Home!!!

We are finally home! Our 2 cats were very happy to see us. I think our house sitter was happy to be able to go home too. We had a week to unpack the few suitcases we brought home with us. Fed Ex arrived exactly one week after our arrival. The driver came to our house first that day because he couldn't get to any of his other packages in the truck with all of our items in there. He filled our entryway with the 23 suitcases. The 5 boxes went into Mel's office by the front door. I slowly but surely emptied everything. All of our purchases I piled in the livingroom so we could go thru them and figure out who gets what and what is being saved for birthdays or Christmas. Mel is looking thru the pile, it's quite large! The patchwork pieces I bought in Cochin are hanging over the back of the sofa. They are made with the embroidered portion of antique saris, all the threads are silver or gold. Quite amazing. Just one of the great and unique items we brought home with us.

I'm happy to be home.....most of the time. It was such a great experience, I'm really glad we were able to do it. Not sure we'll do it again but we did sign up for part of the World Cruise 2011. We'll see what's going on at home at that time before deciding for sure to go. Everyone asks what our favorite port was. With such a huge variety, it's hard to pick just one. I would definitely go back to the Seychelles......if they weren't so far away! Africa was wonderful, but again, WAY too much time in the air to get there. New Caledonia would be a nice place to visit again. Ile des Pins was gorgeous. So many of these places I'd never heard of before. Now the world seems like a much smaller place.

Thanks for following us around the world!

Disembarkation

We had asked a number of crew what the proceedures are for disembarking. We have a total of 28 bags/boxes to ship, an additional 4 that we will take with us on the plane. I certainly didn't want to have to open them all for customs! No one could tell us what will happen for sure. On a prior cruise, packages being shipped via Fed Ex were picked up at the cabin door and never seen again until they were on their doorstep. Wouldn't that be nice!

We received a notice that Customs would be available starting at 6:30 on the day we reach Ft Lauderdale. Mel took our receipts with him to declare our purchases. The 2 largest ones were bought onboard, so would be reported to Customs by HAL. There would be no duty since both items would be shipped to me in the USA. I had written out items we bought, itemized by port, with approximate costs. Guess Customs were impressed by my organization. Our total bill was $7.42....they waived it. Nice.

I handed my cruise card to security to be scanned for the last time as we left the ship. There was a loud alarm when they scanned it! Customs officials were standing there to check our declaration form to verify that we had seen them on board earlier. Guess they tag anyone who buys a lot from the ship's stores. Glad we had declared everything!

Once on the pier we had to identify our 29 items (we hand carried 3) for a porter. They filled a VERY large cart. We went right thru customs, out the door. A Fed Ex truck was waiting for the items being shipped. We then entered our limo to the airport. The cruise is over. :(

The plane flew directly over the ship as we were taking off. It was weird thinking that the ship would continue on without us, with everyone doing their jobs as usual. After 4 1/2 months, it had become home. I will definitely miss it!

Chita Rivera

We were very surprised to find out that Chita Rivera, who has won 2 Tony awards, would be our entertainment on our last formal night of the cruise. She gave an excellent performance. Really a special treat to see her in person. Someone onboard who had a career on Broadway told us he'd met her years ago and she must be in her late 80's. According to her talking about her life, she would be about 84. Wonder if she stretched the age somewhere. She played Anita in the original version of West Side Story 50 years ago this year. Wonderful.

As for my blog, sorry I've been so lax in adding our ports to it. The last week has gone by so quickly. We are in the final stages of packing about 28 boxes and suitcases. I think we'll be ready to disembark tomorrow! When we get home, I promise to write about our last 4 ports. We went out with a bang with St Bart's, what a beautiful island. I also plan to get pictures online so those interested can take a look. That might take a while to do. Please email me if you want the address for the pics once they are done. kchew3 on aol.com

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Gustavia, St. Barts

St Barts is an overseas collectivity of France. The collectivity is one of the four territories among the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean that comprise the French West Indies. One of the most chic, civilized and least known parts of France, it is known as a perfect playground, with its tiny harbor, red - roofed bungalows dotting the hillsides, a beautiful shoreline with some beautiful coves, many of them culminating in perfect strands of beach. The tourist industry has steadily grown in the last 30 years, but it has still maintained an exclusive and luxurious style. This gem of an island continues to draw an ever-widening circle of fans.

