Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines – December 31

island wildlife

Weather…mostly sunny, scattered
showers, 27 degrees, humid

Today is the first of 5 Caribbean ports. It is another late morning tour, so we can sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast including a Bloody Mary as it is Mary Saturday.

Welcome to St. Vincent

The city port if right in town, so we walk off the boat and 5 minutes later we are welcomed by steel drums and onto a small tour bus with 12 other passengers.

sailing in

Our first stop is Kingstown’s botanical garden. Although this garden is 20 hectares our short wander takes about 30 minutes. We see a variety of trees and plants, many brought to St. Vincent from other parts of the world including breadfruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cannonball trees. Just as we were exiting the gardens was a woman with a giant cooler filled with beers, waters and pop…she persuaded us to buy a bus beer ($3USD)…I do love a bus beer!

Saturday Marys

Next we visit the 1763 Fort Charlotte. The draw of visiting the fort are the sweeping

new year's moon

views of the town and water. An interesting bit about the fort is that the cannons point inland, as the fort was built to protect the English from the indigenous people and the French, who were more inclined to attack from land than the sea. The drive to the first was TRECHEROUS! The road seems like it is a one way, but of course it isn’t. Each time we take a turn the driver honks to alert on coming traffic…I guess it worked as I’m here to tell the tale.

Good morning St. Vincent

The last stop was to a water-front hotel/resort for a rum punch…it was delicious. The rum used was called “Very Strong Rum” and was 84.5%!

The guide we had today was one of the very best we’ve ever had…definitely makes for a wonderful experience.

bus beer

awesome guide

The port had a small area with a bar, shops and a 2-man steel band. We sat there for a bit with 4 beers…4 for $10USD. As with many other ports they are full of ship staff using the Wi-Fi to talk to their homes. It’s always cool to see the staff out of their uniforms not working their butts off!

rum punch

Fort Charlotte

The ship had a New Year’s Eve party planned on
the pool deck, but it turned out to be too windy and it was moved inside. We bailed…we were interested in the outside party, but the inside party made it same ol for us. After a great dinner, we saw a comedian and

port beers

then rung in the new year with wine in our room…I wasn’t sad about it.

after the mist

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean – December 30

seafood platter

Weather…overcast, cloudy, passing showers, warm, humid, 27 degrees

An overcast sky is welcome this morning. I’m happy to not be ducking out from the sun, chasing shade. We spend the morning at the pool, me blogging, Chris reading. Luckily, we are under cover so each passing shower is only something to look at rather than to dodge.

Tonight’s dinner is at one of the ship’s ‘specialty’ restaurants. The appeal of the 2 ‘specialty’ restaurants escapes us. One is a steak house and the other is French. They are small compared to the main dining room, with more or less fixed menus. The main dining room has a different menu each night and other than last night’s dinner which was a bomb (not THE bomb), every night is something different and delicious.

Anyway…tonight we have a reservation at the steak restaurant. What we most want here is their seafood platter. When we tell the waiter we want to share this for our main and don’t actually want a steak, he tries to suggest a small steak…nope…we are getting the seafood and that’s it (ok, bring us a side of onion rings)…in addition to an appetiser and salad…ah…this is plenty of food!

Devil's Island, French Guiana – December 29

yes, we're in France

Weather…hot – 30ish, humid, muggy, sunny, you get the pattern. The cruise staff has repeatedly warned us about how hot and humid it is here, and they weren’t wrong…India was more so, Turkey was more so, but this is up there! This is why included ship-done laundry is such a luxury! 

more monkeys!

monkey!!!

stairs to ???

