High Tea and Cricket Matches

Our port today is Bridgetown Barbados.  Dan says we have never been here so I guess I go with his memory which is much better than mine!  For a dollar apiece you can ride a shuttle into town which we do. The cruise terminal does have a few small shops and Internet with a post office too. Barbados is the most easterly of all the Caribbean islands. It’s very British still having high tea and cricket matches. It’s a coral island that in a far away time was pushed out of the sea by a volcano. On the west side there are lovely fine white sandy beaches that stretch along a blue green coast line. They say there is excellent snorkeling and scuba diving. The east coast displays a rocky coastline pounded by waves and constant trade winds. If you go to Paynes Beach you might snorkel with turtles.  There is also the Mount Gay Rum Distillery .  You can learn how sugarcane is made into the final product.  Rates for cars are steep and you drive on the left. In the central uplands you could occupy yourself with a tour of the Harrison Caves which are a world class attraction and unmatched beauty.  They are a massive underground cave stream system that you tour aboard a tram watching cascading waterfalls and unique formations. 

The local currency is the Bajan dollar where 2 of theirs equal 1 of ours.  

Other interesting places to visit include the Andromeda Botanic Gardens of 6 acres found in the parish of St Joseph.  The Sunburry House built in 1650 is over 300 years old steeped in history with original furniture, old prints, and a unique collection of horse drawn carriages.  All rooms are available for viewing.  Then there is the Flower Forest on 53 acres reserved only for green botanical venues never to be turned into housing at 750 ft above sea level with breath taking views. 

We did our own thing here taking the trip into town and walking around watching people and once again looking for things for our wait staff.  We have been to the Caribbean so many times that we didn’t need another beach and it was hot and humid here. As we traveled to Barbados the Viking Sea would be with us and at the dock till 6 pm.   If you chose to walk to town it would be 2 miles.  

I love this sign!  

From a rocky rough coast to the beach side. 

The island was founded by the British.  The natives had abandoned it for some unknown reason. But they did leave a roughly made bridge.  The British called it  Indian Bridge and later renamed  the town Bridgetown.  The old original bridge is long gone with a new one built in 1654.  UNESCO World Heritage recognizes it.  It’s said that this area is the main hub for shopping in the area. 

Triangular shaped plaza is a central monument to Nelson.  A war memorial and fountain with running water is commemorated here.  

1987 they built this in recognition of independence which they achieved in 1966.

The trees came from Africa in 1740 to establish Queens Park.  We stopped here to rest a spell and look and listen for birds.  It’s a small park 

This is the oldest in synagogue in the western Americas. It was built in  1664 and the rebuilt in 1831 then restored again!  It covers an entire block.  

Queens park and the synagogue are fairly close to each other and it’s duty free in the downtown area. 

There is a beautiful NW coast line which begs to be viewed.  But no time for us to travel that far. 

The Visitors Center is close to the port but the distillery is further out by Mount Gay. 

The oldest distillery in the islands is the St Nicholas Abbey which was purchased in 2006 and refurbished.  Now it’s known as Rum  Abbey.  

You can take a tour through the Harrison Caves on electric trains.  Im not sure if that was an offered ship tour.  

The Botanical garden has over 600 different species of plants with an admission fee of $12.  It was created in 1954 by a horticulturalist and now also houses a cafe.  

George Washington slept here and is the only place where a future president ever stayed outside of the US in 1751 with his brother who had tuberculosis.  

On the northern side there is no swimming because it is too rough.  The Port can accommodate up to four ships here.   We pulled out on time which was changed to 5:30 and enjoyed a lovely sail away. 

“Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.”  Freya Stark 

Scarborough Trinidad and Tobago December 12

Exactly one week from today we will be lugging all our suitcases off the ship early because we have an early flight.  This port is one we haven’t been to before.  The stop has a deep port location so no tenders. The ship terminal really is the center of town. We don’t have anything booked here other than to walk through the town, shop a little for the ship crew that we appreciate get to the botanical gardens. Dan looks also for the local library to update some things on his iPad that we have been watching.  The forecast is for showers and the skies look a little threatening so we get off fairly early and have our umbrellas. We are ducked free from 8-5. Inside the terminal there are a few duty free shops , local crafts, tour operators and a tourist office. Outside the terminal so is a small pub and ice cream shop. 

