Thursday 9th February - Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, The Azores.

It's been six days since we left Barbados.  It wouldn't have mattered where we landed, as long as we landed.  As it happens, we docked into Ponta Delgada at about 7 am this morning, and everyone on board ship is very happy about it.  It feels good to walk on ground that doesn't suddenly lurch up to meet you. 

Peter and I were determined to take advantage of the sensation and went ashore straight after breakfast.

Ponta Delgada - A city that the Toon Army would be proud of - it's all symmetry and black and white patterns.  I'm told that seeing patterns everywhere gives us humans the illusion of being in control.

Whatever the reason, it is very pretty.The roads and pavements are made of small black and white stone blocks in a vast array of mosaics. They seem to be very hard wearing and patterns are quite lovely.  These are the City Gates or "Portas de Cidade".


But we've taken a bus ride on this stuff (see Cape Verde).  It's not the smoothest of surfaces to drive on and I bet mechanics are making a fortune fixing vehicle suspension problems.  And I reckon there's a good chance that doctors have to do the same for people after they've rattled around in said vehicles for a few years.

And this tree is amazing. It's a metrosídero, also known as a Pōhutukawa, or a New Zealand Christmas tree, or an iron tree. It's evergreen and the was given to the island by Australia in 1870. In the summer it blooms with beautiful bright red pompom flowers. The branches are being held up with metal scaffolding type poles, and the air roots make it look like the tree has a beard. Maybe they should be grey? I mean, it's 140 years old.

I dunno what the locals do to their trees, or how the trees survive it, but the stubby tree on the left is quite normal here and in Madeira.  I tried to get an arty shot with the sun and the blue sky, but failed, so I've posted this one instead, it's outside the Forte de Sao Bras.




A Micro Library>>>
How cool is that!









And last but not least a couple of examples of graffiti.  Awesome!

After exploring all morning, we were out again after lunch to take advantage of the local wi-fi and escape the confines of the ship for as long as possible.  All too soon it was time to leave and start the last leg of our cruise.  We've got three sea days until we reach home, and the weather forecast is not good.  Fingers crossed it's not too bad either.  

Wednesday 8th February - 6 Sea Days later

Six days at sea is a long time.  Every effort is made by the entertainment to keep the passengers occupied - but we are all confined to the space of the ship - and everyone is well and truly ready to get off.

The first of the six days started out a little rough. A 3-4 metre high swell had the ship pitching forward and back, and the passengers not quite sure whether they felt ill or not, me included.  Not a nice day.  Peter resumed his classes and his trainee artists were all coming out of the class with smiles on their faces.

On the second sea day, the Captain's voice came over the tannoy system.  (Uh Oh!)  He announced that the bad weather and current were slowing the ship down, and he didn't think it was going to improve any.  As a result he and the powers that be had decided to cut Horta, and we'd have an extra sea day before getting to Ponta Delgada.  Groans all around.  I'm just thinking that I don't like the rough sea, and and extra day on it does not sound appealing.  As it happened the sea started to smooth out.  Not so bad after all.

The next four days were more or less smooth sailing and good weather.  Robin the Whale Man spotted a few sperm whales and dolphins leaped around our bows occasionally. Quizzes and Bingo, exercise and dance classes, demonstrations and lectures, bean bag bowls and shuffleboard have filled the days for many. Peter ran his art classes in the morning and worked on paintings and online students in the afternoon. I've managed to sort out loads old photographs, deleting hundreds, spent time on deck and we've both done a lot of reading.  And as always, I've been listening to gossip and conversations going on around the ship.

There have been loads of theories as to why we are not going to Horta.  Naturally, not one of them matches the Captain's explaination of bad weather and sea currents.  Peter and I have been pointing out the chart that is printed out daily and pinned up in the reception area.  It's been showing that the ship is following some really nasty sea conditions, which have been moving ahead of us for the last four days. I'm glad that the Captain hasn't caught up with it, and if that means missing out Horta, then I'm very happy to do so.

