Scott has long wanted to go on a Caribbean-island vacation,
but to which island? He found a Viking
Ocean cruise to ten of them, and we decided that would be as good a way as any
to do an initial reconnaissance. We
booked a December cruise. Since his
teaching schedule gives him a break then and we have no immediate family to
spend the holidays with, this has been a favorite travel time of ours for
several years. We convinced our good
friends Monica and Loren to spend Christmas in the Caribbean with us after
having had so much fun together last year on our Rhine Christmas Markets river
cruise.
 |
| The old fort |
Our cruise began and ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where
we had booked a walking tour of the old town and fort.
Unfortunately, Monica and Loren had flight
problems and missed that first day.
To
add insult to injury, Monica’s suitcase didn’t arrive.
In fact, it didn’t catch up with the ship
until the last two days of our cruise.
 |
| Colorful street in San Juan |
 |
| Scott on a decorated stairway |
 |
| Tortola's capital city Roadtown seen from an island drive |
First stop, Tortola, the largest of the forty British Virgin
Islands.
As we learned through our
visits to the islands collectively called The West Indies, the islands were
“discovered” and claimed by Europeans after Columbus first happened upon them
in his search for India.
The islands
were mostly cultivated as sugar plantations using slave labor from Africa.
There are a few indigenous people still
living on some islands, but the predominant populations on all of the islands
we visited are the descendants of those enslaved African people.
Loren, Scott, and I headed out early for a catamaran sailing
excursion. (Monica stayed behind to
recover from her hard two days of frustrating air travel and airport
waiting.) The seas were slightly choppy
as we sailed across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to a bay near uninhabited Norman
Island, which was the inspiration for the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure
Island. There we dropped anchor and
donned our snorkeling gear. My last—and
only previous--snorkeling experience had been a frustrating one in Hawaii, so I
was a bit anxious about it. The sailing
crew, however, was very good about providing instructions and support once I
was in the water. It was not an
outstanding experience for anyone as there was not much underwater activity to
see.
We sailed on to a second bay—Pirates Bight—for some beach
time and more snorkeling. In this
shallow water, and with Loren’s tutoring, I did a bit better at exploring the
underwater environs with my snorkeling equipment. Between snorkeling experiences, we were
served a buffet of empanadas and fruit and as much rum punch as we wanted. Sailing back to the port town of Roadtown we
enjoyed the sun, more punch, and conversation with our fellow sailors.
 |
| Snorklers |
 |
| Scott, Loren, and me |
Back at the Viking ship we collected Monica and ran to join
our afternoon tour, which was a drive around the island in a open-air safari
bus. The views were nice, but we didn’t
think this was an island we cared to return to.
It is small and there isn’t much to do other than sail and snorkel.
We did pass a series of interesting murals
depicting the traditional life on the island.
Our guide told us that there are government incentives to buy a home and
make Tortola a permanent residence, but we probably won’t take advantage of
that offer.
The next morning, we awoke in the port of Basseterre on the
island of St. Kitts. Scott and I had booked
a kayaking and snorkeling excursion. We
boarded a van for a short ride to the beach where we would launch our kayaks,
stopping along the way to appreciate the scenery.
 |
| St. Kitts' capital city Basseterre |
 |
| The narrowest part of St. Kitts. The island of Nevis is in the distance |
We paddled our kayaks along the coast and
into a bay where we beached them and donned snorkeling gear.
This was a much more successful adventure
than yesterday’s—I was proficient enough with my equipment to enjoy my time,
and there were many more types of fish to admire, along with some sea turtles
and stingrays all swimming around a colorful coral reef.
After kayaking back to our starting point, we
enjoyed more rum punch (this was to be a theme across the islands), before being
driven back to the ship.
Our assessment
was that this was a beautiful island that, along with its partner island Nevis,
might hold possibilities for future exploration.
Our time on St. Lucia was rather boring—we aren’t sure
whether that was because of the island itself or what we elected to do while
there. We went on one of Viking’s much-touted
“an included excursion in every port,” which, in this case, meant a long bus tour around the
island and a visit to a private home and garden. Our group had only about twenty people in it,
but there were at least six other groups doing the same tour, so the private
home and garden were packed with Viking passengers. The home was owned by a retired physician who
had practiced on St. Lucia and other islands.
He was about the only white person that we met on all of the islands we
visited. The gardens were nice but not
spectacular.
 |
| A view of Castries, capital of St. Lucia, from the garden. |
 |
| An orchid blooming in the greenhouse |
We docked next in Bridgetown, the capital city of
Barbados. We were booked on another
included tour of the island, but after yesterday’s boring excursion, we decided
to skip it and instead walked from the port into town. We spent an hour or so shopping so that
Monica could buy some clothes since her luggage had still not arrived. It was hot and there wasn’t much that we
found to be very interested in.
 |
| Market vendor in Bridgetown |
 |
| We happened upon this lovely old church |
 |
| The buildings reminded us of New Orleans |
 |
| Scott, Loren, and Monica with her shopping |
Scott
and I had an afternoon excursion on an “Atlantis Submarine.” There was some problem (we never learned
exactly what) so that we sat at the dock for more than an hour waiting for the
ferry that would take us to the submarine.
