Spring Adventure 2023

February 2, 2023

Larry and I flew on Spirit Airlines to Fort Lauderdale, Florida  leaving the hotel on Clearwater Beach at 4:30 am in the morning.

While waiting for the bus to pick us up, a Spirit Airlines Steward came by and played a couple of tunes with us while Larry played his harmonica. What a great way to start our trip!

February 3, 2023

We made arrangement to leave our bags at the Holiday Inn Express to mosey over to  Income Strategies for a little walk through their new facility before lunch.

After lunch we returned to the hotel for a little afternoon siesta.

February 3-11, we boarded the Celebrity Millennium around 10:00am, unpacked immediately and then headed out to explore the ship.

Boarding the Millennium...the royal treatment! 

The Millennium had three pools

A great place to observe the high seas on the 11th floor.

Lots of lounges....but our favorite spot is the back of the ship....cool, quiet, and laid back.

 Our first day we enjoyed watching the boat traffic that passed by all afternoon. We were fortunate to spot a couple of manatees  swimming by. When the ship pulled out of the harbor at 4:00pm, we enjoyed the the Ft Lauderdale skyline.

The second day on the cruise was a day at sea. The third day became a day at sea as well because the wind was blowing 40 miles an hour so the captain announced that it was to risky to dock at the Bahamas. No worries because we love the days at sea.

St. Thomas

 Monday, February 6 we enjoyed St. Thomas, one of the three US Virgin Islands (the others are St John and St Croix).  Christopher Columbus  discovered these islands way back in 1493. Denmark sold the island to the US in 1917 for $25 million in gold.

Due to my sprained ankle, I decided to stay on the ship and kick back in the sun. Larry took off on an adventure, first on a ferry boat ride to Water Island, a scenic beach area. 

Water Island was a popular spot.

                                                                Water Island

Folks are buried on top of the ground due to being at sea level.

Upon returning to the mainland, he caught a local public bus, also used to transport school children, and rode it to the end of the line, taking in the countryside. 

                                                              The local transportation

                                                                           Local Critters

Larry arrived back to the ship just a tad before the sunset….ready for some cool air conditioning and some ice cold sweet tea.

A full moon party was on the top deck of the ship when we pulled out of St. Thomas at 11PM. 

St. Martin and St. Maarten

Welcome St. Martin murals

Tuesday, February 7 we joined two other couples for a tour of the two territories on this small island. We boarded a van in Philipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten (the Dutch side).

                                                                     Crossing into St. Martin

 We drove to the capital, Margot, in St. Martin (the French side). These two territories are the smallest in the world. 

The area was a picture of much devastation from Hurricane Erma in 2017. Many hotels, homes, and other structures were abandoned, vacated or under remodeling.

We were caught off guard when the driver took us to a real live Nudist Beach. It was a popular place because the parking lot was packed.

We headed back to the Dutch side of the island and

came across a big tourist attraction...

watching the  airplanes fly over and land while tanning at the beach.

We enjoyed watching local iguanas of all sizes. The driver told us the local delicacy was Iguana Soup.

St. Lucia

The ship docked bright and early in Castries, St Lucia.

The town of Castries is a busy town.

Wednesday, February 8 we hired a driver to take us out of the capital city of Castries, St. Lucia. Our driver, Rabbi, was a friendly native who shared a unique neighborhood of hillside homes.

I don't think there was a straight road on the whole island.

 The island was lush and green.

Many folks were selling their wares across from the Governor's House.

The Governor's House

Fog moved over Castries.

We enjoyed seeing "Ceeshell's" Bar

Coconuts for sale

Banana Plantations

Green bags covered the bananas to keep the insects off.

Colorful Conchs for sale

Unique bird carvings out of Coconut shells

Cashew tree had bloomed.

Snake charmer...the snake is around his neck! Eeekk!

Rabbi stopped where locals were baking Cassava Bread.

Cassava is a root that is peeled, ground, and made into a  powder.

We had plain Cassava Bread; however it comes in Chocolate, Cherry, Chocolate Chip and other flavors.

This lady was peeling a 50 lb bag of cassava roots.

This gentleman was raking the cassava to make it into a powder.

Ground cassava....we enjoyed the bread. It was tasty. It reminded us of a coconut texture.

Sight to see...Cliff jumpers plunging  in front of a natural arch into the sea.

We arrived back just in time for a breezy sail away.

Barbados

The passengers had to ride a bus out of the port...I got special treatment. Never dreamed that I would be  experiencing a lift into a handicap van. (Broken foot bone)

Larry enjoyed wheeling me around the port area. Since we had been to Barbados previously, I decided to go back on the ship while Larry hiked into town. 

Many of the pictures that Larry took were familiar from our last visit.

Puerto Rico

On the last morning of the cruise we had a gorgeous sunrise arriving into Puerto Rico.

What a wonderful sail-in to San Juan, Puerto. We deboarded the ship and hopped on a bus to the airport where we picked up a rental car. Larry and I were off on a new adventure....our first visit to Puerto Rico.