Sun, Feb 11th - St. George’s, Grenada

Long known for the sweet aromas and lush groves of its spice industry, the Southern Caribbean island of Grenada (gre-NAY-dah) was suddenly newsworthy for an altogether different reason when a Category Four hurricane made devastating landfall there in September 2004. Hurricane Ivan damaged 90 percent of Grenada's buildings, destroyed 85 percent of its nutmeg trees and left more than half the population homeless.

Two and a half years later, Grenada’s natural beauty is slowly re-emerging. Signs of the storm do remain, particularly in rural areas – uprooted trees, damaged roofs, a few churches reduced to splintered wooden frames and rubble lying in undisturbed ruin – and in the faces of people who lost everything, and are gradually recovering, thanks to the tourist industry. The capital city of St. George's is as colorful and charming as ever, and the rainforests and mountains reflect that color as the magnificent flora returns. These are the attractions that keep the cruise ships coming.


Fort George, visible from the pier at St. George’s, is a relic of the 100 years that the French tried to keep the British from taking over Grenada. Today, the locals still speak English as well as Patoi, a creole blend of French spoken also in ancient parts of Haiti and southern Louisiana.

This country is known as the “Isle of Spice” because its main exports are cacao, mace, allspice, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and especially nutmeg. (If Columbus had bothered to make landfall here after ‘discovering’ the island in 1498, he could have successfully ended his mission to find exotic spices!) Grenadians are nothing if not resourceful with the spice. Nutmeg ice cream. Nutmeg cheesecake. Nutmeg sprinkled over rum punch. There’s even a nutmeg rub that’s supposed to cure the common cold. (Too bad what I’ve currently got is a little more severe…) Before the hurricane, Grenada was growing ONE-THIRD of the world’s nutmeg!

And indeed, the air is fragrant with these spices just about everywhere you go. And me being the big dessert-lover I am, I decided I just had to visit the Dougaldstone Spice Estate enjoined with the Gouyave Nutmeg Processing Station. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived to discover they’re closed on Sunday! Unfortunately, Grenada's famous nutmeg industry has been a bit slower to recover (the trees take seven years to grow mature enough to bear fruit), so they’re only open four days a week. However, there are hardy new varieties of nutmeg trees currently being planted – varieties that will hopefully survive the next big storm.

So, since nature never takes a day off, I decided to visit the Grand Etang Lake and Forest Reserve and the Annandale Falls. Inside the cruise terminal, I negotiated a good price with a taxi driver named Duffy, who agreed to give me the grand tour of Grenada, highlighting the two landmarks I was interested in.

Like Dominica, Grenada is an island formed from the explosion of volcanoes. Its terrain is steep, and the roads are winding. But Duffy still made very good time. It took us about 20 minutes to climb to 1910 feet above sea level, and the breathtaking view along the way was worth every twist and turn.

We reached the top of the extinct volcano which is covered with the Grand Etang Lake and Forest Reserve. This rainforest was completely devastated by Ivan, and still bears the scars. Splintered trees dot the landscape among the reappearing greenery, which is about 75% returned. In the center of the forest is a large indented space, the crater at the top of the volcano, in which now lies the Grand Etang Lake. There are plenty of fish here, but the wildlife preserve prohibits fishing. The silence is as beautiful as the countryside itself.

Not far below the entrance to the park, I spotted a lookout hiking trail and asked Duffy to stop for a moment. It’s called Beausejour (boo-SHAY-zhoor) Lookout, and the muddy steps were not exactly easy to navigate. Add that to the thin air of the high altitude, and the climb had me sweating bullets in about 10 minutes. But again, the view was unbeatable and so worth it.

Next, Duffy took me to “de leetle waterfall on de way.” A land covered in rainforest among so many mountains is bound to have plenty of waterfalls, so we stopped here at Constantine (CON-stan-tyne) Waterfall. The two gentlemen in the background are catching fish and cooking them on the spot for lunch!

(Pssst! Another great dead picture here!)

Finally we reached the Annandale Falls, the biggest waterfall on the island. The water falls from a height of 35 feet into a pool which runs 15-20 feet deep in the current dry season. During wet season, the falls dump many more gallons, the pool rises up to 25-30 feet, and the falls appear much shorter.

The park surrounding this waterfall was filled with all sorts of native flowers, beautiful and exotic. The chili peppers are small and (I’m told) extremely potent. The papaya is used as a meat tenderizer, and the elephant ears are about two and a half feet long. The lobster claws are so long and heavy that they fall over, and from this angle they sort of resemble cardinal heads and beaks – don’t you think?


