Edward Thorpe – Page 320 – Steps to Anywhere

Barbados & Martinique

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Edward Thorpe

Barbados

The trip from Trinidad to Barbados took us into the Atlantic again and the swells were noticeable but not severe. We were able to dance for most of the evening, most of the time to our private four piece orchestra. In the morning I was up at 0600 and watched as we approached the port then assisted the Captain to dock the ship. Another passenger considered the docking to be quite miraculous considering he had only limited success parallel parking his car.

The day was rather overcast but quite warm. We took the $2 shuttle into Bridgetown and navigated the tour sellers on the street. We really found nothing of interest from the shopping perspective so we walked along the boardwalk beside the old port. Again there were an abundance of street vendors. We had been watching one fellow introduce himself to as many as would stop to talk. I overheard his name several times so when he approached me I said: “hello Andrew,” before he had time to make his introduction. Well, he was speechless and the look on his face was priceless. I suppose he was trying, unsuccessfully, to recollect our last meeting. I finally confessed but he was too rattled to actually continue his sales pitch.

As we returned to the shuttle pickup location a taxi driver approached with an offer to take us to the port for the $2 shuttle fee. It was quite apparent that he was operating as a wildcat and he scrupulously avoided any close contact with police. He finally found a drop location, accepted his fee and departed, quickly. As we walked into the port we caught this view of a little cruise ship.

All efforts to find a reliable, free WIFI service failed. I had hoped to be able to download software for my new GoPro but that will have to wait. Even though I have considerable free internet time on the ship it is too slow and unreliable to consider a significant download.

Martinique (cover photo)

Since Martinique is French and it is a Sunday we are taking a snorkelling tour. Although nobody is certain, the general opinion is that there will be few, if any, stores open. Perhaps if we were a large ship they would use one of their five Sundays per year to open the shops. We did share the port with an Oceania ship, the Riviera which appeared to be about twice our size or a bit more.

After breakfast we put together the rest of our snorkelling kit in the bag and were among the first to disembark to meet our tour. Our snorkelling boat was moored very near our berth and soon the 40 or so brave souls were on route to the first of two locations. The boat moored along a rock face about 500 metres from where a bat colony lived in a cave. Most of us swam to the cave entrance quite easily. There was some activity in the water as we approached the cave but the water was rather deep. It was a unique if unspectacular location. Returning to the boat was an ordeal for everyone. The swells were about one to two metres and there was a moderate tidal current which made the swim feel more like 1500 metres. Two guests required an assist returning the final few metres.

Our second site was an anchorage a few hundred metres off a small beach. There was a small reef in shallow water near the beach and it offered some marine life to view. Fewer guests entered the water here, I suppose the initial experience was quite enough. When I returned to the Ocean Princess I was quite pleased with the performance of my new GoPro camera. It offers a rather different approach to photography but the image quality is rather impressive.

We took a brief walk into the port area after lunch. As expected, there were no shops open except for a few temporary tents near the port entrance and a small flea-market area further along the waterfront. It was a beautiful day and as soon as we walked far enough from the water to lose the sea breeze we realized how hot it actually was so after returning to the ship we again went for the water, partly to cool off and partly to nurse muscles taxed by the morning swim.

We have been fortunate to have four fantastic companions at the dinner table. The table was set for eight but we have never seen the fourth couple. Margaret and Gunnar, a mother and son from Arizona, and Tony and Sue from the UK have been with us for every dinner and we never seem to lack for conversation topics or reasons to laugh.

St Kitts to Trinidad

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Edward Thorpe

Christmas was a sea day while we made the 400 mile passage from St Kitts to Trinidad. We sailed at a comfortable 10 to 12 knots through relatively quiet waters. The trip into St Kitts from St Barts covered about 35 miles which would have required a terrifying speed of about 2 knots. Regardless, Trinidad is our southernmost port and marks the half-way point.

The port of St Kitts was busy with vendors selling tours and merchants trying to get visitors into their shops with giveaways. It was a beautiful day and we were joined in port by the massive Independence of the Seas. The Ocean Princess was dwarfed by comparison. Being Christmas eve, we found a little red stocking filled with goodies instead of chocolates on our pillow.

Christmas Day was celebrated quite with a traditional church service in the morning. About 11 AM Santa arrived with personal gifts for the 20 or so children on board. After each was presented our Captain, whose two children were also on board, joined Santa for a group photo with all of the children.

