S. Lucia

Ruggedly beautiful and lushly tropical, St. Lucia has average temperate of 85, is 14 miles wide, 27 long with a population of 165,000. It is the 2^nd largest of the Lesser Antilles’ Windward Islands. It was originally occupied by the ferocious Carib Indians and changed hands 14 times before becoming a British Crown Colony by the Treaty of Paris in 1814 and gained full independence in 1979. The French influences have remained with the Creole culture and many speak a French patois.
We docked in Castries, the capital, which is actually a harbour within the flooded crater of an extinct volcano. The morning market is active selling papayas, breadfruit, cloves, bananas and local fishing boats selling their fresh catches.
We toured the island with our guide Candy, who was born and raised here, has never been off the island, and is a direct descendant of the ferocious Carib Indians who were cannibals. TJ, our driver, was raised in a family of 16 children, had breadfruit and coconuts as their main food, went to school barefoot with dishes of food for lunch wrapped in cloth on their head. Coconut is known as the ‘gift of life’. They used it as food and drink, filled their pillows and mattresses with the husks which he said became hard as concrete with time and used the shells as bowls, etc. The French influence remains here with the Creole culture and many people speaking patois or Papiamento. His parents only speak this to this day. He drove like a mad fool, on the left side of the road and Ron kept flinching on corners on the cliff side of the hills. We went to Bradshaw’s Silkscreen Studio where we saw how this was done and then off to a wood carving studio. Beautiful craftsmanship. We had a tour of La Toc Battery where you see Ron in colonial dress. It was restored by Mrs. Bradshaw, an avid diver, who gathered thousands of glass bottles and artifacts from the bottom of the harbour, now here on display, depicting life in the early 1800’s when her ancestors lived. Next we drove down to a small fishing village, Anise de Raye with colorful houses and charming children. This little girl, probably 4 years old, was so charming and literally grabbed my $1 US which I had to pay her to use the washroom, but I couldn't get her to stop posing.We had a delightful day and I think this is my favorite so far although every island is fascinating.

St. Maarten

Dutch Sint Maarten, 16 sq.miles and French Saint Martin, 21 sq. miles.

Today we toured an island of contrasts – the smallest land mass in the world shared by 2 sovereign states, with 2 languages, laws and systems. We docked at Phillipsburg in St. Maarten where shopping is on Front Street and Back Street with many duty free shops and it feels like you’re in a Dutch village. It had 140 years of the Spanish, Dutch and French fighting for possession until it was settled in 1648. The establishment of the sugarcane plantations during the late 1700’s inevitably brought with it slavery. The exploitive colonial system prospered until slavery was abolished in 1863 and 1848. In 1939, import and export taxes were rescinded and the island became a free port.
We drove over to St. Marigot, the French capital which looks like a charming village in Provance transplanted to the Caribbean with flower filled arcades, boutiques and pastel colored houses. It is delightfully Gallic with no border, just a line on the road, where you see baguette laden locals on bicycles passing the khaki clad gendarme. This saleswoman is, I presume, a Rastafarian and has very long hair in dreadlocks, right past her knees.
As it was Sunday, we saw people entering the Church and many of black African women descendents wore head turbans.

Tortolla, B.V. I.

This island is part of the 60+ British Virgin Islands totally over 60 square miles; annexed by the British in 1672, it became a separate colony in 1956. Most of the islands are mere rocks, coral or volcanic atolls. The early history started with the arrival of Amerindians, the Cibony Tribe from Venezuela, then the Taino Arawak, who were annihilated by the Caribs, the bloodthirsty cannibal group whom the Caribbean was named for, in the 1300’s. Christopher Columbus discovered Tortolla in 1493. The usual Caribbean struggle of takeovers by Spain and the Netherlands ensued, but it was the English who settled in 1621 although plagued by pirates including Blackbeard. It was the home of many infamous pirates who were displaced in the 1700’s when the English made the islands prosper with sugar, cotton, indigo, and rum. The freeing of the slaves in 1834, finished the plantation lifestyle.

We toured the island, named for turtle doves, hers one in the tree, which are more numerous apparently than the 1700 inhabitants. It is only 11 miles long and 3 wide. It is all hills, pushed up from the ocean floor by volcanoes long ago. We went up and down, past the generator plant and desalinization plant. Today, tourism and offshore banking centers are the basis of their economy.

