Geo: 15.3, -61.39Sunday, March 23rdDominicaLast night we sailed south of Saba Bank and on through the Caribbean. We passed the Leeward Islands of Montserrat and Guadeloupe before docking in Roseau.The lore and lure of pirates is alive in Dominica; in fact, two of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies were filmed here.Dominica is a volcanic island and it is the effects of those volcanoes we're hoping to experience today as we hire a taxi driver, Julia, to take us to Champagne Reef. Jeff had emailed the department of tourism in Dominica before we left home asking the best way to get to the reef and they said to hire a taxi driver to take you, to stay until you were finished and to take you back, so that's what we did.When we get to Champagne Reef, ... read more

Geo: 18.3389, -64.9663Friday, March 21stDay at seaThis morning I popped right out of bed at 7 and was in the gym before 7:30. Don't know what the deal with that is! I got on an elliptical planning to do 45-60 minutes. These ellipticals have their own little TV screen, so I plugged in my headphones and surfed for something to watch. There was a movie, "Letters from Juliet" just starting. It was the perfect workout movie! Romantic comedy and entertaining enough to make me forget about my knees. 2 hours+ later when the movie ended, I got off and hobbled away.Got back to the cabin just as Jeff was leaving for a class on photographic lighting. He went to the talk and I took my IPad to sit in a lovely seating area to write. There ... read more

Geo: 26.1228, -80.1505March 19thFt. Lauderdale - againToday is the midpoint of our vacation and we are so happy to have another 10 days on the Emerald Princess.After being up so late last night, we really did get up at 6am to watched as we sailed into port. It's odd to use the term "sailed" because obviously our ship doesn't have a single sail. I don't think we are steaming either and I'm definitely not rowing! "Sail" must be the correct term.Because we are not disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale, we are considered "in transit". Yesterday we got new cabin cards (keys) and little slips of paper printed "In Transit". We do want to disembark and we can get off anytime and get back on at our leisure. The passengers in transit who don't want to go into ... read more

Geo: 18.3389, -64.9663Monday, March 17thAt SeaAfter leaving St. Thomas, Emerald Princess went through the Virgin Passage, passing Island Culebrita, then northwest throughout the Nares Abyssal Plain (North Atlantic Ocean) passed Puerto Rico.Hmmm...not sure what I've done; maybe struggled against the current pool too much yesterday but today I have a very stiff, sore neck. The kind of stiff neck where you have to turn your whole upper body instead of just your head to look sideways. It's St. Patrick's Day! I get out the big shamrock I bought at the dollar store and (duct) tape it to our cabin door. I'm wearing shorts, a long sleeved white oxford shirt - shirt sleeves rolled up and a pair of bright green suspenders and socks. Jeff has on the St. Patrick's shirt he picked up at Goodwill before ... read more

Geo: 17.31, -62.73Saturday, March 15thSt KittsJeff and I have been to St. Kitts before; in fact, one of my favorite vacation photos of us (my profile photo on Facebook) is us at Brimstone Hill Fortress.Early this morning we were awakened by the Captain making an announcement from the bridge which is unusual. He announced that only one of the ships six thrusters were working. Thrusters are the things that move the ship sideways and are important for moving to and away from the dock. As a result, we would not be tying up at the port in St. Kitts, but would be tendered in.This wasn't a problem for us as we hadn't made any plans except just wandering around town, but there was lots of hubbub as the lifeboats were lowered. To get to shore you ... read more