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The falls were amazingly beautiful, and so peaceful. Nothing but the sound of rushing water – not even birds. It was so tempting not to want to just dive in and swim around for a bit, but alas… it was good enough just to get some postcard-worthy pictures to share with you.

After returning to the cruise pier, I did indulge in a bit of nutmeg ice cream before heading home. As we sailed away from St. George’s, it felt good to know that the island’s pristine beauty is fiercely protected by the government. Everywhere you look there are signs to “take only pictures, leave only footprints.” Islanders have learned from over-development in neighboring nations. A strict law here restricts buildings to the height of the tallest palm tree.

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One more thing worthy to note. The price of gas here is $10.94 EC per gallon. At an exchange rate of $2.64 EC to $1.00 US, that’s about $4.14 per gallon! Makes $2.25 seem a little more reasonable, doesn’t it?......

Sat, Feb 10th - Bridgetown, Barbados

Well, I’m still not feeling 100% well, but I decided to get off the ship today just long enough to buy some postcards and take some pictures in the port to say, “Yes, I was here.”

But just as I was wrapping up buying the postcards, my friend Boz saw me and said, “Hey, come with us to the Boatyard.” I had completely forgotten I had promised him last time we were here that I would come the next time (this time). So despite not feeling well, I decided I had to make good on my promise, just for a little while. I certainly was not dressed for the occasion: the Boatyard is a beach resort, really cool – designed for crew, but I was wearing long pants and a t-shirt instead of a bathing suit. So I thought, “I’ll just go for a few minutes and then make my excuses and come right back…”

But this is the Boatyard…
Yeah, so I couldn’t resist staying for a little while.

There was volleyball…

…a pier…

… and a whole lot of beach chairs along a blue water, white sand, sunny day BEACH.

Ok, so I stayed out a little longer than I anticipated, but I had a good time, and now I can REALLY say, “I’ve been there AND done that!”

Fri, Feb 9th – Roseau, Dominica

The island of Dominica (dah muh NEE kuh) was born some 26 million years ago out of a series of volcanic explosions, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. But even at this age, the island is the Caribbean’s youngest, a factor that is partly responsible for its dramatic beauty. Older islands have been eroded and softened somewhat by time, but Dominica’s volcanic landscape is still pretty sharp and steep. The island is stunning – in fact, it was one of three primary locations used in the filming of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.

When Columbus sighted this island in 1493, he could not find a place to land on the high windward cliffs of the craggy eastern coast. He called it Dominica (“Sunday”) to mark the day he encountered it, but he sailed on without ever setting foot here. Still, it is unfair to say that Columbus “discovered” this island, as Carib Indian tribes had already been living here for nearly 500 years, and still live on reservations on the north part of the island today.

Many people see Dominica only from the deck of a cruise ship. Until 2005, there were no direct flights from the US or Europe to Dominica and visitors got to the island by making connections through several neighboring islands, including Puerto Rico. Now, the island, which measures 26 miles by 19 miles actually has two small airports, one near each the northern and southern ends of the island.

The island has very few visitors during a good part of the year, due to the limited window allowing ships to cross “Hurricane Alley.” Dominica is situated in the middle of the path taken by storms formed off the west coast of Africa as they feed on the warm water of the mid-Atlantic and head west, June through November. These six months are known as Dominica’s “wet season,” and the highest parts of the country can receive up to 400 inches of rain per year!

I decided I had to see this amazing rainforest up close and personal. So I took a taxi to the Rainforest Aerial Tram – a 2-mile trip in a hanging carriage up, over, and through the canopy of the rainforest! A half-hour drive up a winding, twisted, nearly vertical road took us from the cruise ship pier at sea level to a platform high up the mountain almost 2000 feet above sea level!

Dominica boasts a great deal of geothermal activity, including one lake called Boiling Lake, which actually bubbles as sulphuric gases are released from underground! The ship’s maps actually advise you: “Do not visit the geothermal area independently, as there have been tragic accidents in the past.” Yikes! But as I looked around when we arrived at the base station of the Tram, what I saw reminded me a lot of the set of the TV series “Lost,” which is filmed in Hawaii – another chain of volcanic islands.

