Maho Beach a/k/a Airport Beach is St. Maarten had to be one of the best beaches that we went too! It had nothing to do with the beach amenities or the water. There was hardly any beach, there were no chairs or umbrellas to rent and you had to sit amongst rocks, although the water and sand was perfect. It had everything to do with this:
Yes, that is me standing in the water as the plane few over my head! It was such an amazing experience!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Basseterre, St. Kitts
Fun Facts*
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean.
During the last Ice Age, the sea level was 200 feet (60m) lever and St. Kitts and Nevis were one island with St. Eustatius (also known as Statia) and Saba.
St. Kitts is AMAZING! I love this island and want to go back! St. Kitts is not as commercialized as some islands we visited, but it still had everything that I could want! We once again, headed to a beach, and I was loving every minute of the sun, sand and surf.
On the taxi ride to Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach, we learned about the island and some of the inhabitants...monkeys! To be exact, there are 90,000 monkeys on the island, that is 2 monkeys for every person on the island. So on the ride, we kept an eye out for them, but no luck in spotting any, we just ended up getting a flat tire...not the worst thing that could happen, it allowed me to grab some great pictures, but it did put a little dent in our beach time.
Jay and they other guys in the taxi with us, helped the driver change the flat and get us back on our way.
Once we got to the beach, I knew I was in love. Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach is a beach bar/restaurant that also rents on chairs and umbrellas. For the most part, the beaches are very secluded and you had a perfect view of Nevis, St. Kitts sister island. There were two other bars/restaurants on the beach here, but it did not feel commercialized at all. Arabella and I spent time searching for large cockleshells, and sure enough, we found a ton of them. I even ended up bring home 4 (I had to carry the 2 largest ones in my carry on bag since they were so heavy). Don't worry, they are not for just me, Arabella and I picked 2 of them out for a few special people! At Cockleshell Beach, we were able to enjoy it and relax without being hounded to buy things. We ate lunch on the beach and I even enjoyed a "Ting with a Sting", a yummy local drink, Ting grapefruit soda with CSR, the local rum-like sugarcane liquor.
Right as we were leaving the beach, we spotted our first monkey. I was able to snap a picture before the monkey's owner saw me, since if he did, I would have had to pay for the picture!
Yes, that is a monkey sitting on Jay's head!
After the beach, we went back to the port to check out a few of the Duty Free Shops.
We looked at the liquor and ended up with a bottle of local rum that was recommended to us. But seriously, buying your alcohol in the Caribbean is the only way to go...check out some of these prices:
Not buying this Hennessy! You are reading that correctly, $2,250! The rest of the prices were amazing!
Then it was back to the ship to let the hard playing beach baby sleep before dinner.
I was lucky enough to watch the sun set from the ships deck while we were leaving St. Kitts before we went to dinner. It was a beautiful sunset!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean.
During the last Ice Age, the sea level was 200 feet (60m) lever and St. Kitts and Nevis were one island with St. Eustatius (also known as Statia) and Saba.
St. Kitts is AMAZING! I love this island and want to go back! St. Kitts is not as commercialized as some islands we visited, but it still had everything that I could want! We once again, headed to a beach, and I was loving every minute of the sun, sand and surf.
On the taxi ride to Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach, we learned about the island and some of the inhabitants...monkeys! To be exact, there are 90,000 monkeys on the island, that is 2 monkeys for every person on the island. So on the ride, we kept an eye out for them, but no luck in spotting any, we just ended up getting a flat tire...not the worst thing that could happen, it allowed me to grab some great pictures, but it did put a little dent in our beach time.
Jay and they other guys in the taxi with us, helped the driver change the flat and get us back on our way.
