Bridgetown, Barbados

Before I could catch my breath, I'm on another shore excursion, the Coast to Coast Tour of Barbados, a bus tour to get highlights of the island. This time the tour guide was much better and gave us a lot of information about the island, culture and life. We went through several parishes on the island and she pointed out how each parish's church was co-located with a rum bar.

We stopped at three places: St. John's Church

Tropical botanical garden with lovely plants and flowers. We got a free glass of rum punch at the gift shop.

The Bathsheba Beach which was very scenic. It got windy and rained while we were driving, but cleared up at each of our stops.

Fort de France, Martinique

At this time, it seemed like I was going from excursion to excursion. Today's port of call was Martinique, it was nice that I booked a bus tour since I was still tired from yesterday's excursion. This was a 3.5 hour panoramic tour of Martinique with just two stops. Fortunately it was not a shopping expedition disguised as a tour although one of the stops had a gift shop. Unfortunately, the tour operator was not very informative, she could have given us a lot more information about the country. I did enjoy the scenery and took lots of pictures.

The ship docking at Fort de France; colorful and very long walkway to the cruise terminal.

Ruins of an old theatre, with a nice view of Mount Pelee

Views of the coast line from the hills

We got back to the cruise terminal with time for me to take a little walk around the streets nearby. Most of the shops were closed, it was interesting to note that McDonald and KFC were nearby.

And then it was time to get back on the ship.

Virgin Gorda Baths, British Virgin Islands

The Grandeur of the Seas' next stop today was the British Virgin Islands. I booked an excursion to the Virgin Gorda Baths for snorkeling and hiking. There was another excursion to the Baths without the snorkeling. I was looking forward to this activity, came prepared with my own mask and snorkel although the excursion operator supplied all equipment. Another STI member had booked the same excursion, and it was nice to have an excursion companion.

We boarded a boat right at the pier in Tortola, it took about 40 minutes to get to the Baths. We were told to snorkel to the beach, then hike to the other side to Devil's Bay while the boat moved there. There would be time for relaxing on the beach or more snorkeling before swimming back to the boat waiting for us. There was also a cafe on the island for those who wished to eat/drink (we were told, "bring cash").

The place was simply beautiful, day was sunny, waters were clear. There were some reef fish and corals, although not very colorful. The highlight was seeing a line of squid swimming one after another next to the ship during my return snorkel. I wish I had an underwater camera! The hike from the beach to the other side of the island was very interesting and somewhat strenuous. We had to climb over rocks, use steps with rope guides, bend down to go under rocks, all while carrying our fins, masks and snorkels. But the views were very rewarding, as can be seen in the photos below.

On the way back, the boat's mates offered punch with or without rum, and the captain played feet tapping disco music. All onboard had a great time! I was exhausted by the time I got back to the ship.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

I signed up for an excursion, Traditions and Flavors of Puerto Plata, which was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning. This was a guided bus/walking tour around the town of Puerto Plata (which means Silver Port in English). The walk from the ship to the meetup point at the Taino Bay cruise port was scenic, we were met by costumed greeters.

The first stop, at the Macorix House of Rum, was interesting for those who drink alchohol. We watched a short video, then walked through a museum to end up at a tasting bar. We got to sample about 7 types of rum, so many of us were in a very good mood by the time we got back on the bus. Some passengers bought bottles of rum at the gift shop.

Next stop was a guided tour of downtown where we were shown the highlights such as interesting buildings, the pink alley, the town church, a vendor selling fresh coconuts. The walking tour ended at a shop where fellow passengers bought bags, clothing and souvenirs.

We then got back on the bus and went to the La Aurora cigar factory. We were shown how tobacco grown locally was processed and made into cigars. A couple of visitors got to try smoking one, one lady got to roll a cigar. There was a gift shop to purchase cigars to take home; I was starting to see a pattern here.

The next stop was lunch (finally! I was so hungry by then). This was at a small family style restaurant, food was served cafeteria style, plain and simple (stewed chicken, plantains, beans and rice, vegetables).

After lunch, we took a short walk around the garden, before getting back on the bus for the final stop, the Del Oro Chocolate Tour. We got a short presentation of how the fine Dominican Republic chocolates are produced (this was not a factory), followed by sampling of the different types of chocolate (they were indeed very good). And, I am sure you guessed by now, the sampling happened next to the gift shop. I was very tempted to buy some, but then reminded myself that I won't be back home until end of January.

The excursion ended with a drive along the coast, so that we were able to get glimpses of the sandy beaches and historic fort.

On the way back to the ship, I was able to capture these beautiful birds on my phone. Then it was time to get back on the waiting ship.