We arrived outside the small harbor on a Sunday, off season. We were tendered to the main pier which runs all the way around the harbor, which was full of various small boats. We tried to find a boat to take us snorkeling, without success. We were then pointed in the direction of the nearest beach called "Shell Beach". The picture shows how appropriately it is named! We walked thru town, passing many designer shops like Louie Vuitton and Chanel. They were all closed!

We found the beach which was beautiful. Lots of fine sand and piles of shells. I'd never seen so many perfect shells in one place like that. We swam toward some rocks to snorkel, but I started getting stung by something, so headed back. Mel didn't feel anything so continued on. I stayed near the sandy part of the cove and dove for shells. It rained for a bit, but we were in the water, so it didn't really matter. It was a great day in the sand and sun.

We headed back to the pier. We did find 2 souvenir shops that had opened while we were at the beach. Turns out the Harbor Master forgot to inform the shop keepers that a ship would be in port. The people on the pier at least called the owners of the small shops that did open. I would have been sad if we couldn't do any shopping in St Barts! I bought a T shirt and a shot glass for Brigitte.

Back at the ship we went on our deck for sail away. I said to Mel that it felt like we'd been there but no one cared. Strange to have the entire town closed. It also turns out that during the season, which is our winter, there are many yachts and large sailboats in the harbor. This time of year they had all returned to Monaco, or whereever they spend their summers. It is a beautiful little island (only 8 sq miles!) and a place I could definitely spend a week or 2. Maybe someday. Nice stop for our last port. Can't believe the voyage is almost over.

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Bridgetown, Barbados

Bridgetown, in southwestern Barbados, is the capital of the island, on Carlisle Bay, in the West Indies. It is the country's chief port and commercial center, with exports of sugar, clothing and electrical parts. Sugar refining, rum production and tourism are also significant industries. The music and dances of Barbados reflect the African heritage. Barbados gained full internal self-government in 1961, and is a member of the United Nations and of the Organization of the American States.

We'd signed up for a HAL excursion, so met in the Ambassador Lounge to wait for the go ahead. They put us on a bus then on a small boat to "swim with the turtles". We passed by many beautiful homes and hotels on the shore. We stopped right in front of some, in about 20 feet of water, to swim. We were not allowed to use our fins, something about kicking others, and were required to wear life vests. After our other snorkel experiences, it was kind of lame. One of the guides went out and put food into the water. Sure enough, soon 2 large sea turtles showed up to eat. Regardless of the method, it is still a thrill to be in the water with those big, beautiful creatures.

We all got back on the boat and headed further down the coast to a beach. To our surprise, we were right next to Sandy Lane Golf Club and Resort where Tiger Woods was married in Oct, 2004. Mel put on his clothes, I wrapped up in a towel and we walked right into the place like be belonged there. I was expecting to be thrown out at any minute, but we went from one shop to another looking for a logo shot glass, magnet, or something. We had to ask several times where the logo gift shop was. Everyone was very helpful and friendly...but we never found it! That place is enormous! We headed back for fear we'd miss our boat. Beautiful resort, maybe a place to visit again in the future. It's closer than the Seychelles!

Once back at the port, we had lunch and changed on the ship then headed into town. It was very hot and quite a walk, so we went slowly. There weren't a lot of tourist shops in town, mainly shops for the locals. We were on a mission to find small locks to put on our luggage that would be shipped home via Fed Ex. We found some for 50¢ each, what a deal. Everyone was very nice and it was crowded. After the heat, it was great to get back to the air conditioning on the ship.

One more port, then we're HOME!

