Saint Thomas

​Saint Thomas and Saint John Virgin Islands

 

   We set sail out of Fort Lauderdale late Sunday afternoon. The next day we were scheduled to visit a small island owned by princess cruises called, Princess Cay. Because of strong winds and 6 to 8 foot swells, the captain decided to push on to Saint Thomas for the safety of his passengers. Princess Cay has no port, so the ship would need to anchor, offshore and passengers be tendered to the island using smaller boats.  The high swells and strong winds would create a hazard for loading and unloading passengers.

   It was about eight in the morning on Wednesday when we docked in Saint Thomas. The sun was shining, the seas were calm, and it was a beautiful, warm day. All on-shore Princess-directed excursions had been filled weeks ago. However, we found a source for local excursions. Saint Thomas is geared for tourism, and there were plenty of sightseeing taxis available for a good price.

   First step, we opted for an island tour. We were soon on board a 12 passenger van and touring a portion of the island. Saint Thomas is beautiful with volcanic mountains and 

    scenic overlooks. We had great vistas of the city as well as places like Megan’s Bay.  We stopped at several placeS along the way to take photos, go  shopping and buy drinks. Our tour lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Our driver dropped us off near our ship.

   From St. Thomas, we took a ferry boat ride to visit the nearby smaller island of St. John. The sign said tickets were $25 and $6 for those over 70.  We liked that price much better. Unfortunately, another sign said the $6 was for local residents only. Bummer!  

   Our son, Matt, said St. John had very beautiful beaches. The ferry docked near what seemed to be downtown and we entered a bustling community of shops, shoppers and sellers.  Mostly we were hungry and our thoughts turned to lunch. We sat down in an outdoor café and ate delicious food while chickens and roosters walked around our table and between our feet as we ate. Very interesting.  

   After lunch, we caught a taxi. The driver took us to a beautiful place called  Trunk Bay. This area was inside another US National Park. At least we would get in for free because I still carried my National Park pass, or so I thought.  I showed my pass at the entrance gate and the lady said my entrance fee would be half-price, but everyone in my party had to pay five dollars each.   As we had no choice, we forked over the money and walked down to the beach. Matt said this was one of his favorite beaches. Indeed, it was beautiful! Pristine turquoise water and white sandy beaches, a rare and beautiful combination! we did not bring swimming gear with us, but we could get our toes wet. The water was comfortable, clean and clear! This would be a beautiful place to sit and simply look upon its  beauty. The tide was coming in and people with lounge chairs kept moving them back to higher ground.  

   For our excursion to Trunk Bay, our taxi driver could best be described as a fearless maniac behind the wheel . He drove so fast on these narrow, winding roads that we had to hang on for dear life. He passed by a couple of scenic overlooks with no thought of stopping or slowing down. if someone wasn’t driving fast enough, he would find a slot and speed around them. It’s a good thing the gas pedal could go no farther than the floor!

   We found a different taxi for our return trip to the ferry. I told him about the other driver. He asked me what color the taxi. I told him red. Somewhere along the way back. He asked me if he was driving as fast as the other guy. I said, “Not even close!”

   After returning to the St. John’s port, we didn’t have to wait long for our ferry ride to St. Thomas. We spent a little time shopping but headed back to our ship earlier than we had planned. It would be 9:00 P.M. before we set sail.  

Regal Princess

​Princess Cruises

   

   It was Sundae morning when we boarded our ship. We settled into our cabin on the 16^thfloor forward. Ron and Nancy were assigned a cabin on the 15^th floor directly below ours and one cabin over. The rooms were small but adequate. There is a small shower , toilet and a deep sink. With practice you have just enough room to change your mind. We had a small, two-person couch next to the bed. Next to the sliding glass door was a desk with chair and two electrical outlets for our use. A small refrigerator was to the right of the desk. The sliding glass door went out onto our private balcony. It was only about 3 feet by 8 feet but had two sitting chairs in front of the tinted glass wind screen. It was a good thing to have whenever the seas got rough. 

   During the days when the ship is at sea, the deck chairs go fast. People have people place towels on empty chairs by the dozen, saving them for family, friends or friends of friends. Passengers are not supposed to save chairs but everyone does. Saturday was the first day we actually got chairs because Debby and I were on deck at 6:00. A.M.  when the chairs we’re supposed to be set up; all of the poolside chairs had already been taken. 

   The 100 degree hot tubs should NOT be called a hot tub!

