12-4-17 Barbados:

Things didn't quite go as expected here.  In the past, we would get off the ship and find a car taxi to take us to Folkestone and it was really easy and fast.  This time, there were no car taxis, just large vans.  So, of course, they insist on filling the van before they leave.  Which, in turn, means we didn't get to choose the exact time we wanted him to pick us up.  We wanted to stay until 3, but we were the only ones going to Folkestone and the ones going to town got priority for pick up time of 3.  So 2:45 it was.  On the flip side, the fare was a lot cheaper!  Before we paid $27@/person rt, this time it was $14@/person rt----although he tried to charge us more---to which we told him we saw the price on the sign and I had a picture of it.

We waited around a good half hour for the van to get stuffed full, then were on our way.  Everyone else got off in town or the beach by town.  Folkestone was about 15 miles or so north of the port.  Noone seems to know about it, which surprises me.  It's a beautiful place and great for snorkeling.  There are even lots of amenities there: restrooms, outdoor shower, little store, life guard, chair and umbrella rental, walkway to more beaches and restaurants, even a pretty very old church by the entrance to the park.   Here is the little entrance to Folkestone Marine Preserve with the walkway barely showing.

2015 (April 17- May 1) Southern Caribbean Cruise: St. Thomas; St. Barths; St. Lucia; Barbados; Grenada; Bonaire; and Curacoa

 We enjoyed our 2014 Maasdam cruise so much, that when  we received an email with an OBC offer if we booked a future cruise --- we checked the Maasdam itineraries and decided to go back to the Southern Caribbean in 2015---but for 14 nights this time (our longest cruise yet) and with some new (to us) ports of call (Grenada,Bonaire, and Curacao).  We booked a Spa Oceanview since we like being higher on the ship and it was almost affordable.  A couple months after booking our 2015 cruise, they offered a free Beverage Package and a cheaper fare for new bookings.  Since it was well before final payment, I called and got the reduced fare and the Beverage package, but had to give up our "welcome back OBC" which was only $50@.  After that, we waited about 7 months for the cruise to finally get here.  I was surprised the rates never lowered again.  Since we're not big drinkers, I didn't figure we'd get much use out of the Beverage package and would have given it up for a lower fare.  No further reduction came, but it turned out really nice having the Beverage Package.  On board they were charging $44.99/person/day for the package which included up to 15 drinks a day as long as they were under $7@ ---per person!   We did end up using the drink package a lot---a couple beers a day, bottled water, soda, hot chocolate... .

2015 April--The Maasdam (suite A 182) and around the ship:

 

2015-4-20   St. Thomas---8am-6pm:

 

2015-4-21  St. Barths (8-3)  Shell Beach:

 

2015-4-22  St. Lucia---8am-3pm: Pigeon Island

 

2015-4-23  Barbados (8-5): Folkestone

 

2015-4-24  Grenada (8-5): Aquarium beach 

 

2015-4-26   Bonaire (8-5): Eden Beach (Spice Island)

 

2015-4-27  Curacao (8-6) Blue Bay

 

  
We were suppose to have a stop at Half Moon Cay, but the surf was too rough, so we ended up having another sea day.  Although I was disappointed, I was really happy with the way the rest of the cruise went and the beautiful weather we had at all the other ports.  Can't wait until we board another ship for ports unknown!

2015-4-23  Barbados (8-5): Folkestone

This was our 3rd time to Barbados.  It certainly isn't very impressive from the very industrial port.  But away from the port is a beautiful pretty wealthy island.

   First time we were there I took a photo tour and loved seeing the Scottish district and Bathsheba area. The next time we discovered Folkestone Marine Park.  This time we took a taxi and went back to Folkestone.  Fare was about $35/person rt.   Admission into the marine park is free.  

Heading in----

 a flounder

 a blue striped snapper

 a Parrotfish

 another Scrawled Filefish---they were everywhere in the Caribbean

 topography of the marine park.

 spotlight parrotfish

 a trunkfish

 another type of Parrotfish

a male Hogfish

 another type of blue head wrasse

 another type of filefish

 Looking back towards the lifeguard station, store, and restrooms.

Even came across this rather large barracuda.

 Looking down the walkway.  This is a great area. 

We were happy to see more people enjoying the area this year, but we still didn't run across anyone from the ship.  I wonder why they don't go here?!

 

2014-April 17, Barbados (8:30-4:30) :

  This is a port we've been to before, but that time I didn't think there was snorkeling from the shore so I went on a photography tour.    

