St. Lucia

After Antigua we sailed to the beautiful island of St. Lucia. Once my morning classes were finished Lisa and her parents and I took a taxi across the island to Marigot Bay. On the way we stopped at a look-out point and took some photos of the harbour and our elegant MS Prinsendam

It took us about thirty minutes to drive to Marigot Bay and we stopped once again above the bay to take a few pics looking down at it. We then got in a little ferry and crossed the harbour and had lunch on the other side of the palm trees. Service in the restaurant was on 'island time' and we had to rush to make it back to the ship on time. But the weather was perfect, the scenery was picturesque and the company couldn't have been better.  

Waiting for our food!! 

I have so many pictures from this day, but I think these are some of the best ones :) Enjoy! Now I have to set up for class. 

Antigua

First stop that I got off after Half Moon Cay was Antigua. I had never been here before and I was anxious to see another Caribbean island. When we walked off the gangway we saw a local band playing steel drums for us. Really set the tone and made us feel like we were in the tropics! 

Once we got outside the terminal we wandered around the streets until we found the church, which was rundown but the statues outside of the gate to the church were preserved and I got this photo of John the Baptist. I think I remember Lisa telling me these statues were important or interesting because they were looted from another ship once upon a time.. but I may be wrong ... I'll have to ask her again :) 

Next we walked through the market place, which was basically just the main street with vendors set up on either side. I found a really cute sign that said "Credit Makes Enemies" Thought that was a good motto to live by :) Lisa and I bought fresh Bananas and an Avocado, which were both AMAZING. Walking past the PUBLIC MEAT MARKET was a little bit stinky lol and I was aghast to see a man with his bare hands in a tub full of fish bits stirring it around... it was gross I didn't take a picture of it lol. I did take this pic of the scales and some dead fishies below.  

After the Market we walked back to the ship and looked at all the little fishing boats and nets that they were using. 

And of course Lisa had to take a pic with the pirate :P 

Ok, Goodnight for now, I'm going to go to Lima Peru now and try not to get mugged, haha Finger's Crossed! 

Half Moon Cay

The Holiday Cruise started off with a stop at Holland America Line's own private island in the Bahamas. I had not been there yet and couldn't wait to get off the ship. The water is even bluer than I imagined and the beach was filled with the most gorgeous white sand.  I did bring my camera and I took a few photos, but I must say most of my time on the island was spent swimming and enjoying my friend's company.  ;)    

A very rare photo of myself... !

Needless to say this is definitely a paradise island. I think "The Bachelor" should film a show here!! hahaha I'd say it's romantic enough. 

Panama Canal Transit

Good Afternoon Friends! 

I know it's been a while since I've updated my blog of travels, but I'm going to do my best this time to keep things updated. The good news is that the internet on the ship is considerably faster than it used to be so hopefully this will not be as much of a challenge as it was before...

This contract I'm off on a Grand Voyage around South America and Antarctica! Our first stop was Costa Rica and I was excited to get off the ship except there was a little bit of a delay for crew immigration and I decided it was a better use of time to have a gym/spa day than to wait around trying to get off. So the first pictures I have from this trip is from Crossing the Panama Canal! I have already transited the canal from Pacific to Atlantic Ocean on the Veendam (1st Contract) and this time I get to go through the locks from the other direction. This time crossing the canal is really special because it is the 100th anniversary from when the locks were built in 1914. 

I took photos all day long and I'll start with my favourite photo from the day. Lisa and I, and the rest of the entertainment team, were at the back pool socializing and taking pics as we went through the last locks. The sun was setting behind us and the Frigate birds were swooping and diving and flying all around us. I managed to snap this picture of a female Frigate bird with the sun in the background. One of those times when photographic magic happens :)  

Early in the morning I held a Techspert Time on the back deck to help guests take photos while we were going through the locks. I took this pic of the container ship behind us being lined up to go in to the lock. You can see the doors opening and the tugboats pushing it into place. 

These little train-cars, called mules (because back in the day it was actual donkey-mules doing the pulling), keep the ship in place while the water fills or empties out of the lock. You can see the cable from the mule to our ship. The driver of the mule was really friendly and waved at me when he saw I was taking a photo.

Going through the last locks the Cruise Ship, Azamara Quest, was beside us and I managed to get this picture showing how the mules are hooked up. 

The Show Host, Matt, took a time capture with his camera from the bridge of our ship. He set up his camera to take a picture every minute or so and then put them all together really fast so it looks like a movie. He showed it to me yesterday and I'll get a copy from him, basically our entire day of transiting the canal down to 3 mins or so!! it looks so unbelievably cool I am really hoping to be able to post it on here. The perspective of us rising and falling in the locks is really captured when you watch a sped up version of our transit.


Ok, I'll start working on the next batch of images! (obviously I have a million and one from this post alone, but I can't share them all unfortunately) Ciao!!