I woke up today after a night of the ship rocking and rolling to my belly doing its own rocking and rolling. As I mentioned yesterday, this is not unusual for me after a few days at sea. We were told that the
bay we’ll be anchored in today should provide shelter which is exactly what happened. As we approached our anchor spot, the water calmed right down and so did my belly. However, right before we entered the bay the swells were pretty big and a few

insect nest??

things in our bathroom toppled to the floor. I’m doubly glad my belly calmed down as I don’t feel like being sick on Devil’s Island…apparently the ‘facilities’ are ‘rustic’. I’m happy to use a ‘hole’ to do some of my business in, but not all of my business if you catch my drift!

abandoned building

Apparently, like we were rocking and rolling so much last night because of how shallow the cove is around Devil’s Island…the ship can’t use its stabilizers…this means my belly will be doing
cartwheels AGAIN as we leave, which is exactly what happened. I called it a bit of an early night – an even earlier night actually as we turn the clocks back an hour tonight!!!

ship

French Guiana is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northeast corner of South America. Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. They use Euros here. This isn’t the only Euro (actually French) port we’ll be visiting before this cruise is done…we brought euros.

children's cemetery

Devil’s Island was a French penal colony that operated from 1852 to 1952 – kind of like Australia but didn’t quite turn out like Australia did. It was infamous for the harsh treatment of prisoners and the tropical climate and diseases. At its worst the prison had a death rate of 75%. The movie Papillion was based on Devil’s Island. I haven’t seen either version of this movie but may before the cruise is over…it’s playing on the TV here.

We learn that we are the first cruise ship to visit Devil’s Island since covid. I’m

still not entirely sure why the boat stops here. This is only the 2nd stop we’ve ever made with a cruise where no tours available. I suspected that there must be something in it for the ship, this was confirmed by another passenger we spoke to who mentioned that the taxes, or fees or something were lower, or nonexistent to stop here.

In the end I’m glad we came here. It was a wonderful day despite the heat

biere

and humidity. The island is gorgeous…lush, lush, lush. I feel like I said that about Rio’s urban forest, which that was, but this is rugged and uninhabited. Exactly as I’d picture Gilligan’s Island!

There is little more to do here than hike

the 1-hour trek around the island, visit old, abandoned prison buildings, marvel at nature, and grab a beer at the island’s solo bar, and that’s plenty. The landscape is palm trees, vines, rocky coast and crashing waves. All of this sprinkled with the occasional monkey, lizard/iguana, agouti (big guinea pig like animals) and peacock.

As we entered the bay, we could see 3 small islands in the distance while one of the ship’s lecturers narrated our arrival. He pointed out things of interest and

gave additional information. This played on our TV, which was a pretty neat way to wake up. We’ve been on cruises with this who is super informative. He’s been lecturing for the past couple of days about Devil’s Island – its history and what to expect. Regent cruises typically have lecturers onboard illuminating areas of the world we are visiting…these lecturers can we seen live in the ship’s theatre, or they play on TVs in the rooms…we watch on our TV.

A 7-minute tender boat ride got us to the island around 11AM. As we approach

the island, I can’t help but think that this is exactly what I’d imagine Gilligan’s Island looking like - I’m not sure any more vegetation could fit onto the island. Most people took the paved road around the island to the abandoned prison buildings which was a good idea…a fair number of people we cruise with are older (and we’re not exactly spring chickens!) and have mobility challenges. The path we take hugs the mostly rocky coast and has us negotiating slippery rocks, protruding

Devil's Island(s)

roots, fallen trees, puddles and enormous insect nests…we think the nests are termites having seen similar before, but who knows. At one point we where there must have been what I’m assuming are a million congregating insects that make the loudest sounds…it creeped me out a bit so I didn’t stick around to investigate. The monkeys more or less minded their own business and just let us watch them, which I could have done all day despite me melting. We’ve encountered aggressive city monkeys in the past, looking for food and shiny objects being habituated by humans…Devil’s Island monkeys…not so much.

abandoned prison

giant log and giant rock

Then we checked out the abandoned prison buildings, the children’s cemetery (brutal) and finally found the hotel/bar for a beer. We try Jeune Gueule – a local beer we’ve never seen before (one that’s 8.5% and one that’s 6%...yikes!)  We are no longer enjoying South American (or maybe I should say Brazilian) prices. The beers cost us €6 each (9CAD). I’m happy to say I didn’t find out how rustic the facilities were…with all this sweating, I see why they don’t invest in their facilities.

back to the tender

We spoke to some passengers who have been to Devil’s Island many times and choose not to get off today…If I ever come back, I’ll definitely be getting off…

WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY!!!!!

just to do that hike again…glorious!