Once we got to the beach, I knew I was in love. Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach is a beach bar/restaurant that also rents on chairs and umbrellas. For the most part, the beaches are very secluded and you had a perfect view of Nevis, St. Kitts sister island. There were two other bars/restaurants on the beach here, but it did not feel commercialized at all. Arabella and I spent time searching for large cockleshells, and sure enough, we found a ton of them. I even ended up bring home 4 (I had to carry the 2 largest ones in my carry on bag since they were so heavy). Don't worry, they are not for just me, Arabella and I picked 2 of them out for a few special people! At Cockleshell Beach, we were able to enjoy it and relax without being hounded to buy things. We ate lunch on the beach and I even enjoyed a "Ting with a Sting", a yummy local drink, Ting grapefruit soda with CSR, the local rum-like sugarcane liquor.
Right as we were leaving the beach, we spotted our first monkey. I was able to snap a picture before the monkey's owner saw me, since if he did, I would have had to pay for the picture!
Yes, that is a monkey sitting on Jay's head!
After the beach, we went back to the port to check out a few of the Duty Free Shops.
We looked at the liquor and ended up with a bottle of local rum that was recommended to us. But seriously, buying your alcohol in the Caribbean is the only way to go...check out some of these prices:
Not buying this Hennessy! You are reading that correctly, $2,250! The rest of the prices were amazing!
Then it was back to the ship to let the hard playing beach baby sleep before dinner.
I was lucky enough to watch the sun set from the ships deck while we were leaving St. Kitts before we went to dinner. It was a beautiful sunset!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
Castries, St. Lucia
Fun Facts*
St. Lucia was first colonized successfully by France who signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. Great Britain took control of the island from 1663 to 1667 then went to war with France over the island fourteen (14) times, and finally took complete control in 1814.
St. Lucia is a volcanic island that is more mountainous than many other Caribbean islands, with the highest point being Mount Gimie at 950 meters (3,120 feet) above sea level.
We woke up to another beautiful, sunny and warm day when we arrived in St. Lucia. We took our time at breakfast and getting off the ship since we once again had not planned any shore excursions. Arabella and Jay "played" a little chess before we decided to leave the ship.
Once on land, we tracked down a taxi that took us and a few other people from our ship to a resort where we were able to rent chairs and umbrellas. Again, it was a day of fun in the sun for Arabella and I, but poor Jay was starting to reach his limit. Now don't get me wrong, he could of always gone golfing (I hear the courses here are really nice) or deep sea fishing...maybe next time?? He did get to enjoy a local beer! Jay might be able to enjoy golf or fishing, that is if we go to this island again, but I think the only way I would visit again would be if we went to an all inclusive resort (Sandals has 3 on the island), continue reading to find out why. The ride to the beach was nice and the landscape was lush and beautiful. And the beach was very nice, once we got to it. In order to arrive at the beach from the parking lot of the resort, you had to pass some shops and a "market" type place where the locals try to get you to buy their wares. Now here is where I started to have my issues. As soon as you walked in, they wanted to braid your hair or get you to buy jewelry. Now, I am usually OK with this, it is after all how they make a living, selling things to tourists, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. We did however make one small purchase...a sand shovel for Arabella since she had broken the one that we brought with us. But when we started to make the purchase, the price for a shovel and bucket was $8 (US), but all we want is a shovel, can't we just buy that?? So another individual comes forward with just a shovel and wants to sell it to us for $5 (US), and at this point, Arabella sees the shovel and is starting to fuss for it. We tell the woman, no thanks, now way are we buying a shovel for $5, so she says $3 (US), and again, Jay told her "It is not that important" so as we are walking away, she says $2 and we take it and run to the beach. Now once we were on the beach, we thought we would be able to relax and enjoy it since it was beautiful. But no such luck, we started to get hounded by people selling everything you could imagine - jewelry, fruit, shells, items made from coconuts and palm branches. They even wanted to braid mine and Arabella's hair. They also wanted us to rent jet skis or go out on tubes being pulled behind boats. No matter how you declined the offers, they persisted. So we decided to go swim and play in the water. But once again the peacefulness of being in the water was abruptly broken when men would kayak by trying to get you to buy shells and fruit! Overall, St. Lucia is a beautiful island with a lot to explore - mud baths, mineral baths, banana valleys, rain forests, dolphins and whale watches to name just a few. And it would be nice to see those areas of the island, but if it is anything like what I experienced at the beach, we won't go back!
