Eastern Caribbean "Filler" Cruise

Eastern Caribbean Cruise

January 26, 2019-February 2, 2019

Ports Visited:  Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Can you say tourist?  Buckskin Lily arriving at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Well…Noah and I just completed cruise #2 of our 3-cruise odyssey.  This cruise was sort of a “fill-in” cruise—something to do between the Panama Canal cruise and the epic 7-week cruise around South America we’re about to embark on.  However, this cruise, “fill-in” that it was, took us to four islands we’ve never visited before, and we had lots of great adventures.  
Our first stop was Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands.  There, we took a glass-bottom kayak tour through a mangrove swamp.  

Buckskin at the put-in location before the kayaking began

Noah navigating through the mangrove swamp on Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands

With Buckskin Lily right behind!

We saw a number of birds while kayaking including egrets, herons, and stilts (and I spotted a flamingo feeding in a lagoon from the back of the open-air conveyance we rode to the put-in point).  About half-way through our kayak trip, we stopped for a hike along the gorgeous white-sand beach.  The shore was littered with conch shells, but all were broken or in pieces, except for one in-tact specimen I found (and brought home with me—the best seashell I’ve ever found!)

Our next destination was Puerto Rico where our port-of-call was San Juan.  After debarking the ship, we hooked up with a local guide for an island tour.  The highlight for me was the thing I’d always heard about in San Juan and have always wanted to visit:  the fortresses.  The Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro) and the Castillo San Cristóbal were built by Spain to protect against land-based attacks on the city from pirates and privateers.  We were only able to view El Morro from afar (due to time constraints).  Construction on this fortress was begun in 1539. 

Buckskin at El Morro

We were able to spend more time visiting the Castillo San Cristóbal.  This fortress was started in the 1630's and not finished until much later.  We walked along the upper ramparts which afforded lovely city views as well as through its underground tunnels which were used to move troops secretly from place to place when the fort was under attack.

View from the ramparts of the Castillo San Cristobol

Noah in secret tunnel beneath the Castillo San Cristobol

Noah was reminded of his friend, La Gorda Gertrudis, whom he met in Cartagena, Colombia when we saw this statue.  It is called Mamá e Hijo, and it was sculpted by the same artist as Gertrudis, Fernando Botero.

Noah & the statue

Next port was Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  We again got off the ship and picked up a local tour guide.  We were taken by “taxi”—a converted pick-up truck with seats for about 25 people in the back.  Our guide, Rupert, was extremely informative.  We were taken to four major stops:  the downtown shopping area, Mountaintop—a large store selling “world-famous” banana daquiris and lots of T-shirts and other touristy stuff.  The view from the back patio, though, was amazing.  

Charlotte Amalie from viewpoint on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

From there, we drove (very quickly on narrow, hair-pin turning, mountain roads—whee!) to the beach at Magens Bay (voted one of the WORLD’S top 10 beaches by National Geographic).  Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to get out and look around, but we will be visiting St. Thomas again very shortly as it is the first stop on our South America cruise, so the plan is to take a taxi to the beach and spend the day swimming, snorkeling and sunning.  Last stop was another view point where a number of vendors were selling home-made wares.  We got our photo taken with a burro named Monica Lewinsky, and I got a steel drum lesson from a wonderful Rastafarian gentleman (Noah’s camera had run out of energy, so no photos!  Boo!)

From left to right:  Buckskin Lily, Monica Lewinsky, Noah Regrets (all phony names!!

And lastly, for this brief cruise…we made a stop at Half Moon Cay, Holland America’s private island in the Bahamas.  I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the island very much, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a beautiful curving white sand beach in the shape of—you guessed it!—a half moon.  Noah and I walked the entire length of the beach and back.  Then I got out in the water for a swim, and it was glorious.  I didn’t want to get out, but I finally did, and we tendered back to the ship to pack and get ready for our grand odyssey to South America which is happening NEXT!!  Looks like I'll be having Internet on the South America cruise, so watch for weekly updates...there'll be seven of them.  Until next time, keep having fun!

Love,
Buckskin Lily (who didn't want to get out of the water!)  :0

No, Noah!  You can't make me!