March 9, 2012 - Days 61 - 65

March 5, 2012 – Day 61 – Sea Day

At 10:00 AM we met with the Cruise Critic group in the Crows Nest. This was the third gathering to share experiences, and now, goodbyes. This has been a good experience, and we have met some very nice people. On March 10^th we will have the final group luncheon in the main dining room. Then it is farewell, till next time. Many of these folks have cruised together many times.

This is a formal night with a masquerade theme. We received masks at dinner. They are nice, but Alice brought some from home. We received those at a Construction Financial Management conference in New Orleans. They are very nice, and have held up very well. It was fun to wear them to the final ball after dinner. We did not win the mask competition, but we did not expect to. Some masks were from Carnaval, and one was from Venice with a lot of sparkle.

Tomorrow we arrive at Devil’s Island.

March 6, 2012 – Day 62 – Devil’s Island, French Guiana

We took the tender ashore just before 10 AM. It was very windy, but a smooth ride.

Devil’s Island is one of three small islands grouped about 8 miles from the mainland, but no one is allowed on Devil’s Island today. It was a French penal island until the mid 50’s, and had a reputation as being a dreadful prison. The island we toured was a prison for those sentenced to lesser terms, usually 8 years. These terms were extended based on violations of rules and attempts to escape.

The surf pounding the islands and the rocky coasts make escape virtually impossible. To attempt escape illustrated the level of desperation the prisoner experienced. The island itself was very hilly. In some places these were steep, and the paths were quite slippery as they were rocky and wet from dew or rain.

We walked all around the island. We visited the cemetery, the hospital, the chapel and, of course, the cells. Most are in a state of ruin with standing exterior walls and some roofs but falling walls inside. Those in better condition are in use for storage and tourism. The tourist place that we saw was a large hall with hammocks hung up by back packers. It is possible to “camp” here or one can stay in the hotel, a nice old building which is being well maintained, along with a restaurant and gift shop. We bought a post card at the gift shop, and mailed it to ourselves. We are curious to see how long it takes to get to Elk Grove.

The visit was fascinating. There was wild life all about. There were also many tourists. The hotel seemed to be quite busy. In fact they are adding some guest cottages across the road. 


We passed what seemed to be a water making facility and a generator building that provide all the comforts of home. We did not see quarters for the workers, who maintain the facilities and trails.

When we returned to the ship, we learned that just after our tender left, service was suspended. The swell that had caused our tender to rise and fall dramatically as we tried to board had gotten even worse. So they raised anchor and turned the Prinsendam around to create a better lee for the tenders. This delayed those behind us by 45 minutes. Glad we weren’t in the waiting area for that period.

The dining staff was dressed in prison garb for dinner. We all survived thanks to the good graces of the diningroom managers, who served as guards. The fun goes on.

March 7, 2012 – Day 63 – Sea Day

Today really has been a quiet sea day. We have started to work on our photos. Alice has learned some editing techniques from the Textspert, Will. We are employing those to get to a manageable number. We hope to create a photo album using iPhoto that will be a tolerable summary of what we saw. This is quite a challenge.

March 8, 2012 – Day 64 – Castries, St. Lucia

We were here 2 years ago, so we did not book any tours. Last time we rushed to a tour bus, and rushed to the ship on our return. We opted to walk around the town this time.

It was very interesting. We found the craft market, and then went into the produce market. Compared to the South American markets this was very primitive, which surprised us, because the economy seems to be as good or better than those towns in S A.

Next came another craft market. This was stall after stall of “hand made” goods, and we actually did meet some ladies making bead necklaces and earrings. They were nice and we spent all of the cash I had taken ashore to purchase some.

Back on board, we did some more work on photos before dinner.

March 9, 2012 – Day 65 – Pilipsburg, St. Marten

This is another port we toured 2 years ago. We walked around the dock area. Jewelry store after jewelry store. Diamonds International, Columbian Emeralds International and Tanzanite International dominated, but there were still many other stores. We managed to walk on by.

While we were at breakfast, Celebrity Silhouette docked next to us. We look like her tender. She towers about 5 stories over us, and is longer by far. She has deck after deck of veranda suites. As we left our gangway she was disgorging her tours. Yikes. Thank goodness they were all leaving on tour so we could walk the shops here.

When we had completed the tour of dock shops, we bought round trip water taxi tickets for $6 each. These are good for the whole day with unlimited trips to and from Philipsburg, and run every 10 minutes, to and from the ships. The pier at Philipsburg is right in city center. The public beaches stretch from either side of the pier, and the city center runs three blocks in and all along the beachfront. We walked the streets through the retail district and into the neighborhoods. Craft stalls lined our way as well. At the outskirts we headed toward Front Street, and followed it along the beach back to the water taxi.

We were back onboard for lunch. Then we donned our bathing suits, for the first time, sunscreen, and hats, and back to the water taxi again. This time we stayed on the beach dipping into the lovely blue Caribbean. As we stood in the shallows, the waves undermined our feet. It took effort not to topple into the surf, as the waves swept out. The water was very warm, and quite a contrast to Ipanema Beach in Rio. After a satisfactory stay on the beach, we returned to the Prinsendam.

It is sad, but our next step ashore will be in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. Our passports were returned to us this afternoon, and a luggage mat has been delivered to our room. The mat will keep the bedding clean, when we put the suitcases up for packing. That will be tomorrow. We have received the FedEx labels for shipping 4 bags home. We will collect them in the terminal in Ft. Lauderdale, pass through customs, and then, leave them with the FedEx agent. How civilized! This Grand Voyaging is really nice, and we hope to do more of it in the future! For now we are savoring this experience. It is all too close to being over.

Barring some problem, I will post my final update from Elk Grove Village on Monday or Tuesday.