Carribean Sea to Miami

Thursday and Friday, November 8 and 9, 2013 At Sea
We spent the last two days of the cruise at sea. As we passed the Hispanic Islands, the water was a beautiful color...but full of trash. We had not seen any trash coming across the ocean, but it sure was easy to spot while looking out across the ocean.


We were excited to spot a large group of dolphin jumping out of the water. They put on a wonderful little show for us as the ship sailed past them. We enjoyed the day walking the track on top of the ship, using the ship gym, sitting on the fifth floor deck watching the ocean waves go by while reading. We spotted several cargo ships and another cruise ship....something that never happened when crossing the Atlantic.

I think we saw some of the most beautiful cloud formations ever on this cruise.

This was a very relaxing cruise. Royal Carribean Vision of the Sea was truly a gentler cruise with quieter tones and less announcements than on our Mediterranian Norweigan Jade cruise. Cruising from East to West across the Atlantic during the fall season was much warmer temperatures in October/November time frame than our West to East Cruises of the past in March/April. We saw fellow cruisers go from pasty white to toasty brown.

It was a grand adventure for us, traveling to the West Indies, an area that we had not explored for a long time. As Larry says, "The days are all good...you don't have to cook or clean or make your bed....just eat and sleep and be entertained." I agree that it was ALL VERY good!

Frederiksted, St. Croix

Thursday, November 7, 2013 Frederiksted, St. Croix
Today we had to pass through the US border immigration patrol on board the ship before going onto shore...a quick process for us Americans and the Canadians....but there were long lines in the area for visitors from other countries.

 

Clock Tower

We walked the long pier to see fantastic aqua blue waters and enjoyed the music of a Carribean Band. The music was a great welcome to the island. The hills here were more rolling low peaks that were covered mostly by trees. The view was a lot greener than St. Kitts from the boat.

We went to the beach to try out the water. Warm and refreshing. The sun was extremely hot by 10:00am and Larry found a great spot at the beach in the shade.

We took a walk around the old fort on the beach with several canons rusting away in the waves and passed through the small park beside the fort.

 


We followed a winding sidewalk through an ocean front park and stopped by a few shops along the waterfront. It was not as commercialized as St, Maarten and St. Kitts...mostly locally owned tents and run down store fronts.

We followed a winding sidewalk through other ocean front park and stopped by a few shops along the waterfront. It was not as commercialized as St, Maarten and St. Kitts...mostly locally owned tents and run down store fronts

 

A nice park followed the coastline with memorials for each branch of the  military from St. Croix.

Although St. Croix is the largest of the three Virgin Islands, we were surprised to learn that only 2-4 ships come into its harbor each month. The shopkeepers were very happy to see us. After reading the local paper, we found that most ships went to the neighboring island of St. Thomas. Having been to St. Thomas 23 years ago, we remembered the many crusie ships piling into the port of Havensmith back then....it was a very busy place then so I'm sure it has blossomed and grown more since then.

 

Having had enough of the heat from the beach and our walk through the town, we headed back to the ship in time to have lunch.

The afternoon brought a little storm and  the sun began to peek out behind the clouds as the boat pulled out of the harbor at 4:30pm.

Bassetterre, St. Kitts

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 Bassetterre, St. Kitts
Beautiful morning! It felt great to be the only ship in dock after competing with so many tourist the day before. We left the ship around 8:30, planning to walk around the town of Bassetterre, capitol of St. Kitts and Nevus (a neighboring island).

 

The entrance from the dock was very nice. Very modern shopping close to the ship.

We were greeted by many touring cab drivers and owners of cute little island monkeys. We were told that that were about 40,000 people on St. Kitts....450 taxi cab drivers... and about 10,000 monkeys. As we ventured further into the town, it began to show age and poverty.

 

 

 

Independent Park was a great relief from the traffic and busy part of the town.

We walked passed two 17th century churches....Catholic and Protestant. We walked through Independent Park where slaves were sold long ago. We walked past the post office and the court house. The sun was doing a fantastic job of heating  at 10:00 we took a small air-conditioned van tour with three other couples to the Botanical Gardens and Batik Factory.

                                                         Batik House...so cute!

                                         They grow them huge in the Botanical Garden!

 

 

                                                            Relaxing with the view!

We drove past the airport where the famous whirlwind landings take place right over the beach and traveled on to the famous point where you could see beaches on the calm Carribean Sea and the choppy Atlantic Ocean. We saw several star's homes and thought "they definitely are away from everything out on this secluded island. Absolutely gorgeous!

Looking west you can see the calm Carribean Sea....

                                           looking south you see the hills above the beach

                      and turn a little more to the east and see the gorgeous view of the Atlantic

                                          This point is one of the famous spots of St. Kitts.


After a little shopping and a some sketchy internet time, we went back to the ship to enjoy a nice lunch and the cool air on the ship. We enjoyed watching the planes manuevering the hills to land as the ship pulled out at 5:30. After dinner we watched a great comedian from LA. The evening ended with sounds of the Vision of the Seas seven person orchestra in the Centrum...great dancing and fun watching the ones who thought they were on "Dancing With the Stars".

What a fantastic sunset leaving St. Kitts!