   

   The Princess is not a huge ship. I think it Carrie’s about 3600 passengers and crew. The 16^th floor, the Lido deck they call it, has a couple of swimming pools and hot tubs for the passengers. Lounge chairs and other types of chairs and tables are throughout the ship. The Lido deck has a couple of gigantic food buffets where one can eat most anything all day long!  A huge big screen looms over the pool area where movies under the stars are shown. During the day it usually shows some sort of entertainment. The poolside bars offers not only what you are drinking but you can also order food like pizza or  burgers. 

   Other floors have various restaurants, shops, casinos, parlors and entertainment. Whatever you can think of, these cruise ships offers about everything. The live stage shows are well done with professional quality entertainment. The casino is pretty much like all others. It doesn’t take all week to lose your money!

   If you have never taken a cruise, you should try it. Destinations are all over the world. Pick your place, pay the money and prepare to be pampered. 

   Drawbacks?  Yes, there are drawbacks.  When you dock at some exotic port, you may find there are other cruise ships there.  When we docked at St. Kitts, three other cruise ships also came into port. Two of those ships carried more than 6,800 passengers each!  The two smaller ships were carrying about 4,000 each. So that sleepy little town in the world now has an extra 20,000 tourists shopping, sightseeing and taking tours. It sometimes gets very crowded making your trip to a secluded beach something you didn’t count on. 

   If you are susceptible to seasickness, don’t leave home without the proper medication.  Obtain a prescription from your doctor for the small patches you stick on behind your ear. Or visit your pharmacist and bring along some Dramamine. Rough seas can make the trip miserable. 

   If you don’t like loud music and parties, do your homework and avoid the party boats like Carnival. 

   If you aren’t fond of a bunch of noisy kids running around, ships like Viking often are much smaller ships with no kids. 

   By the way, we still never found the “poop deck”!

   

 

 

WRer Taxu

​Water Taxi and Beyond

 

   We listened to Wyndham’s sales pitch and a couple of hours later we were able to get free tickets for the Water Taxi.          The main canal is part of the Inter-coastal Waterway that spans nearly 3000 miles. It begins up in the Northeast corner of the United States and ends up in Texas, I believe.  In Fort Lauderdale there are tributaries off the main canal , much like side streets off a city Main Street.  Along this canal one can find homes that are anywhere from expensive to VERY expensive, with expensive Yachts parked out front. They run in all sizes and costs, up to many millions of dollars and hundreds of feet long.

   The water taxi service allows you to gelt on and ride as much as you want.  There are about 18 stops that can take you to great shopping, restaurants, the beach and unique residential areas where there are no cars, only yachts.

   We ate lunch at a waterside seafood restaurant.  It was very good.  We spent the day traveling from one end to the other land back again.  We caught an UBER from our Wyndham Worldmark to the  north end of the canal.  We returned that evening to the same place to catch our ride back.

   Toronto was with us all day enjoying the sights and sounds of the boats on the canal.  As we disembarked and called for an UBER to take us home, an interesting thing happened.  I got in the front seat with Toronto on the floor between my feet, as we usually rode all other times.  When the driver got back into the car, he saw Toronto and went ballistic!  He did not want a dog in his car.  He didn’t like dogs and created a scene.  He didn’t care that Toronto was a Service Dog or not.  He told me that he didn’t like dogs because they stink.  I told him Toronto was probably cleaner than him.  The driver told me I also stunk and told us to get out.  I suggested that perhaps the smell was him and not us.   Anyway, we called another UBER and reported this driver on the UBER website.  

   UBER’s policy and Federal Laws permit Toronto to be anywhere people can go.  Regular people can object to Service Dogs inside their cars, but lUBER drivers are not regular people.  They are classified as public vehicles.  I could have insisted, and even called the PoPo but I didn’t want to ride with this psycho now anyway.

   Since then, UBER has reached out to me and apologized for this driver’s behavior and assured me this behavior was not their policy.  They would be deciding what to do about having this driver on their team or not.  They made sure we would not be charged for the fare and even gave me fifteen dollars credit towards my next UBER ride. 

   My son, Matt, flew to Fort Lauderdale to pick up Toronto and take him to Oklahoma as I would not be able to take him on the second half of the cruise.  Caicos and Grand Turks have stringent rules on importing animals to their island.  The nine pages of paperwork I needed to fill out was so strict that I  was not able to comply.  Matt suggested he take Toronto home with him while we did the Cruise.  I appreciated that offer and was happy to take him up on it. 

   Matt left with Toronto on Saturday and our cruise ship set sail on Sunday.  It worked out just right.  

   The Wyndham sales pitch we had, (trying to sell us more shares to use the resort more often), was interesting.  They really tried to get us to bite, even telling us that the last offer to buy in 2020l was something we should have taken advantage of because now that offer is much more costly.  The manager of the sales department did make us the same offer and said it would not ever be offered to us at that price again.  We let it pass … again.

