For once we don't have to fly far since our Oceania ship named the Regatta leaves from and returns to Miami. Our first several days are at sea days. Lots of time to laze around, eat too much, be entertained and exercise just a little. Richard and Linda whom we met on the Bangkok to Dubai trip are on board and we have enjoyed reconnecting with them--especially for meals on the open back deck. The weather has been uncooperative. 20-30 foot swells the first day, down to 8-15 the next and today after our trip into St Bart's, a thunderstorm. Good thing Nancy has Dramamine.
The small island of St Bart's was discovered in 1493 by one Christopher Columbus. He was baptized here. The natives of a nearby island moved in 1648 but left in 1651. It took until 1763, when the French came for people to stay. They used it as a base for their Buccaneers to beat up on the Spanish galleons. The French sold it to the Swedes in 1784 and it was used as a center of trade. France bought it back in 1878--it was free port then and continues to be one today. Today it is a playground for the rich and the famous.
Anchoring outside of the port necessitates taking a tender in to shore. We did so this morning and walked along Main Street and back along the pier for a while before meeting our group for a yellow submarine ride. Main Street on this island sports shops like Hermes, Bulgari, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. A few one bedroom apts were for sale at 2.5 million euros....On our sub we went out to the reef and a shipwreck to see fish and sea turtles. Who knew that a sub could rock and roll under the water. The reality was that our sub did not submerge but sat on the surface with us seated below looking out windows.
We have been on four ships of this design--three with Oceania and one with Azamara when we went to Indonesia. This makes settling in easy and we don't get lost. The ship is 592 feet long and was built in France. It has eleven decks of which nine are passenger decks. 684 passengers and 400 staff members. We have a favorite staff member, Jennifer Faust is the Oceania Club Ambassador--future trips guru. No wonder we like her. We have been on three trips when she has been working so figure we can no longer go anywhere unless she is on board. It is nice to see a familiar face and she is always up for a chat and a story or two.1-2 meter seas tonight so a calmer night ride to the next port. You won't believe this, for our day in Castries, St Lucia we canceled our tour in order to shop!!!!! St Lucia is the shopping capital of the Caribbean. Good thing we did, it rained heavily, poured, most of the day and in the end, several tours were canceled anyway. St Lucia is one of the Windward islands of the Lesser Antilles. It is 27 miles long and 14 miles wide shaped like a mango. The Atlantic touches it's eastern shore and on the west is the Caribbean Sea. It has twin coastal peaks, the Pitons that are 2,000 feet high and rain forests and all the lush vegetation that goes with it. Arawak Indians settled the island in 200 AD. In the 1500's the Europeans settled here led by a famous buccaneer known as Wooden Leg. The Dutch arrived in the 1600's and the French arrived after. In the early 1800's after a series of battles the island became a British colony and stayed that way to 1979 when it became independent.
We ventured off ship to catch the water taxi to the other side of the harbor. It never showed, but we found a small boat willing to ferry us across and pick us up later. Did we say it was raining. We arrived wet and then walked through ankle high water along the path to the shops. We managed to spend money and dry off a bit in the process. Back we went to spend the afternoon on the ship, back through the puddles, now formed into lakes and onto our small boat. After drying out, we did what you always do on cruises, eat, drink, sleep and eat again. The bad news of the day was the thunderstorm. We were on ship so we were safe, but a bolt hit the ship and our computer got zapped......C'est la vie.
We sailed all night to Scarborough Tobago and a morning surprise of sun! It is hot and humid here but we went off ship for a short walk early in the morning. Back on board it was time water aerobics which hard when you can't touch bottom. We had fun, then sat in the hot tub and alongside deck to dry off. Tobago is the "resort island" of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad is the business center for the oil and gas industry that flourishes here. We watched the ferry leave for Trinidad as that is what connects the two islands. Sue had a office here so has visited in the past though not in the capital of Scarborough. We are not far off the coast of Venezuela. Because of the location the biological diversity is more like Venezuela then the Caribbean islands.
We set sail at 4:00 for two sea days on the way to the Amazon. Just so you know, we read the weather back home and are glad to be were it is 88, even with rain, rather than anticipating the first snow of 8-10 inches. Activities for the next few days will be: eating, sleeping, playing cribbage, swimming, eating, going to shows and eating. Will not blog again till we have reports from the Amazon.
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