Day 522 - Jamaica

This morning Jaco rang me to let me know I had a tour in one hour. Yay! I was going on a little cruise to Paradise Cove! I haven’t previously done the tour, so I was excited to do something new in Jamaica.

It was a RIOT! I was a little concerned, as the catamaran I boarded was quite full. I’m used to small groups on smaller catamarans. But they made it work!

We sailed down the coast for an hour & on the way we passed a home formerly owned by Mick Jagger with a beautiful waterfall cascading into the ocean. We also passed the infamous Dunn’s River Falls & witnessed the first group of tourists starting their climb up the falls. Shortly after the falls, we arrived at our swimming spot.

It was beautiful! I had taken my snorkeling gear – mostly because I’m a poor swimmer & with my fins & mask I feel much more comfortable! They made us tie on a lifejacket around our waists, which suited me just fine! By the time I let all the other passengers get into the water, some were climbing out already! What gives? The water was BEAUTIFUL! It was so refreshing! I didn’t want to get out! I asked the guides how long we would be in the water – thinking it would be an hour – 25 minutes was the reply! 25 minutes! That’s nothing! I told them I would be the last one out of the water! And I was!

By the time I climbed back on board, the passengers had devoured all the fresh fruit. Oh well. I think I’ve got a nut bar in my bag! I took a few more photos as we sailed down the scenic & stunning coastline. When they announced they were going to sail out into the ocean, I guessed that the waves would be splashing over the front of the catamaran. I guessed right!

I went to put my camera away & join a young girl sitting on the mesh at the front & by the time I returned, the area had cleared! There had been a few big splashes & everyone left! Perfect! I had a blast! It was just like a catamaran tour I did in Barbados with the Photo Department. The highlight was sitting in the front getting splashed! Today was the sequel!

One other fellow sat up front with me, mostly because it was too rough for him to stand up & move elsewhere! He kept getting salt water in his rum punch. I was squealing like a little kid on Christmas morning! When I left the catamaran, the dried salt felt like shards of glass on my skin. All that was missing was the tequila & lime!

I showered & headed back out to visit Island Village one last time. I found a shirt for Jaco at Margaritaville – yes, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. It looks great on him! (Jaco, not Jimmy Buffet!) I found a few of my friends from the shops & visited with them until I felt the sun piercing my skin. Wow. It is SO hot here!

I left for the ship, got hassled on the way back – as you do in Jamaica – and then went to the Medical Centre to take a few x-rays. Yes, that’s right! I didn’t do the x-rays myself, but one of the Nurses needed a digital file of his wife’s x-rays, so he asked me to take the photos on my higher resolution camera. It was a fun challenge & I edited them straight away.

Once I was finished with that, I helped my Shorex pals for 20 minutes or so & then it was back to the cabin. To begin, ugh, packing. It’s that time. I’ve packed a lot this evening. I still have a LONG ways to go, but I’ve put a pretty big dent in things. At least the cabin steward won’t have to do too much tomorrow! There’s no room to clean anything!

It’s one hour forward tonight, so I’m losing sleep as I type! That’s me for a great day in Jamaica!

Lekker slaap!

xxxxMaria

 The home away from home.

Dolphin Discovery

Mick Jagger used to own this property!

The Infamous Dunn's River Falls

 Not much to see under the water. A shell & one urchin.

 Interesting way to take the rope back!

Yah Mon! Everyting Irie.

Day 506 - Grand Turk

Today Jaco & I both went ashore in a place that neither of us had been before. It wasn’t too exciting. In fact, the beach was stunning, but the rest of what we saw was kind of a dump. I don’t think that it helped that it was Sunday afternoon or that we docked in a rather obscure place, but Jaco wasn’t fussed to come back. I was quite excited when I heard they had Canadian Doctors on the island! After all, a good day in Fort St. John is never going to be as good as a bad day in Turks & Caicos! I’m anxious to talk to Dustin & Janis, as they holidayed here for a few weeks in January & had a wonderful time. I’m sure they found a more scenic place than we did!

That said, we had a brilliant time at the beach. We arrived just as it was clouding over & a few spittles of rain chased away the majority of the other passengers. Adding to that, the rest of the passengers stayed at the beach right next to the ship, so we quite literally had the entire beach to ourselves! I think there were about 2 other couples at either end of the beach & we were right in the middle.

