Miami, March 9-10, 2015

After two days at sea, we arrived in Miami.  In some ways we were sad to leave the ship and enter back into reality.  On the other hand, we were in Miami and staying overnight.  And although I loved this adventure, I was actually looking forward to going home as well.




We left the ship after having to go through customs at 6:45 pm and having our final breakfast, with relative ease, and found a taxi to take us to our hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites Miami Brickell.  My last year's trip to Miami had us staying at the Blue Lagoon Hampton Inn by the airport and although it was great, it is a bit far from central Miami.  I picked this hotel due to its excellent ratings, relatively affordable price, and central location.  We were able to check right into our huge (compared to a ship cabin) room and took the nearby Metromover free of charge to Bayfront Park and got on the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off bus and went to Miami Beach.  Val hadn't been in Miami in years and I had enjoyed doing this last year.









I didn't take many pictures as I had so many from my last year's trip but the Art Deco architecture is wonderful but it was noisy as there is so much construction occurring!








After our tour (we didn't get off) we came back and had a lovely lunch














And then we took another circuit that goes through Coral Gables and Little Harvana.





Above is the famous Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.





The mural below is in Little Havana.







I can't resist those palm leaves!




It was pleasant just riding around and Val enjoyed seeing Miami again.











Back for a cold drink before heading back to our hotel.






I had to check out the pool which was quite lovely and a little bigger than the one on the Journey!



and then we had dinner next door!  And there still is something about Florida nights!  Brickell is the business section of Miami, it's downtown and an area that was fun to explore.



Next morning a great breakfast (although of course we missed our service and silverware from the Journey) and then we set off on a walk around the neighbourhood.








Do you think the owner matches the dog and the decor?

This was a very stylish barber shop below...

And then we headed back to the hotel and then off to the airport!  We really enjoyed this transition in Miami before going home!



Val and I flew to Montreal together and then I had another flight to Vancouver arriving home about 14 hours after leaving the hotel!  At least I only had to see the snow as we landed in Montreal and I came home to daffodils blooming but it was quite a few degrees cooler than Miami!  But what a wonderful adventure we had!!!

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Gorda, British Virgin Islands

I loved sitting out on our deck watching the waves go by and here we could see ourselves heading into the Virgin Islands.
Things don't always go smoothly. First when we went to report for our tour on board we were informed most people on the tour had already boarded the tender even though we had arrived on time.  when fourteen of us got to shore, there wasn't a bus for us.  We were told by the local tour coordinator that somehow a mistake had been made but a bus would be coming back for us.  I won't bore you with details but it was an hour before an appropriate bus finally arrived.


But once we were aboard the scenery was quite spectacular!


And our tour guide was very good!


Gorda is the second most populated British Virgin Island, but there are less than 4000 people living here!


It is a volcanic island which explains its dramatic scenery...


After we had toured the island by bus we were taken for a boat ride where the rest of our tour group had been waiting an hour for us, wondering what had happened.


Our boat ride was very pleasant and of course there was rum punch...


We were shown the estates of the rich and famous, such as Virgin's Richard Branson...


Some of our group had gone to the Baths to swim and explore its caves but we just waved.



Eventually we returned to where our tenders came in.

It was very pretty but the shops were not too tempting...


But definitely a beautiful island and I was definitely reminded of my trip to St. Thomas last year.

Just thought I would give you one of those Caribbean perfect sunsets!
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Barbados Day 2

The next morning we hadn't planned a tour and that turned out just as well as our polo evening was transferred to that night but much earlier so it would have been a rush if we had had another tour as well.






We elected to walk back into town and it was a lovely walk (not really worth a taxi ride)













I didn't go into this shop but certainly beautiful hand painted fashions




Our tour in town included a visit to the Parliamentary Museum and Gallery of Heroes.  We had hoped to visit parliament but we were told we were not well enough dressed-no shorts please!  But we really enjoyed the Museum and Gallery of Heroes especially how contemporary Barbadian artists had done an interpretive art piece about the particular hero.  Barbados has a very interesting history and this museum really explained  some of its key players who fought for equality and rights for the former slaves particularly and blacks and poorer people in general.

You are continually offered taxi rides and island tours on the island and we decided to take a taxi back to the ship and we were struck by the helpfulness of a young Barbadian man and his Canadian girl friend.  We really enjoyed our conversation with this particularly taxi driver.

We had a good time shopping in the pier shopping gallery and in one shop in particular, Made in Barbados where goods are designed on the island and locally made as much as possible. I thought I had bought a lot but wished I had bought more when I got home!

At five o'clock most of the cruise passengers (over 500 people) were loaded into buses for our Amazing Evening-we were off to to an exhibition polo match.  It was a rather spectacular sky and weather looked a bit iffy but we did stay dry.

We were given an additional surprise with a Barbadian Carnivale style parade prior to the polo match!





Great fun!  The stilt walkers were particularly amazing!  Those stilts were high and these gentlemen were really agile!  Needless to say we were served drinks and snacks!





We all found the game quite interesting although with a big field and only twelve players not easy to always see the action.  Fortunately someone had a good pair of binoculars.  We could see why they have to keep changing horses-it's hard, fast work, and a big field.

We had an excellent tour guide on the way back who was really informative!  And when we got back to the ship there was a big buffet and then a White Night where guests were encouraged to wear white and there was great music with all the performers participating.




We really had a fun couple of days in Barbados, and it is a place I would enjoy having the opportunity to spend more time!

Barbados Day 1

Due to internet problems on board ship I gave up attempting to do a blog while on my travels so here I am almost two weeks later catching up.  We glided into Barbados-no tenders needed here!






We had a tour that began in the early afternoon so we decided to go into town.  There are a zillion taxis as you leave the pier area.  This time we took one with some other people.



Bridgetown was a very busy town especially since our last stop had been Devil's Island.  It is the capital of Barbados and the buildings above  are the Parliament Buildings.







Below is a statue of  one of Barbados heroes, Errol Barrow.

I liked how this guy knew how to relax!

I loved the bright colours!














Somehow there is always a pirate ship in the West Indies...








Barbados is divided into parishes, each with an Anglican church and this was Bridgetown's, St. Mary's Church.















After checking out the church we continued our walk back to the ship to grab an early lunch so that we could go on our tour the island on a 4 by4 vehicle and visit a wildlife reserve to visit the green monkeys whose kidneys have been used for the polio vaccine.








The trip began well as our driver drove around the island and explained highlights of the various parishes to us.









We arrived at the wildlife preserve at feeding time and you can see i was happy to immediately see turtles.







and lots of monkeys









and a peacock or two










and a very strange little animal that looked like a combination of a rabbit and a deer…apparently he was an agouti but looked bigger and moved much more slowly than the ones on Devil's Island.






Below are Brocket deer, not native to Barbados.









Neither are the caiman below.  There were reptiles and snakes but I missed them in their compound completely but I did see enough animal life to make me happy.








This is a sample of the coral rock which is what basically Barbados is made from and used a great deal in buildings as well.









Here's our vehicle-please notice how open the passenger section is!






After some rum punch we proceeded around the island.








The Atlantic beaches in the north are beautiful with pounding waves but the Caribbean side is better for swimming.
























The weather began to deteriorate and





the rain began pounding so that Val and I sitting in the front were busy trying to keep the plastic flap windshields down but note we were basically soaked by the end of the ride-fortunately it was warm rain!


We were supposed to go to an Azamara Amazing Evening at the Polo Grounds but we were rained out so got to do laundry instead!  But we still had a pleasant evening now that we were dry!