St Thomas USVI

After touring the Bahamas I had been thinking "I wonder what American cities look like to tourists. Are we as dirty and crumbling as I had thought Nassau looked?" 

I remembered a half a dozen apartments that Travis and I had lived in and another hundred at least that we had looked at early in our marriage.  How when they are empty and new to your eyes you see every little flaw, but that when you filled them up with the things from your home and lived in them for a bit, the things that had bothered you, you hardly even registered anymore except for when you had guests over and the niggling doubt crept back in.

But after a day at sea we arrived early morning in the Virgin Islands and from first sight it was magnificent and reminded me why the USA is awesome.  The towns were beautiful, well kept and the cities had the normal energy and enthusiasm of the entrepreneurial spirit of America.  It was the land of sailboats, yachts and luxury vacation homes.

Travis and I had scheduled a two dive snorkeling excursion.  The first was off the one side of Buck Island in Turtle Bay.  We saw tons of fish, turtles, coral and Travis saw and retrieved an earring that had dropped from a previous diver, we assume.  Then we went around to the other side of the island and snorkeled a sunken boat and the coral reefs.  We fed the fish honey dew and the hours flew by.  The tour was amazing.

Then we discussed taking a water taxi over to St. John's to go to the famous Honeymoon Beach visiting more castles (Bluebeard and Blackbeard) or sticking to the beaches of St. Thomas.  Practicality and the need for relaxing won out.  By 1pm we were laying on the beach soaking up the sun and sleeping away the mid-day hours.  Around sunset we made our way back to the boat.

I wish I would have had more time to explore and visit.  This is a place I would like to return to for a week to rent a beach house and see both the history and more of the amazing beaches.

Bahama Mama

Our first stop on our cruise was to the Bahamas.  In my head, I heard the Beach Boys singing songs like "Kokomo" and I pictured pristine beaches, fine white sand, crystal blue waters and the coolest island towns ever.  Well the beaches were great on Paradise Island, but I never made it to any on the main island.  

The water super clear and that was wonderful.  But the images of cool island towns was stolen by the reality of poverty and economic unrest.

We went to New Providence, the biggest island with the capital of Nassau as well as Paradise Island which is home to the Atlantis Resort, which unless you live under a rock you are probably aware of.  Fun fact:  Staying in the suite in the arch is $20,000 a night.

Well that morning as we prepared to debark on the boat, the captain announced a travel alert - which is less than a travel warning but still sort of serious business - had just been issued by the US for the Bahamas.  Nice...instructions for passengers if they still planned on touring the island were to wear no jewelry, carry minimal cash and stick to only tours and service provided by legitimate servicers including Carnival and their partners and to stay in groups.  Why the travel alert?  Well there had been increased attacks on American tourists, mostly robberies, etc....So as we got through port authority we saw the increased military and police presence, not the most bucolic image that I had previously been imagining.

We did see the Queen's Staircase, Fort Fincastle and Fort Charlotte before hitting up the beaches. 

And the stories surrounding the Queen's Staircase are generally a 65 step stairway was cut into limestone by hand by citizens in gratitude for the Queen of England granting freedom to slaves - 1 step for each year of her life. 

 

It was an awesome feat/story.  Even cooler is the vegetation that has learned to live in a 100 foot rock wall - a testament to the fact that all living things find a way to survive.

At the tops are the forts and the stories surrounding the settling, defending and eventual freedom of the Bahamas.  Because of the travel alert I didn't feel as comfortable touring the island as much as I would have normally.

But of the 7x21 mile island, I probably covered 3x7 square miles and what I saw was the deterioration of the city and buildings, some definite hostility towards rich, white Americans, poverty that made me feel both sad and uncomfortable and some crazy scary driving.  But I also saw the capacity for people to work hard, use recycled materials for cool tourist souvenirs and the glowing pride of the moms who were working so hard so that they could send their kids to private schools and have a better life than what they were living.

In the end it was interesting,  I'm glad I got to go but I probably won't ever return.

To Cruise or Not To

When I started sharing the joy of my winter vacation to take a cruise to the eastern Caribbean, many people weighed in with their views of cruising.  They ranged from "love them"  to "I didn't like it at all."  Very few people were in the middle ground.  I found this interesting beforehand, but now that I have gone, I totally know what this is about.

A cruise is a mobile resort sailing through the ocean to several locations.  In theory I thought, "What's not to love?"  Below is my list of pros and cons.  You can make the decision for yourself!!!

Pros:

• Always something to do on board: night club, comedy shows, musicals, gambling, etc...
• You visit many locations (depending how long your cruise is)
• Tons of food, all free, any time of day or night
• Free room service
• Someone cleaning your room for you multiple times a day
• Lots of daily excursions on shore offered (premium prices)
• Spa and gym, pools, mini golf, etc...
• In boat daycare or "Kids Camps"
• Great sleep (due to rocking)

Cons:

• Constant rocking - think movie French Kiss scene where she is on the train shouting "Stop the rocking"
• Weird balance then when you are on land and for days afterwards
• Everyone I know gains tons of weight, myself included
• gaudy and garish
• So many absolutely drunk people 24/7

With all of that being said...for my taste,

I don't know that I like cruising very much.  I will probably go again someday to take the kids/whole family and because my husband seemed to love it, but for me it wasn't a great fit.  Here's why...although I liked seeing so many different places - I never got a feel for any of them in such a short time.  I like to travel and see new places and this was less about that and more about the cruising experience.  Almost everyone on the cruise is in couples.  And although I went with my spouse our ideas of fun vary greatly (his - laying in bed sleeping, relaxing or watching tv and mine - acting ridiculous, burning energy and finding mischief) and so I was next to never with him except for onshore excursions.  Perhaps this is a couple's issue and not a cruise issue.  Note to self to look more into that!  But ship exasperated the issue. 

All the food although abundant was always sub-par and mediocre at best.  Water was at a premium and not readily available since everyone else is pounding liquor like it is the elixir of life.  The ship was awful in terms of taste with a million colors, textures and designs even making my brain overload.  And at the end of the day no matter how huge or how many floors, it is still an enclosed space that made me feel cabin feverish and crazy by day four.  This is coming from a girl who also left the hospital the day after giving birth each time.  I can't stand to be pent up. 

If you've never cruised before I hope this helps.  If you have, weigh in on your thoughts...

Cruisin'

Yeah I'm leaving on a jet plane,
but that's only so I can get to this cruise ship. 
I've never taken one. 


I'm excited to try it. 
I'll let you know what I think when I get back,
probably in more detail than
you ever wanted to know.

Until then you enjoy the snow and cold
wherever you are...
because I'll be sinking into the hot sand
sleeping, reading,
watching the blue water
and touristing - yeah I've made it a verb.
Bon Voyage!