Starting at 1900 feet above sea level, the tram traveled nearly a mile straight up the mountainside, carrying me another 500 feet higher, usually 50 or 60 feet above the ground, just skimming through the amazing variety of flora that cover this island in a dense blanket of green.


The view from up here is just breathtaking! To the east, you can see “mountains” which are actually dormant volcanoes, kept quiescent by the heavy annual rainfall and the lakes that lie in the volcanoes’ craters, and the rivers that flow from them. 40% of Dominica’s power is generated from the Breakfast River alone, by three hydroelectric plants tiered down the mountainside.


To the west, you can see a gorgeous view of the Caribbean Sea. To give you an idea of just how sharp the incline is, my ship is actually ported just to the right of center along that mountain range line. But you can only see the topmost antenna, as the pier is right on the coastline at the base of those hills.

The slideshow below features just a few of the remarkable plants I got to visit today. There are leaves that grow in a corrugated style, which used to be used for roofing and hut-building; ferns made of thousands of tiny leaves, so old that they are believed to have been dinosaur food; vines like Tarzan used to swing on; and a fuzzy baby conifer.


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The “air plants” are a cool example of a symbiotic relationship. These are plants that actually live high up in the air, wrapped around the trunks of tall trees without being a part of the tree itself. They create root systems for themselves hundreds of feet above the ground, and their leaves curve inward, shuttling rainwater into the root base. In return, the tree lifts them up to where they can gather sunlight, and share the nutrients they harvest from the photosynthesis. Symbiotic relationship = you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

As long as I’ve been in the Caribbean I’ve always admired the way that palm trees grow, so that they are continually reaching for the sun. (Ask me about the Palm Tree Story from last year in Nassau.) So here was a rare chance to see the topside of a palm fern, where the new leaves are literally unfurling in spirals that look like nautilus shells or a frog’s tongue about to reach out and grab you!

The brilliant red and orange Lobster Claw is one of 20 species of orchid found in Dominica. In 1979, a huge hurricane named David blew across Dominica with winds up to 150 mph. Soon after, a brand new species of orchid was discovered across the island, assumed to have been a hybrid of something blown in from another land on the winds of Hurricane David – and thus it was given the name David’s Orchid.

Nearing the topmost platform, I spied a sight that made my heart leap – a bridge! And not just any bridge – a suspension bridge stretched 300 feet above the Breakfast River! Without question, this was about to be the highlight of my day!

We reached the top station platform at 2400 feet above sea level and disembarked the Tram to venture over to the bridge. The feel of that much air between you and the ground is an indescribable rush!!! This is the view over the left side of the bridge, with the water flowing down to the Valley of Desolation…

… and this is the view over the right side, with the water coming in from the mountaintop. The Breakfast River below is so named because the locals make a traditional day-long trip from the city at the base of the mountain up to the Freshwater Lake in the crater at the top. It is said that, because the hike is about 6 hours, one should start this trip early in the morning, and by about 9 am you should have reached the river, just in time to stop for breakfast!


Pure happiness! And not a bit scared!
I love bridges!!!
(P.S. A great dead picture was taken here!)

On the small path that takes us from the other side of the suspension bridge back to the Tram, I passed this kapok tree and had to get inside to be able to show you just how big these roots are. They grow overground like this because remember – the terrain is mostly solidified ash! So they are forced to grow thick, wall-like roots overground just to hold themselves up!

Of course, every plant here is more than just beautiful – it has a purpose. This tree is native to Dominica, and only recently its fruits have been discovered to have properties that may be conducive as a treatment for the HIV virus.

My tour guide was quick to point out that the researchers are still running tests, and that they’re only expecting this to treat the symptoms of the virus, and not necessarily be a cure for the full-blown syndrome. But still – it’s a step in the right direction!

In that valley between the dark green in the middle ground and light green at the topmost point is the Freshwater Lake, held in the crater of a dormant volcano, keeping it quiet. None of the volcanoes on this island (there are more than a dozen) have erupted or even shaken in over 175 years. Still the geothermal activity in over 50 active fumaroles and hot spring pools indicate extreme temperatures always lurking just beneath the surface.

Yet another dormant volcano. On our way back down through the rainforest, we passed most of the same plants, and so the tour guide allowed me to sit quietly and enjoy the sounds that most people have to buy on CD. Running water… Rustling leaves… complete and utterly natural peace. Sixty birds are indigenous here, but hundreds more are migratory, and they all sing sweetly, and their echoes carry under the canopy of the rainforest.