One of the passengers complained because Nureyev (the statue on the back deck) is naked. Another passenger complained that the Cruise Directors trousers were too tight.... to the Cruise Director.  I heard a passenger complaining that all the lecturers were rubbish, apart from the photography lecturer, and then someone else complained that the photography lecturer was rubbish and the only good one was the Whale Man.  Yesterday, a gentleman on the table next to me complained that all the other passengers were boring and that he was very disappointed that he'd not met someone he wanted to chat to a second time! I suppose it wouln't have been too bad if it wasn't for the fact that he was saying it to a woman he'd not spoken to before.

There's been a cold going around, which fortunately, neither Peter or I have caught. People have almost been in competition with each other over who has the worst symptons. Then there was the guy in the Bistro who was full of it, runny nose, hoarse voice, the lot.  He was complaining loudly about passengers who brought coughs and colds on board with them.  He said that everyone should have their temperature taken as they boarded, and anyone that appeared to be ill should be refused entry.  As he sat at the table bemoaning his lot to anyone who would listen, I was tempted to suggest that people who catch these things should stay in their cabins until they were well again. Unfortunately it could reflect on Peter, so I stayed shtum.

Reading that, you might think everyone on this ship moaned. But that's not true, most people are well mannered and good natured.  The only thing they complain about is people complaining.

But the long stretch of sea days is now done, and tomorrow we'll be in Ponta Delgada.  The captain has promised us bad weather after that and that chart in reception agrees with him. I'm keeping me fingers crossed that the good luck fairy that's been sitting on me shoulder since we started this cruise doesn't let me down, and that the weather will be fine.  But first, terra firma tomorrow.  Yesssssssss.

Thursday 2nd February - Bridgetown, Barbados

We had one plan today.  No tours and we were going to the beach we'd visited when we came out this way in April last year. Barbara, one of the other craft lecturers joined us, and we headed for "The Boatyard".

The Boatyard is a bar on the beach just outside the town centre.  It's walkable from the cruise terminal and takes about 20-30 minutes.  Once there, there's a charge which includes a taxi back to the ship, your first drink, and use of the sunbeds, parasols, showers and loos etc.  We got there in the afternoon last year, and I think the charge was about $10 each, which we thought was acceptable. Today we arrived at about 10am and they wanted $20 each.  We'd said we didn't want a taxi back, but that didn't change anything so we turned around and left, and made our way to a beach entrance we'd seen earlier.

The Pirate Cove charged us $8 each.  Admittedly, there was no free drink or taxi, but then, we didn't want them. We just wanted a lazy, lazy day on the beach and I need the parasol. That is exactly what we got. No photo's today, but I can tell you that the sand was white and the sea was blue and clear.  We spent our day swimming, snorkelling and drying off on the loungers between swimming and snorkelling.  We enjoyed a buffet style caribbean lunch of brown rice, beans, breadfruit and beef stew. The mashed breadfruit tasted like mashed potato, it was really nice. And we finished it all off with icecream.  Idyllic. When it reached the time for us to go back, both Peter and I had turned a little pink, but not enough to be painful.

So now were nice and relaxed ready for the 5 sea days ahead before we get to the Azores.  Keep your fingers crossed that the weather is going to be good for us.

Wednesday 1st February - Castries St Lucia

Another hot day in the Caribbean and another town we've visited before.  Except this time I don't think we've ever had a chance to look round.  I know I've missed Castries in the past because of flying back to the UK, and I've missed it because I've been locked in the cabin with Peter when I picked up the dreaded norovirus.  I think we've escorted garden tours from here too. So, as I said, never had a chance to look around the town.

We've managed to get out of tour escorting duties again so today is the day we get to look around.  Like most Caribbean towns, there wasn't a lot for us to see.  We wandered the streets, looked at a couple of parks and toured the craft markets.  Actually, I'm being a bit mean about the craft markets - there is so much in there to buy, all of it brilliantly colourful and typically caribbean.