After our un-relaxing beach excursion, it was back to the ship to get ready for Elegant Night. But first, Jay and Arabella took a nap and then we all got dressed up for dinner and had a fun time. Arabella even had her first Shirley Temple drink and enjoyed more ice cream!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
St. Lucia was first colonized successfully by France who signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. Great Britain took control of the island from 1663 to 1667 then went to war with France over the island fourteen (14) times, and finally took complete control in 1814.
St. Lucia is a volcanic island that is more mountainous than many other Caribbean islands, with the highest point being Mount Gimie at 950 meters (3,120 feet) above sea level.
We woke up to another beautiful, sunny and warm day when we arrived in St. Lucia. We took our time at breakfast and getting off the ship since we once again had not planned any shore excursions. Arabella and Jay "played" a little chess before we decided to leave the ship.
Once on land, we tracked down a taxi that took us and a few other people from our ship to a resort where we were able to rent chairs and umbrellas. Again, it was a day of fun in the sun for Arabella and I, but poor Jay was starting to reach his limit. Now don't get me wrong, he could of always gone golfing (I hear the courses here are really nice) or deep sea fishing...maybe next time?? He did get to enjoy a local beer! Jay might be able to enjoy golf or fishing, that is if we go to this island again, but I think the only way I would visit again would be if we went to an all inclusive resort (Sandals has 3 on the island), continue reading to find out why. The ride to the beach was nice and the landscape was lush and beautiful. And the beach was very nice, once we got to it. In order to arrive at the beach from the parking lot of the resort, you had to pass some shops and a "market" type place where the locals try to get you to buy their wares. Now here is where I started to have my issues. As soon as you walked in, they wanted to braid your hair or get you to buy jewelry. Now, I am usually OK with this, it is after all how they make a living, selling things to tourists, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. We did however make one small purchase...a sand shovel for Arabella since she had broken the one that we brought with us. But when we started to make the purchase, the price for a shovel and bucket was $8 (US), but all we want is a shovel, can't we just buy that?? So another individual comes forward with just a shovel and wants to sell it to us for $5 (US), and at this point, Arabella sees the shovel and is starting to fuss for it. We tell the woman, no thanks, now way are we buying a shovel for $5, so she says $3 (US), and again, Jay told her "It is not that important" so as we are walking away, she says $2 and we take it and run to the beach. Now once we were on the beach, we thought we would be able to relax and enjoy it since it was beautiful. But no such luck, we started to get hounded by people selling everything you could imagine - jewelry, fruit, shells, items made from coconuts and palm branches. They even wanted to braid mine and Arabella's hair. They also wanted us to rent jet skis or go out on tubes being pulled behind boats. No matter how you declined the offers, they persisted. So we decided to go swim and play in the water. But once again the peacefulness of being in the water was abruptly broken when men would kayak by trying to get you to buy shells and fruit! Overall, St. Lucia is a beautiful island with a lot to explore - mud baths, mineral baths, banana valleys, rain forests, dolphins and whale watches to name just a few. And it would be nice to see those areas of the island, but if it is anything like what I experienced at the beach, we won't go back!
After our un-relaxing beach excursion, it was back to the ship to get ready for Elegant Night. But first, Jay and Arabella took a nap and then we all got dressed up for dinner and had a fun time. Arabella even had her first Shirley Temple drink and enjoyed more ice cream!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
You Can Do That With Towels??
Every evening when we returned to our cabin after dinner, we were greeted by the labors of our room steward. At this point, he had cleaned our room for the second time today, left chocolates and the FunTimes leaflet so we would know what to expect for the coming day and our beds would be turned down. But the best part, was trying to guess what animal the towels would be turned into! Arabella would get so excited when she saw them and would run over to the towels and ask to have her picture taken. It still amazes me that you can do this with just a towel....