God has blessed this tiny island with a wealth of natural opportunity, and protected it from man’s greed with location and weather. The people are as friendly as the landscape is beautiful. What a great day I had in the beautiful country of Dominica!

Sun, Feb 4th – Southern Caribbean!

The same cruise we did just three weeks ago, only this time I plan to keep myself healthy and in able to get off the ship and visit some of these fantastic places! I’ve even done some crafty arranging with the boys in my band and our port manning schedules, so that hopefully I’ll get to see all six ports that I missed the first time! Here it is:

Monday – Sea Day
Tuesday – Sea Day
Wed – San Juan, Puerto Rico
Thur – St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Fri – Roseau, Dominica
Sat – Bridgetown, Barbados
Sun – St. George’s, Grenada
Mon – Isla de Margarita (El Guamache), Venezuela
Tue – Kralendijk, Bonaire
Wed – Oranjestad, Aruba
Thur – Sea Day
Fri – Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Sat – Sea Day
Sun – Tampa, Florida

Thur, Feb 1st – Hasta, Costa!

Once again the Veendam pulled into Costa Maya early this morning, and once again, we didn’t stop. This is the 2nd time in three weeks! Last time the winds were just too high for safe docking. But this time there was a Carnival ship parked in our spot. So once again, we’ve got another sea day. And because I didn’t get off the ship in Belize or Guatemala, this is my fifth day in a row onboard. This is getting to be more and more of a habit.

However, I’m REALLY looking forward to being healthy on next week’s 2-week cruise to the Lower Antilles and South America and bringing lots of good material to the blog – so stay tuned!

Mon, Jan 29th – Key West with Gordon

Currently, my life revolves around the simple detail that I have had port manning duty in Tampa (our US port) the last 3 times we’ve been there – and I’m running low on important things… like deodorant!

Well, the good news is that we’d be in Key West today. But to get an external hard drive for my laptop (which I have learned the importance of after it crashed a little over a week ago), I would have to sojourn about four miles up the length of the island. To complicate matters, Veendam is only scheduled to be in port for a total of 5 hours, and I have a Lido set for 2 hours out of that five, and I have to be back onboard in time to get ready for a Sailaway set at the end of that five hours. Oh yeah, and we’re porting at the Naval Base, which requires us to take a 10-minute trolley ride through the base to downtown. Long story short: I’ve got just 2 hours to get four miles out to Radio Shack and Kmart, get all my shopping done and get back to the ship.

So I enlisted the help of my groovy friend, Gordon. And what a hero! He got off the ship about a half-hour before me and arranged the rental of a couple of bicycles for us. $10 each for the day – not bad! As soon as my set was over, I ran to my cabin, changed from my singing clothes into my riding clothes, grabbed my backpack, took the trolley to the post office to mail a package (the line at the Key West post office is ALWAYS long, but I’m never in the US on a weekday otherwise!), and RAN to meet him where he was waiting with the bikes.

At about 2:10 we set out towards the Key Plaza that held all the stores I needed. It was a mad dash! Even though it was a cool overcast day in Florida, we were sweating by the time we made it there – four miles in about 20 minutes! It was even more fun for Gordon, who’s from South Africa where they usually traverse on the LEFT side of the road.


By 3 o’clock I had all my shopping done – praise the Lord! And Gordon even got me a good deal on the external hard drive at Radio Shack - $100 for 200 GB. Great teamwork!

We took a more leisurely route getting back to the ship. Since he just got word he’s being transferred to another ship at end of this cruise, this was going to be his last time in Key West, so we took the time to get some pics around the island.



Best wishes to Gordon as he joins the Royal Caribbean fleet next week. Cheers, mate! You’re gonna be “awesome!”

Sun, Jan 28th – Six weeks (five cruises!) to go!

I’ve been sailing for 92 days, which is 13 cruises. That brings my lifetime achievement up to 64 cruises! I have 42 days and 5 cruises left to go, starting with this one! We’re back to the one-week of Central America that we got used to. Next week we’ll have another 2-week run in the Southern Caribbean and it’ll be all one-week’s after that. Here’s this week’s itinerary:

Monday – Key West, Florida
Tuesday – Sea Day
Wednesday – Belize City, Belize
Thursday – Santo Tomas de Castillo, Guatemala
Friday – Costa Maya, Mexico
Saturday – sea day
Sunday – Tampa, Florida

Thurs, Jan 26th – Black and White Officers’ Ball

The good news is: I’m back to singing! The bad news is: I missed six out of eight new ports on this 2-week cruise! Oh well, we’ll be back in three weeks…

Meantime, tonight was the big Black and White Officers’ Ball! Everyone is required to dress up formal in black and white, so I picked the most glamorous red dress in my closet to stand out in! Ha ha! All of the officers looked mighty handsome in their formal white uniforms, and the hour-long dance was punctuated with me happily larking six of my favorite ballroom dance tunes. The two male production singers, Xavier and Brad, also chipped in with a song each, and the entire night was a smashing success!

