It's Thursday and we are in Barbados

Thursday, September 25th - Barbados

Port time: 7-4:45
Evening attire: Semi Formal (Animator's Palate, show - Captain's Gala)
Evening Entertainment: The umBides
Drink of the Day: High Tide

This morning was not an early morning start at Barbados.  We were to meet Silver Moon Catamaran at 9:00 am at the Terminal gate 2.  DD9 was exhausted:

I had made a huge mistake on this port.  Over a year ago, I booked Sail Calabaza - a 12 person catamaran trip to swim with the turtles.  They get the highest rating in Trip Advisor and book way ahead.  A week before we sailed, I was double checking my reservations with everyone and discovered I had booked them for Wednesday, not Thursday.  Devastated, I emailed Gina and asked if there was anything I could do.  She emailed back that they were full but she would call around and ask for me.  She found Silver Moon had room.  So we booked with them.

Silver moon has a 12 and 24 person cat day lunch trips.  We were on the 12 person cat.  Technically, our family of 4 made it 13 people but I think Gina pulled some strings so they would accept us for our heart breaking mistake.  The Cat on the right is the one we were on.

It was heaven on earth.  The bus picked us up at Gate 2 a little late because the Disney groups were chartered by the bus first.  It was a 5 minute trip around the harbor to our Cat.  I had to pay a 50% deposit via credit card the week before to secure the booking and the balance in cash that morning when we arrived at the boat.

Stacy was our female captain for the day.  She took our shoes, relayed the rules and we were off!  It was a gorgeous trip, beautiful weather and calm sailing.  We enjoyed sitting on the tarps on the front of the cat and just relaxing.

Soon, the alcohol was served (of course) and we had ample soda, water, beer and wine available.

Our first stop was to the snorkel site for the turtles.  There was one turtle hanging around.  The 2 crew members on our cruise (plus the captain) got into the water with us and one guy fed the turtle and the other one helped anyone who needed assistance with snorkeling or swimming.  It was amazing to be up close and personal with the gigantic sea turtle.  We all got to touch him as he swam by.

After that stop, we went to another spot that had a shipwreck and again our crew members got in the water with us to snorkel around.  They fed the fish.  It was fantastic.

Soon, we headed off to our 3rd stop and here is where we had a fabulous lunch.  The crew set it up and we jumped off the cat and swam around.  The beach, I believe was privately owned but after lunch, we swam up to shore and saw the most amazing thing.  A baby sea turtle coming out of the sand and heading to the water!!!!!  I didn't get a photo but our sea mates did so they have promised to email it to me soon.  I can't wait to upload it HERE!!!  Truly a highlight of our experience.

All too soon, it was time to head back.  The skies were dark to the west of us and we chatted with a lovely couple with 2 kids the whole way back.  They were great and it turns out they were on the same dining rotation as us and same early seating.  We saw them several times after that and chatted.

All too soon, our day came to an end.  We didn't want to leave. This excursion was the highlight of all the ones we did.  It got 2 thumbs up by all 4 of us.

Tonight was semi-formal night so we sort of got dressed up again.  DD12 wanted a photo with pluto so we went down to see him too.

The dining rotation was in Animator's tonight and we had the drawing show to do.  Everyone got a special placemat to draw a picture on, usually a person.  We all got creative.  H got especially creative by making a man with a garage door with a power tool in his hand.  Esther came back to our table and says "Oh.My.God.  Is that a gun?????"  H said no, it was a power tool but she was concerned because 'mickey doesn't like guns or suggestions of guns'.  So she convinced him to change it, hilarious!

Our animations came to life on the screens later.  It was fun to see.

After the dinner, we all agreed we didn't want to see the theater show tonight, some sort of local gaucho act.  So we decided to brave the Aquadunk and pools, since no one was around up on deck and it was a perfect time/night.  It was a fun experience but not something I'd wait for.  You climb to the top of the smoke stack and get in the chute.  It's closed on you and the floor drops out from under you and you fall down and through a slide for 10 seconds.  I asked the attendant what the chances are of getting a wedgie and he said 99%.  On my second try, he told me that I wouldn't get one if I wore a t-shirt.  Thanks for telling me after the fact. . .  Even DD12 tried but she didn't like it.  H said it was ok.  DD9 chickened out.

A storm came up with lightning so we had to get out and call it a night.  And went to bed sad, knowing Friday was our last full day on board the Magic.

It's Wednesday and we are in Grenada

It’s Wednesday and we are in Grenada (September 24)

Docking time: 7:00-4:45 pm
Evening Attire: Cruise Casual (Lumiere’s) – Prince and Princess
Evening Entertainment: Villains Tonight!
Drink of the day: Princess Delight

Island of Spice!  This day, we had organized a group for an island tour with Stan of J n J Tours.  The 4 of us plus another couple with a child and 3 adults joined together from our cruise facebook group to tour the island.  It turns out, Stan had another 2 vans also with people booked.

