Caribbean Bound - Antigua - 9

By far one of my favorite stops.  We departed from the ship as soon as we could and managed to work our way through the hoards of taxi drivers and guides.  Very organized here as elsewhere.  They have a central person that coordinates.  However we were after the nearby earthcache Pile-Rates of the Caribbean before anything else.

 We found it fairly quickly and headed back to the dock. 

 We had in mind a beach to the north but we were approached by a driver that needed two more people to fill his van.  No one leaves unless they are full.  We told him where we wanted to go and he replied that he had a much better spot.  We decided to go with the flow and we were soon on our way to Ffryes Beach. 

Here there was a bar/restaurant, hut/chair/umbrella rentals, wifi, and he was coming back to get us later. Pretty sure he got a kickback for bringing people.
A bit of a quieter/local spot and a perfect place to relax for a few hours. 

 

The day ends much to quickly but we did get a chance to swim and snorkel a bit. 

We also got to experience a rain squall. and discovered you can see them coming for miles.  This one stirred up the wind a bit and turned umbrellas inside out but we were under a grass hut so stayed dry.  All in all it only lasted about 10 minutes before moving on and it was so warm it didn't matter

Once back at the ship we took time to wash away the salt and then headed back ashore for some more free wifi and the cheap beer. 

 One of the other cruisers was getting her hair cornrowed so I negotiated and paid up.  Everyone got to give me a bad time and take candid photos as well as replacing  my refreshments. 

 A final event and a dash for the ship and were were once again on our way in the nick of time

Caribbean Bound - St Lucia - 8

A new day and a new destination.  I and a few others have started getting up early and having coffee while we approach our port of call each day.  A chance to chat and view our destination.  St Lucia is basically mountainous.

The Pitons

Airport at the harbour

Today while some of the group are off to climb mountains, bathe in mud, and scuba dive, we are embarking on a pirate ship adventure.

The cruise took us down the coast towards the Pitons, we swam off the ship, saw flying fish(only a couple), walked the plank, fired the cannons at lookie-loos from other boats...what fun.  All this while the crew entertained us, kept our glasses filled with rum punch, and listened to island music.  Very infectious for me although most of the tourists just sat there...

We returned to port where we relaxed for a couple of hours before heading back ashore to pick up a geocache and attend an event.  We got to meet a couple from another cruise ship and exchanged pathtags as well as a young fellow and his family from the Netherlands who were staying on the island. 

Soon we set sail for another night at sea and the adventures on board continue....

Caribbean Bound - Barbados - 7

 I have never been to the Caribbean before and never this far south.  Wow.  We couldn't wait to get off the ship and explore and enjoy the beautiful weather that we woke up to.

Most of the group were going on an excursion but we decided that we wanted to just fulfill our cache requirement for the day and the relax and enjoy the beach and ocean.

 We quickly caught on to the cab services and for a one-way fee got dropped off at the Barbados Museum.  Along the way the driver kept up a running commentary of the attractions, Barbados in general, and how to get back to the ship.

The Barbados Museum was our go to cache of the day to add Barbados to our country list.  Very interesting site and we had a reason to go inside and converse with the reception ladies.  Very helpful and friendly. 

 

As we headed towards the beach we stopped for one traditional which gave us a bit of trouble before we came up with what proved to be quite simple 

The Main Guard 

We were starting to get a little warm so we now headed for the beach.  Once there we didnt waste any time for a temperature test which lived up to our expectations

we could see our cruise ship 3 miles down the beach.  We could also see in the distance where our driver had said was a good watering hole.  For $15 each we got a drink, loungers, umbrella, and a ride back to the ship.  A nice way to spend the afternoon just relaxing.

 

Caribbean Bound - Cruising - 6

The day has arrived.  Once again we are up early...Who can sleep when there is so much to see?  However today we must vacate our villa so we pack everything up and head out to grab the last couple of caches in the area as well as breakfast.  Once that is done we pick our luggage up and head for lunch before grabbing a cab to the cruise terminal.   We are early and two of us can board at 130 and one at about 230 but luck was with us so they let us board right away. 

We came prepared so once the luggage was dropped off (we wouldn't see it again til after 3 pm), we headed for the pool for some Captain Specials, a swim in the salt water pool(neat idea), and watching everyone else board.

Although we spent 7 days and nights on this ship we never had a chance to see or do everything....
We had opted for Open Dining so were not part of the large group of geocachers every night.  We did however get to see them during breakfast and during caching and all the events that were in almost every port we stopped.  Our dining staff was perfect and so was the food...Would recommend RC anytime...
A bit of a chuckle as I had to go retrieve one piece of my luggage from storage.  Everything coming on board gets x-rayed so I  knew they were questioning the two bottles in  my luggage.  Once they were assured it was my allowed wine and not the hard stuff all was ok... I was more worried that they had broken a bottle...ugh

The next day (Monday) was our "at sea" day.  We had already met everyone at a meet n greet and group photo so the next was a round of mini golf.  Amazing what you can do onboard....

The night life never seems to stop on board.  We took part in live theater, ice shows, etc.  as well as lots of good company and laughs..

Caribbean Bound - Puerto Rico El Yunque National Forest- 5

What to do on our second full day in Puerto Rico? Well I had prepaid for a cheap rental car so after breakfast the three of us grabbed a cab to take us to the car rental.. I was a bit tentative about driving as I have already had time to observe the driving practices here..Narrow lanes, missing mirrors, dents, dents, dents...The car rental took way too long to organize so a learning curve with that company.  And back to dents....this time we had to go around the car several times to make sure they got everything... I haven't seen that many dents on a vehicle with less than 200, 000 miles on it and this one had only had 30,000.
So armed with the road maps and the GPSr's we set out for El Yunque National Forest

The rainforest was not my original plan for the day.  We had heard about it so changed plans.  And I am glad we did.  Since we had started out early we got to enjoy the drive without too much traffic.  The road twisted and wound up a narrow road we observed several changes in the plant life. 

Philodendrons are the vine problems here

We stopped at various spots of interest for caches and pictures

And some of the views were awesome of course

After the rainforest we headed out to grab some more caches and an earthcache.  The earthcache was on a beach and was what I had been waiting for...

On the way back to drop off the car I had an opportunity to practice my "when in Rome" driving.  Survived to live another day!!!

Caribbean Bound - Puerto Rico - 4

We met up with our fellow travelers and our roommate for our stay in San Juan on Feb 19th at the DFW Airport.  The flight left late afternoon and we got to see Dallas during the day but it was 11 at night when we arrived in San Juan.  We grabbed our luggage and Laphamclan, The Pollywog & I nabbed a cab into the city.  The one thing we discovered in the Caribbean is that Cab rates are generally set to different areas regardless of the address.  For $25 US all three of us and our luggage.  We thought that was ok.  After arriving at our villa we had some confusion as to which lockbox it was but once we had it we settled in.  At midnight we hit the streets for a mini explore and a beer...Take care on the cobblestones....treacherous to those clumsy ones like me!!!

Friday Feb 20th saw us out early for coffee and breakfast at the recommended bakery down the street...hmmmm powdered sugar on a breakie type bun....Today's goal was to nab caches in the old city as well as explore the forts...

One of the most interesting caches we did was getting the clues in the graveyard...Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery

Two forts were amazing.  Admission would get you into both forts for a week so a really good deal...Castillo San Cristóbal & El Morro

The architecture in Old San Juan was also interesting.. From the cobbled streets made from the bricks of the original forts to the astounding amount of government buildings..