Where the rich and famous (and very briefly I) come to vacation.

I feel like instead of writing an island specific history I could have just written a generic template for the islands we’ve visited and just cut and pasted it, editing for minor differences. While there are some differences between their histories, they pretty much follow the same pattern. Columbus first sighted; France, England, Spain, Netherlands or Denmark settled; they were fought over for years; one country won out by war or attrition; slavery was abolished; the island becomes independent or a territory of the country who won.

Let’s try it with St. Barts. Columbus sighted it in 1493 and named it Saint Bartholomew after his brother; in 1648 the French started settling; the British attacked, traded to Sweden (who named Gustavia after their king); slavery was abolished in 1847 during Swedish rule; Sweden sold back to France in 1878; in 1946 the residents became French citizens with no rights. Simple. Of course there is much more, but you get the idea.

Tourism started to grow on this tiny island (9.2 sq miles) in the 60s and 70s spurred on by the building of a landing strip. That landing strip is extremely short and only mid-sized planes are able to land on it, and even then it’s considered one of the top 3 most dangerous airports. The planes need to clear a mountain (well hill) and then make a deep dive to hit the strip to give themselves time to land before dropping into the ocean at the end of the strip.

The water colour around St Barts is a unique shade of blue, that seems different than other islands. It is a volcanic island with reefs almost all around the island, which is perhaps the reason for the colour. The French speaking island of approximately 10,000 residents is covered in high end retail, designer shops, boutique hotels (the largest has only 58 rooms), pricey restaurants, and beach clubs. There are strict regulations about not allowing fast food outlets on to the island so you won’t find a Big Mac to save your soul.

The perfectly sheltered harbour is dotted with the usual sail boats, and yachts, but also super yachts. One shore dingy we saw on our walk today was at least 25 ft long. That was just the shore dingy. Imagine how big the yacht is. One boat we saw in the harbour struck our interest and it appears to be quite the spectacular charter super yacht – world famous according to their website. You can check it out at yachtloon.com – quite the website. (Thanks to Phyl’s sleuthing and locating it for me).

Perhaps because of the challenge in getting to it, St Barts has become a haven for actors, singers, writers and other people who can afford their outrageous prices. Some of the names that are tossed about as those that have vacationed or lived here are: Beyoncé & Jay-Z (St Barts is well known for it’s NYE celebrations and Beyonce performed at one recently), the Kardashians, Mike Tyson, Gwen Stefani, a couple of Victoria’s Secret supermodels, Greta Garbo, Howard Hughes, Nicole Richie and Jeff Bezos.

Oh yes, and to my template I should add which Hurricane played havoc on this particular island. In the case of St Barts, most of it was destroyed by Irma in 2017 however, the local residents used their private money to rebuild infrastructure and rebuilding happened more quickly here than most of the other affected islands.

I got ahead of myself a little, so let me start again. We arrived into the capital of Gustavia this morning at about 8 am under very grey skies and pretty wild waves. I didn’t have an excursion planned for today, so I was able to have a bit of a lazy morning, and enjoyed my 3rd cup of tea before attacking the day.

Under blue and sunny skies, one of my fellow passengers and I headed for the tender to do some exploring on the island and discovered a longer than usual line. We discovered the reason when we got close to the front of the line. The swell and waves were making each passenger boarding difficult because the tender was pitching about. Eventually we were all aboard and off we went.

You could tell immediately upon disembarking the tender that this island was upscale. The ferry facilities, the street lights, the board walk, etc were all very nicely done. Our Destination Manager had told us about a lighthouse we could walk to and how to get to an interesting beach so off we went.

After just a short walk past stores like Cartier, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabanna, and Hermes we found the pathway to the lighthouse and also found a lovely botanical garden all around it. There were many species of trees and bushes that were identified by signs all along the pathway. One of the trees that was familiar to me from other trips was the Plumeria or Frangipani tree from which the flowers grow that they make into leis in Hawaii. And the view of the harbour from the base of the still active, 30 foot lighthouse built in 1961 was spectacular.

Back down the hill we wondered along the streets, dodging traffic, trying to stay in the shade and making our way in the direction of our second destination. In no time we’d found the famous Shell Beach. Before exploring the beach we stopped in a shaded area for a lovely refreshing drink at the Shellona Restaurant. The prices were pretty outrageous (12 euros for an iced tea), but the view couldn’t be beat and it was a hot and humid day – not complaining!

We found our way back to the tender dock, mostly along the harbour and after putting in 5.3 km worth of steps we came back to the ship for lunch at the Star Grill on the outdoor upper deck of the ship. The afternoon has been spent napping, reading and writing this blog. Tonight is the “famous” deck BBQ where the sun decks are transformed into a huge outdoor restaurant, with buffet style food service. Afterward, is line dancing with the staff. I’m pretty sure the staff enjoy it as much or more than the passengers.

Tomorrow is going to be something totally different than anything I’ve seen so far on this trip. My blog won’t be focused on long ago history or pretty beaches, but rather an event that took place 18 July 1995. Tune in tomorrow!

So, here we go with week 2 of this fantastic trip. I can’t wait for some of the neat stops this week. It’s two cruises combined really and so yesterday a whole crop of new people got on the ship. There are 33 of us that were on the cruise last week so approximately 200 newbies. I spent the day on the ship, taking advantage of the space with hardly anyone else on board since the people leaving the tour were gone by 9 am and the new passengers didn’t start to embark until 1 pm. I actually got to the gym for the first time. I am pretty proud of myself for doing a pretty good workout. Hard to do on those days when we’re snorkelling.

We departed San Juan at 10 pm on Saturday evening with the same flag raising ceremony as last week and headed for our first stop at Haven Sight Cruise Ship Terminal in the capital city of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

The US Virgin Islands are an “organized” unincorporated territory of the US similar in nature to San Juan. They have no “rep by pop”. They get to elect a representative to Congress, but that person can’t participate in votes in Congress and can only participate in committee. They participate in the presidential nomination process but like other territories, don’t get to vote in the presidential election. Locally, they have an elected legislature, with different number of representatives from each of the islands. As of 1970 they are able to elect their own governors, whereas before then, they were appointed by the President of the United States.