The water was cool, but the colour was unbeatable. You couldn’t help yourself. You had to go in. It was just too tempting. The stunning turquoise blue lulled you in past the gentle waves that crashed onto the finest white sand your toes have ever sunk into. It was pretty hard to get out of the water.

Jaco swam out to a buoy & back, while I lingered in the water, took photos & wrote ‘Turks & Caicos’ in the sand. When the ‘Cabana Boys’ wanted to take away our loungers, we figured it was time to head back to the ship. We walked back to the terminal, hand in hand, flip flops & swim suits on… It was a great afternoon! We’ll see what he thinks of Turks & Caicos when it’s -30 & we can’t get out of the driveway due to snowfall.

I went out just after sailaway & saw a double rainbow fill the sky. Finding my way back to the Medical Centre, I inquired about our diving status. It looks like I’ll be diving in Tortola, St. Maarten & Antigua. I’m pretty stoked for all three. Apparently in Tortola we see a ship that sunk in the 1800’s & one of the portholes still has glass in it. Antigua is supposedly crystal clear visibility with plenty of sea life. St. Maarten is a shark dive. Yes, holy hyperventilate. I was sucking air just looking at the photos from the previous diver’s photos. They aren’t great white sharks, but they might as well be. They have fins on their backs, plenty of teeth & beady little eyes. If you don’t see a post after that day, well, you’ll know it wasn’t pretty! Ha ha! It will be the dive of a lifetime! I LOVE LIFE! Whoo hoo!

Jaco read a rugby magazine while I watched a Russell Crowe movie – The Inside, I think. It was pretty intense right ‘til the end! After it finished, I promptly ran upstairs to catch the last ½ of the Diane Cousins comedy show. She was hilarious! I think I’ll go again next cruise & drag Jaco out with me. She’s Welsh & highly entertaining!

With that, I’m off to bed. The sprouts are watered & sadly getting moldy again. I’ll buy some nylons tomorrow & try that. Wish me luck.

xxxxMaria

Just off the ship

 And you're right at the beach!

 Here we are!

 Love the water

 Fantastic!

 Inviting!

 This is a great day!

 That's my man!

 Just look upside down to get the hint.

 Splash

 Waves

 Rocks

 Cheese

 Kiss

 Smiles

 We had...

 the entire beach...

 To ourselves!

 Back onboard

 Nice rays

Double rainbow!

Day 503 - Bonaire

This morning I did my best to create some raw food. I made ice cream! Well, actually, the ice cream maker is hopefully making ice cream, but I made the milk to go into the ice cream! I misread the recipe & instead of getting 12 cups of milk, I only got 6.5 cups. Minor detail! It smells delicious, so here’s hoping it will taste as good as it smells!

I also made another liter of almond milk. I made a protein shake to go along with it. Unfortunately I found out yesterday that the Sunwarrior we ordered got missed & hasn’t been shipped yet. I think it should go out tomorrow, so hopefully it will meet us in Barbados, otherwise, I’m not sure we’ll ever see it! It’s $50/bag in the US & $95/bag in South Africa, so I’m REALLY hoping it shows up!

I went out with Leana & Becky to a little café near the ship. We enjoyed mango smoothies & did a little internet while we were there. After the girls left for the ship, I found a little health food shop & bought Jaco some snacks. He was half impressed. Better luck next time!

I returned the laptop to the ship & then went out again on my own. Jaco was napping, so I looked in the shops (didn’t buy anything!) & strolled down the waterfront. The water is so crystal clear. It’s absolutely beautiful! I picked a few pieces of water worn coral – one shaped like a heart & the other to use as a pumice stone for my cracked feet!

Back onboard, I visited the Medics for a bit & then I actually found my way to the ship! Believe it or not, I had a great workout! I have missed my friend, the treadmill! I only did 3.5 kms, but I wandered outside on deck & did a few stretches. It was really peaceful. Not a soul in sight, so I think next time I will take my yoga mat with me & do a session outside on deck. I used to do so when I was working on the Sun Princess, but that was back on 2006/07, so it’s been awhile! I’ll keep you posted!

