Christmas 2015 St. Thomas and Barbados

St. Thomas and Barbados

I boarded the Carnival Liberty on Sunday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

On Monday we docked on the US virgin island St. Thomas  I rode in an open air jeep to an eco tour place Everyone was put into tandem kayaks but me.  I was odd man out so the first time I ever kayaked was alone in the Caribbean Sea.  Half way to the island we were going to, we pulled over so the guides could tell us about mangroves.  How they are thousands of years old and practically impossible to uproot.  They use them as a hurricane shelter.  They tie boats to the mangroves before a hurricane comes and the boats survive.  The first part was ok, then we got to a really open area where it was really windy and I struggled to keep up.  I finished about 7 minutes behind the others.  Poor Mortimer hasn’t done much work in a year (I have had this frozen shoulder for a year!!! Hard to believe!)  but he was a champ and we made it.  We got out of the kayaks and snorkeled.  I have only snorkeled once before in the Maldives and enjoyed it.  I didn’t enjoy this much – I’m not sure if something was wrong with my snorkel but I kept getting water in my mouth and nose.  After snorkeling we went on a short hike.  There were sand crabs everywhere and we each chose one and had a crab race.  They said three times a year, the crabs all line up and get out of their shells and move into the next size shell!  Like getting new school clothes.  Very cool.  

A really poisonous tree, manchineel tree, in the world lives in the island we were hiking on.  Its sap causes 2^nd – 3^rd degree burns and the fruit – a “death apple”  causes death in 45 minutes.  Apparently half of Christopher Columbus’s crew died when they ate them.  We gave the two tees we saw a wide berth J We kayaked back and I kept up this time.  I went back on the ship to take a nap – still battling jet lag.

I ate dinner in the main dining room.  I liked the set up on this ship – that I’m supposed to eat at the same table every day so I can meet people.  I was there by myself for quite awhile – at a table for 10! And it was looking grim.  Then a mother, Angela, and her 20 something daughter Anja joined me.  They are from Kansas City and we had a nice conversation.

Tuesday – at sea.  I explored the ship a bit, took a nap, read, and watched movies.  I tried to walk around the deck which I enjoy doing, but they had it blocked off due to wind. 

Wednesday – Barbados

I was signed up to snorkel with turtles at a ship wreck.  But I am starting to develop a cough with whatever this illness is that I have.  I didn’t think that coughing would allow me to keep my snorkel in my mouth.  I opted to walk into the town and explore.  It wasn’t anything like St. Thomas.  It looked like a very poor, crime ridden area.  All the windows and doors to shops had bars on them.  The buildings all looked run down.  There were people everywhere since it is the 23^rd of December and many people took off work. 

They had all these trees decorated in the park - they were sponsored by different elementary schools and the kids made decorations. 

I paid for a taxi to drive me around the island for an hour and a half.  I picked a bum driver – he seemed chatty when I hired him, but then barely spoke and answered my questions with few words so I didn’t feel like a got a ton of info about the island.  He did take me to Gun Hill Signal Station.  It was beautiful and was one of the last working signal stations on the island that the British had.