The main islands that make up The US Virgin Islands are Saint Croix, Saint John and Saint Thomas but there are approximately 50 more smaller islands in the group totalling 134 square miles.

Christopher Columbus (who else) is thought to have discovered the islands in 1493, but the Spanish didn’t settle until 1555. English and French settlers also started arriving but interestingly so did the Danes in the late 1600s with the establishment of the Danish West India Company. In 1754 the islands became part of Denmark. Slaves were used on sugar cane and cotton plantations and in the last half of the 1700s, there were significant slave rebellions and eventually in 1848 the slaves were declared emancipated by the Governor. Many of the Danish farmers abandoned their farms because they were no longer profitable and their population gradually dwindled. In 1917 the United States purchased the islands.

The islands have been hit by several hurricanes over the years, most notably in 2017 when within two weeks they were hit with two Category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria which caused extensive damage.

At one time, oil refining was large here but it has been shut down and now tourism is approximately 60% of the GDP of the islands, and 2.5 – 3 million people visit the islands in a normal year. Agriculture and small scale manufacturing (rum distillation) make up the rest.

There are several National Park Service sites in the islands, and today, one of them was our destination about 5 km east of Saint Thomas, the island of Saint John. Saint John is only 17 square miles and about 60% national park. Famous Honeymoon Beach is part of it and our specific destination. You can hike 30 minutes from the ferry dock (the only way to get to Saint John is by private boat or ferry) to the beach. We took a charter catamaran today.

Our catamaran, the Dancing Dolphin, was in one of a plethora of yacht clubs on the island, about 20 minutes by bus from the main cruise ship terminal. There were 3 dozen or so people on this excursion called the Saint John Catamaran Champagne Cruise. We motored over under beautiful blue skies and pretty calm water passing several of the smaller islands around Saint Thomas. One of the staff on the catamaran pointed out quite a large island that apparently used to belong to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of the homes on the hills of the islands were pretty spectacular.

There were several boats anchored in the bay at Honeymoon Beach and quite a few snorkelers already in the water. After a safety briefing we got our gear on and headed out. There was quite a large reef to explore with more fish than we’ve seen at other spots. I saw a school of probably 100 bright yellow, fairly good size fish at one point, ebbing and flowing with the current under a coral shelf. There was some bright red coral that I’ve never seen. Then I snorkelled over to the beach and went for a walk on the absolutely beautiful sand. I forgot to take my camera to the beach with me so I don’t have any pictures of my painted toes in the sand there. A good reason to come back.

We weren’t there long before we were called back to the catamaran for the return trip. We were offered the ubiquitous rum punch on the return trip as well as Prosecco and some cheese and crackers to hold us over til lunch. Any day on the water is a fabulous day, and today was no exception.

After we got back I showered and grabbed some lunch and then went browsing through the shops in the cruise ship terminal area. Didn’t buy any jewels I’m afraid. The rest of the day was spent in what has become quite a routine, napping, snacking, chatting, working on blogs, reading, listening to port talks, and dinner. I’ve had some really interesting table companions which makes the chatter really interesting.

Tomorrow we’re in to St Barts, (weather permitting) the island of the rich and famous. Lots of famous people seek out their privacy on St Barts, partly because it’s so hard to get to. Our tour director warned us to check out the menu of any restaurants we might want to try because some of them have outrageous prices for seemingly routine food. I don’t have an excursion booked for tomorrow and am looking forward to sleeping in a little.

After stopping at less busy ports all week, we arrived at the unique island and into the major port of Philipsburg, St Martin today. The uniqueness comes from the fact that the small island of St Martin comprised of two countries, Dutch Saint (or Sint) Maarten and French Saint Martin. The countries are split geographically fairly evenly with the French side in the north and the Dutch in the south. This arrangement was formed by the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which our guide said is sometimes called the picnic treaty but I think he was pulling our collective legs. The Treaty is one of the oldest in effect, and is only about one page and 10 points long. It allowed for the ability of the citizens of each side to move freely around the island.

It’s interesting to someone from a country like Canada, which has factions wanting to separate from time to time, that here in St Martin there is bit of a movement among some people from both sides of the island for it to be combined into one. However, it’s unlikely to happen since each of the two territories would probably have to get their independence from the parent country and neither are likely to give up control.

Of course, each side is governed differently, but neither of them is independent.

The Dutch side has a governor as the representative of the Dutch Monarch and a prime minister as head of government. A representative from St Martin sits on the Netherlands Council of Ministers. The Parliament has 15 members elected by proportional representation. Like many territories, St Maarten has control over internal affairs but the government of the Netherlands maintains control of things like defense, and foreign affairs. Other territories with similar relationship to the Netherlands are the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.

The French side of Saint Martin used to be part of the Territory of Guadeloupe, however, in 2003 they voted to separate from Guadeloupe and form their own collective. They are now governed by an elected Territorial Council consisting of 23 members. The head of state is the President of France, whose Minister of the Interior appoints a Prefect to represent the head of state in St Martin. In turn, St Martin elects one member to each of the Senate and National Assembly of France.

Historically, the island was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1493 who did a drive-by claim of the island for Spain without ever stepping foot on the island. The Dutch first settled the island in 1763 as well as the island of Bonaire and Curacau. The historical interest in this island, were the salt deposits, (called white gold) however, tourism is now by far the number one industry at 80% of the economy. They received 2.5 million tourists per year, the largest percentage being from cruise ships.

Both sides of Saint Martin were damaged by hurricanes, Luis (1995), Maria (2017) and Irma (2017). Buildings and infrastructure were destroyed, as were some of the beaches. Work is still being done on the hurricane resistant airport which was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. Hmmm.

On board the Star Pride we had a bit of a rocky start. We were all set to head off on our various excursions but we were told the ship was bouncing around too much at the dock in Philipsburg, and the usual gangway couldn’t be used. So I think they were on to plan c or d before they found something to work, and that included using a shore gangway on top of a metal platform to reduce the angle of the gangway which would have made it hard to walk down or get goods up. This was a major provisioning stop from the looks of all the cargo sitting on the dock ready to be loaded. We could tell how hard the crew were working to find a solution and I’m sure it was really frustrating for them. The problem was compounded by the fact that we were scheduled to have a really short time in port at this stop. But about an hour late the gangway was ready for us and we headed out on our excursions. The departure time was pushed back an hour to make up for lost time in the morning and to accommodate the excursions.

