Monday, 25 January, 2016 – Sea Day

Monday, 25 January, 2016 – Sea Day

After St Lucia we had a relaxing sea day.  Watch the video to see the ship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPanBCM77KE

MS Veendam in Juneau, Alaska, United States
History
Name:	MS Veendam
Namesake:	Veendam
Owner:	Carnival Corporation & plc
Operator:	Holland America Line
Port of registry:	Netherlands
Route:	Canada/New England and Bermuda. South America in winter months
Builder:	Fincantieri
In service:	1996
Refit:	2012
Homeport:	Boston
Status:	in active service, as of 2016
Notes:	The current captain is Eric Van Der Wal
General characteristics
Class & type:	Statendam-class cruise ship
Tonnage:	57,092 GT [1]
Length:	719 ft (219 m)
Beam:	101 ft (31 m)
Decks:	13
Installed power:	2 × 12-cycle 8640 kW, 3 × 8-cycle 5760 kW diesel generators
Speed:	20.9 knots (38.7 km/h; 24.1 mph)
Capacity:	1350 passengers
Crew:	568

Sunday, 24 January, 2016 – St Lucia

Sunday, 24 January, 2016 – St Lucia

We docked in the capital of Castries. We booked a seven hour tour that took us from Castries on the north-west of the island thru the rain forest to the east coast. St Lucia is a volcanic island and to quote our tour guide “Ricardo” we don't tunnel through the mountains we go over them.

The road was an ever-ending series of switchbacks with beautiful vistas over the ocean and the rainforest. We had several stops along the way at gift shops and scenic lookouts. We saw bananas, mangoes, bread fruit, tomatoes, limes and oranges. At the southern part of the island we stopped at Vieux Fort and then at Laborie where a local beach barbeque was in progress – it looked like fun but we were not invited! From there we visited the Balenbouche Estate http://www.balenbouche.com/ where we had a very interesting tour of the homestead.

From there we proceeded to the Morne Coubaril Estate where we had a typical Caribbean buffet for lunch. It is an estate granted by Louis X1V in 1713 and is still a working farm producing cocoa, coconuts and manioc (cassaba). We were given tastes of coconut, fresh coconut, coconut candy, coconut beans, coconut water and chocolate.

From there we proceeded to the Soufriere drive-in volcano. It constantly spews Sulphur Dioxide and was cordoned off after a local geology professor fell through 30 years ago. Luckily, he was well respected and his students pulled him out. Unfortunately he suffered 2^nd degree burns from his waist down.  

 

Saturday, 23 January, 2016 – Antigua

Saturday, 23 January, 2016 – Antigua

We docked in St John's (just like NL except for the temperature) where we took a ship's tour of the island booked. Upon disembarking, we were greeted by a steel band. The best we have heard anywhere. We got an overview of the island including th e remains of two British Forts perched as always on the highest land with a spectacular view. Little did they know in their day that they were not only defending the Empire, but providing future tourist attractions! For us the highlight was Nelson's dockyard, the world's only Georgian era dockyard still in service, established in 1704. Today, the dockyard is a haven for private yachts rather than the Royal Navy! The dockyard has many of the original buildings which have been well maintained as well as a dockyard museum. The tour gave us a great overview of the island with a very interesting and well informed guide (hi Carolyn). She said that when the British came, they brought stone (which was used in construction) and took the Rum, the sugar, the molasses and the cotton. Now, the Rum, the sugar, the molasses and the cotton are gone, but the stone remains. Indeed, as we drove around we saw many buildings, including Churches and houses built of the stone.

Did you know that Antigua has 365 beaches – one for every day of the year! We forgot to ask, but I guess that Monday, 29^th February will be beach-less!