I always assumed some of them were security. But Danita saw a real security person, with a large “Security” on their shirt and obviously carrying a gun escort a man about my age off the ship. This was the first time either of us saw a cruise person with an obvious security badge or anybody carrying a weapon of any kind. Not long afterwards, as we exited the ship for our daily walk, we saw the local police with a man about my age sitting in the back seat of the police car leaving the terminal area. So far as we could tell, the man didn’t even have his luggage. Very few people knew what was going on. We couldn’t find any scuttlebutt. I’m pretty sure our room steward knew about it, but he wasn’t talking. I don’t normally think that men my age who have the money to take a cruise would do anything that would merit expulsion in mid-cruise. This appears to be a story that will never be told.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Martinique is the most enigmatic of the islands we have visited so far. The islands we visited so far are Dutch, French, US, or a mixture of these. They brag about of languages spoken and the nationalities of their residents. Not Martinique. They are stubbornly French. In other words, they can’t speak English unless they want something from you. I’m sure there are also many who just can’t speak English. And I did meet one delightful young woman who was kind enough to answer a few questions.

We decided to take a self-guided walking tour. When we got off the ship, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of a protest. France president Macron has increased the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. This protest was much like the student protests I used to see in Paris.

Our first tourist attraction was to be the St. Louis Fort. This was closed. Many other tourists were milling about looking for the fort entrance. There were plenty of signs pointing towards the fort museum. Part of the fort is a police facility. One couple asked and were rudely rebuffed. Is the museum permanently closed? Is is closed for today due to the protest? We will never know.

We found one museum that was open. The fee is 4 Euro (no US dollars, please). That wasn’t a problem for us. Danita knew all about this. She gave the non-English speaking attendant a 5 Euro note. I stood and waited while he searched for our change. There was an exhibit about Black musicians in French only. Upstairs, there was an exhibit about the French colonial period. Those had English translations, so we could be sure to understand how bad colonialism is.

The other, more important museum was closed due to “Extraordinary technical difficulties”. But we were able to see the cathedral. It is a magnificent building, well worth a visit.

Our topper was lunch aboard the ship. They were offering Key Lime pie. It was excellent. Both Danita and I had a slice, plus I got an extra slice for my imaginary friend.

This was our high adventure day. We did a conventional zip-line that had four segments. Then we went on a super-fast zip line that dropped 1,000 feet in 45 seconds. Finally we did a waterless inner tube ride. Along the way we saw breathtaking views of the island. Danita was skeptical of this adventure, but she ended up having a great time. I was focused on not dropping my phone. The phone stayed in a secure pocket the entire trip, so there are no pics.

After a bunch of sea days, we’re trying to get back into being an active participant in our vacation. But not too active. St. Thomas is known for having the best shopping in the Caribbean. So naturally, after we took the cable car to the top of the hill and visited the pirate museum (Argh, matey), we went back to the ship for a more sanely paced afternoon.

I call this last shot “The color of money”. The prominent yacht is worth $350 million.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

The “B” in ABC stands for Bon Aire. You already know Bon Aire decided they had enough cruise ships, and didn’t need one more. The “C” is for Curacao. We did a self guided walking tour of Curacao. It’s a very attractive town, as Danita demonstrates.

Curacao has a unique and interesting bridge arrangement, including the Queen Emma pontoon bridge. It appears to block all ships, making the cute draw bridges useless. But it actually has a hidden and clever secret. I’ll put a photo-story on the website for those who are interested.

The first pic is of one of the clever draw bridges, the second is the Queen Emma bridge. Emma has no draw bridge capability, but ships have no trouble getting by. That third photo is not a “oops — bridge to nowhere”. The entire bridge disconnected from the road. The blue boxes have outboard motors that swing the bride up against the other shore. The fourth pic shows the bridge reconnecting with the road. The last pic reveals Emma’s secret. On the opposite side, one corner of the bridge is connected to a hinge. The other is on a wheel that allows the bridge to swing along the side of the river.

We did A for Aruba last of all. We took a tour to the other side of the island. Instead of seeing endless white sand beaches, we saw cave paintings circa 1500 and a very impressive cove.