Today I did not snorkel and I think my knees are really glad that’s the case. They’re feeling the brunt of the action of kicking differently using fins three times this week. So I decided to see St Martin from the land side and signed up for the Two Flags tour, a tour of the major highlights of the island by small bus.

We started the tour on the Dutch side where the cruise ship terminal is located. Our guide was great and he provided so much information that I’m pretty sure not all of it stopped in my memory so bare with me. As we drove from the cruise ship terminal to Philipsburg he noted some examples of peculiarities of the two country island situation. The French side of the island uses 220 volt power and the Dutch side uses 110. The phone carriers are different on each separate country, and it’s an international call to call from one side to the other.

Surprising to me, the Dutch side of the island has legal brothels, and many casinos. The guide said there were 16 casinos on the Dutch side and it’s 16 sq miles so one casino for every square mile of the island. On the French side, there are some nude beaches as one might expect but not on the Dutch side. They use the Euro on the French side, but Guilders on the Dutch side and in fact take $US on both. When students want to go to university on the French side they must go to France for it, whereas there is a university on the Dutch side but many end up in the US or Canada for their studies.

We had a stop at Philipsburg for about 30 minutes to check out the beach and boardwalk along the water of the downtown area, and do any shopping. To get to the boardwalk from the bus, we wandered through a market of souvenir sellers tents and kiosks. It was pretty much the same things we’ve seen all over the Caribbean. I also saw the Parliament Building which is underwhelming and the courthouse, which is adorable. Philipsburg has a beach right in downtown so you have everything you need in one place with the beach on one side of the boardwalk and restaurants, hotels and shops on the other. The boardwalk looks relatively new and there is some (re)building still going on so they seem to still be recovering from Irma. We wandered for our allotted time and I didn’t help the economy I’m afraid.

Then it was back on the bus and over to the French side. The only reason you know you’re changing countries is that there is a sign and some flags and that’s it. There is free movement of people and things between the two. We stopped at a lovely viewpoint and the thing that jumped out at me is the different shades of blue we could see. They don’t stand out too well in pictures.

The traffic from our look out onward was horrendous. We sat for quite a long time, not moving, and our guide did his best to keep us engaged while the driver inched ahead when he could.

Marigot, (named after the marshland that was there before the capital was built) the capital of the French side was the next stop and we were in search of two things there, a bakery and a bathroom. We had only 20 or so minutes there, but I managed to enjoy an absolutely fantastic ham and cheese croissant at the bakery. I’ve resisted all the tempting pastries on the ship so far but could not say no to a French croissant. I was so anxious to eat it that I forgot to take a picture! But I did take a picture of the view we had! The highlight in Marigot was the food whereas the jewelry shops in Philipsburg were the main attraction.

As we headed back to Philipsburg, the traffic on the way to our last two stops was much better and we made better time. You may have seen videos of one of the 10 most dangerous airports in the world where the planes fly really low on their approach to the airfield over top of a beach. Well, the videos are probably of the airport in Philipsburg. That was our next stop. Just as we were approaching the road that runs along the end of the run way and Maho Beach we saw a jet at the very end of the runway getting ready to take off. And lined up at a fence not that far from the end of the runway were dozens of people. Behind the people was a sloped beach. When the jet revved his engines and started his takeoff, the wind from the engines literally sent the people tumbling backwards down the slope of the beach. It was the most bizarre thing. We went a bit further and turned around to see if we could see an incoming flight landing just barely over the heads of people on the beach. We did see two small planes land as we went along the road by the beach and it definitely looks like they’re coming right at you as they’re so low to the ground as they go over the road. I couldn’t get very good pictures of it from the bus but it was an interesting experience.

Somewhere along the drive today we were able to see the chair lift and zip line going to the top of the highest peak we saw on the island. The zip line is called the Flying Dutchman and it is so far the steepest zip line in the world. Someone that had been on it said you went really fast, but that you were harnessed into a seat-like contraption so it’s not like a regular zip line. If I had some time on the island I’m sure I’d give it a try but not when our time is so limited.

There was one more view point stop for Kodak moments and then we were on our way to the cruise ship terminal and our return to the Star Pride. At the cruise ship terminal the shops are just starting to come back since COVID but there is still some huge pieces of retail space available for rent. The jewelry stores are back in full force but there wasn’t much else so I headed back to the ship.

I have to say that St Martin is not my favourite of our stops. The traffic, the retail, and the noise were all a bit much after the quiet, smaller islands we’ve spent time on this week.

I have been careful all week to be lathered up with sun screen (coral and fish friendly) and covered up while snorkelling to the point where you barely can tell I’ve been in the Caribbean. So once back on board this afternoon I sat on the top deck for quite a while and said some goodbyes and chatted with folks.

Tonight was the final good bye for most of the passengers with whom I’ve spent the last week. Only 33 of us are staying over to next week. The Captain introduced his officers to the passengers one more time and they and some of their staff stood for a group shot around the hot tub and pool area.

We are into port in San Juan tomorrow for the turnaround, and I plan on staying on the ship to just chill and enjoy the quietness of the ship. Between 9 and 1 there will only be the 33 of us and the crew on board, and even some of the 33 will be off the ship exploring San Juan again. So I will take a break from blogging tomorrow unless some news of great importance comes up!

Today we are visiting Les Saintes, which is an archipelago of 5 islands, only two of which are inhabited. This island group got its name from Columbus who discovered them on All Saints Day. Les Saintes are part of Guadeloupe, which is a Territory of France. The main island of Les Saintes, Terre-de-Haut is where we landed. There are only approximately 2000 inhabitants in mostly fishing villages in nooks and crannies of the island. The volcanic islands are surrounding a caldera of an extinct volcano and provide great harbours.

An interesting anomaly of this island is that Iguanas are abundant and we were warned not to approach them as they are seriously protected by the local constabulary.

The islands are historically sustained by fishing by primarily 3 different methods: fish traps, rods or netting. They use a technique of hanging nets between two boats and once enough fish are in the nets, the boats back up toward each other as they both pull up the nets. The younger generation is not really interested in fishing so the government is trying to broaden tourism on the islands. There is some agriculture – sugar cane and bananas, and they distill some local rum.

