Bruce and Debbie's Travels & Adventures: April 2019

Saturday, April 6, 2019

No rest for the weary. Bright and early we are off to Baltimore to board the Grandeur of the Seas for a 12-night cruise of the Southern Caribbean with the Retired Members Club of the IBEW Local 26.

We were at sea for the first three days. So relaxing and we are with a great group of folks.

At the port waiting to get underway.

Had our doubts that we would fit under the Bay Bridge. Of course, we did.

Our first stop was Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands. We were so lucky there because a good friend of ours and Erich's lives there now. Once she knew we were coming there was no shore excursion for us. We had a personal guide. Erin's husband, Tony met us bright and early at the port and we had a fantastic day or touring, drinking and friendship.

Our first stop was the Estate Mt. Washington. This was a Danish Cotton & Sugar Plantation, circa 1750.

Our next stop was at the Cruzan Rum Distillery. We had a great tour of the distillery and afterward sampled several flavors of rum and had Pina Coladas. Best Pina Coladas I ever had. We bought several bottles of rum to take home. Touring with Tony was really fun. He is really a great guy and very proud of his home. He is also known by so many people it was really fun to be with a local.

On to our next stop. Mt. Pellier Domino Club. Here we got to serve the pigs a beer. It was so cool.

You buy a nonalcoholic beer and then visit the pigs. They are waiting for their beer as soon as you get there. Just place the can in their mouth and they open the can and down the beer. When done they throw the can down and are ready for another.

We went back into the bar to sample some MamaWanna. Tony was getting some to take back to North Carolina for a visit they were making next week. We learned that the owner, Norma, makes this homemade elixir of rum, honey, and herbs. Bruce drank his down like a shot and the gal behind the counter said no, no you have to enjoy it...so she gave him another which he then took a little time to drink. It was strong but very good.

Off we go to a seaside bar called Off the Wall. This is a beautiful site overlooking Cane Bay. We stopped here to experience a Painkiller. I wish I was able to keep up with the drinks but by now (beer, rum tasting, Pina Coladas, Mama Wana.) I was showing weakness. Boohoo. I had to just taste Bruces, but it was sure good. When we arrived, Tony was greeted by patrons there and they bought our drinks. Such fun.

After Off the Wall we drove around the island to the other side. We were going to eventually meet up with Erin for a little while. She was at work but was able to get away for a bit.

Folks reserving campsites for the Easter Holiday coming up.

Stopped here to pick up Erin and see if we could get a cell signal for the last time before leaving the US.

Point Udall, easternmost point (by travel) of the United States.

Erin and Tony

Stopped in at Captain Morgan, but by now we were running out of time and didn't want to wait for a tour and we still had an important place to stop. We were told we could have a tasting but when we tried to enter the tasting room the guide in there was rather nasty and we just left.

Our next stop was the Leatherback Brewing Company. As usual, the owner knew Tony and treated us like old friends. We had a flight here and then back to the ship.

Thank you, Tony, for the most excellent tour of Saint Croix. It was so nice to meet you. Thank you, Erin, for sharing Tony. What a great day we had.

Our next port of call was Antigua where we booked an excursion to swim with the stingrays. After a bus ride/tour, we arrived at Stingray City where we were assigned to a boat and got our snorkeling equipment. Even though we anticipated this trip and got waterproof cases for our phones so we could take pictures, that part was a fail. But, getting into the water with these beautiful creatures was really a highlight. They, of course, are really used to people and were quite tame. It didn't hurt that you get to feed them. This was a truly remarkable excursion. Snorkeling, unfortunately, was not a success for me but you didn't really need to snorkel to experience the rays.

This cruise was very busy from Wednesday, 4/10 through Sunday, 4/14. All our excursions were during this time. The three days before and three days after were causing and that was when we were able to relax. But now we are on Friday, 4/12, and docked at St. Lucia. Here we did a bus tour to the La Soufriere Drive-in Volcano. On our way to the volcano, we drove along some very steep and winding roads. We stopped in a village at a market and then on to the Volcano. this volcano is a collapsed caldera. You can see the steam rising from many areas. We had a tour of the area and learned about the surrounding vegetation etc.

We continued on to the West side of the island where we could see the Pitons. These are twin volcano spires named Petit Piton and Gros Piton. unfortunately, it started raining so we were now looking through wet windows. and fog.

We stopped at the Beacon Restaurant for a drink and then we went across the street to Maranatha Prayer Gardens. Even though it was raining this was a pleasant stop. Maranatha means "Lord come" or Come Lord." It was very peaceful and beautiful. We would have spent more time here if it hadn't been raining, but we still had a nice tour.

Saturday was a day we were really looking forward to. We were going to zip line through the jungle. It did not disappoint. We started out getting our instructions and our safety harness. Then we did a test run on a small segment of a zip line. Next, we received our trolleys, which we needed to carry to each starting point. This is the mechanism that attached to our harness and the zip line.

To get to the top of the course we had to ride up in a pickup truck. Bruce and I and another couple rode in the back of the truck while the others in the group rode inside the truck. We were a small group so the pick-up was the way to go. This was the steepest, roughest road, and riding in the back of the truck was an adventure all by itself.

Our guides.

We tried to get more pictures, but we were having too much fun riding the lines. We love zip lines.

Our last day in the Caribbean. We were in St. Maarten but we decided not to do an excursion. We just walked around the port area, visited the shops, had a drink at an outdoor bar, and returned to the ship. The most exciting thing was on our way back. It was a very windy day. When cruising you must have your sea pass with you to get back aboard. I was wearing mine around my neck as we all do. I just added my drivers' license, a credit card, and $60 to the holder and didn't have a purse. We were on the dock heading back to board the ship and a gust of wind blew my pass holder up and everything went airborne. The plastic just fell to the deck, but my cash danced around and promptly danced into the water. It was quite entertaining for anyone around watching the two of us try to recover everything and then watch my $60 go floating away. As the story traveled through the evening, it was like a fishing story. My $60 kept getting bigger and bigger with each telling. I was sorry I lost $60 but it was a good laugh and a good story.

Site of the dancing $60.

On our way back to Baltimore, we spent days in the Solarium swimming, gambling in the Casino, eating great meals, and spending time with our friends. It became a regular thing to meet in the casino bar each morning where Mimosas were the "special". Our little group, me, Amy, Cam, and Dick became a regular group. Three chicks and a Dick. What a fun way to start each day. Richard, our fearless leader, arranged a cocktail party for our group. We even had our monthly Retired Members meeting on board.