Wed, Jan 24 – Flu and vocal rest

Well, unfortunately I haven’t blogged in about a week, and worse than that, I haven’t been off the ship or out into a single port for six straight days! I’ve had the symptoms of an oncoming flu, and as that is a major work hazard for me, the ship’s doctor has put me on a strict regimen of vocal rest.

While I haven’t been sick enough to be quarantined (it’s only the SYMPTOMS of flu, so this is just precautionary treatment), the doctor has actually suggested that I get out for some fresh air and visit the ports. The only restriction is that I am not allowed to speak at all – which is VERY hard to do when you’re a visitor in a new country! It’s a pain to have to write everything down, things like asking directions or prices. And especially when you’re in a country where English is not the first language. It puts TWO language barriers between you and the locals.

So :::sigh::: I have resigned myself to stay aboard and rest as much as possible, even more than the doctor ordered, so I can get back to work as soon as possible. Granted, I have missed such wonderful ports as Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Venezuela, Bonaire, and Aruba that I was really looking forward to, since these are six new countries I’ve never been to before, and even from the deck of the ship they look really amazingly beautiful. But more than that, I have missed singing six Lido sets and one sailaway. Luckily, my boys have covered for me not being there with them, playing a lot of instrumental jazz.

And everyone around me has been SOOO wonderful being patient with my gestures and charades and taking time to write things down so they can read them. Being quiet has made me a much better listener, and has taught me again how to think before I speak. It’s been a hard time, but a good lesson learned.

The good news is: I am on the mend! Even today I feel better, and the doctor has officially returned me to “light duty.” But my Music Director and my Cruise Director have requested that I rest for one more day, then get back into it slowly tomorrow to gear up for tomorrow night’s big Officer’s Ball, at which they will definitely need a good singer. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Thur, Jan 18th - St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix) are known as “America’s Caribbean.” After the Panama Canal opened up, the US recognized the strategic advantage of having a Caribbean military base, but took 50 years to purchase these. In 1917, the US paid $25 million for these three little islands, and at nearly $300 per acre, they (along with Alaska) were considered to be Seward’s Folly. However, when you look at today’s real estate prices and the gorgeous views, I think it’s only a shame that more Americans don’t get out to see this part of the “country.”

Today, after our Lido set, I went out into the port with my two new boys: Mike, from Canada, who plays bass, and Mischa, a Russian from New Jersey, who plays guitar.

We had limited time, so we took a taxi into downtown to try to get to the heart of the good stuff. The market was full of all the normal tourist-trap trinkets, shirts, island dresses, knick-knacks, and my only purchase: postcards.

After picking up a few things, we headed straight for one of the closest “historical” sites, the “99 Steps.” It’s a very long staircase, with beautiful flora all along the sides on the way up. Altitude changes prompted colonists to add staircases all over the island. Completed in the mid-1700s by Danish builders, these steps were fashioned from a ship’s ballast. (We counted, there’s actually 103 steps to the top!)

I raced them to the top, and they had a fun time trying to keep up. Ha ha! But the reward at the top was the pure view of the port of St. Thomas. This is what Seward bought!


(P.S. Another entry to the dead blog from here!)

Wed, Jan 17th - San Juan, Puerto Rico

This is the beautiful port of San Juan, Puerto Rico! It is a cruise ship terminal built in the center of an already bustling town, the capital of the country. But the best thing I figured out today was that I was in a US Territory… that means I can make phone calls! It was hilarious to shock my best friend for a second into thinking that I was standing on her front porch step (I’m notorious for pulling off great surprises).

We docked in the middle of downtown San Juan this afternoon at 4 pm. Gordon and Boz and I had decided to go “looking for trouble” together. Well, trouble found us quicker than we expected. We didn’t even get past the gangway before trouble found us…

There’s a new port manning system put into place this weekend, and like any technology, it has premiered with a fair share of glitches. Gordon was supposedly on when he should have been off, and my ID had expired with my first contract, and had not automatically renewed with my extension. So here we are, like Keystone cops, bumbling around the gangway just trying to get off the dang ship.