The history of Les Saintes is significant in the Caribbean as the largest naval battle of the Caribbean happened in Les Saintes and in the strait between Les Saintes and what is now Dominica in 1782. There were 17 British ships up against 35 French combined with the Spanish fleet of 12 in quite a small area. In the end the British defeated the French/Spanish alliance and the French suffered huge loss of life and ships. From what I can gather from what the guide told us today and my brief reading it was a huge and significant battle which may have influenced the outcome of the American Revolution. It reasserted the British dominance at sea and the Americans realized that they could no longer expect the support of the French in their battle with Britain. And the British were more assertive in their demands for the fishing banks of Newfoundland and Canada in the Peace negotiations in Paris. If you are a student of naval battles it sounds like it’s one that would be fascinating to study or perhaps you already have. Of local interest to my friends in Canada, is that one of the ships in the British fleet that was instrumental in their success was named Canada. As always I hope that in my limited research on it, that I have properly characterized the battle and its significance. Bobbing around in the middle of the islands today, it felt a bit like when we visited the battlefields of Hastings or the Plains of Abraham. Travel brings history to life.

Our Destination Manager told us a sad love story about Les Saintes last night at the Destination briefing about a fisherman’s wife who liked to bake and provide surprises to her husband when he went off fishing and one time she made a cocoanut and custard tart for him. He didn’t return when she expected him or on any of the days thereafter. Finally she was so distraught because she thought he was drown at sea that she killed herself. Shortly thereafter he did come back, having been delayed by a storm, and when he returned to find she had died, he killed himself also. So the tarts she made for him became known as “Tourment d’amour” or “Torments of love”. They are a popular treat on the island. The other story was told by our guide. But I’ll leave that to tell til tomorrow when I have more time.

Today I chose to go on….. you guessed it, a snorkel adventure. But today’s was a different experience in many ways.

First of all, we had the first real rain of the trip. It was a little cooler, about 22 and it was really rough on the water. It didn’t stop us from doing anything but it was a little less pleasant on the boat, especially because I was sitting at the back of the boat and got absolutely drenched within the first 30 minutes, including my dry clothes for after snorkelling and towel, so the return trip was a little chilly.

Secondly, we had a tour guide along for this trip and he was fabulous. He taught for 20 years in France and then moved to Les Saintes and taught here for another 20 years. He’s now retired and doing the tour guide duties because he loves people so much and it shows. He stopped at various places to show us points of interest.

He showed us a pelican colony amongst the trees on the slopes of one of the islands and some down on the rocks by the water. Dozens of them were watching us go by. And a family of iguanas in trees but I unfortunately wasn’t able to get a picture. There were some rock formations that he showed us, and I was amazed at the ability of our boat captain. There was a bit of a cave and even with substantial waves and swells, he took the power boat inside the opening so the guide could show it to us.

He told us about the importance of fishing for the island and when we came upon a fisherman spear fishing in the water, the captain asked him where his catch was and he pulled it up and showed it to us. Two fish and an octopus!

We passed by the Star Clipper who was in port today as well. It’s a beautiful wooden, 5 masted sailing ship. Absolutely beautiful vessel.

We had two snorkel sites, the first of which was to see if we could find any turtles. There are three species found here, Leatherbacks, Green and one other whose name I missed as the wind blew away the guide’s words. It was a grassy bottom and we were lucky to find one fairly large size one munching its way across the bay.

Then we were off to see a blow hole in the rocks, and it was in good form today given the waves out there. I wasn’t able to get a picture from where I was so one of the other passengers got a few shots away for me. We went passed what was supposed to be a nude beach, but from our distance it looked like everyone was clothed to us.

The second snorkelling spot was in a bay with a rock and coral outcropping that was great. There was lots of fish life, and corals. Lots of big fan, staghorn, split brain, and others for which I didn’t know the name. Many of the fish that I saw I haven’t seen elsewhere. One had a red belly and on the sides it had spots of different colours set out in rows and columns. It was spectacular. After about 30 minutes we headed back to town, and once again got soaked! But this time at least we were already wet.

It was almost 1 pm when we got back into town, so unfortunately most of the shops were closed and so there wasn’t much to be seen, so we headed back to the ship to grab some lunch. It rained off and on the rest of the afternoon, so I spent some time in the “Yacht Club”, a space on the top deck to the aft of the ship that serves tea, specialty coffees, and has snacks and desserts from 6 am to 6 pm. It’s got a library atmosphere and in fact has some books, but also jigsaw puzzles, board games, cribbage boards etc. A lovely space where I’ve done some of my reading and writing. And then the luxury of all luxuries, nap time.

After dinner this evening was the amazing staff talent show. There was everything from a demonstration of martial arts, to Indonesian flute players in traditional costume to a comedic act by the Entertainment Manager and a hilarious story telling about riding a donkey up to the top of Santorini by the Hotel Manager. The Maitre’D (he’s more than that but I’ve forgotten his title) has an amazing voice and did a couple of Rat Pack era songs including a couple of imitations. The deputy chef who does much of the planning of provisioning, figuring out how many potatoes they’re going to need, etc. did this amazing thing with numbers on paper on an easel where every column and row and diagonal and inner squares of a 4 x 4 box table added up to a number that one of the audience members had given him. It was unbelievable. He ended by saying that there were 119 staff members on board from x (I missed the number) countries, speaking 50 languages and they all lived harmoniously together on this little ship. He challenged the rest of the world to do the same. The final act was similar to one I saw on the South Pacific cruise I took before the pandemic, the Star Pride Men’s Synchronized Swim team. It is absolutely hilarious, and I can’t begin to describe how they do it, but it involved a blue waist high curtain, deck chairs, and mattresses. It appeared that they were in the water doing an synchro routine.A fun way to end the day.

Tomorrow is St Martin/St Maarten, and a rare, for me, land tour excursion. We are only in port until 2 pm so our tour starts early in the morning, so I’ll sign off now and get some sleep. I had trouble writing my blog today because every time I tried to work on it in the public areas, I got talking to someone. Not a bad thing. Such interesting conversations.

