If it's Thursday, this must be St. Kitts

---

The Islands
Well, we are recovering from more than a week of hectic days in port. We are now somewhere in the Atlantic, heading home...well, back to Southampton, that is.
Our first island was Aruba, one of the Netherland Antilles. Hugh and I went on a semi-submersible boat ride which took us over the wreck of a German freighter as well as a beautiful coral reef. It was Hugh's first time seeing underwater and I think he liked it quite a bit. To get to the boat our bus took us past all the hotels that line the beaches...there are too many and they are too huge! On the other side of the road was every American franchise restaurant you could imagine from MacDonald's to Tony Roma's to Hooters. It would be very easy to spend a week there and never get a taste of the island. I hated it. It didn't help that there was a huge Princess ship docked next to us, so the town (Oranjestad) was overflowing with Americans. It was hot, loud and crowded. So we consoled ourselves with cold beers, chips and salsa at a touristy bar called Iguana Joe's.
The next day we were in Curacao, the "C" of the ABC islands. (Bonaire is the"B".) Black Watch stopped here two years ago (on Inauguration Day) so Hugh and I were already familiar with Willemstad, the port and capital. It was Sunday so almost everything was closed and, on top of that, it was the day the island celebrated , so the city was deserted because everyone had gone out to the park where the parade was. It was a bit eerie walking around the city which had been over-crowded with 4-5 cruise ships' passengers two years ago; now we were the only ones there. Some passengers took taxis out to see the goings-on, but came back disappointed because nothing much had started before they needed to get back to the ship. So, not an excellent day, but we had a good tramp around and enjoyed watching the floating bridge swing back to let our ship out of the harbor.
We had one day at sea, then arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados, which we really liked. Our map said it was a ten-minute walk into town, but didn't mention the maze of taxi drivers and tour operators we had to go through before we got out of the port! But then we were on a lovely path along the breakfront where the view was just like a travel brochure. It was really hot, but when we got into town we tried to stay on the shady side of the street which helped. After a wander around a Woolworth's store (yes, they still exist there) we found the statue of Lord Nelson, the houses of Parliament, and St. Michael's Cathedral. Crossing one of the bridges of Bridgetown, we stopped to cool Carnivaloff with cold drinks, then continued on to Browne's Beach, an absolutely perfect beach just 10 minutes from the center of town. We had not worn our swimming costumes (!!!) because our intention had been to go to the beach later in the day, so I was sorry I couldn't just jump in the gorgeous colored water and cool off, but I did kick off my sandals and wade among the waves as they came ashore. It was lovely. The sand was perfectly white, very fine and not a bit hot to walk on. Oh, how I wish we had come prepared to swim! After too short a stay, we headed back to the ship. It seemed a long walk back and, under the relentlessly hot noon-day sun, I think I got a bit over-heated, so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the ship. Hugh figures we had walked 4-5 miles, so that was enough exercise for one day.
The next day was St. Lucia where we awoke to discover there were two mega-ships plus another one "our" size in port, so we knew it was going to be a crowded day. The two big ships were both Royal Caribbean, one 2500 passengers, the other 3500. Makes you wonder what kind of planning puts two of your own ships in a tiny port at the same time! Hugh and I were on a tour which started out from port on a catamaran. We headed south along the Caribbean side of the island where we saw some beautiful isolated coves with lovely old resorts, then stopped for a swim near one of the black volcanic sand beaches. It was heavenly to jump off the catamaran into the warm Caribbean! Hugh doesn't know how to swim (!!!) so he didn't join me, but I had a nice half-hour of floating and paddling around. When I climbed back aboard, the rum punch had been prepared and those who hadn't been swimming were already getting quite happy! Soon we were off again and the majestic Piton peaks came into view, the classic scene on every St.Lucia brochure. Then it was off the catamaran and on to a tiny bus which wound through the streets of Soufriere, up to the Botanical Gardens. We were given a nice tour there where we saw many of our house plants growing as big as bushes. Then on to the Sulphur Springs, the bubbling crater of one of the volcanos on the island. We had lunch at the Beacon Hill Restaurant high up above it all with terrific views of the Pitons and Caribbean beyond. Then a rather terrifying hour-long ride back to Castries, where the ship was docked. The road was very narrow and went up and down every old volcanic peak, with hairpin turns that our driver took at speeds at least double what I would have considered safe. Our guide merrily pointed out all the places the road had washed out in the hurricane last fall, so there were only temporary roads in place. Considering all the tourists in port, I wondered what our chances were that we had gotten the cream of the crop for our driver! But we made it and soon were back on board, sailing off to our next port.
