C: Traipsing in the Caribbean

Besides pampering us silly, the cruise offered us a chance to visit new places.  You may remember that I have been on this tour (courtesy of MIL last year!) so I had a bit of confidence in getting around.

V and I loved the idea of traipsing around, looking at new stuff, not bothering about how we looked really (those folks will never see us again, anyway) and just doing girlfriend stuff. 

Our first stop was Grand Turk Isle/Caicos.  Grand Turk is just a little spit of an island.  From the top of the ship you can literally see across it to the other side.  V and I decided right real quick we would not want to live there, beautiful though it is.

The beach on Grand Turk was pristine:

And there was this little shopping area of maybe thirty shops just for us cruisers!  Okay, there were a few purchases made, but the shopping here kind of left us cold…staged, a bit.  We were both more into local arts, crafts, etc., which were not really to be found on Grand Turk.

Next port was our favorite: San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It is rich in history and architectural charm.  Just fascinating…

The streets of Old San Juan are paved with bricks that were once ballast on galleons.  They are a beautiful blue shade (but tiresome to walk on!)

We found the shopping here to be the most satisfying of the trip, although St. Thomas is the port touted for shopping—it’s all about diamonds, though, and we are just not in the market…I did splurge on some Versace perfume at about half the price I would have paid here.

But, my-oh-my, St. Thomas is surely breathtaking.  The harbor was just beautiful.

 

These iguana were everywhere, sunning themselves along the harbor.  In town V and I saw a bright green one but could not get the camera up before he was gone.  This guy was about three feet long.

I kept looking for dead iguana in the road—you know, like we have dead armadillos in the road all the time here?  Never saw one—for all their prevalence, they must be quicker at car-dodging than our armadillos.

The town’s streets are lined with shops—the vast majority of them being jewelry shops with hawkers standing the doorway trying to nab you as you go by.  V and I laughed to think how useless—given our budget—were their efforts at selling us diamonds!

But we enjoyed the day, going down these little alleyways, which are wall-to-wall shops, too.  And, of course, we enjoyed a frothy adult beverage out under palm trees…ahhhhh!

 

Last port was a private island in the Bahamas owned by the cruise line: “Half Moon Cay.”  There is no pier, and you must reach the island by tender boat, which are double-decker sort of things.  The sea was unusually choppy that day, and the Captain warned that a long blast from the ship meant to return early because weather was coming in. 

V and I watched these little boats make their way up-and-down across the water and talked it over.  I had been there last year and knew that it was a gorgeous beach and a few little shops, all picturesquely arranged for us.  The cruise company was going to have a bbq for the passengers.  We quickly decided to stay home…we did not regret it.  I mean, if you’ve seen one tropical island, you’ve seen ‘em all, right?  And you can see how far we would have to have gone.

 

That’s C’s slideshow.  V may get off her duff and post some of her own pictures.  She’s been busy keeping baby grandson while daycare was closed for the snow.  V works for the school system and GOT THE ENTIRE WEEK OFF due to snow!!  Lucky dog.  Me, I had to slog through snow and go to court beginning on Wednesday, but actually it felt pretty good to be back in the saddle.

See ya later!  C