P.S. One last thing, part of the Entertainment Manager’s comedic sketch was about many passengers going home on Saturday. (I’m staying on for another week, but many are only on for one week or are finishing their two weeks). He said it much funnier than I can, but that we have some adjusting to do when we go home. He said at home we’re going to sit at our dining room table and wait and wait for someone to come along to provide us with a Chef James Beard quality meal. And after our shower we’re going to dry off with a towel and throw it on the floor, and when we come back several hours later the towel is still going to be there. And we’re going to hear the flushing sound of our toilet instead of the sucking sound we’ve come to expect. Yes it will be an adjustment.

Home for today is the Island of Saint Lucia, part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles north of yesterday’s stop in Bequia. To contrast with Bequia which was 7 square miles, St. Lucia is 238. Castries located on the west coast is the capital and major port town, and is where most of the cruise ships anchor.

However, our stop today is more specifically, Pigeon Island, a small island (44 acre national reserve) on the north end of St. Lucia that has been joined to the main island by a causeway built in 1972 by Sandals Resorts to allow for the development of their property. A previous notorious visitor to Pigeon Island, pirate, Francois le Clerc, (known as Jambe de Bois (Peg leg) by the French and Pata de Palo by the Spanish, due to his wooden leg), camped here in the 1500s to strike out at passing Spanish ships.

Saint Lucia literally stands out for its two tall and narrow mountains on the south west coast called the Pitons designated as a World Heritage Site. One of the excursions is a catamaran trip down to see them but it was a 4 hour tour and I figured I’d be fried by the time I got back! So sorry, no pictures of them. The topography of Saint Lucia is again hilly, with green interior rainforests and beaches dotted around, some volcanic. English and St. Lucian Creole are spoken among the approximately 185,000 inhabitants. Interestingly, Saint Lucia (or Saint Lucie) is the only country nation to be named after a woman. They have a similar government structure to Canada, put in place in 1924. They are part of the Commonwealth, with a Governor General and a Parliament consisting of a elected House of Assembly of 17 members and a Senate of 11 appointed members.

The first inhabitants, like many of the islands, were the Arawaks, likely settled here around 200-400 AD. The French first settled the island in 1660, and then, also like many of the islands, the French and the British proceeded to fight over it for 150 years. Eventually the British won out in 1663. Remnants of those days is Fort Rodney at the peak of the highest point on Pigeon Island. Some of my fellow passengers hiked up to the fort this morning, but I declined to join as I don’t have appropriate hiking shoes with me. (Great excuse, eh).

St Lucia’s main economic drivers are tourism (65%) and offshore banking. Agriculture and specifically banana exports were more significant previously. St. Lucia seems to have avoided most of the most damaging hurricanes although Hurricane Tomas in 2010 caused some damage. The economy had recovered before the pandemic, and they had been able to attract foreign investment. They actually have a manufacturing sector in chemicals, clothing, and plastics among other things.

Today I chose not to do any excursions. I decided to have a break from the action and just chill. After breakfast I sat in the shade on the top deck of the ship, reading, writing this blog and enjoying the view. And watching the two Windstar tenders going back and forth to the beach pier. The fabulous crew on the Windstar worked feverishly as soon as we moored early this morning to prepare the site for our Beach BBQ. Hundreds of beach lounges, towels umbrellas, the food, tents, stuff to set up the food and bar, the water toys (kayaks, SUP, floating mats, trampoline, etc.

I went over around 11 am, chose my chair and parked myself with my book, and a crossword puzzle book. Drinks were delivered, the steel band played and I was a happy camper. In due course lunch was served under a big tent on a hill where the breeze kept us lovely and cool. I went in for a swim multiple times and the water was cool enough to be refreshing but one got used to it very quickly. I spent another two hours on the beach and then came back to the boat to get the salt water rinsed off.

In no time at all, the beach looked like we’d never even been there. Everything was stowed back on the ship and we’ll soon be off on our next island adventure. Not before the water toys were towed back to the swimming platform to be stowed til next time.

I’m invited to another reception tonight for passengers continuing on to next week’s cruise and think I’ll have dinner at the outdoor grill. In any case, I’ll sign off now, earlier than usual because there’s not much left on which to report. Other than to say, it was an amazing day in St. Lucia.

One of the great things about sailing on a small cruise ship is that you are able to get in to ports that the larger ships are not able to both physically and because the infrastructure isn’t there to support the larger number of passengers. Today was one of those stops on the Island of Bequia, the second largest island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a tiny island of only 7 square miles although it is the largest of the Grenadines and with a population of approximately 5300, the most populated.

From just a mini-exposure to the island it seems like it has a laid back lifestyle. The people are of African, Scottish, Irish and Carib descent and in the 1860s there was an influx of white Barbadians. I’ve only recently discovered that I have DNA that places my ancestors in Scotland for the most part so I figure it’s natural that I would feel comfortable here.

The island’s name means Island of the Clouds in ancient Arawak, but its mountains are lower than that of it’s parent island of St Vincent, 10 miles away, and so it gets much less rain than St Vincent. There are even cacti on the island.

Some famous people are connected to the island including Blackbeard who came here with his ship “Queen Anne’s Revenge” for repairs and Princess Margaret, for whom a beautiful beach is named. She had a home on nearby Mustique Island and she visited Bequia in the 1950s.

There is a long tradition of whaling on the island, and Bequia is one of only 4 places in the world where it is still legal to do whaling. However, they are only allowed to use traditional methods including a row boat and hand thrown spear and the limit is 3 per year per citizen. There are rarely any whales caught now and the government is helping to move the people away from whaling and into another of its traditions, ship/boat building. There is a Whaling Museum on the island as well as a famous restaurant, called the Whaleboner, whose entrance is festooned with the jaw bones of a whale, and the bar stools are vertebrae from a 75 ft. humpback caught in 1995

There is some agriculture, primarily Arrowroot powder, but also coconuts, sweet potatoes and ornamental flowers and there is also an effort to re-establish banana exports. Tourism and fishing are the other industries.

As with many of the islands, their governance is a parliamentary democracy in the Westminster style. The only difference between their government and ours is that they have only one house, which consists of 15 elected representatives and 6 appointed senators.