We completed the town walk in the morning, and so decide that the afternoon should be spent at the beach.  We'd had such a good time yesterday with the snorkels at Bequai, we were hoping to repeat the experience.  So we walked out again and took the long way, uphill, to get to Viggi beach.  It's a little unusual in that there is a cemetary and airfield right alongside.  We didn't hear any funerals, but every so often we could hear small, single engined aircraft race up the tarmac alongside us.

Sadly the water around this beach wasn't clear enough to see anything whilst snorkelling.  But we enjoyed the swim and relaxation time anyway.  Walking back, we got to see this Little Blue Heron, which I thought was brilliant. (Well, I would wouldn't I?)






We completed another lazy day in the Caribbean in a bar next to the ship, using the wi-fi.  Tomorrow we are in Barbados where we get to do it all again. It's a hard life this, innit?

Tuesday 31st January - Bequia, Grenadines

So we sailed here this afternoon from Kingstown.  The ship dropped anchor a little after 2 o'clock and the tenders had started taking people across to the island a little before 3.

Peter and I thought we knew where we were going.  "We've been here before", we thought, "we'll be off the ship and straight onto a beac.  Excellent!".  But we'd got Bequia mixed up with Mayreau, so it was a bit of the shock to see a load of fishing boats and yachts as well as the houses and such around the pier.

We were determined we'd find a beach anyway, albeit after a bit of disagreement how that should be obtained.  We ended up getting a taxi when we could of walked, which irked Peter's Scrooge tendencies.  But we got the beach we wanted, and had a good hour and half to enjoy it.  Not that we are into sunbathing.  Nope.  The real reason we were there was to snorkel and try out the underwater camera Peter had bought me, and we had an excellent time. There were massive schools of fish, thousands of them I should think, close to the beach and we managed to get loads of film, this is a screenshot taken from it.

And it got better.  The deal with the taxi driver was that he took us to the beach and would collect us at 5.45pm.  Taxi drivers in the Caribbean don't ask for payment until they've completed the return journey.  Cos our taxi driver didn't turn up to take us back to the pier, we couldn't pay him for getting us to the beach in the first place. We'd waited 25 minutes before a woman with a jeep took us back dirt cheap, we only paid 5 euros instead of $20 the taxi driver had quoted.  Peter's Scrooge tendencies were soothed and I was forgiven the fact that walking would have been free.

So after a little time at a bar near the pier, we were back on board ship.  Next stop Castries.

Tuesday 31st January - Kingstown St Vincent

The ship is visiting two ports today, the first is Kingstown this morning, 0700 until 1230.  Peter and I are not tour escorting again, (Yippee), and we've been before but it's always nice to look around.

St Vincent is the largest island in the Grenadines, which are part of the Windward Islands, which are part ot the Lesser Antilles, and about a third of the island is taken up by the volcano La Soufriere.  Apparently the Grenadines are one of the most popular destinations in the world for snorkelling and diving.  We've visited one of the beaches before, (see previous blog posts), and with the traditional hot blue sky and white sand, it was fantastic afternoon.

The island didn't let us down for todays visit, we were greeted with a rainbow.

As we got ashore, we were joined by Robin (the Whale and Dolphin lecturer)and his wife Chris, so we took them to see St George's Anglican Cathedral, famous for the stained glass windows.

The angel window was commisioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her grandson, but she rejected it because the angel was dressed in red, so that's how it ended up here.

Opposite the relatively plain wooden cathedral is the Roman Catholic church, a mad collection of architectural styles.

It's a quirky place to look around, filled with plants and flowers, nooks and crannies.  We really like it.

One of the things about the Caribbean is that wherever we look, the insects, birds and animals are different to what we're used to.  Amongst other things, we saw Smooth Billed Annis, unusual butterflies, blue and green lizards, egrets and cowbirds. And this Green Heron which was good enough to hang around for while so that we could take a decent picture

It wasn't long before it was time to go back, a couple of pictures to give the feel of the streets of the city.

So that was Kingstown.  We're sailing on this afternoon and should arrive at Bequai at around 3pm.