 

Fort Lauderdale, Fl

FORT LAUDERDALE 

          

We arrived in Florida early this afternoon and took a cab to our Wyndham Palm-Aire Worldmark Resort not far away.  The manager snagged us right out of the gate to sign us up to listen to a sales spiel tomorrow in exchange for some yacht tickets to cruise the canals and look at the way the rich and wealthy live.   So we bit like an old Carp in murky water. They will have a hard time landing this old fish as we haven’t been happy with the way certain resorts are impossible to get into, like Saint Thomas in the Caribbean. We have been on a waiting list to get into that one for two years!  Now you can’t convince me that we aren’t getting bumped by their favorites!

   Our Wyndham two-bedroom unit is okay; adequate but nothing special or extra ordinary. It is on the third floor overlooking a parking lot and a noisy street. Had we gotten a room on the other side of the hallway, our balcony would have looked over into the interior courtyard and a large swimming pool. It would have been much less noisy, too. One would think if they had intentions of trying to sell us a $16,000 membership upgrade, schmoozing us with a great room should be considered. We are here for the next 5 days so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. 

Dog Gauntlet

​Luquillo Dog Gauntlet

 

     I just wanted to show you what me and Toronto have to endure most every time we go to the beach.  The Barrio is home to many neighborhood dogs.  Luckily, most are enclosed behind various kinds of fences.  There are six or eight close by us that roam the streets and cause trouble.  I call this the “dog gauntlet”.  Fortunately whenever I have my cane in my other hand, they respect its reach and stay back.  Perhaps they have experienced the stick before.  It reaches about five feet when I open it up.  The sneakers, those mutts trying to sneak up behind me do not go unnoticed.  I just swing the cane around behind me and the noise of it going through the air is enough to make them jump back.  I’ve come close to connecting with a barking face a few times but they are too quick. 

   Dogs in the neighborhood is the main reason I stay in my own neighborhood, especially behind our privacy fence.  I would love to walk up to the Kiosks or to a tent at the entrance near the highway where a local sells BBQ.  It always smells good driving by.  Also the beach is nicer up by the food Kiosks.  It would be a mile of dog encounters and I don’t want to do that to Toronto.

 

   Disclaimer:  No dogs were killed or injured during my stay in Luquillo Beach.

 

Naguabo

​Near the eastern entrance of El Yunque National Rain Forest-is a 500 year old settlement called Naguabo. This small town is populated by about 28,000 people. It’s here that a friend of mine lives. Jose Rivera is a fellow blind Veteran of the Vietnam era  I met Jose during my stay in the Gulf Coast Blind Rehab last October. It was good to see him again on his own turf. He seemed happy to be able to show it off. 

   Not having a vehicle in which to run around in, we hired an UBER to take us to Naguabo, about 45 minutes drive away. As UBER drivers are scarce in Naguabo, we made a deal with our driver to be our tour guide for a while before taking us back to Luquillo Beach. So we picked up Jose and headed for the beach and to lunch. 

   Things worked out quite well. We were able to drive around and have Jose show off his town as well as slow down and watch him call out to some of his friends and cousins as he laughed and cut up with them.

   Lunch was good although a little costly for us buying lunch for Jose and Matthew, our driver. But all in all it was worth it. Puerto Rican restaurants do  not cook food ahead like we find in the states.  After ordering, the cook prepares the food fresh; no fast food here, nor any food fast. Except on our way back from Naguabo we had our driver run through the KFC drive-thru so we could take home a box of fried chicken. Luckily it was already cooked. 

   After lunch we toured the area a bit more. It was good to get to see where my friend lives before we go home Tuesday.  It was sad to still see a lot of Hurricane Maria damage. This community may take many more years to rebuild and get back on their feet. 

   A quick run through KFC and we headed home. We tipped our driver quite generously for his kindness and took a nap. 

 

Coffee Plantation

​                    Hacienda Munoz

      

We decided that today would be a good day to visit a coffee bean plantation. Our pick was Hacienda Munoz, a family owned business ,located in the mountains of San Lorenzo, about an hour’s drive from Luquillo.  Our UBER driver was reluctant to go that far because he would probably not have another fare coming back. We asked if he was interested in hanging around for a couple of hours and bring us back. We agreed on a price and he took a nap while we were taking the $10 tour. 

   The farm was well kept and perfectly cared for. The owners were still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria’s devastating destruction back in 17. It takes years to rebuild and regrow. They are still acquiring and planting young coffee bean plants. It will also take several more years for the plants to yield their beans like before. 

   Touring the farm we learned a lot about coffee.  Ron, a non-coffee drinker all his life said to me after our tour, “I now know more about coffee than I ever wanted to know!”  😎