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The last days of our trip were spent exploring St Kitts and St Thomas.
St Kitts, one of the smallest nations in the world was a lovely surprise . A small island we circumvented in a day with nature and history and a lovely beach to dip ourselves in.

By the end of the week-long cruse we got into a perfect routine.

Every day the ship would arrive at a different port. We would eat breakfast on the Lido deck (deck 9 – mid) high above the port as the ships slowly anchored. Then we would go on shore to do some exploration on our own. After returning in the afternoon we would go eat some ice-cream (deck 9 – aft) before showering in our room (deck 2 – aft - starboard) . We would then go up to deck 10- aft and with a bottle of beer to watch the sunset. Funny how most people think the sunset ends when the sun passed the horizon. We usually watch the sunset over an hour more as the colors of the clouds change from red to pitch dark and had the whole deck totally to ourselves. . We would then go down to the casino bar (deck 5 – mid) where the kids enjoyed a dance in front to the lounge singer while we had some sushi (free of course!). Then we would see the daily show (deck 4 – front) which Liya always found intriguing with the dancing, magic shows and singing while Ariel found it sleep inducing with a bottle of milk. Last stop was dinner (deck 3 – aft) before going to sleep only to start again at another nice island the next day.
As you can see - decks and directions are important on ships.

So it’s not surprising that on the last day they almost had to pry us out of the cabin.

From there home was just 8hours more in old, San Juan + 8.5hours of flight to Madrid with Ariel crying half way + 5 hrs at the airport + 5 hours flight home.

No wonder we so desperately need a vacation!

Time Travel

In the commotion of the St Lucia port my blackberry was stolen.

On one hand it was good to be disconnected from mail and internet. But not having a cellular phone in the 21st century is a completely different story - It’s a handicap.

Veteran travelers tell stories of communicating with home once every few weeks by having packages waiting at a post office or an embassy. I can personally tell stories of traveling in the early 90s in which the communication was done using calling cards and public phone. But travel in the 21st century relies on one having a phone on the go. Without giving 2nd thought you are constantly making reservations, checking up on distances to the next site, finding phone numbers of attractions and then calling them for availability of tickets. You don’t give it a thought, that is, until you find yourself completely handicapped without a phone. We had to count on smock signals (i.e. text messages from hagit’s non-roaming phone) to relay the fact that we need to cancel our car reservations in St Martin due to the change in itinerary forced on us by Hurricane Irene. Communication with our parents was all but cut off – not an easy thing for 2 pairs of worried Polish grandparents. When Hagit needed to brake from our pack to take a 4 hour tour by herself we could only count on the good fortunes of luck and coordination on meeting her at a predetermined street corner someplace on shore. Just like the good-old days when my parents were dating and had to meet in Haifa. Just like the dark-ages of 10 years ago before we all started carrying phones.

Epilog

As we reported Liya had feared the sea on the first day of our trip.

By the time we left our last beach in the Virgin Islands she did not want to leave the water, the beach, the sand.

A week after our return we wanted to go to the beach in Herzliya which, by-the-way, gives a good fight to any Caribbean beach as being a perfect beach.

Liya started crying.

We did not listen and we went with her anyway.

By the time we arrived to the seaside she was all excited jumping in and out of the waves like a fish.

Now we just have to continue to go the beach once a week so she will not forget how enjoyable it is. I think we can manage that.

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