One of Bequia’s neighbouring islands is Mustique which is a private island that creates a buzz for it’s current and past inhabitants. In two seasons of The Crown, Princess Margaret is shown to travel to her home on Mustique when she needed to get away. She does in fact own property there and vacationed on the island starting in the 1960s. Mick Jagger and David Bowie have properties there and Prince William and Princess Katherine have also been know to vacation there. Some of the passengers from the Star Pride went on an excursion that circumnavigated the island and then stopped for lunch on the only public restaurant on the island. I haven’t yet talked to anyone that went, but I’ll be interested to hear about it.

Today we are anchored in Admiralty Bay, near the village of Port Elizabeth which acts as Bequia’s unofficial capital. Some of our groups went to see Fort Hamilton built in the 1700s to protect the harbour from pirates and French Raiders. Star Pride’s tenders dock in Port Elizabeth and will go back and forth to the ship every 15 minutes all day. It’s about a 10 minute trip each way.

I started my day with a snorkel trip on a fast power boat that took us 20 minutes or so from the tender dock to a bay on another of the smaller islands. It was a little wavy but no serious currents today in this spot that sported a reef sticking out into the bay. It provided some great fish spotting. I saw one fish I’ve never seen before which was almost translucent with purple highlights. I tried using my iPhone in a waterproof pouch to take underwater pictures with not much success. I had trouble seeing if it was taking the pictures and I kept accidentally switching it to video mode. But it was worth a try and I did get a couple of pics that give a sense of what it looked like and one not so good one of the purple fish.

On our way back we were dropped off for an hour at Princess Margaret Beach for an hour to swim, suntan or have something to eat at the waterfront restaurant there. It is a beautiful clean beach which I walked along from one end to the other. Then it was back on the tender and for a quick shower and lunch and then back onto the island to explore Port Elizabeth.

Port Elizabeth has one Main Street, Front Street that is two lanes, one for vehicles and one for pedestrians. There are some lovely shops and restaurants along the way. Artisans have colourful displays of their work under the trees in a park near the pier, with no hassle at all from the artists expecting a purchase. One that struck my interest was a wood worker who made miniature, brightly coloured boats.

Along the lanes for cars and pedestrians there are perhaps a dozen small stores and restaurants, all of which are just so cute. There is a famous shop selling pizza that claims to be the prettiest pizza shop in the Caribbean or perhaps the world. And it might just be, given it’s artfully painted walls situated next to a huge bougainvillea. At the end of front street there is a lovely surprise.

All beaches on Bequia are public and from the end of Front Street there is a path, called the Belmont Walkway, with what has to be one of the most beautiful views for a path in the Caribbean. It takes you to 3 beaches, the second of which is the famous Princess Margaret Beach. The path is narrow and in places needs repair, but it runs along in front of some private properties, restaurants, small resorts and shops. The views of the bay with boats galore bobbing in the harbour, and colourful houses lining the hillsides is pretty spectacular. I walked along the pathway, dodging waves and other walkers almost to Princess Margaret Beach, stopping along the way to sample a delightful lime homemade ice cream. Such a lovely spot I was sorry to have to grab the tender back to the ship.

This evening was a cocktail reception for passengers who have been on more than one cruise with Windstar. Held on the open deck with free flowing champagne, and wine, with some nibblies that I didn’t get over to, it was quite lovely and civilized. And for dinner this evening I was invited to attend the table of the Chief Engineer for the ship, and spent an enjoyable evening with the company of he and 5 other guests one of whom was a former Governor of Vermont. This is done frequently throughout the cruises with various different ships officers.

Quite the day. Tomorrow we’re on to Pigeon Island which is part of St. Lucia for our second iconic Windstar event, the beach BBQ.

Part way through the night, I realized that the rock and rolling had stopped just as the Captain had promised. I easily went back to sleep being gently rocked. And when I woke up again this morning, we were approaching St George’s, the capital of Grenada. Unfortunately it was grey and raining. From 8 am to 10 am while I was having breakfast and getting ready to explore it had drizzled, poured rain and been sunny. It is close to 100% humidity I’m sure. There is a reason that Grenada is green and lush. Fear not, the sun came out and the day was gorgeous.

Grenada is in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean at the southernmost tip of the group of islands called the Lesser Antilles. We’re only 100 miles north of the coast of Venezuela. Grenada is the name of the country as well as the largest island which is surrounded by smaller islands.

Christopher Columbus sighted the island on his voyage in 1498 but it stayed in the hands of the aboriginal peoples, who were waring among themselves. Columbus first named the island Concepcion.

Grenada is nicknamed the Spice Island because of all the spices found and grown commercially here. The spice market is a treat for the senses with the colourful dress and aromas of spices hanging in the air. It’s also somewhat chaotic in the “downtown” St. George’s area. Lots of traffic, no where to park, and poor traffic police trying to make sense of it all. St George’s is on the south west coast of the island at the entrance to a great natural harbour.

The topography of the island is stunning, with lots of steep hills covered in tropical growth and from the ship we can see lots of structures built into the hillsides.

Apparently they are cricket crazy here and it’s considered by them to be a cultural event! Who knew? The National Cricket Stadium prominent on the St. George’s waterfront was built in the 1880s but has been rebuilt and replaced through various hurricanes. It was one of the locations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The latest iteration was built in 2004 and was paid for by the People’s Republic of China. I wish I understood Cricket. I’ll have to figure it out one day. That and rugby.

Historically, the French and the English fought over the islands and according to our tour guide. Indigo was highly sought after as dye for the blue uniforms and other clothing. The French finally bought the island from the first peoples for 2 hatchets, 2 bottles of run and some glass beads. I haven’t found that during any of the small amount of research I’ve done so far. But I’ll keep looking for a source. There are pictures indicating the first peoples jumping off a cliff to their death rather than be taken over by the French, but I’ll keep searching for a reference to that too.

Slaves were brought to the island from Africa by the British to work the land and grow spices and indigo until they were emancipated in 1833. Now the majority of spices are grown in small independently owned plots on substantially sloped hills throughout the island.

Cuba got quite involved in the island during one particular socialist government and they even built a huge General Hospital for the people of Grenada. Our guide pointed out several hotels that were built and/or owned by Egyptians.