We woke the kids early, DD9 was very, very tired.  H and DD12 went up to the buffet and I grabbed a plate quick for DD9 to eat in the room.  We left the ship around 7:15 am and met up with Stan just inside the cruise port building.

Stan ended up waiting for some other people, I’m not sure if they showed or not but he ended up driving the van we were in, none of the other people in our cruise group ended up in our van.  I was disappointed, I wanted to get to know them but we all got split up in the vans.  Stan narrated about the island during the drive around.

Our first stop was the Annandale Waterfalls.  Once we arrived, there were vendors around trying to sell us things.  We walked down to the falls and several men were there who jumped 50 feet from the cliffs above for tips.  It started to rain while we were there but it felt good because it was so hot.

Stan then took us to Grand Etang National park and Volcano Lake.  The rain had stopped by this time but the place was muddy.  There were also vendors here but they weren’t pushy like the previous ones.  The Disney busses were also here so it was busy but our family of 4 went on the trail up to the lookout and were the only ones to do so.  It was quiet and peaceful at the lookout and we saw a beautiful view all the way to the ocean from there.  Even though my shoes got ruined in the clay mud, I felt it was worth it.

When we returned to the vans, Stan had beer, soda and water for everyone ready.  We saw a brief glimpse of some wild monkeys in the trees and the locals tried to call them out but they were shy.

Our next stop was a spice shop.  Stan and the lady who owned it gave us demonstrations on the various spices grown: Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Cocoa beans and a few others.  We ended up buying some spices, they smelled so good!

The final stop before the beach was Fort Frederick (have to look it up)  We spent about 30 minutes here exploring it on our own.  The site is not ADA approved, lol.  None of the sites were and I believe this tour requires exertion due to the steps and walking we did.

I believe the other 2 vans went back to the ship but Stan brought us to a beach next, Grand Anse.  This beach was only 10 minutes from the ship and was absolutely gorgeous.

However, the vendors and beggers were horrible.  We paid $20 for an umbrella and 2 chairs.  Then we had to change and the lady charged us $1 to use the restroom.  Then we ordered something to eat and they only had a few things on the menu that were available and the 2 cheeseburgers and fries were $22 total.

People kept coming up to us and wanting to braid our hair or give massages or sell us something and then a blind/disabled man came down the beach.  He would periodically fall in front of people and sit there and beg for money.  Of course he fell right in front of us and stayed there for 10 minutes and finally got up on his sticks and hobbled about 25 feet further and fell again.  He made his way down the line of chairs the entire time we were there.

So while the beach was beautiful, I didn’t care for the set up.  Since we were already paying for a tour, it wasn’t the best way to do a beach.

After about an hour, Stan took our group back to the ship.  We went on board, had the kids do the laundry (lol) and H and I returned to the terminal for wi-fi.  It was $3 for wi-fi in one of the shops but the speed was S-L-O-W.  H wandered the shops in the terminal and all was good until he came back to me and asked if we could go.  He looked distressed but I wasn’t ready to leave so he said he would meet me back at the ship.  Later, I found out that H was propositioned by a local to go see some ‘black booty’.  Gross!  No one offered me the alternative, I wasn’t bothered at all in the shops.

We ordered more mickey bars that afternoon and then headed to Lumieres for Prince and Princess menu night.  It was another great night of service by Esther and Fabio.  Esther had arranged the night before to have the cooks make my daughters anything they wanted.  They both chose pasta, one was Spaghetti and one was Chicken Alfredo.  It was a nice touch for them.

After dinner, DD12 and I went to “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer?” in the D lounge.  DD didn’t get chosen but it was fun to watch the show and guess the answers.

Our evening ended with only DD12 and I attending the show, Villains Tonight!  We both enjoyed it.

Again, everyone turned in early.  DD9 was sleeping when we got back and H didn’t want to wake her for the show so they both missed it.

It's Tuesday and we are in St. Lucia

Tuesday, September 23 - St. Lucia

Docking time: 7:15-4:45

Evening Attire: Pirate – Carioca’s (Pirate menu)
Evening Entertainment: Guardians of the Galaxy in 3-D
Drink of the day: Sunken Treasure

We were scheduled to meet with the Son of Man Sea tour at 8:15 am so H and I got up early and had the buffet and brought back plates for the kids and woke them up.  We disembarked around 8 am.  There wasn’t much around the port area except for the usual vendor people trying to sell you a tour.

A security personnel stopped us at the info desk because we were waiting there for our rep.  She didn’t know who Son of Man Sea Tours.  She asked some local tour operators about it.  They didn’t know either.  One big guy, named Mango, said he was calling the tour operator but I highly suspect he was lying.