Which was Basseterre, St. Kitts, which we loved! The port itself is simple and lovely. You walk down the pier through the old Treasury Building and into the quaint old town. St. Kitts used to be covered in sugar plantations, but nowadays relies almost completely on tourism. We took a tour which began on a little bus, driving through the little villages on the Caribbean coast. Then we boarded the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, the new, double-decker train which goes along the restored narrow gauge tracks of the old sugar train which took us around the other side of the island. It was a wonderful trip with beautiful scenery, an excellent guide and surprising entertainment provided by a trio who moved between cars singing local songs. The uniformed school children waved at us in each town that we rode through. And, once again, the rum punch flowed freely. Everyone sat in the open-air upper deck where the temperature was just about perfect. Hugh thought the train was very professionally designed and run; the locomotive (0-6-0, diesel hydraulic) was built in Romania and had previously been used on a Polish sugar beet railway. After returning to the ship and having lunch, we went out and wandered the town, doing a bit of shopping and stopping for a taste of Carib beer. A thoroughly enjoyable day. St. Kitts has not been overdeveloped and was very welcoming. We certainly will consider coming back for a longer stay there.
Next it was Antigua, again a place we had been two years ago. This time we went on a tour described as a "Crusoe Island Escape." This turned out to be a half-hour bus trip to a beach where small boats transferred us to a private 0.3 acre island. When we first arrived, there were a number of Italian tourists from the Costa ship that was also in port, but they left about a half-hour later. So we then had the place to ourselves, that is, Hugh, me, and a couple dozen other Black Watch passengers. I quickly grabbed a snorkeling mask and swam out to the adjacent reef to see what there was to see. There were quite a few fish, none very brilliantly colored, but it was just so nice being able to float along at my own pace, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. After a buffet lunch, I managed to get Hugh to try snorkeling. That is, he put on the mask, sans snorkel, got down on his hands and knees in about a foot of water, and stuck his face underwater. He stayed at it much longer than I expected, tried and failed with the snorkel, and claims he only saw one fish, but I think he really liked the experience of seeing underwater. I hope he liked it because he ended up with a sunburned back from just those few minutes! I, very cleverly, had worn a T-shirt over my suit (oops, swimming costume!) ...but completely forgot about the back of my legs which are still quite pink now four days later as I write this! Once we decided we were finished "swimming," we took advantage of the open bar where they topped their version of rum punch with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Very tasty!
Our final island of our assault on the Caribbean, as the cruise director called it, was St. Maarten. I had been there once before about a dozen years ago, so I knew what to expect. Then it was packed with cruise passengers, but that was before the megaships! There were two there along with us and a new pier a bit away from the town had been built to accomodate them. Water taxis took us between the town of Philipsburg and the pier. The town, as I remembered, was one long street filled with jewelry stores. The beachfront is really beautiful, with many restaurants, each providing sun umbrellas of a different color. The beach was packed with cruiseship passengers and, since one of the ships was a Carnival, they were young and rowdy. What we were most aware of, however, was how poorly we were treated by every employee we came across. From the taxi ticket seller on her cell phone who couldn't be bothered, to the waitress who returned 15 minutes after taking our order (2 Red Stripe beers) to ask what we wanted, it was very maddening. I guess they are just sick of having the hordes of tourists descend for a few hours every day. Kind of like Nisswa in August. Hugh and I had planned to skip the town completely and go out to one of the beautiful beaches a few miles away, but since we'd had too much sun the day before, we nixed that idea. Soon enough we set sail again, heading away from the Caribbean, straight out into the Atlantic.
Last night was our penultimate formal night. Thank goodness because we are tired of getting Hugh dressed! I've included some photos of our friends, David and Olive Watson (please note the matching tartans!) and our friends and tablemates, Colin and Pat Nilsen.

---