Tobago is the smaller of the two islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Located on the southern Caribbean Sea it’s outside the hurricane belt.  Most of the tourist points are around Crown Point, Store Bay, Pigeon Point and Buccoo Reef. Sone of the more idyllic beaches are at Castara, Bloody Bay where in 1666 a bloody battle broke out here between the French and British and turned the bay red.  There is aLos Englishmen’s Bay. 

Scarborough is the largest town here with about 17,000 people. There is a rainforest here and a reef marine park. You can also stop at Fort James and Fort King George built here in 1777 by the British  where there are museums and an arts center.  The currency here is the TT pronounced teetee and one US dollar equals about 6 TT.  

Our cruise director says this is a favorite stop for the crew because they have a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and all the crew love it!!! We have our waitress $10 to buy herself lunch here!!  

A map of where we go in the Caribbean 

Where we dock right in the middle of town. 

Beaches 

A welcoming steel drummer and dancers 

The lady in the back right is dressed fantastically!!

It was so hot and humid for dancing but it was appreciated 

Colorful banners decorated the downtown area 




And they too have their own carnival! 

Lots of beautiful murals all along the walls of the Botsnical Garden 



Their history

Their culture where once sugar cane was planted 



The park was all de orated for Christmas and I’m sure all the children loved going in at night with the lights and decorations 


The grounds were well taken care of. 

Lovely bird of paradise plants everywhere 

And this unique bottle tree!!

Chickens were everywhere too and I like this couple on the bench. 

Several lily ponds were also there with brilliant tall blue flowers 


Don’t you love the rain drops on this flower?

The tents in the background must have activities in them on weekends and evenings being all set up with tables and chairs 

The terminal 

Inside the very modern and clean library 

A few vendors in the terminal 




A happy bunch!! 

“ When overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you’re visiting.”  Clint Borgen 

I think there is some truth to this…

The Flat Place and lle Royale Devils

Getting closer to the vast and puzzle like mouth of the Amazon we have another tender port which is mostly a beach resort.  For us we just aren’t into beaches much anymore unless it’s a fantastic snorkling spot.   The name of the island which is Portuguese is Altar Do Chão which means a flat place.  The main attraction is a sandbar that is wadeable in the dry season. But be careful of stingrays when visiting beaches here. This town is really not far from Santarém which we visited on our way up the Amazon. Bathed by the Tapajós River it is temporary only available during the rivers high water season. A curiosity about this town is its green lake where waters change color during the day from blue to green. Only a handful of streets are paved within the community of about 7000 people. It’s very small and compact. One option might be to take a local boat ride to the lagoon. 

We are only here from 8-1 which with tendering makes it challenging so we both decide we are going to skip the trip and just relax on the boat. With the heat and humidity and then being packed to the gills in a tender I’m just not feeling like I need this experience.  I haven’t been doing well with the humidity and typically when I get back to the boat I’m trying to cool myself down with a fan in my face and my head on a pillow!  

The new oral fluvial or waterfront promenade extends several hundred meters along which was once a muddy bank. Now they saw there are stairs, rails, and a new dock making it safer and a nicer place to take a stroll. If you had time you could hike to the Floresta National do Tapajos a lovely National Forest where you could also canoe but no one could have time from our boat.  They also said there were a few open air souvenir markets offering Indian and regional waters. No internet was available in the terminal.  Most passengers we talked to said we didn’t miss anything and they probably could have also skipped the stop. 

We have a sea day after the last stop and that’s always a day when we might have a craft session, a guest lecturer or other unique things planned by the ship. We had at least three Cake Days which take place mid afternoon.  They make a variety of different cakes and then serve you in the Lido.  We both decided we just can’t eat all that sugar so we don’t usually partake of that or afternoon tea which also has different countries sweets.  They also have lots of sail away and typically we skip those because we aren’t big drinkers but we do like watching from the Lido or deck three as we throw the ropes, pull the anchor and slide away from the dock.  

And if I didn’t show you these before here are the two piranha magnets I bought and the fish scale the vendor gave me for free.  They use them to file their nails!  

Then we bought two piranha keychains and Dan made me earrings!! Ha ha.   They were a big hit on the ship and everyone was doing the same things buying piranha key chains!!

