Glad we changed course as Omar the Hurricane hit directly on St. Thomas and St. Maarten, two of our original stops, and the going was a bit bumpy until the "powers that be" gave permission to visit alternative islands.
Bumpy, you say? Well, we looked like a bunch of drunks hugging walls to get where we needed to go without falling down. Would you believe choreographed drunks (as we did everything in unison)? or how about Synchronized Lurching - perhaps a new Olympic sport.
Fortunately the "bumpiness" only lasted about 3 hours... and most of that time I was sitting down eating dinner, lurching only to get from one end of the ship to the other to watch a show. No, fortunately, I don't get seasick... but there were a lot of people on the ship with little patches behind their ears.
We had already visited Princess Cays - the Princess Cruise Line's private island at the tip of Eleuthera - and had passed Grand Turk before we turned back. Grand Turk was to have been our last island stop. Instead it because our second stop. Small, clean, nice shops though damage was still visible from Ike. Not enough time there for a tour but I'd go back to do that.
A full day in Jamaica was next. We had not scheduled a tour there but if I ever have to go back (note that it would not be by choice, but perhaps by hurricane avoidance) I would definitely schedule a tour. Better that than trying to run the line of hawkers outside the very small port area. The razor wire should have been a dead give-away.
We did walk to the closest shopping area. GREAT prices on hard liquor, but we only bought a very small bottle of rum for Matt. Our liquor cabinet is quite full as we rarely touch it, preferring wine instead. After a Margarita (can't go to Jamaica without having a Margarita) we headed back to the ship. Three hours would have been sufficient, as opposed to our actual stay of seven.
This photo was taken in Jamaica. I have no idea what kind of tree this is but it is certainly unique.
No comments:
Post a Comment