Tomorrow we visit Half Moon Cay. This is a private island owned by the cruise line. It features miles of white sand beaches, chairs, and hamburgers on the grill. There’s a pretty good chance we won’t bother getting off the boat.

We aren’t really taking a 21 day cruise. We are taking a 10 day cruise followed by an 11 day cruise. We don’t have to pack up and change rooms, but there is a down side. Taken in turn, our schedule starting today is sea day, Half Moon Cay, Ft. Lauderdale, Half Moon Cay, and sea day. That’s 5 days in a row on the ship, with nothing more than live entertainment, movies, and a pool. We will have good food that we don’t have to cook and don’t have to clean up after. Life is hard.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We’re still on the boat. The food is excellent, as is the entertainment. Yesterday we were at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. We visited the Woman’s Chocolate Exchange, where we planted Coca trees, sorted beans, and ate chocolate. It was a lot of fun. Today, we were supposed to go to Bon Aire. Unfortunately, Bon Aire decided they don’t particularly like having cruise ships visit, so we visited San Juan instead. This upset a lot of passengers because they had already visited San Juan and they were looking forward to going to someplace new. The rumor was that Holland America did not know our ship wouldn’t fit at the Bon Aire dock. There were so many disgruntled passengers the captain decided to go on the intercom and explain the true situation.

Now here’s what’s funny. Danita and I weren’t able to hear the announcements over our in-room speaker. I asked the steward. He said that was true all over the ship. In-room speakers were used only in emergencies, such as when the boat was sinking. He mentioned “boat sinking” at least a half dozen times. Imagine my surprise when just a few hours later, I heard the captain on our in-room speaker. “Ladies and gentleman, this is the captain speaking” … (long pause). Fortunately, the boat wasn’t sinking. It was only that Bon Air changed their minds about letting us visit. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

The Rotterdam is the newest ship in the fleet. It’s a big ship. The auditorium is very modern with impressive capabilities. We saw a dance troop performance that was visually stunning. Yesterday was a sea day, so we had a gala dinner. Danita and I both chose escargot and filet mignon steak. The food has been wonderful.

Today we visited Grand Turk Island. The water is relatively shallow until is reaches an under-water cliff, where the depth increases from about 100 to 7,000 feet. You can see a well-defined line of dark blue water where the depth increases. We really enjoyed our tour guide. He is genuine, knowledgeable, and kind.

The most fun thing we did (other than mini golf) was an air boat ride in the Everglades. Our guide was amazing at spotting wildlife. There’s no pics. On the up side, there was no risk of me dropping my phone in the water. Fact I did not know: Alligators aren’t ever the apex predictor. A 5 foot alligator would seem to qualify. But they are prayed on by 10 foot alligators. It seems there isn’t anything an alligator won’t eat.

Everywhere we went there were draw bridges, and usually they were up. We would sit in line waiting a very long time only to see a rather small boat pass through. We thought draw bridges were only for sail boats. But it turns out there is almost no clearance under the drawbridge. Even a row boat would have to have the bridge open to get through.

We also visited the Dauer car museum. It was a great collection of GM and Ford cars, with an emphasis on Cadillac. We found Danita’s dream car (not): a green woody station wagon.

There were a dozen restaurants within an easy walk of our hotel. Mostly they stayed away from fast food (although that was also available). Our best find was TooJay’s, a NY deli run by actual NY Jews. Danita ordered French Onion soup. It was as good as anything one can find in Paris. Our other great pick was another NY Jewish deli called the Mayor’s Deli. I ordered a club sandwich, which was a big mistake (as in, the sandwich was too big to eat at one sitting).

The nerds also provided some amusement. Here’s what happens when engineers do graffiti.

It’s time to board the big boat. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. Our car was one of the last to be unloaded from the car train, but we still had plenty of time for one quick stop. There is a glitch with our hotel room. The room and the hotel are fine, but when I made the reservation, they advertised free parking while on the cruise. When we arrived, they said the free parking was no longer available. I’ll be talking to the manager tomorrow (since today is a holiday).

We’ll be goofing off in Ft. Lauderdale for the next few days. We don’t board the ship until Jan 4.

A dozen Christmas pics.