The islands eventually became part of the British commonwealth gaining their independence in 1974 and in fact tomorrow they will be celebrating Independence Day. Their government is very similar to ours, with two houses, and the PM who is the head of the majority party in the elected lower house, the House of Representatives. The Governor General as the nominal head of State, appoints people to a Senate on the advice of the Prime Minister, however they also consult with the opposition leader on the appointments. (I’m doing a pretty good job of being non-partisan, aren’t I?)

Now is possibly time for a reminder that my information is sourced in various ways, and can not at all be considered totally accurate. I try and find legitimate sources but some of the stories told by guides are so much more fun and interesting that I can’t help but include them. There is no question some are exaggerated.

The spice Grenada is most famous for is nutmeg, but others found here include turmeric, cinnamon, all spice, ginger, cloves, and bay leaves. There is a national dish called “Oil Down” which is a meat and vegetable stew which uses many of their spices. Our snorkel boat captain told us that many people will be making this dish tomorrow to celebrate Independence Day. It’s made in a big pot and he said his Mom’s gets so thick it can’t even be stirred. He said they use salted fish, beef, shrimp, and all sorts of vegetables.

Its primary industries are agriculture and tourism, and fishing is become more significant. A friend of our snorkel boat captain’s went by in a small boat and indicated that he had caught a tuna fish today, and was on the way to the fish plant with it to sell it. There are many larger fishing boats tied up along side the sidewalk along the Main Street on the harbour side in St George’s.

I have already alluded to my excursion activity for today. It won’t surprise you to hear that I went snorkelling this afternoon. But what we went to see might. In 2006, 75 pieces of concrete and steel sculpture by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor were placed on the sea bed. They were originally put in to protect the sea bed from further erosion and apparently they accomplished their mission as it is coming back. The area is called the Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park and it is protected from any activity which might damage the sea bed or the sculptures. The sea bed is between 5 and 30 feet in the area that we visited, and some of the sculptures were quite far down. Our excursion leader took us on a tour of 13 of the 75 in approximately 45 minutes. I am getting better at diving while snorkelling and I was glad that snorkelling vests were not required as it allowed me to get some more practise while diving to see more detail on the statues. I only came to the surface sputtering once or twice.

Some of the sculptures were religious in context such as Christ of the Deep. The Vicissitudes is the one used for most promotion of the area, and it’s quite remarkable. It is a group of 26 children holding hands in a circle facing outward. Some say it represents the circle of life but others have claimed it represents slaves thrown off the slave ships. One, called the “Newspaper Man” is of a fellow sitting at a desk using a typewriter. It was a somewhat weird adventure, and I think I’d really rather just see fish and other sea life, but at least I was bobbing around in the warm Caribbean water.

After our snorkelling adventure our guide took us at high speed (our boat had 2, 250 hp engines and could go like stink) on a tour of some of the nearby sites. He started at Grand Anse Beach where many of our fellow passengers took water taxis and spent the day on the beach in rented lounge chairs and attendants bringing food and drink. One hotel, the Silversands, apparently owned by Egyptians, costs $1100 a night! But there are many others that are reasonably priced and the beach is pretty spectacular. It’s 2.5 km of beautiful white sand and warm water.

Then we went on a tour of St. George’s natural harbour, which is one of the best protected in the southern Caribbean. Apparently when there is a storm coming boats from many other islands come hide out here to ride out the storm. The views from the water of the coloured houses going away from the harbour and the billion dollar yachts tied up was worth the price of admission.

Tonight was one of the ship’s marquee events, the Deck BBQ and line dancing with the staff. The food was amazing. And our next door neighbour left part way through the evening. Tonight we’re underway for Bequia. I’ve very excited for this stop. It’s one that only small cruise ships can get in to. Going snorkelling again tomorrow. No statues.

Today is the big day. I board Star Pride for 14 days of sun and fun.

Boarding doesn’t start until 1 pm so I enjoyed another lovely breakfast at Mimosas cafe in the Hotel Casablanca. They are only open for breakfast/brunch, which is really too bad as they do a great job. In keeping with the Casablanca theme, there are 3 big screen TVs in the lobby two of which are playing the movie. I finally got a screen shot at the right time.

It was beautiful blue sky yesterday but as you can see today is quite overcast. There is still some blue peaking through though and it’s still 27 or so degrees, above zero. Sorry to be rubbing this in on one of the coldest days for most of you. The hotel kept my luggage and I headed out to explore some more around Old San Juan. As you can see from the picture of the map, it’s a relatively small area. It takes no more than 30 minutes to walk between the two Castillos on either end of the north side of the peninsula. I got cooled by a bit of a mist/drizzle as I walked this morning, although within minutes it stopped and was again hot and humid. I’m warning you now that any pictures of me will demonstrate that my hair is going to be uncontrollable for the rest of the cruise.

At the appointed hour I retrieved my luggage from the hotel and walked about 7 minutes to the cruise ship terminal. The boarding process was painless, but had many steps. The pre-requisite health screening reminded me that Nanci and I went on a Windstar cruise to the South Pacific February 2, 2020, just before the pandemic hit. During the boarding process there, the only questions were whether we’d been to, or in contact with, anyone who had been to, Wuhan, China. Little did we know…….

Once on board I was escorted to my cabin and left to settle in. Since my luggage had not arrived, I was free to wander and explore the ship. She is much bigger than the sailing class ship we were on in the South Pacific, but still really small in relative terms. Only 156 cabins for a max of 312 passengers. (Max 311 this cruise :-)) All three of the Star class ships have been “stretched” in recent years having been cut in half and an extra section being placed in the middle of the ship. I sure hope the marine engineers knew what they were doing! The bathrooms have all been redone and they are beautiful. The facilities are top notch as you’ll see from the photos. Not many people lounging about today since probably half are newly arrived and are settling in and exploring.

I grabbed some lunch from the Veranda restaurant on the top deck, and sat outside in the breeze. This is where breakfast and lunch are served daily. In my exploring I got trapped by the spa managers in the spa area checking out the gym. They showed me the facilities and would love for all passengers to purchase a multi-experience package but they have a hard sell with me. The gym is quite well appointed and there is a fitness, yoga, pilates, drill Sargent on duty most times during the day. They have classes which are complimentary, you just have to sign up the evening before. I have booked excursions most mornings so don’t know how I’ll get to classes, but I brought my workout gear just in case the spirit moves me.

