Cruise to the South Caribbean

My expectations for this cruise were low-key; I didn’t foresee anything spectacular.  Don loves cruising—the pool, the food, the entertainment, the pampering.  When I travel, I like historic and cultural destinations, amazing nature, and active pursuits.  Endless water with no land horizon is not high on the list for me.

We joined a group of 50 from Palm Valley on Holland America’s Westerdam, so we knew we would meet more neighbors from our Florida home park.

 Half-Moon Cay is Holland America’s private island experience.  It was clean, controlled and crafted for a great beach day.  The water was too cool for much swimming, but the weather was perfect for beach wandering, sunning and Tai Chi on the beach. 

 

We had a Rum Runner drink while listening to a great Trinidad guy playing the steel drum.  The steel bowl has many circles hammered into the metal bowl that forms the inside of the drum.  Each has a different tone when he strikes it with the rubber-tipped drumsticks.  Very cool.

 

I was excited about the prospect of snorkeling, so we saw Aruba from a large sailboat.

 

Don didn’t like the experience, so after a short dip, he just watched and enjoyed the water and view from the sailboat.  We anchored above a WWII wreck, the Antilla, about 50 feet down.

 The side of the ship with cannon and railings was clear enough with striped sergeant major fish and gorgeous iridescent blue tang and other small and long fish swimming around in schools.  Lovely.  After the two snorkeling stops, the crew served rum punch very generously on the way back.  I admit to being a bit woozy.

 

Curacao was our third shore stop.  Willemstad has quaint Dutch architecture with tall, narrow, brightly colored buildings and a swaying pontoon bridge across the shipping canal/St. Ann’s Bay.  The whole town had an old-world, yet tropical charm.

 

I bought a ring and necklace pendant of Tanzanite, a rare, violet blue stone mined only on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  Then I convinced Don that I really had to have earrings to go with it.  It is a gemstone investment. (Let’s hope.)     

We toured the Kura Hulanda Museum, part of a large collection of restored 1800’s buildings which comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The museum’s main feature is African history and culture culminating in the slave market held on that site.  Testimonies from slaves as well as slavery promoters and the original paraphernalia and buildings make this sobering and poignant.

 

 

Days at sea mean something totally different to Don and to me.  He hits the buffet, suns by the pool, swims, eats, naps in a deck chair, has ice cream, suns by the pool, eats, swims—you get the idea.  I try to cram in so many seminars and travel talks that I sometimes have to grab a bite on the run.  This cruise I pursued computer and photo skills, tai chi, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, holistic healthy lifestyle.  I am not sure how that fits with the typical cruise over-eating and drinking, but there is always next week to put it all into practice.  I had three acupuncture treatments for my hip bursitis problem that has plagued me for two years since mountainous hiking in the Southwest in 2011.  The doc stuck 17 to 22 thin needles into my hip and leg, which have to stay in for half an hour.  It does not really hurt.  Tattoos hurt more, but don’t tell our son Troy that.  The acupuncture did help long term.

 My expectations were exceeded.  We were pampered.  We went to the main stage show every evening and then the piano bar.  We had a great time and really enjoyed spending time with new friends from our park—a lasting joy.