Kent and I flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico (via Las Vegas to Long Beach, CA to Ft. Lauderdale, FL and onto San Juan) A long flight, but worth it. We were taken by bus to the pier where we boarded the Caribbean Princess..... ahhh we are so ready to relax! The islands we visited were all different, the seas were calm and the snorkeling was awesome. We snorkeled at all five ports. We met a lot of nice people, got in a taxi accident (we were okay) found a lost wedding ring for newlyweds and spent the day in a taxi van touring St. Lucia with a Chinese family of eight from Toronto. These are just some of the highlights from our cruise. It was a great week in paradise.......we long to go again! The warm, clear seas of the Caribbean were......... hard to leave behind.
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| Up, up and away over Keys and Islands |
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| Wow, look at those colors! |
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| Islands in the Bahamas |
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| JetBlue TV monitors show the way to San Juan, Puerto Rico |
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| Docked at San Juan, Puerto Rico our departure port |
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| St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands |
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| Secret Harbor . . . our first snorkel reef |
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| Kent getting his snorkel gear ready |
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| Lots of iguanas in St. Thomas |
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| The setting sun as we head for Tortola |
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| A calm morning in Tortola, British Virgin Islands from our balcony |
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| Our ship, the Caribbean Princess at Tortola |
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| Hike into "The Baths National Park" on Virgin Gorda |
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| Strange to see cacti near the sea |
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| Devil's Bay leads the way to the caves at "The Baths" |
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| Two snorkelers at "The Baths" |
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| Granite boulders, grottos and pools make for great snorkeling |
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| On the trail through "The Baths" |
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| Through the caves to the sea |
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| A beautiful sight |
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| This guy was married only 3 days and lost his wedding band in the sea and Kent found it!! Amazing!! |
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| The happy couple! We all had fun telling people about our snorkeling for a wedding band on the ocean floor! |
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| Looking down northeast of "The Baths" |
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| Our stateroom on the ship |
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| Looking towards the balcony |
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| Evening sets in on Tortola |
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| St. John's Harbor at Antigua |
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| Antigua . . . on our way to Byrd Island for snorkeling & kayaking in the mangroves |
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| Blowhole formed by the Atlantic surf |
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| The Atlantic Ocean on one side of Byrd Island |
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| The Caribbean Sea on the other side of Byrd Island |
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| The bay where we snorkeled |
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| Pelicans on Byrd Island |
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| Heading into the mangroves |
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| Aren't you supposed to be paddling?? |
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| Cool sightings in the mangroves |
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| All aboard . . . here we go! |
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| Shipwreck in Mercers Creek Bay |
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| Three cruise ships at St. John's Harbor, Antigua. Ours is the ship in the middle |
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| Heritage Quay Shopping area at the pier |
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| View of St. John's from our balcony room |
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| Leaving Antigua |
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| Early morning at St. Lucia in the West Indies |
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| Caribbean Princess docked in Castries Harbor |
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| Tan, on the left and Philip, our trusty taxi driver on the right |
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| Banana plantation, these bananas are shipped to Great Britain |
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| Funny signs |
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| Marigot Bay . . . ever see Pirates of the Caribbean? It was filmed here. |
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| I like this one, too! |
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| Interesting . . . ever tried banana ketchup? |
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| Wash day . . . a woman carrying the load on her head |
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| Canaries River |
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| Looking down on Canaries, St. Lucia |
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| Enjoying a tour of St. Lucia |
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| The town of Soufriere and Soufriere Bay sit below the Pitons |
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| The Pitons rise 2,413 and 2,600 ft. out of the Caribbean Sea. Colorful buildings in Soufriere |
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| Driving the streets to the Pitons |
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| Sulfur Springs . . . known as the "drive-in volcano" |
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| A spring blends into the hot spring pools |
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| Tourists enjoying a mud bath . . . we did not try this!! |
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| Next step . . . get the mud off and apply ash |
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| Insane roads and crazy drivers |
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| Yes, that is a propane tank . . . followed by a headache! |
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| We stopped at the eatery to order food to go for our new Chinese friends |
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| The beach |
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| A small arch in the cliffs near where we snorkeled |
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| Soufriere Bay, where Kent and I enjoyed snorkeling along the cliffs while our friends ate their lunch |
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| Daisy, Sidney, Tan and Kent with our taxi van on the beach |
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| Our ride . . . zoom, zoom!! |
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| Hurricane damage from November 2010. It wiped out an entire hillside community, many of the bodies have yet to be found |
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| Kent and our new family from Toronto in the taxi van |
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| Philip, our courageous driver |
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| This is why you don't drive a car here . . . you hire a taxi!! |
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| An arch near Anse la Raye |
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| Looks like a ladies shoe |
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| On our way back to Castries, the Capital . . . notice the modern road . . . a welcome sight! |
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| Kent reflecting our our day at St. Lucia as evening sets in |
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| The end of another great day! |
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| Pretty flowers along our walk into the heart of Bridgetown, Barbados |
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| A nice walk along the boardwalk |
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| Fruits and veggies are abundant here |
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| Quite a variety of produce |
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| Heading back to the ship |
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| On our way to snorkel with sea turtles and sunken shipwrecks . . . pretty cool!! |
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| Snorkelers |
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| Fancy resorts . . . big bucks . . . $1,500 to $2,500 per night |
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| Just another day in paradise . . . |
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| The water averaged 82.4 degrees! It's so clear, just look at that color!! Ahhh |
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| Sun setting on Barbados |
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| Bye, bye San Juan, Puerto Rico. So long . . . |