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Port of Spain, Trinidad

Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, is the country's third largest municipality and it located on the Gulf of Paria, on the northwest coast of the island of Trinidad. The city serves as a retail and administrative center as well as a financial services center and is home to two of the largest banks in the Caribbean. As one of the major shipping hubs of the Caribbean, it exports agricultural products and asphalt along with bauxite from the Guyanas and iron ore from Venezuela. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the most pros-perous and stable democratic nations in the Caribbean.

We disembarked at around 9. We saw some friends getting into a van, so asked where they were headed. They invited us to share the van for a tour of the city. We drove by several monuments and city buildings. The Red House is home of the T&T Parliament. We went by the "Magnificent Seven", a row of 7 estate homes, each in a different architectural style. They must have been gorgeous at one time. Now they are boarded up or in bad need of repair. Sad. We drove up a mountain road for a view of the city. Quite a sprawling place. Just below us were many homes with no streets leading to them. We headed back toward the ship and asked to be dropped off in town. The shops were for locals, carrying a lot of inexpensive clothing and such. We did find one tourist shop before returning to the pier.

Earlier, while Mel was at breakfast, he had seen a firehouse from the ship. We went around the block to find it. We asked if we could get a patch for our son-in-law, Randy. The fireman we'd approached took us around to where the staff get their uniforms! They gave us patches and flags from the Port of Spain Fire Dept, nice souvenir. We looked around at the few vendors who had set up on the pier. After the wonderful vendors we'd already seen, there was nothing really special at this market. We were back onboard by 4 pm.

Devil's Island, French Guyana

Devil's Island is in a group of 3 islands which sit 6 miles off the coast of French Guyana. It was used as a French penal colony from 1850 until 1959! It was made famous by a book then the 1973 film entitled "Papillon" starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Because of extreme currents and sharks it was considered a "no escape" prison. Nearly 80,000 prisoners arrived on the island, approximately 30,000 ever left.

Devil's Island has no landings, so we were tendered onto Iles Du Salut, the largest of the 3 islands. It was a beautiful but hot sunny day. We walked up an old road to the top of the island where there is a small hotel. Also in that area were a church and several old buildings, once part of the prison. Behind one of the buildings was an old cemetery. We walked around that to a different part of the road. There were small monkeys in the trees that were looking for handouts. Several people were feeding them even though we were told not to. They were very cute. The road led back up to the hotel, so we walked around that to some old stone stairs down.

Once down at the bottom, we finally found the path that would take us all the way around the island. The water was a beautiful blue and really warm. Too bad we couldn't swim. The path was fairly shaded, the island was very lush with foliage and palms. Our walk around took about 30 minutes, not a very large island. We returned to the ship at around 2, time enough for a swim in the back pool then to get ready for dinner.

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Preparing for Disembarkation i.e. PACKING!

We have SOOOO much to pack! We have been collectiong boxes from various crew members for a couple of weeks already. The best ones are from the florist. They get fresh flowers delivered at almost every port, direct from Holland. The boxes are huge. We have 4 in our room so far. Take up a lot of room.

The first item we packed was Mel's large wooden elephant from Kenya. We'd purchased the pillows in Namibia for that purpose. We cut down 2 florist boxes and fit them together into one large, wide box. I had to sit on it to get it closed securely enough. That's just the start. We will get our suitcases from the hold one by one and start filling them up. Unfortunately there is no place to put them once they are full other than in our cabin. Should be interesting moving around with all of them in here.

Ascension Island

Ascension was first discovered in the early 1500's, but it wasn't until Napoleon was exiled to St Helena that it was populated. Fearing that they might use Ascension as a gathering place to execute an escape, the British established a small naval garrison on the island. In 1942 US Army engineers built an airfield, but after World War II the island reverted back to the sole use of cable and wireless. NASA built a tracking station there in 1965, which has since been closed down. Ascension came to brief international fame during the Falklands war when it served as a staging post for the British forces en route to and from the Falklands. The main export item is postage stamps, first issued in 1922. Tourism was non-existent until recently because of the inaccessibility of the island, however guest cottages and a "nice" hotel have recently opened. Sport fishing is the main attraction for many visitors and the island also has what was once officially the worst golf course in the world. The course has 18 holes and the greens are in fact brown due to the sand and oil mix used to make them. The rest of the course is made up of volcanic ash and rock.