Monday 30th January. St George's Grenada

The nation of Grenada is made up of three islands.  Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Grenada is the largest of the three, and St George's is the capital of Grenada.  Famous for the production of spices, particularly nutmeg, the island is described as "One of the most beautiful and scenically varied islands in the Caribbean where mountains, crater lakes and rainforests give way to mangroves, stunning beaches with vibrant coral reefs and brilliant blue seas."  Well, we didn't get to see a beach today, but we did get to go a little way up a mountain to visit Sunnyside Gardens, cos we were escorting.

So the ship docked at about 1pm, and we were straight off to find our buses.  They don't use coaches in Grenada, only minivan type buses, which seat up to 19 people, although I don't think I would like to be in one that was full.

It was very hot, with the stunningly bright blue sky and white sun that you see in all the brochures (it's the Caribbean innit?). The drive up to the gardens was a little scary, as every time we passed a car going the other way, it felt like we were going to be forced off the road.  I breathed in a lot.

The gardens were nice enough, made all the more interesting by our guide.  He was the son of the owner and very knowledgable about the plants and the history of each one.  He was also quite a character, he was so laid back we weren't sure if he was overflowing with the Caribbean relaxed attitude or Caribbean rum.

After the garden tour, we had time to ourselves so we went for a  wander around the old bay.

We know of a german restaurant and bar there, which is upstairs and has a balcony overlooking the sea.  We sat and enjoyed the view, watching the goings on of the public for some time.  Very relaxing.

Tomorrow we get to visit two Caribbean islands, St Vincent in the morning and Bequai in the afternoon. Class eh?

Saturday 28th January - Devils Island and Iles du Salut - French Guiana

Iles du Salut means Salvation Islands - they got that name when several monks and nuns used them to  escape from disease on the main land.  There are three islands, Ile Royale (Royal Island), Ile Diablo (Devils Island) and Ile Saint Joseph (St Joseph's Island).  Devil's Island was made famous by the book and film Papillon, written by former prisoner Henri Charriere and telling of various attempts to escape.  We watched the film last night, something I recommended to every passenger I discussed the islands with.  There are elements in the film which make a visit much more meaningful.

The ship anchored off shore and we were tendered across to Royal Island, which was the administrative centre of the colony.  The isolation cells, warden's accommodation, hospital, church etc were all on Royal Island, and the good news was that we had an all day stay scheduled.  The even better news was that Peter and I got an early tender and were across by about 10.30.

We love this place.  The Penal Colony was abolished in 1948 and since then the island has recovered - and now can only be described as a little bit of paradise.  We started with an anti-clockwise walk right around the outside of the island. Here are the pictures.

When in use as a penal colony, all the trees on the island were cut down to prevent the prisoners using them to build boats.  Now they've grown back.

Tumbledown and overgrown buildings everywhere.  Slightly eerie.

This is an Agouti or Palm Rat.  They look like leggy guinea pigs, abundant and easily seen during our walk.

Overgrown and jungle like. Noisy with the sounds of insects.  Just awesome. 

We saw turtles, loads of birds, and these brown cappuchin monkeys.  

After our walk around the island we made our way to the centre  where most of the what's left of the penal colony buildings are.  There's a restaurant and bar there were you can sit for a cool drink, which is what we did.

And iguanas

From there, we took a look at the old prison cells.  Because we'd seen the film last night, we understood how these buildings were used, and how terrible the lives of the inmates could be. 

Entrance to the isolation cells

The cell door.  It must have instilled dread

And inside

This would have been a sleeping area.  There would have been a long wooden platform at the height of the bars you can see here.  Prisoners slept together on the platform, manacles on their wrists were chained to the bars on the walls.    

This is Devils Island. Prisoners and or guards could be transported across via a basket on a cable pulley over the water.  Sharks circled in the sea below.  Not a place you want to get stuck.  No-one is allowed across.  I wonder about the building we can see, and whether prisoners ever lived there.

Another very satisfying day on the island. This is my fifth visit.  Every time there is never enough time to see everything, and I want to go back.  Just awesome.

Tomorrow is sea day before we hit the Caribbean.   More adventures then.