We have a “muster drill” at 5:15, a draw for spa services and then have no other planned activities. After a couple of days of travel and hoofing it all over San Juan, I’m ready to just relax a bit. Tomorrow we are at sea so I may not blog. And the wifi is going to be frustrating I can tell already, so bare with me if I don’t get to it every day.

This just in…. Breaking news…… I have a door bell, and this was just delivered as a gift as a returning passenger. It would be rude not to eat them, right?

I have visited Puerto Rico at least a couple of times before, maybe 3, but it was years ago when we did several cruises that originated in San Juan. I won’t get out of the old port area this trip but on previous visits we rented a car and circumnavigated the island. There wasn’t too much damage to this area from Hurricane Fiona, but parts of the islands are still devastated and the infrastructure, which wasn’t the best to begin with, took a real hit.

Puerto Rico is actually not just one island, but rather it is an archipelago of one main island surround by smaller islands and cays. The majority of the population is rural, with the major city being San Juan. There are some beautiful beaches around the island, some of which are black sand and some pearly white and many of which are only visited by locals where family gatherings are frequent. Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra is apparently one of the top ten in the world, according to The Guardian at least, for its white sands and turquoise waters.

Puerto Rico has an odd governance structure. It has been a territory of the United States since 1898 when the US invaded the islands during the Spanish American War. In 1917 Puerto Ricans received US citizenship for the first time, but they still can’t vote in the US Elections unless they’ve moved to one of the US States. Puerto Ricans can vote in the presidential primary elections and elect delegates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions, where their delegates can vote for their pledged delegate, but they don’t actually get to vote for the chosen presidential candidate in the presidential election. Nor can they vote for a representative to congress.

I’m staying for two nights in San Juan, the cultural, financial and tourism capital of the territory. It is on the north shore of the main island of Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is a charming area with Spanish colonial buildings dating from the 1500s, with cobble stone streets running up from the harbour to the cliffs where you’ll find Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Restaurants and shops abound. Many are just now coming back from the pandemic and happy to have visitors once again. They are experiencing the same challenges as we are finding staff for retail and restaurant jobs.

More specifically I’m staying in a charming boutique hotel called The Casablanca. When I was sitting in the lobby having breakfast this morning i was thinking I had returned to Morocco it is so dedicated to to the theme. I bet you can even guess the wifi password. It is kind of funky but it’s growing on me.

On the roof top deck there is a lounge area and there are several huge bathtubs and sun lounges. Taking some bubbly in an ice bucket and heading for the roof top to soak in the tub seems to be a popular thing. I don’t think I’ll be participating.

My late breakfast in the hotel restaurant this morning was fabulous. Maybe the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had, and I splurged and had bacon and toast as well. After all I needed fortification for my busy day.

I started off with a reconnoiter of some of the beautiful streets of Old San Juan with their colourfully painted buildings. I even encountered a park where children are encouraged to feed the pigeons called Parque de las Palomas. (Pigeons) The reasoning is that if they feed them there, that they’ll stay away from other areas. Seemed to be working as there was a swarm of day care aged kids in the park feeding them and no pigeons were to be found outside the park fences. It was hard to tell if the children were squealing from fear or delight. Maybe some of both.

Throughout the park were more than 20 little bronze shoe sculptures. They are placed strategically throughout the park where children might free themselves from them, and one set also included a parent sized pair. Guess that parent gave in to the feel of bare feet as well.

Parque de las Palomas has a fabulous view of the harbour and some of the remaining fortifications that once surrounded Old San Juan. If you’ve ever looked at promotional materials for Puerto Rico, you’ve no doubt seen pictures of the sentry posts of the two Castillos in Old San Juan. The forts are amazing structures built high overlooking the port of Old San Juan. What I didn’t realize until this trip is that the Castillos were just part of the largest fortification built in the Americas and which encircled the whole city. This impressive fort took more than 150 years to build and even the United States contributed to its structure during WWII.

I stopped for a nap around noon to get out of the sun and make up for some lost sleep from last night. Afterward, since I had visited Del Morro on a previous visit, I headed off to see Castillo San Cristobal. As I was walking up to the Castillo I felt like I was having deja vu. I realized just into the structure that I had visited a fort in St Augustine, Florida on my North American No Fixed Address Tour that was incredibly similar. Of course it was. The Spain explored and set up settlements in the same areas at near the same time. In fact from some of my reading, it seems there is some rivalry about who established a settlement first and who finished their fort first among the two locations. You’ll see three flags flying over the Castillo: the US Flag; the Puerto Rico Commonwealth flag and the Spanish Burgundy Cross.

It was only 4 pm but I’ve done over 12,000 steps today and I was getting hungry so I sought out an outdoor restaurant where I could enjoy the ambiance, work on this blog and fill my belly. I don’t usually chose fish but I decided since we were on an island and will be surrounded by the ocean for the next two weeks that I best get with the program. I had a couple of starters, fish tacos and chorizo croquettes which completely filled me up. On my way back to the hotel, I came across a Starbucks and so I grabbed a tea to try and help keep me awake to a reasonable hour tonight. I feel like I want to go to bed now! But I won’t.

Tomorrow will be Star Pride embarkation day, so fingers crossed all goes well. I won’t have great wifi for the next two weeks but will post when I can.

Fun facts:

⁃ One of the smaller islands is called Gilligan’s Island!

⁃ Puerto Rico uses a mixture of the metric and imperial systems of measurement. Distances are mostly measured in the metric system but speed gets measured in miles per hour. Gas gets measure in litters but other liquids like water get measured in gallons. (And I thought Canada was confusing on this front).

⁃ The largest distillery in the world is located in Cataño, Puerto Rico. Bacardí, the rum distiller originated in Cuba and established facilities in Puerto Rico in 1930. After the Cuban Revolution, Bacardí continued its operations in Cataño.

⁃ The elements of Puerto Rico’s flag: the triangle represent the government’s three branches (legislative, executive and judicial), the star represents the Commonwealth. The red strips represent blood nourishing the three branches, and the white stripes stand for liberty.

Below are some miscellaneous shots from today. Weather was perfect, BTW. Hate to rub it in but while Ottawa was getting – 27 I was in +27. Humid and sunny.