The day before we were to arrive at Ascension, the Capt informed us that at that time, the rolling waves found in the South Atlantic would prevent us from a tender landing. Hopefully it would calm down before our arrival the next day at 8 a.m. We were ready to go at 8 when an announcement came on that we would not be able to go ashore. We were anchored just off the coast so we could see the beautiful beaches and stark volcanic landscape. So close, but we couldn't be on it. We discovered that 2 women from the local post office had come on board to sell stamps and postcards. At least we could mail something out with a postmark from this unusual port. I bought 4 postcards, addressed them and gave them back to the women.

About an hour later, they announced that they would begin tender service, so we went to get our tickets. Then it was announced that tender service would be stopped. The first one tried to land but because of the large waves, one of the ropes snapped and the tender was going up and down next to the short pier about 4 feet. Hard to get off under those conditions. We went out on the bow to take pictures. Better to get something from the port. We saw the Captain get off a tender. He had personally gone ashore to see what the conditions were. They started spraying the salt off that tender, so we assumed they were getting ready to stow them. Next thing we knew, the Capt announced that there would be tender service to the island, but only for the fit. Anyone with any walking issues should not risk it, it was still going to be a rough landing. We would stay in port later than originally scheduled since we couldn't go ashore as early as planned. It was amazing how many people with canes and walkers still got on the tender to go ashore. Guess they just don't want to admit to their limitations.

The pier was very short. Waves were splashing up on the cement where we got off the tender. There was a beautiful beach right there but we'd been told that it was dangerous to swim, so didn't go to it. There were beautiful black fish swimming right there. The water was so clear and blue, they were easily seen. We walked away from the pier, up a slight hill to the main town area. We first went into the small grocery store. They also sold a few souvenirs. Next door was a used clothing store. Several people had found almost new polos with the Ascension logo. Nice to get inexpensive shirts for a change, $1.50. We then went to the gift shop at the small hotel. They had a huge variety of items with Ascension on them, something for everyone. We made our purchases then a woman asked if we would like to share a car with them. We jumped at the opportunity, as what vehicles had been on the pier earlier, were now busy, so we couldn't get them. We didn't realize that the couple had rented a car and would be driving. Small island, guess it would be OK even though it was the first time she'd driven on the left side of the road.

We headed out of town. The landscape was all volcanic rock, very stark with trees growing out of it here and there. We went to a lookout over the airport, then on up to where NASA's tracking station had once been. We backtracked then went thru a small village toward a beach. We passed by the golf course. It was all rock and sand, nothing green in sight. We passed by many antenna's, one after the other. We finally reached a beautiful beach where we'd been told it was a bit safer to swim. Because of the rough seas and strong undercurrents, we'd been told not to get in the water. We had our bathing suits on just in case. On the way to the water I saw a number of craters in the sand. Wondered what those were.....turtle nests! Ascension has a huge population of sea turtles that return year after year to lay their eggs there. The holes were huge. Amazing that turtles could move that amount of sand. The holes were everywhere. Too bad we weren't spending the night so we could see them. I got into the water up to my waist, but the waves were really strong so didn't go in any further. Sad since the water was so warm and crystal clear. We drove back to the hotel, then headed for the pier. The last tender left at 2:30, and we were on it. Too bad we didn't have more time on this unusual island.

The day after our visit to Ascension, a woman came up to us and said that she'd also purchased a postcard from the postal workers....and it was written out to a friend of ours. They sold the postcard that I'd given them to mail!!! Sure hope that was the only one. Not everyone onboard would be honest enough to turn it in since they'd paid for the postcard. Bummer. I wanted the Ascension postmark on my cards. I'm going to mail the one back to them and ask for them to stamp it and return it to me. That should take a couple of months since the mail boat only arrives about every 2 weeks.