Donel
Campbell Joined: May 18th 2009
Logged in: November 7th 2011
Logged in: November 7th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Orchids
Awoke in San Juan and realized the ride thru paradise was over. Today (in the heat) we will endure the long lines in the cruise terminal, the long walks thru 3 airports, the comical banter with the customs guards to make it home. Our trip covered 2500 nautical miles, lots of great meals, buckets of Bombay Sapphire and hours at a slot mahcine. Every island had something different to offer and we didn't have enough time to see it all. I would think that a littler later in the season would be better to get slightly better weather. I am going to include my favourite pictures in this blog and look forward to the next trip.... read more
Sea Turtle
Caribb.110411 St. Thomas rainy day today.. and yep it finally happened... snorkelling trip was cancelled because of weather and was replaced with a tour to Coral world and a butterfly farm. We tried to go swimming with the sea lions but did not have a reservation so just wandered about taking pictures... Then moved on to the butterfly farm and the highlight was Havensight Cafe that featured chicken roti & peas & rice with Carib beer. Back onto the boat for an afternoon beside the pool. Tomorrow back to San Juan and into the airplane home... ... read more
Beach Signs
Caribb.110311 St. Maarten / St. Martin French/Dutch island We boarded out tour bus for a trip to the French side of the island Very narrow and congested streets. We had to wait at a roundabout, parked on a hill for 20 minutes waiting for a dignitary to drive by... Queen Juliana from the Netherlands was here to open something... (guide not to sure what was going on) Up until now our guides have been amazing (driver too), this pair... not so much... We finally made it to our beach after a short stop for some shopping.... beach was spectacular!!! Smooth soft white sand.. no rocks..no coral and easy breaking waves... 2 choices for lunch - ribs or chicken and both were great... 2 hours later and back on the bus to catch the boat... (3 people ... read more
Antigua
Carib.110211 Antigua Late start today to go to the Prickly pear island for some snorkelling. A short boat ride brings us to a very small island at which our goupr of 15 are the only ones here. Open bar with rum punch and mixed drinks, beach chairs and snorkle gear. Operated by Miguel and his family this small operation is a hot spot for the tour groups. Went snorkelling and saw some damsel fish, yellow tails some gar and different types of coral. We have pictures of some brain coral but those will ahev to wait till we get back for the developing. OUr lunch had some BBQ chicken red beans and rice some curry and a piec of cod fish. Soon we have to leave way to early. Gonna have to come back here for ... read more
St Lucia 1st vew
Nov 1, 2011 St. Lucia 30 C and humid (africa hot) with rain bursts every few hours to make it bearable. For the size of this dinghy it is amazing at how smoothly they can bring it into port. After docking we met the tour bus (aka mountain excursion vehicle) and began a trek into the interior of this volcanic island. We stopped for some pictures on the way to the "volcano" which included Marigot Bay. Accosted at every stop by jewellery salesmen we still made it thru to get some decent pictures. The driver "Hillary" put this vehicle in places that amazed even me. We spent about 1/2 of the drive (5 hours) in first gear weaving around potholes, damaged roads (from former hurricanes and landslides), parked cars and pedestrians. Finally making it to the ... read more
4 square distillery
Barbados Ship docked at Bridgeport and today's tour headed for a mohagany carving gallery, a rum distillery and a plantation house. We met Reggie Medford, the owner of the carving gallery who is a natinal institution here in Barbados. He uses the reclaimeed trunks of mohagany trees that are being removed from construction sites. We then moved on to the Four Square rum distillery. Highest rated spice rumbeating out Captain Morgan. The tasting was the best part... of course... Purchased a 12 year old rum... tastings to follow at home... Also bought a rum liquer. Off for lunch and tour at a 300 year old sugar plantation mansion. The Sandbury plantation. Lunch was good but we had to ask for hot sauce. I guess the locals figured us North Americans couldn't handle the Bajan hot sauce... ... read more
Bow
The ship left the port of San Juan at 8:30 after dinner. Bars, bars, bars everywhere. Went to a Scotch tasting.. Macallans 18 yr old is wonderful, Highland Park is way to peaty for me. First day of cruise and it is one that is entirely at sea.. Very smooth ride but you can feel the ship moving. When sleeping it is just a gentle rocking motion. Elke's day at the spa... Wandering about looking for more bars... Heading ro the top deck, some sunset pictures and then dinner Barbados tomorrow.... read more
BO Mohito
Started at 3:30 am. Fairly smooth flights into Miami and then onto San Juan. HOT - 88 degrees and humid... really humid. add a couple of rain storms... did I say humid?? Found hotel after short diversion by cabbie.. (drive like in Santo Domingo) While i was writing under the pretext of getting info, Elke went to the bar and the casino and brought back some blood orange and basil mohitos. Very helpfull staff at Sheraton have directed us to 2 restaurants... 1st - Raices authentic Puerto Rican food - an appetizer featuring plaintains. 2nd - Barrachina, again with local food and flamenco dancers - the home of the pina colada. They claim they invented it - yes i did try one and it was ok - more pineapple than coconut. Main course was a mofongo ... read more
Getting ready in hotel before a 6:10 am flight... so lets see 3 hour to clear ticket lines, customs, metal detectors, sniffing machines and 3 checkpoints.... yep better go now... Watching the planes land and take off thru the window.. kinda cool. If you have ever stood near the runways you will know how loud it is here and amazingly it is very quiet. Room is well sound proofed. I will add airport pictures tomorrow, its all packed up for the fun at customs. OK time for sleep... ... read more
Ullinish
Our last day and the weather feels the same way we do.... overcast, misty, foggy, rain.... Now this is what we expected from Scotland!!! Earlier we mentioned the roadkill of pheasants, well Elke spotted a whole flock on the side of the road... Driving on narrow roads exciting - add rain and fog... priceless. Made our way back to Edinburgh for the last night and Elke couldn't stand it any longer so we went to an Italian restaurant. This just didn't sit well so after dinner we stopped at a pub for beer (mmmm), scotch (double yum) and STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING (yahoo!) Next morning we got lost 2 or 3 times trying to get to the airport ( damned roundabouts) but were sucessful with not adding any gas and arrived on fumes. I will add ... read more