St Barts

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Edward Thorpe

Finding an anchorage at St Barts was interesting. Even to me it seemed crowded. Some of the “pleasure yachts” looked like small cruise ships and they were anchored all around the entrance to the small harbour. Once in the harbour the slips were filled with yachts of various sizes. Most of the vessels seemed to have activity on board, unlike Ft Lauderdale where most of the boats seemed abandoned.

St Barts is a very infrequent port. We were joined by a few more small cruise ships. I can confirm that Seaborne was in port but the names of the others were totally unfamiliar. We all tendered to the same area of the port and found ourselves in the middle of Gustavia immediately after leaving the tender. St Barts is reputed to be the vacation spot for the rich and famous. The yacht basin certainly spoke to the “rich” part, however, we met or saw no person we recognized as “famous” but perhaps we just don’t know who is famous.

Prices of goods in the storefronts seemed expensive but the stores themselves were often quite modest and many deserved at least a paint job. Streets were very narrow and sidewalks, where they existed, even narrower. There was only a single ship’s tour available at this port and we were to find out later that it was not too exciting. At least on one coach the tour guide spoke only French and there were no stops on the island circumnavigation. I became deficit tour guide for our small group of walkers and information central to others. There were too few signs pointing to Shell Beach to make navigating comfortable to most. Since I operate on the principal that you can’t be lost if you don’t care where you are and can retrace your route to a known location, I kept going and eventually there was a sign, “Shell Beach.” There were lots of shells which would probably have cut my tender feet to ribbons had I planned to go for a swim. The beach area was quite small anyway. As we returned to the centre of Gustavia we were able to assure others that indeed they were on the correct route to Shell Beach

We got the opportunity to dance before dinner with the group, (The Walking Miracles—don’t know the genesis of the name) that has become our favourite on this ship. Late in the evening they also played for a 50s – 60s rock and roll party where the cruise entertainment staff does their best to put guests in embarrassing situations for a little fun. Four ladies were caught for a hula hoop contest. They were later had revenge by selecting four men to do the same. There was only one lady that seemed able to keep the hoop going for more than the time it took to drop from armpit to floor. There was also an Elvis impersonator contest performed by passenger “volunteers.” At one point the group played quite a nice swing medley so Gail and I danced. We should have known better as it was really a ruse to grab three couples for an impromptu jive contest judged by crowd reaction. Everyone had fun and we won a bottle of champaign thanks to a number of noisy “fans.”

That was December 23rd.

St. Thomas USVI

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Edward Thorpe

It has been a hot, sunny day here in St. Thomas. We met the Captain last evening and he promised to get us from island to island but we were responsible for the weather. We did a great job today! We are the smallest ship in the Princess fleet and across the dock to our port side is the largest in the fleet, the Royal Princess.

We sailed the outer route from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas so we were actually in the Atlantic rather than the Caribbean. The weather was pleasantly warm and fresh with no real humidity. As we sailed into the Caribbean both the temperature and humidity rose considerably, just what we came for.

We had our first formal evening on Sunday and the ship has more decorations daily. There is a display of gingerbread houses in the atrium and every public room has a decorated tree. There are a few, very few, children on board so it will probably be a relatively quiet Christmas morning. The food has been more than acceptable and restaurant service is pretty normal based on our experience. The entertainment has been quite good. We had a comedian for the first couple of days and he did a fine job. The vocalist last evening was a fellow from Montreal and he represented Canada well. We have a retired CSI on board and he is sharing his experiences through a lecture series—with photos! Yum!

The stage shows on a small ship such as the Ocean Princess (30,000 tons and 652 guests) are a bit different. Firstly, the theatre is quite intimate with the performers only inches away from the first row of seats. Secondly, the performers (singers and dancers) also serve as assistants to the Cruise Director on a daily basis. On larger ships performers may be almost invisible between shows. There are more than 25 nationalities represented on the ship. About half of the guests are from the USA, there are about half as many Canadians as Americans and a fair representation from the UK.

We have been in St. Thomas many times but we went ashore briefly this morning and explored the port of Crown Bay. I have been intrigued by the GoPro camera and I apparently one will be returning home with me. More on this later but I did resist buying the surfboard mount.

Here are some friends at the port. They are pan handlers too!