Wednesday November 30, 2016 – St Kitts

 

 We arrived at the port of St Kitts along side a Celebrity Cruise ship that docked just shortly before us. The sky was clear and the temperature well into the 20’s, quite a change from yesterday.

We had an excursion planned which involved a van ride along the Caribbean side of the island up to a former sugar plantation – now a Batik factory – and then back.  Our driver – Gabriel – was a delightful and careful driver and guide.  Throughout our ride we were informed about the history and current political and economic situation of St Kitts.  It was originally a very important exporter of sugar with its many sugar plantations that used slaves for labour up until 1834 when Slavery was abolished.  Over the last number of years sugar has become less profitable hence many plantations have been converted to various tourist attractions.

This island is part of the Commonwealth having been a possession of Britain until independence.  It now has its own parliament including a prime minister and three parties.  Their new prime minister took office just a year ago after the former prime minister had been in power for 20 years. 

We learned about their medical system (all covered) and their school system.  Most education up to University level is free and each school has its own uniform.  There are several University sites, the one most discussed is the Veterinarian College.  The tuition is $8000 per year and can be financed with government loans.  They have a number of students who come here from the US for the first 4 years of their training, then return to the US for their final year.  

When we arrived at the Batik Factory, Gabriel pointe out a tree that is 400 years old and was planted to provide shade for the slaves.  It is still very much alive and is a beautiful tree – occupying ¼ of an acre. The Batik factory provided a demonstration of the craft and an amazing display of products including art works, clothing and small practical items such as head bands.  They also served a wicked Rum Punch.

Upon our return Harry made a quick escape out of the heat and back to the ship while Barb spent about an hour checking out the shops and making minimal purchases. She also took the time to use some of the free Wi-Fi to post to Facebook and answer a few emails from Naramata.  After lunch we retreated to the Lido deck to relax and for Barb to do some petit point.  The ship left St. Kitts promptly at 4:30.

We headed up for supper earlier than yesterday and were seated at a table for 8– of which we were the last to arrive.  We had delightful conversations with two American couples and a Canadian couple from Ottawa. After supper was another presentation by the Koningsdam Musicians to the BBC Frozen presentation of amazing pictures. Then off to the Billboard Lounge for a Coming to America presentation by Emily and Jonathan. 

Monday November 28, 2016 – Bridgetown, Barbados

We backed into this rather industrial looking port at 7 this morning, sharing with a large yacht – note the helicopter, sail boat and speed boats on board- and a Celebrity Cruise.

We were booked on a ‘Beach Break’ excursion so we headed out at 8:15 to catch our tour at 8:30. We were really happy that we had left that early as it was quite a walk down the dock, through the terminal building and out to the meeting place for our bus.  We drove through town during morning rush hour with very interesting traffic and a narrow main street.  Our driver did a great job, using the horn frequently to warn pedestrians and other vehicles to stay out of his way.  He was very pleasant to us as passengers.

The beach – as you can see – is magnificent.  Our time on the beach included a lounge chair and shared umbrella.  There was a lovely breeze which helped to cool us off, or we could enjoy the beautiful clear water. 

At noon we returned to the ship in time for a shower to get rid of the salt water and white sand.  Time to relax this afternoon – though I did try going back to the terminal to upload a Facebook post, but the free Wi-Fi was so slow so I decided to return to the ship and posted using the rather expensive but more reliable Wi-Fi. 

After supper we enjoyed the show at the World Stage – called A Thousand Steps featuring the Koningsdam Singers & Dancers. An absolutely fabulous performance!  Then on to our favorite billboard with Emily and Jonathan performing a number of country numbers.  Another really enjoyable show.

Tuesday November 29, 2016 – Fort-De-France, Martinique

We awoke this morning to very cloudy skies as we made our way into the port at Fort-De-France.  We had an excursion booked – Panoramic Martinique – so after breakfast we headed down to the end of the pier – not a short journey – to meet with our tour.  The only problem – it was raining very heavily!

But we managed to make it down to the bus without getting too wet – thanks to a large umbrella provided by the ship.  After loading on the bus we spend the next three hours touring this beautiful island which is still part of France.  French and French Creole are the primary languages and the industries include rum production (one of the distilleries was named number 1 in the world last year) and tourism.  They also have some sugar plantations though these are greatly reduced since the end of slavery over 100 years ago.

On our tour we made one stop at an old cathedral dating back over 100 years, then toured around the former capital St Pierre that was destroyed by the volcano eruption well over 100 years ago.  The road we took to get to St Pierre was very windy and twisty – so much so that the bus driver had to honk his horn at every twist to warn drivers coming from the other direction.   The capital was moved to Port-De-France after the volcano and the town was rebuilt, but there are less than 30,000 residents today.  Many of the now present buildings were built using the remnants of buildings destroyed by the volcano.  All but one member of the community was killed, and the only survivor was a man who was in jail for drunk and disorderly conduct.  The jail saved him.

We made our way back to the ship on the Caribbean side of the island where the road was much less windy and although it wasn’t much faster, the entire ride was smoother and the scenery just as spectacular. 

Back on our ship we went up to the Lido deck where we enjoyed watching the on-shore activity and a beer until it was time for the ship to leave port.  We headed back to the room to get dressed for dinner and then headed down hoping to share a table with someone.  We didn’t arrive until after six, so unfortunately, despite being put at a table for 8 no one came around to share, so we enjoyed each other’s company on a large table.  Our waiter was quite cute – and obviously felt badly as he spent extra time making conversation with us.

The show this evening was a mime illusionist – very talented and lots of fun.  After we went to our favorite venue to hear Emily and Jonathan’s renditions of a number of famous artists including Elton John and Carole King.  A great evening!