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Published: January 15th 2014
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Hello everybody,
First of all a "Happy New Year" to everybody. May all your goals and wishes become true in 2014, blessings to everyone.
From Dusseldorf in Germany I flew American Airlines via Chicago to Miami, USA. I stayed three nights in Miami and then boarded a Carnival cruiseship through the Caribbean for 6 days. This whole visit was not originally planned at all. My friends from Bonaire asked me if I'd like to join and the deal was too good to refuse. Luckily enough I found a very cheap return flight from Europe so I decided to do it. We were supposed to be 6 persons in total but 2 of them didn't go anymore.
It was my second time in
Miami. It was mid-December and the weather was perfect: not too hot and not cold either. It was my second time in Miami. Miami is one of the favourite destinations for most Curaçaoans and is the only place, beside other parts of the Dutch Kingdom, where I’ve seen other Curaçaoans and heard others speaking Papiamentu. Most people come to Miami to shop. The city has about 5 million people and Spanish seems to be the official
language. Others, especially Europeans or Americans from other states, come for the sun and the beach to escape the colder winter temperatures. I didn't do too much in Miami. Juan Manuel and Liz, two Venezuelan friends of mine who live there, picked me up at the airport and I stayed with them for two nights. The last night I stayed with my friends from Bonaire in a hotel. I arrived in the evening so I didn’t do anything that day. The next day I went to change some money before Liz brought me to a station, where I took the metrorail towards downtown. There I took a ride on the metromover and went to a bus-station, where I boarded a bus to Miami Beach. Here I stayed the whole afternoon, had some lunch and played some beach-volleyball before heading back. The next day I went to Dolphin Mall where I met my friends there at the Marriott Hotel. We then went to the mall where I bought some things and I bumped into Churandy Martina, a sprinter from Curaçao. And of course I took a picture with him.
The next day we boarded Carnival Breeze. Timothy, the
son of Maira and Harrold, just graduated as a commercial pilot and it was his birthday during the cruise too, and Harrold's birthday as well. So those were the reasons they chose for a cruise to go and celebrate. The cruise stopped in Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos where I just went on land for about one hour near the place where the ship docked. I was here in 2011 already and wasn't interested in going on a tour or something since the island doesn't have too much to see. The second stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This city of about 10.000 people lies on the northeastern coast of Jamaica. From what I've seen, Jamaica was green and lush with beautiful landscape (the area I saw at least) and I would like to come back one day for a longer visit. I didn't find Ocho Rios a pretty city but its coast and beaches are OK. We went to the well-known "Dunn's River Falls" where Harrold and I climbed through the whole falls from the bottom (at the beach) all the way to the top. Because the rocks can be very slippery, we needed special shoes
for the climb which could be rented at the site. It was a great experience but not worth the US$20 entrance fee though. The third stop was Nassau, Bahamas. The capital of the Bahamas has about 250.000 people, which is three-quarter of the whole population of the country and it lies on the island of New Providence. That day there were 5 other cruise-ships in the harbour! We took a tour around the island that took us along some beautiful beaches and also the Fort Fincastle, a tiny fort built in 1793 by the British. Nearby I also went to the Queen's Staircase, which has 66 steps bringing you down in like a small "canyon", between two walls of rock, and an old water tower. The taxi-lady was very funny and told us a lot about the country. She drove us through rich neighbourhoods and poor neighbourhoods. We also went to the famous Atlantis Hotel which consists of two tall buildings with a bridge connecting the two. That "bridge" is actually a luxurious suite where you pay about US$ 25.000 per night to sleep. People like Oprah Winfrey, Micheal Jackson among others have stayed in the suite. After
the tour I went for a walk through the downtown of Nassau which I found nice and clean. Although it didn't have anything really special or particular I'd say.
After the cruise we picked up Danielson at the airport, which was one of our friends who was also supposed to join us on the cruise. He arrived in Miami from Bonaire. Then we drove to Vero Beach, where Timothy lives and we stayed one night. The next day we went to Orlando where I stayed only one night before flying to Michigan. The others stayed longer in Florida. In Orlando I met Giovanny Sint Jago, who I helped to find his father back in 2009 via Facebook.
All I can say is that I don’t regret visiting the USA and going on the cruise. It wasn't originally planned but I had a great and fun time, definitely! It was 6 days of relaxation, no cooking, party, swim, sight-seeing etc. Just "chillaxing" on Carnival’s newest cruise-ship. Lot's of laughs! Hopefully I'll join Harrold and his family on other cruises in the future!
Kind regards!
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Rita Willems-Smith
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great blogs
I love the beautiful photo's and the comments. Keep up the good work Elton.