He then got off the phone and said we were to go with him.  So we did.  He took us to another dock and we waited for about 15 minutes while he went to look for another couple.  He said that we were touring with him today.  Personally, I think he just saw us as an opportunity to get more business and jumped on it.  But it was the same tour we were doing anyway and we got to name our own price, lol.

Mango left us at the dock for a few minutes with some other random guys and boats who chatted pleasantly while we waited.  He returned empty handed and told us to get in his boat, so we did, still not sure what was happening, lol!

DD9 was a bit tired so she rested on the seats:

We boated over to one of the resorts and waited about 20 minutes and he told us the history of the island.  Eventually, we picked up 3 other couples and he took us on a 30 minute boat ride to Soufrieres.

As we approached this gorgeous harbor, he showed us the bat cave, where thousands of bats slept until night.

Mango then turned us over to a set of 3 taxi vans and a larger group of about 20 people went in 2 of the vans while our boat used the 3^rd van.  Mango said he would return for us when it was time to head back to the ship.  I was sorry to see him go, he was a very nice man, even though I didn’t know who had kidnapped us.  We were joined by another  young man who FINALLY had a name and it turns out, we had been kidnapped by Joy Cruises – a family run business.

For some reason, I felt more secure knowing the name of the company (I don’t know how that would help in a bad situation) and relaxed in the crappy old van for our tour.  We winded our way up and around St. Lucia and stopped at a pretty viewing area of the Pitons:

We then headed to our first stop: Sulpher Springs and the volcano.  There was definitely a rotton egg smell to the area.

The springs was also the location of the mud baths.  H and DD12 declined this part of the journey but DD9 made it part way and found the water to be too hot and left me alone with the strangers to smear mud on my body alone and sit in the water.

The mud was an interesting experience and I think it may have ruined my bathing suit so make sure you wear an old one.  By the time our group was done, it started to rain so we piled into the vans and went to the next stop.  I forgot my sunglasses at the baths but the older (young) guide brought them to me.

20 minutes later, we went to a waterfall.  It was ok, quite a hike to get there up and down steps so I would hesitate to do it if I was in poor health.  The waterfall fell into a concrete pool (seriously) and on the other side, another concrete pool was pumped with hot water for a hot tub experience.

We stayed there for a bit and then piled back in for lunch.  Again, I forgot my sunglasses at the waterfall and the same guide brought them back to me. . . 

They took us to the harbor and then we ALL crammed into a new boat (the boat that held the 20 other people).  This was very crowded, I felt there were too many people in the boat but it was only a 5 minute ride to a secluded beach area for lunch.

Joy cruises had set up the meal there and we had jerked chicken, fish, plantains, sweet potatoes, salads, mashed potatoes and a few other things.  Plus a coconut sweet candy.  It was very good.  I tried the native foods with interest.

H talked to the young guide and discovered his cousin, sister and uncle were among those who were guiding us.  It truly was a family business.

After our lunch, we crammed back into the boat and went to the beach between the Pitons.  This was absolute paradise.  There was a resort between the pitons that took up most of the beach area and we were not allowed to use the chairs there but we could swim and sit on the sand there.  I could have stayed here forever.

The left-hand side of the beach was the snorkeling trail and public beach access.  There were a few chairs there but not many.  We were handed snorkeling gear and waved away for about 1 hour.  The girls had a great time snorkeling.  DD9 got a life jacket to use.  The guides kept checking with our family, as we were the only ones with kids (the rest were couples from the resort and were young to older couples).

Eventually Mango returned and said he would bring us back to the ship.  About 20 minutes before we left, this huge ferry-type boat docked and disengorged all the Disney Excursion guests.  It must have held over 100 people.  The little public area got crowded after that so we were happy to leave.

Mango took us and the other 3 couples on his boat again.  He offered us beer (Piton, ick) and soda and water.  We enjoyed watching the coastline as we boated back to the harbor for about 30-45 minutes.  We also stopped to check out some celebrity houses like Oprah, Mick Jagger, etc. . .  We took a quick peek at the harbor where Dr. Doolittle was filmed (the older version).  I think we also passed the beach in which the Bachelor was filmed when Don Pablo walked down the beach but I really don't care about that. . .  We made it back to the port at around 2:30-3:00 pm.

The kids ordered mickey bars from room service and we just hung around the room until it was time to dress for dinner.  We did not dress in pirate gear but many people did and they all looked great.  The menu was Pirate in Carioca’s.  The wait staff did a limbo line for the mini-show in the dining room.

After our dinner, DD9, H and I went to Guardians of the Galaxy in 3-D as our main show.  DD12 went back to the room.  I fell asleep during the show, sad to say.

H wanted to go to the pirate show, buffet and fireworks but once we got back to our stateroom, we all crashed hard.  We had to be up early the next day anyway.

*** St. Lucia was our favorite port out of all 5 of them.  We will definitely stay here for an extended stay sometime in the future.