On the way back to the cabin, I swung by the Photo Gallery & visited Larisa for a few minutes. She had a brilliant dive today, but the crew on the dive boat were horrible. Too bad!

Lastly, I made fettuccini alfredo! I made the fettuccini from zucchini & the alfredo from macadamia nuts! It was pretty good if I do say so myself! Although the garlic toast was missing!

Tomorrow we’re in Curaçao & Jaco & I will actually go ashore together! Here’s hoping we have a great time!

xxxxMaria

Day 496 - The Baths At Virgin Gorda

The who at what?! The Baths at Virgin Gorda. Google ‘em. British Virgin Islands. It’s a very famous & picturesque beach with massive boulders scattered all over the white sand. Crystal clear, blue-green waters, sunshine – all the things necessary for a perfect Caribbean day!

It was meant to be the 4 of us, but Jaco had to work unexpectedly this morning, so we were three. We took a hydrofoil over to Virgin Gorda from Road Town, Tortola. It took us about 35 minutes to reach the island. From there we boarded a Ford truck converted into a taxi/shuttle & drove to the Baths National Park. From there we hiked down a rocky, dirt path to the actual beach. It was littered with tourists. We were in port with a Carnival ship & a Costa ship, so there were Italian, Spanish, American & British accents all around. It was weird to hear so many accents in one little place!

The beach was even more beautiful than I had imagined. I was really sad that Jaco wasn’t there with me. Maybe we can go together one day. Apparently the scuba diving is good here too.

There are caves you can walk through, but with the sheer number of bodies, I didn’t try to go through, as I wanted to enjoy the beach & take some photographs, not stand in a dark cave with slow moving passengers.

I had taken my ‘real’ camera with me today, so I got everything ready & happily snapped away. I clambered onto the rocks at the far end of the beach & eventually I managed to take a few shots without people in them.

M&D2 enjoyed themselves immensely. Today is their 5 year anniversary. I was happy they were able to come here & do something memorable together. I left them alone & tried to stay out of their way! I found them having some lunch later on & I went back to the beach to collect some sand. Mom2 & I then hit the water to look for unique shells, while Dad2 attempted to climb onto one of the big boulders.

We stopped at a little souvenir stand to get a t-shirt & visited with the man selling the clothing. He told us how he used to work in his Mom’s clothing shop & has become very adept at guessing a woman’s size. Here’s hoping he’s right!

On our way back up the path to the taxi, we spotted a few lizards & some fascinating rock formations. The rock was actually folded – like rolls of skin on a wrinkle dog. It was incredible! What a beautiful day! And it was only noon!

We waited for the last of our tour to board the taxi & while we did, we threw crumbs over the railing to the chickens down below. They were very grateful. Although there will now be some very fussy chickens on Virgin Gorda, as I gave them raw, vegan cracker crumbs!

Back at the pier, we boarded out boat to take us back to Tortola. I snuck upstairs & took photos pretty much the entire way back. They were only happy snaps, but still! Maybe Jaco & I should come & live in Tortola… Hmm…

Dad2 headed up to their room, while Mom2 followed me to our cabin. Much to my sadness, Jaco was already gone. He thought we’d return around noon. It was now 1330. He had left a note that he was going out at 1250. Darn! We’d just missed him. It later turned out that he was still onboard, but had gotten caught up at the Medical Centre.

Mom2 & I headed out to the shops. She was looking for a dress. She managed to find 2 dresses & a funky pant/top combination. She also found mugs, shirts for the kids, pants, and a few other things! We went for gelato at the best place in town – la Dolce Vita. We had grapefruit & passion fruit. Yum.

She was shopped out, so we headed back to the ship. I had a quick shower to get rid of the salt & sand stuck to me & shortly thereafter Jaco returned to the cabin from the gym. He was off to work & I wanted to dash back to a shop to pick up a souvenir I’d missed earlier.

Once back onboard, I ate some more raw lasagna, called home & tried to type a blog post or two… But I’m getting sleepy now…

Yawn… xxxxMaria

 We're here!

 The bug that landed on my camera & scared the 'stuff' out of me!

 We traveled from central Tortola to the southern tip of Virgin Gorda

 Cheers!

 The fancy shuttles you'll find in most of the Virgin Islands

 Tilt much?

 Nice pad. Apparently it comes with an island!

 Nice commute to work.