We saw Rastafarians, members of a religion that encourages long hair and there were many with ingenious hair styles. We stopped at a little beach where they have huge 'Moon Parties' every full moon and it sounds like it's all rum and dancing. Most interesting was the painted wall. There are about 25 murals, depicting the island history from plantation life, slaves, and families to activities today, and of course the turtle doves in the trees.

Welcome Aboard Celebrity’s Galaxy

After our breakfast up on the roof, overlooking the city and water, we sat in the sun on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean in front of the Marriott this morning. Surf was up and you had to look out for an undertow they said. We cabbed to our ship at 2 and were efficiently settled into our spacious compact stateroom in 24 minutes much to our surprise. We explored the ship which has 14 floors and numerous activities. We enjoyed a great dinner and after, were instructed in the lifeboat drill, complete with our life jackets. We sailed at 10 p.m.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The island of San Juan (St. John the Baptist) was discovered on Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the New World in 1493 after he’d sailed around the world, proving it was round, not flat. He named it Puerto Rico (rich port). It was the central hub for export of New World riches and a magnet for privateers and pirates seeking their fortune. It came under American rule following the Spanish-American war in 1917, thus known as the 51^st state. The island is 110 miles wide, 25 miles deep with 3.7 million people and average temperature of 82. This is the oldest city in the Americas.

We woke to beautiful sunshine with a light trade wind, and enjoyed the generous continental breakfast up on the roof of our Hotel El Portola, overlooking the city and water. We walked to a bus stop (35 cents for seniors) and met Gini and Gerry from La Quinta, CA. We went to Old San Juan, known as the ‘walled city’ because of its massive circling 20’ stone walls anchored by 2 huge forts. We rode on the free trolley past 16^th century restored buildings, 200 year-old houses with balconies overlooking narrow cobblestone streets. Cars had to park half on the sidewalks, pigeons, people and domino tables were crowded together, all within a small seven block square neighbourhood. The cobblestones are blue, originally used by the Spanish as ballast for their ships.

The city was an outpost for the British, Sir Francis Drake among others. Here we are in front of the graveyard with very large, decorative gravestones honoring the dead, in front of the fort. Gerry is taking a picture of Ron trying to lift a cannonball which were used to defend the fort. We passed the home of Ponce de Leon continuously occupied 250 years, now a museum of early Colonial life. San Juan was designated a World Heritage Site in 1973.

Puerto Rican delights are coffee, cigars and rum, which is distilled from fermented molasses, a sugar cane by-product. It is aged in white oak barrels, either charred to give color or clear for white rum. The Bacardi Rum Distillery, the largest in the world is here. The rum is aged 8 years in charred barrels with hints of vanilla, toffee, honey, caramel and bittersweet chocolate, making it reminiscent of an aged cognac, they say.

Off to San Juan, Puerto Rico

We haven’t flown since 1989 so we found security very different. Ron was x-rayed and patted down, then finally had to remove his belt to get through. We sat out in the sunshine waiting for our flight by 2 painted Big Horn Sheep, a charity benefit, like the Orcas and Spirit Bears that B.C. did in the past.
We flew straight east over CA and AZ, a long stretch of desolate brown sand, finally seeing some black rocky hills. Next came
N Mex, Colorado and Kansas. We saw hundreds of perfectly symmetrical large circles, colored planted fields of geometric patterns, sunset beyond the clouds, then snow in Illinois. If you double click on the picture, it enlarges and you can see the circles better. We landed at Chicago, O’Hare beside Lake Michigan, nearly in Canada. We had a 1 hour layover to grab a sandwich, as nothing is served on planes anymore. Next was a 4 hour flight over the states and the Atlantic Ocean. Approaching Puerto Rico at 11:30 p.m., we saw orange street lights, green runway lights, plus white ones from the houses, making it sparkle like the jewel of the Caribbean they say it is. We cabbed to our hotel and were thankful for such an easy travel day.

Friends from home

Gayle and Don arrived today from home. She used to do all the mortgages for my clients and we golfed once a week. I'd tell my clients I was out showing acreage and she'd say she was in a seminar. We were very fast golfers, didn't even keep score, just had fun and got back to work quickly.
We celebrated Easter Monday with Debbie and Peter at Joan and Barry's with a delicious ham done on the Ronco. Sure had fun.
This is the first time we've got together with Gayle and Don down here. We enjoyed coffee outside this morning and they're off to Phoenix. Tomorrow we're off to San Juan, Puerto Rico and for our 11 night Caribbean Cruise. After all my paperwork and planning I can't wait to relax and be waited on.