A Caribbean Cruise

The Norwegian Sun tied up in Barbados

Dinah lived for several years in the British West Indies, and there were several Islands in the area she always wanted to see, but never got the chance.  So when she spotted a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise at a good price, we decided to hop aboard. 

The ship left from Miami and spent the first two days at sea while we explored the ship and ate at the various restaurants. 

Dinah on deck in Miami

 Something new to us was towel folding; each evening our cabin stewardess left us a different animal made from towels.

 Our cabin was inside  (no windows) so we kept track of where we were by watching forward pointing ships camera on our TV.

The port of Philipsburg, St. Maarten as seen on ship's camera

A comedy act by the cruise director's staff

Entertainment on the pier by the crew as we return to the ship from our last island stop.

We visited five ports and I've covered each of them in a separate post.  We had a great time and are looking forward to additional cruises,  with one to Hawaii in February already booked.

Sunset at sea

Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherland Antiles

Funny little boats - more like dodge-um cars!

The nicest beach of the trip

This lizard was lounging ...

near this unique liquor store.

A not-so-fast Ferrari (for handling container ship containers)

St. Lucia, Saint Lucia

Above, vender at the open market. Below, scenes from the market

This tree has an enormous trunk!

Exploring town; checking the map.

Bridgetown, Barbados

In Barbados we explored by taking a public bus from downtown Bridgetown to the far end of the island and back.

Roseau, Dominica

A view of the city

Allen with Roseau, Dominica behind

A tourist 'train' in Dominica

Prices are born here and raised elsewhere

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

First stop, St. Thomas.

Norwegian Sun in port at St. Thomas

Here's a 360 view from the dock:

A view of the downtown area from above. Note the solar panels on the closest building

Gas prices are about $1/gallon higher than at home

This fellow was sunning himself near a pump station

The mountains are close to the shore line so St. Thomas has a lot of hills

.

What are they talking about? I haven't figured out this billboard near the dock.

The Giant Tortoise

The tortoise in our back yard

While walking the dogs one block from home, we came across a giant tortoise walking out one driveway and into the next.  I assumed he/she was a pet from a nearby house.  But when, a few days later, I saw him crossing the street in front of our house I decided he must be wild or lost. I tried to pick him up and carry him to our yard, but he was too heavy for me to lift. So I herded him through the gate into our yard and Dinah called animal control.

It took both animal control officers to lift him into their truck and he was taken to the animal shelter where he weighed in at 130+ pounds. We understand he was claimed by someone living on our street and we haven't seen him since.
The video below lasts about 43 seconds, and shows the tortoise walking around our back yard.