But finally we managed to get out by about 4:30. After a few quick phone calls, we began the deliberations for a taxi. This is a much higher-stress situation than it should be. Unfortunately, the taxis are mini-vans, so they’ll only take you for $4/person if you have four or more people. So whilst trying to gather a few more friends from different departments, speaking different languages, all trying to go to the same place, we got into some tiffs. Gordon needed to go to a FedEx to drop off a package for work, the photogs wanted to go to the mall, one girl had to meet a friend by 6 pm, Boz was doing the smooth talking and translating, and I was just sort of along for the ride.

Long story short, we got to FedEx in the nick of time, the girl met her friend in plenty of time, the cab only cost us $2 extra, and Boz made sure everyone was copasetic before parted and agreed on a time to meet back.

So Boz and Gordon and I were shopping in a mall. Not ideally what I wanted to do in San Juan, (I’d rather be out soaking up the historical stuff) but I looked at the situation as an opportunity to search for the yellow formal dress I need to wear to my sister’s wedding in a few months.

At the end of the day, no dress. But Boz found a few great pairs of shorts, almost lost his sunglasses (recovered them) and did some talking about tanzanite with the girl from Tiffany & Co., I got a few new blouses for a real good price, and Gordon got a delectable pastry stuffed with chocolate. We also all gathered for coffee at Borders before we decided to head back to the ship.

The boys decided to get dressed for the evening (it had turned a bit cool and rainy after the sun went down) and to head back out on the town for an evening of dinner and carousing. I decided to stay back on the ship and make phone calls before I had to get ready for an evening performance in the Crow’s Nest.

All in all, I did enjoy my day in San Juan. The port itself is exquisite, built for embarkations and departures by Carnival CL. But I am most definitely looking forward to making plans ahead of time when we return back in three weeks, so I can see all the beautiful places, historical sites, and educational value that Puerto Rico has to offer.

(P.S. For those of you watching the dead blog, we did get some good ones at a big water fountain sculpture here; so surf on over and check ‘em out!)

Tues, Jan 16th – Tonight, “Atlantic Time Zone”

For the past ten weeks we’ve been going back and forth between the Eastern and Central time zones. This means that twice a week we have to change our clocks one hour forward and one hour back. It’s nice to get an extra hour of sleep early in the week, but we usually lose the hour again on the final sea day.

However, this week we’re not traveling west to Central America, but to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. That means that tonight as we leave the Eastern Time Zone, on our way to Puerto Rico, we’ll cross over to the Atlantic Time Zone and lose an hour of sleep first! I am only soothed by the reminder that we’ll get this hour back on our way from Aruba to Grand Cayman next week.

Also interesting to note, from our coordinates at midnight tonight, if you were to travel due east from here you’d be in the Sahara Desert in Africa!

Sun, Jan 14th – Now porting stateside on Sundays

Phew! I’ve been cooped up in this ship for two whole sea days, and now that we’re back in Tampa, I’ve got port manning duty, so for one more day, I’ll be here on the inside. It’s starting to get smaller. Not to mention that we’ll have two and a half sea days before we reach our first destination, Puerto Rico, so I’ll probably be the first person down on the gangway desperate to get out!

But I’m really looking forward to this new cruise! From now on we’ll be returning to Tampa on Sundays, but this cruise in particular is going to be a full two weeks! Here it is:

Monday – Sea day
Tuesday – Sea day
Wednesday – San Juan, Puerto Rico
Thursday – St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Friday – Roseau, Dominica
Saturday – Bridgetown, Barbados
Sunday – St. George’s, Grenada
Monday – Isla de Maragarita (El Guamache), Venezuela
Tuesday – Kralendijk, Bonaire
Wednesday – Oranjestad, Aruba
Thursday – Sea Day
Friday – Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Saturday – Sea Day
Sunday – Tampa, Florida

So while it’s somewhat painful to spend almost six straight days at sea, that will be alleviated by eight countries I’ve never been to before in a row! And of course, I like Grand Cayman, as I’ve been there five or six times now, and I’m quite familiar with all my favorite haunts there. The changed format and the weird times we’ll arrive and leave the ports is going to keep me on my toes, set-wise. Plus, we’re due to get both a new guitarist and a new percussionist today, so maybe some extra rehearsals are is store – woohoo!!!!