Forty of us were packed tightly into the submarine. We each had a porthole to look out of, but
our seats weren’t particularly comfortable.
We passed over a wrecked ship and saw several schools of small
fish. After about an hour, the submarine
began its ascent accompanied by the Beatles singing “Yellow Submarine” over the
loud speaker. We all sang along, which
was about the most fun we had had on this excursion. Fair assessment or not, Barbados was crossed
off our return-visit list.
 |
| Packed into the submarine like sardines! |
 |
| Arriving in the port of Roseau at sunrise |
Much to our delight, the next day brought the best
experience thus far in our cruise: the
small island of Dominica. According to
research I had done prior to our trip, “Mass market tourism has yet to make its
mark” on Dominica. The article continued
by saying this former-British colony is “wild, poor, and staggeringly
beautiful. . . . It is a walker’s paradise of mountains, jungles, waterfalls,
lakes, and rivers.”
We were charmed as
we drove in a van along the coastal road through scattered villages to the
Layou River. We each donned a helmet and
life jacket, got into a large innertube, were handed a wooden paddle, and were
pushed into the water. We floated, spun
around, went over several small rapids, got wet, and laughed with the pure joy
of it. We had a mid-river stop to swim
or just enjoy the beauty around us. Then
we continued on our way. The last half
an hour or so, the water was barely moving so we held onto one another’s tubes
and lazily floated along. As we exited
our innertubes, it started to rain, but since we were already wet, we didn’t
mind too much as we drank our rum punch and recalled the high points of our
river adventure.
 |
| Our guide advertising his company. Highly recommended! |
In the afternoon we joined an included excursion through the
capital city of Roseau. Our guide told
us that this small island is home to 69,000 people, 365 rivers, and nine
volcanoes. We stopped at a craft center where
visually-impaired adults are taught skills such as weaving baskets and making
fabric dolls. We also strolled through a
botanical garden before returning to our ship.
These islands are hit periodically by hurricanes. In 1979, Hurricane David toppled a baobab
tree which landed squarely on top of a school bus. It is still there as a reminder of the power
of such storms. More recently, Hurricane
Maria damaged 97 percent of the island’s buildings. The Chinese have provided significant
recovery assistance.
Dominica tops our list of places we hope to return to
someday. There is lots more nature to
explore.
 |
| Roseau at the end of the day |
We spent Christmas Eve on the island of Antigua, another
former British colony. This island
clearly attracts well-heeled tourists, given the number of yachts in the
marinas and the spectacular houses on the hillsides. It is a beautiful bustling island with 365
beaches. We visited Admiral Nelson’s
Dockyard—a former British naval base that has been repurposed as a shopping
destination with inns and restaurants. At
the end of our guided tour, we were rewarded with, you guessed it, rum punch. This island, although quite different from
Dominica, also has promise as a future vacation spot.
 |
| The pedestrian mall from the port into the city of St. John, designed to attract tourists. |
 |
| One street over: the real St. John |
Back on the ship that evening, we joined some of the crew
and passengers in singing Christmas carols in the ship's atrium.
 |
| My glamourous friend Monica in her island dress |
Christmas Day found us docked on the Dutch side of Sint
Maarten. (The other half of the island, Saint Martin, is French.) We elected to spend
the morning at a nearby beach. We paid a
nominal amount for beach loungers and an umbrella and enjoyed a perfectly
beautiful morning playing in the surf, walking along the sandy beach, and
reading under the umbrella. We saw only
a little of the island, but we liked what we saw and wouldn’t mind returning
someday.
 |
| This little girl attached herself to Monica |
Our last full day was spent docked in Charlotte Amalie, the
capital of St. Thomas, the largest of the US Virgin Islands. We spent the morning walking around the port
on our own. There are lots of huge
yachts docked here, some of which appear to be used as “floating hotels.” As we embarked on our included tour in the
afternoon, the skies opened and rain poured down—not a great day to explore in
an open-air vehicle. We drove to the top
of one of the mountains (2,100 feet elevation) where the supposedly-spectacular
views were obstructed by the low clouds and thick fog.
 |
| The open-air buses lined up outside the cruise terminal |
Our cruise ended back where it had begun, in San Juan. Viking assigned us to a very early ship-departure
time of 6:30 AM, and we arrived at the airport more than four hours ahead of
our flight back to the mainland.
Overall, this was a fun and relaxing trip. The highlight was probably spending time with
good friends and having lots of time to talk, laugh, and share good food. Warm, sunny days were a bonus, especially for
the Kerstings who had to return to cold, snowy North Dakota at the end. At least none of us had flight problems
getting home, and Monica’s luggage accompanied her this time.
P.S. Each town we visited had a beautifully-decorated Christmas tree, Here are some of the ones I liked best. So, I'll end this post with a Merry Christmas greeting from the islands!
And, finally, here is a map I sketched of our itinerary.
Comments
Post a Comment