This was my biggest purchase in Peru all handmade. A beautiful alpaca poncho.  I got lots of compliments.  I never saw another like it but in the cold areas it really did keep me warm.  




And then we had this recognition ceremony for making 300 days on Holland. They gave us medallions but honestly I think Dan May tossed them!!  And we got a photo taken too with the captain.  The only good part was free drinks and a nice lunch in the dining room.

So we enjoy the sea days and it gives me time to work on the blog and my photos.  Our next stop was one that many people were very interested in and wanted to know more about the history of the place.  In fact the ship showed the movie Papillon in the theater at least the newest version.  Folks said they liked the original but we didn’t watch it. Most viewers said it was very violent and they wished they hadn’t watched it!  So maybe we made the right choice. Once again another tender port to Devils Island French Guiana.  I too wanted to go here.  This is a group of islands called IIes de Salt located off the coast of French Guiana.  When you are there you can see land to the south so folks from the mainland come here by motorboat or bigger sailboats. In the movie here was the announcement new prisoners would hear as it was a penal colony: “Welcome to the penal colony at Devils Island, whose prisoners you are, and from which there is no escape.”  Today only one island has landing capacity where you can experience the haunting and eery history.  There are pathways both rock and dirt that allow you to circle the island but they are steep and the stairs rough and uneven.  Its overgrown in many areas covering the prison cells and the administrative buildings. Recently they have put some money into recovering some of the buildings of which one houses a small museum. There is a restaurant there, hotel which is rustic and a very small gift shop. If you walked around the island it would take about 45 minutes. But for some reason I totally lost it here.  The heat and humidity were just too much.  I had to stop three times going up the hill and rest.  I finally made it to the top area but let Dan take some photos for me.  Then we got to the restaurant and sat in a large shaded area of tables to drink water. We decided to take the stairs back down and not the loop.  But the stairs were hard for me too because of the unevenness and the narrow pathway.  We did see a few critters but just getting back to the tender took all my energy.  When we got off the check in fellow told us several people had passed out once onboard and they had to take a wheelchair for another person so….. I think I wasn’t the only one who found the climate overwhelming.  Needless to say it was back to the cabin, fan on, head on pillow and drinking lots of water for a few hours. 

The trail heading up the hill. No shade but wide. 

You could climb steps going up or coming down. We chose the path to go up. 

Some of the documentation about the recovery of the buildings

One house had this unique hammock with the screen covering it. I think the folks who run the hotel live here. 

A beautiful rock wall that was a retaining wall 

Several of the buildings on site 

There were some beautiful Bougainville scattered around the area


The main house for the warden 

I had to stop several times going up this path and just lean against the rock wall 

But we saw several of these squirrel monkeys and they seemed so tame!  



This was just an interesting pile of coconut shells eaten in a big pile. 

Some of the grounds with huge trees and lawns 

This was a large pond of holding area of some kind but the hotel is in the background with those puffy fluffy clouds 





This was the covered restaurant place 

The tiny gift shop

A view from the top of the real Devis Island.  No one lives there or can go there. Not sure why. The French police come there about every 6 months to check it out.





Peacocks were everywhere!!! Really fun to watch
Male and female and some young ones 



Such a beauty!

When the prisoners died they were put out to sea so there are no burial grounds.  There were 

56,000 prisoners from France brought here.  

Only 1/4 returned at the closing of the colony.  One of the officials had a swimming pool made down close to the beach on the west side out of rocks.  People still come here to swim in it because the waters are full of sharks.  

Some egrets were there close to the tender area 

Several catamarans were in the bay that brought folks over from the mainland.  No swimming off the ramp due to sharks



An old photo 



A painting showing bodies dumped at sea



Some of the cells. 

Some of the old cell buildings and areas we couldn’t walk into

Administrative offices

There was a hospital here but you can’t enter it or the church, and the also had solitary confinement for many criminals.  But you could have been sent here for something as minor as stealing a loaf of bread :( 

More like a zoo here with parrots, wild pigs, peacocks and  acooti which roam freely along with macaws and  lizards.  

Roosy cat and Pugwilla just thrown in for fun!

The movie they showed onboard 

Enjoy this week before the new year!