Fri, Jan 12 – No Costa Maya – boo!

Usually by the time I wake up at 8 am, the ship is still and quiet, having been docked for at least an hour or so. Such was not the case this morning.

I went up to breakfast at 8:15 and noticed only water on every side of the ship, which seemed to be moving along at a fair clip. “Strange,” I thought, “Maybe we’re running a little late today.” After all, the waves were showing a bit more whitecaps than usual.

But at 9 am, as I was finishing breakfast with still no land in sight, I knew something was up. About the same time, the captain made an official announcement. When we had arrived to Costa Maya about 6:30 this morning, the waves were far too choppy to permit us to dock safely at the pier. The forces of the surface water were such that our large ship could have knocked out the pier, or the pier could have caused significant damage to the ship. So from our vantage just outside of Costa Maya, he had made the decision to turn around and go ahead to start heading home to Tampa. Too bad, because this was going to be the only COOL port we were looking forward to all week.

As the day went on, this really turned out to have been the right decision. Because of the rough seas, we had to slow down to a crawl just to keep some semblance of stability. Carnival CL’s Miracle had done the same thing, skipped Costa Maya on their way back to Tampa, so we had a bit of fun watching them alongside us for two days.

Thur, Jan 11 - Roatan, Honduras

It always boggles my mind to discover that God’s most beautiful landscapes - like those found in the lush island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras – are often the poorest and most impoverished civilizations on earth.

There in the distance are the mountains of the mainland coast of Honduras, Central America. The Veendam has never stopped here before, it being a fairly new cruise port. And indeed, the Costa Meditteranea is the only other ship with us in port.

Still, when my tender pulls up to the dock, it’s clear to see why this place is so rarely visited. There’s not much here more than impoverished beggars trying to sell whatever they can to thrill-seeking tourists just to get by. I am no more than 10 feet up the pier when a group of locals in their best semblance of uniformed costumes performs a cultural dance with the equivalent of a jugband of musicians, and a bowl on the ground before them labeled “tips.” As I continue down the pier to the port, there is a similar setup for a three-man marimba, and a large billboard with handwritten paint listing “cheap” excursions dressed up with fancy names.

Finally reaching the town, there is nothing more than a rambling street lined with shack after shack, each family scattered around tables in their front yards which are covered in handcrafted jewelry made of seashells, fish scales, semi-precious mineral rocks, and fishing line; wooden plates crudely hand-painted with depictions of Honduras’ symbols; postcards, clothing, and anything else that might open a tourist’s wallet. Even the children are so bold as to walk right up to you, hold out their grubby hands and say in English, “Give me a dollar.”

Bicyclists with buggy carts offer to take you anywhere on the island for just a dollar. An old thinly-bearded man with his few remaining teeth yellowed and hanging crooked from his gums sings slurring lyrics while strumming his tattered guitar and once in a while he holds out his hand to the passing crowd, since there is no guitar case to lay open, nor a place to set it beside him on the busy sidewalk.

Finally, I stopped into a convenience store that had a Coke sign on its door. Inside, the floor is well-trampled dirt, the plywood shelves are strewn with dusty stockpiles of everything from laundry detergent to baby formula, and the entire place reeks of the mangy hounds that probably “safeguard” the place at night. One lonely Coca-cola cooler stands in a corner, from which I pull two Coke Lights (the C.A. version of Coke Zero). I pay with a five dollar bill and receive 66 Limpiras in return. The cokes cost me about $1.50 US. The exchange rate is £18.8 to $1 US. When I asked the clerk about the people whose faces are depicted on the bills, he can only tell me that each one was a “national hero” of some kind. (I am ashamed to say that most Americans can’t do much better with our own bills.) But he is impressed with my language fluency.

An hour and a half later, thoroughly unimpressed but nonetheless moved, I returned to the ship. Here, where the passengers have paid upwards of $1500 just for the privilege of cruising, many of whom are on their sixth or seventh cruise, who aren’t afraid to throw out $2 for a can of soda or $7 for a cocktail, I wonder how many of them saw what I saw today, in the same way I saw it, and how many took one look out their porthole-windows and just didn’t bother to get out. When the crew gathers around at dinnertime, and everyone asks, “So, did you go out today?” the all-around response is chorused, “Yeah,” with a bit of reflective pity. Some of us are grateful to be Americans. But we know that many of this crew just got a glimpse of home today.