  This time, I read there was good snorkeling from the shore at Folkestone Marine Park.  So we walked off the ship about 8:30 and were on our way to the taxi line when one of them came up to us.  RT to Folkestone (about 30 minutes north) was about $27@.  He offered a tour for $100 including dropping us off and picking us back up later from Folkestone.  We didn't have $100 cash, so offereed him $80.  He accepted and we were off on our private tour.  It was a nice but short tour.  I had hoped to see the Scottish area again and Bathsheba, but he stayed strictly on the northwest side.  Guess I can't blame him for the price we paid the the cost of gas (I think it was about $2.50/liter).  We still saw some pretty sights!  Like this beach, I think it's Payne's beach.

2012 Noordam 11 night cruise

11 night Southern Caribbean Cruise

After our last 2 November Caribbean cruises in less then ideal weather conditions, you would think we'ld learn not to cruise the Caribbean in hurricane season!  But we persisted and gave it another try.  This time we did our longest cruise yet---11 nights on the Noordam and had almost perfect weather the whole time!   We actually booked this cruise while we were on the Eurodam last year.

I chose this cruise , (Holland America's Noordam) mainly because it went to St. Lucia.  I've always wanted to see St. Lucia.  The cruise also included stops in St. Maarten, Barbados, Dominica, Martinique, St. Thomas, and Half Moon Cay.  It was very port intensive, which I loved---6 port days in a row, another port later.  Ken's more of a sea day fan, but he held up pretty well.

2012 Noordam ship

2012-11-5,6, and 7  Up to and including our first 3 nights:  Sea days

2012-11-8  St. Maarten 

2012-11-9  St. Lucia

2012-11-10  Barbados

2012-11-11 Martinique

2012-11-12  Dominica

2012-11-13 St. Thomas


After 6 port days in a row, the next day was a welcomed sea day!  Even though I'm not a big fan of sea days, the day of rest was nice.  Althought my plans for sleeping in didn't go so well.  Somewhere in the Caribbean waters I encountered what I assume was sea lice---invisible to the eye, larvae or jellyfish or other stinging ocean critters that attacked me---and I ended up with an extremely itchy rash.  I had this happen before on a couple of our trips to Hawaii (out of about 20 trips to Hawaii), so I wasn't surprised.  Apparently they don't bother everyone---like Ken---but they sure like me.  Took about 5 days for the extreme itching to subside.  At least it happened near the end of our cruise.

2012-11-15 Halfmoon Cay

his was Ken's 4th cruise, my 10th.   Other than my first cruise (when my Dad almost drowned), I haven't had a bad one yet (not counting weather).  I really enjoyed seeing the new places and revisiting the ones we've been to.  We enjoyed it so much we even did the onboard booking for the ship board credit for the next one.  The $200 ship board credit for booking onboard last year and the $100 OBC for having CCL stock came in really handy this year.  After gratuities of $12/day@ , the Canelleto dinner, and a couple other items we bought onboard, we only owed $56 when we debarked. 

Now to start dreaming about where to go next!





2012-10-11 Barbados:

Today we were in Barbados.  I had thought we would take the mass transit bus to Folkstone to a marine preserve there, but was told the reserve was pretty far off shore.  So I actually did a ship excursion here.  As a photographer, the "in-focus" tour sounded good.  Ken elected to stay at the port and wander around there.  I really fell for this lush little island!
Here's is the driveway to one of the many plantation houses on the island.  Sugar cane was a big producer for them.  In recent years, though, sale of sugar has fallen off.

The guide told us about some moveable wooden houses that working class people would occupy. They are called Chattel houses.  The term goes back to the plantation days when the home owners would buy houses designed to move from one property to another.  These houses were built without nails and could be quickly and easily disassembled and moved.  Now the home owners own their land and many add-ons can be seen on the remaining Chattel houses.  This is one of the better renovated ones.

The Scotland District appears as a half bowl containing the hilly highlands of Barbados, with a dense, in parts jungle-like vegetation, quite unlike the rest of the island, which is rather flat, deforested, and commonly used for agriculture.

 Another area we spent a bit of time in was Bathsheba.  The picturesque coastline reminds me somewhat of the Oregon coastline with palm trees.

 Good thing this stop was so scenic, or I might have been a little annoyed that we were at a liquor store.  But I did go check it out. 

 Apparently they make Mount Gay Rum here.

One of our stops gave us an overhead view of the Bathsheba coastline.

 Could have stayed here taking pictures forever.

 

 Scenic fields along the way back

 The port of Barbados is nothing to look at, but it leads to an interesting little island.

I figured a photographer would know where the best views of the island were.  I was right---this tour was fantastic and possibly worth the $80 I had to pay for it.