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean – December 28

pre-lunch snack delivery

Weather…30 degrees, overcast in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, late afternoon/evening showers and, wait for it…muggy

Aperol Spritzes & chips for the table 

This is the last of 3 sea days in a row. Nothing much different to report except that I think I’m feeling a bit seasick. Nothing significant or that impedes me from doing anything. I’ve felt this before…after a number of sea days, when the waves are a bit significant, I tend to feel a bit woozy. At first, I think I had one drink too many last night, but… nope…it’s the motion of the ocean. We should be on land tomorrow and my belly should be back to normal. I say should, because we heard today that the conditions may be too choppy for tendering to our port. In our experience when we are told ahead of time to expect that we may not port, that’s to get everyone prepared for the worst…if we are able to reach land that will be a bonus.

an Italian feast tonight for dinner

Every time we are on a cruise, we find ourselves comparing our current
experience to previous ones. This is our 272nd day on Regent Seven Seas Cruises. 272, plus maybe 100 nights on other cruise lines gives us a fair amount of cruise ship experience. One thing I’ll say about this time is that the Wi-Fi isn’t terrible, it isn’t great, but it isn’t terrible. Past attempts at uploading pictures to the blog would have me uploading and leaving my computer to do its thing and come back 30 minutes later to see only one photo uploaded. This time, it takes about 30 seconds. Most anything to do with videos (YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, etc.) won’t work – I think these are blocked, but that’s not a big deal for us. Chris is having trouble downloading a Kindle book, which is weird and a pain for him.

I typically don’t do much reading when I’m writing the blog. Blogging consumes much of my free time that I might use to read. However, somehow I’m onto my second book of the vacation. The first I read was “A Gypsy in Auschwitz”, a bit of
a heavy vacation read, but one I’d highly recommend, and now I’m onto “We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story” by Simu Liu. Both books are easy reads with their fair share of emotional bits – maybe obvious for a book about the Holocaust, but damn you Simu Liu and your sentimental, charming, hilarious book – just one more reason not to wear mascara at the pool!

Our 2nd ‘code mike’ of this cruise came tonight. This is the cruise code for a medical emergency. Obviously, something no one ever wants to hear on a cruise.

We had an early night back at the room, splitting a beer and balcony blogging illuminated by the moon…glorious!

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean – December 27

I found it!

crossing the equator

Weather…sunny then overcast, HOT, muggy

Another wonderful day at sea…it’s almost like it’s Groundhog Day. The excitement for today was crossing the equator. This is the second time we’ve crossed the equator. Each time a cruise ship crossed the equator, they make a big deal of the event with a ‘kissing the fish’ ceremony. Pre-covid this wasn’t exactly our style, but

documented

now swapping lip germs with a bunch of strangers is the last thing I want to do. Instead, we had our own ceremony at the back of the ship with our own toast to the equator.

caviar party

Another bit of excitement was my trip to the ship's spa for a pedicure. We have some ship-board credit to spend and when everything onboard is included... excursions, booze, internet, laundry, there's not much to spend the credit on...the spa is a good place. Too bad we can't spend it in the casino...we've already donated our fair share there.

We learned today that there are 455 crew and 432 passengers. The ship has a capacity of about 650 passengers. We haven’t heard any explanation for why the low number. We figure there must be some cabins saved for covid quarantine, when necessary, but when we talked to a staff member about this, she claimed covid cabins weren’t a thing anymore.

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean – December 26

cool towels!

Weather…sunny with a few wispy clouds, not enough to give any reprieve from the sun, STICKY, 30 degrees, sun rise is 6AM – when we started on the cruise 5 days ago in Brazil it was 5AM.

Ahhhh, the sea day…how do I love thee, let me count the ways. The only schedule to have is when to have a meal, when to take a nap, and when to quench my thirst…what’s not to love?

dessert Kahlua soufflé

More or less exactly as every sea day before today was spent and as every sea day in my future will be spent, is how I spent today. I probably put in a bit more pool time than usual…I was up for an early-ish workout, then wanted a pool bar freshly pressed juice. The juice pressing ends at 9:30, so I had to get there before that. We tend to make friends with the juice bar ‘barista’ being there every sea day. Today she gave me some health advice…when I asked her
what she recommended she thought pineapple, spinach and grapefruit was what the doctor ordered. She went on to tell me that she’d recommend 2 grapefruits rather than 1 because they were good for immunity…sure, I bought that…I need all I can in the immunity department!! It wasn’t pretty, but it was tasty…the juice washed down a bran muffin…I don’t need digestion advice…I understand my digestion needs!