Bridgetown, Barbados
Fun Facts*
Barbados was the only vacation destination in the world with scheduled Concord service, and had up to 4 flights per week during the winter season.
For over three centuries, Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom, and still maintains with Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State.
In addition to the above Fun Facts, we were reminded that we should be careful when crossing the street, since the cars drive on the left side of the road in Barbados. In addition, as of October 1, 2010, a national no smoking law was passed in Barbados. Consequently, it is now illegal to smoke in public areas on the island. How nice is that??
Barbados was one of my favorite stops on the cruise. The beaches were beautiful, the people were friendly and overall we had a great time there. We only spent time on the beach, but there is so much more to explore - Harrison's Cave, Flower Forest, Shipwrecks, and snorkeling with sea turtles. Barbados is definitely one of the places that I want to go back to. We started by taking a taxi to Harbor Lights Beach Club at Carlisle Beach which is on the Caribbean Sea side. The beach and water was breathtaking. The blue of the sky and greens of the water were just perfect, I was speechless and then when you add in the pink sand...WOW! Arabella and I were in heaven. Jay was starting to get sick of the beach at this point, but was a good sport since we had chairs and an umbrella, there was food within walking distance and one the "Pirate Ship" appeared, there was entertainment! The beach was also pretty relaxing since we were not hounded too much to buy things from the locals, once you said you were not interested, they left you alone. And I am sure it helped that the police were patrolling the beach!
Check out how pink the sand is!
Police patrolling the beach - without weapons!
Goodbye Barbados, I will return!
I also learned about Barbados Rum. I had no idea that Rum was this popular...
After the spending at least 4 hours on the beach, Arabella and Jay went back to the port and ship for a nap, while I walked around the shopping area in Bridgetown. I struck out with shopping there, but did pick up some cute earring for Arabella and myself, as well as, Rum Cakes for Jay in the Duty Free Shops before getting back on the Ship. We had a great dinner, once again, and then Arabella had some ice cream from the 24 hour ice cream station. She is still asking for after dinner now that we are home!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
Barbados was the only vacation destination in the world with scheduled Concord service, and had up to 4 flights per week during the winter season.
For over three centuries, Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom, and still maintains with Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State.
In addition to the above Fun Facts, we were reminded that we should be careful when crossing the street, since the cars drive on the left side of the road in Barbados. In addition, as of October 1, 2010, a national no smoking law was passed in Barbados. Consequently, it is now illegal to smoke in public areas on the island. How nice is that??
Barbados was one of my favorite stops on the cruise. The beaches were beautiful, the people were friendly and overall we had a great time there. We only spent time on the beach, but there is so much more to explore - Harrison's Cave, Flower Forest, Shipwrecks, and snorkeling with sea turtles. Barbados is definitely one of the places that I want to go back to. We started by taking a taxi to Harbor Lights Beach Club at Carlisle Beach which is on the Caribbean Sea side. The beach and water was breathtaking. The blue of the sky and greens of the water were just perfect, I was speechless and then when you add in the pink sand...WOW! Arabella and I were in heaven. Jay was starting to get sick of the beach at this point, but was a good sport since we had chairs and an umbrella, there was food within walking distance and one the "Pirate Ship" appeared, there was entertainment! The beach was also pretty relaxing since we were not hounded too much to buy things from the locals, once you said you were not interested, they left you alone. And I am sure it helped that the police were patrolling the beach!
Check out how pink the sand is!
Police patrolling the beach - without weapons!
Goodbye Barbados, I will return!I also learned about Barbados Rum. I had no idea that Rum was this popular...
After the spending at least 4 hours on the beach, Arabella and Jay went back to the port and ship for a nap, while I walked around the shopping area in Bridgetown. I struck out with shopping there, but did pick up some cute earring for Arabella and myself, as well as, Rum Cakes for Jay in the Duty Free Shops before getting back on the Ship. We had a great dinner, once again, and then Arabella had some ice cream from the 24 hour ice cream station. She is still asking for after dinner now that we are home!
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)