paper weight

Speaking of digestion…I finally talked the galley into grinding flax seeds for me. This is the toughest battle I wage when on a cruise…they HAVE the flax seeds, they just resist actually grinding them. Day one, breakfast room service they came whole…I mentioned it to the room service person, she said she tried, but whole was the best she could do. As least I had the past as ammunition and mentioned that although it is usually a battle, that finally I had ground last cruise…guess what the next day…GROUND!!! It’s not like I’m asking for lobster and caviar for breakfast (that would definitely be easier)…anyway…problem solved.

The pool was bustling and almost all spots in the shade were occupado. We found one half in the shade and plopped there for the morning. The pool deck on this boat is open to the sky but walled on all sides…
this makes for some toasty-ness! I combatted this heat by stepping into the pool more than a few times – I didn’t plan to get more than my legs wet, but that was enough to cool me off. As I’ve said before, swimming is a bit too much of a commitment for me! I ended up getting a bit more than just my legs wet as although not technically a ‘wave’ pool, the motion of the ocean caused the occasional rogue pool wave to contend with…eventually I was drenched to the waist…a happy accident…I sure cooled off!

I cooled off even more when cool towels were delivered…ahhhhh, now that’s luxury!

Yesterday we got a Christmas gift from the cruise…a paper weight…quite nice actually.

Recife, Brazil – December 25

u

Se Cathedral

Weather…28 degrees, one very brief
shower, moist

MERRY CHRISTMAS and FELIZ NATALl!!!!!!!!

This is the first time in my entire life that I haven’t been home for Christmas. It’s a bit weird, not bad, just a bit weird. Of course, I’m missing all the mayhem, and
the asspick, but I’m also missing winter …Christmas in flip flops isn’t too bad!

Se Cathedral

We choose a full day tour today including lunch, but not surprisingly some things aren’t happening as it’s Christmas, so the tour is a bit abbreviated. I’m surprised at how much is actually going on.

dancers

We are docked at Recife, but start the morning at Olinda, a historical 16th-century colonial neighboring town with a population of 400 000. Getting into the narrow, winding, historical part of Olinda requires getting off of the coach bus and on to a small minivan that will fit.

baobab

We walked around the old town with a really good
guide, stopping first at the old town’s cathedral. The cathedral is perched in the city square at the top of a steep hill which makes for some awesome views.

golden chapel

Next, we followed the guide to a handicraft market where we each had a freshly drilled

coconut to sip, a ‘comfort stop’ and watched a Brazilian dancing demo. The guide then led us through food stalls setting up for the afternoon where he showed us some Brazilian specialties.

giant rock star heads

After a bit more wandering, we were back on the minivan and then onto our bus to start the tour of Recife. We walked to a couple of government

giant doll museum

buildings, saw an enormous baobabs tree, and found ourselves at Recife’s 16th century Golden
Chapel. The name of this place says it all. There was just as much gold adorning this place as there was at churches in Salvador. The church was set within a
beautiful, serene cloister.

Another Brazilian meat-fest followed. This
Churrasco – the traditional Brazilian meat mix grill was very similar to the one we had in Rio. Had we not had that one, this one would have been great,
but in comparison, this one was good, not great. All washed down by another caipirinha – not as good as yesterday’s on the catamaran, but very tasty.

cloister

department of justice

We finished off the day’s outing with a bit more walking through Recife. This time we headed for the giant doll museum. This is a place like no other I’ve been to. It is a gallery of about 50 giant doll heads and torsos used during Carnaval. The dolls represent famous people from Brazil and around the world, including some fictional characters.

about to set sail

We heard a bit more about Brazil’s slave trade today. It wasn’t raining today as

church ceiling

we passed by the market where slaves were bought and sold. I
would still have liked to hear more about this. The guide did a pretty job conveying the horror of this spot but didn’t dwell.

Last night and tonight I was able to Facetime with my parents! It’s amazing to me that from the middle of the ocean I can see and talk to them!