Day 8 Tortola, British Virgin Island

Some time ago I saw a picture in a cruise brochure that looked amazing.  It was the back of a woman walking in water through caves.  That image inspired us to want to visit the Baths on the Island of Virgin Gorda - and that is what we did today!

This was my inspiration photo from long ago!

Today we docked at the island of Tortola.  We were cleared for exit off the ship just a few minutes after 7 am and we were dressed and ready to exit as soon as that announcement was made.  We had to disembark and walk to Speedy's ferry service - about an 8 minute walk away.  I knew we had to be there by 7:30 am but J thought we had to be there by 7:15 am so we were on the move.  Our goal was to board the first ferry offered to the island ofVirgin Gorda today at 7:45 am.  We and a handful of other Princess cruise guests made it to Speedy's in ample time.  We paid $50 US each for a green wristband which allowed a return trip to take the ferry over to Virgin Gorda, catch a taxi to travel the 11 km to The Greater Baths National Park.

We boarded the ferry along with a number of secondary school kids dressed in uniform who were taking the ferry to go to school!  The ferry ride from Road Town to Virgin Gorda is about 35 minutes.

Once we arrived in Virgin Gorda, an open air bus with five rows of seats pulled up and 25 of us loaded onto it to drive to the Baths.

We arrived at the site at 8:38 am (perfect timing as it is open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm) and paid our $3 US entrance fee.  And so our adventure began.  We had 3 hours to explore a park of 2.5 km with a single one directional trail so we felt we had ample time to explore the first side trail we came upon.  

These were some of the amazing sights we saw:

J insisted we make our way to Devil's Bay Beach area around the big rocks - not on the well trodden path by many - so that is what we did.  As such, we entered Devil's Bay Beach area on the opposite side of how most people approach it.  Just as we arrived, a woman who had ridden the taxi with us, told us we just missed a crowd from a cruise ship that had visited.  So this is the glorious site that we came upon:

I found a patch of shade under a palapa and spread out my sarong to act as my beach blanket.  I went in the water to cool down, then enjoyed sitting in the shade.  The current in the water was strong.  While J stayed out longer in the water a Norwegian cruise ship excursion found their way to our beach.  It became very busy with those 40 or 50 people.

Now let me pause and say that J and I are cruisers, but we don't necessarily like taking cruise excursions organized by the cruise line.  They generally are very expensive, offer limited time at a site and have large numbers of people creating a huge impact on whatever they are visiting.  So we generally try to travel independently whenever we stop at a port.  Today's excursion cost us $53 pp.  Had we booked through the ship, we would have paid $134.95 pp and had two hours less time at the Baths.  The downside is, the cruise ship will not wait for you if you get delayed for any reason and miss the all aboard call.  

This was the Devil's Bay beach as the Norwegian cruise ship excursion was leaving:

We enjoyed the peace and quiet on the beach as the cruise excursion left.  Then maybe 15 or 20 minutes later we decided to move along.  We would follow the path to the caves and then get to the Baths beach.  Now in all of our research, nowhere did I hear that the one way circuit on this day might be problematic due to congestion, but it was.  Because that group and another group from Princess that didn't stop at this beach all were on the single path to walk to the caves.  That meant congestion for everybody, ourselves included.  We spent an hour walking 250 metres between our beach and the Baths.

The above was our view for the next hour.

Fortunately we were rewarded with some cool rock formations.  And here we have our own picture worthy moment:

And here is J's instagram worthy moment below:

We did emerge at Cathedral Pool (The Baths) but we actually preferred Devil's Bay Beach better!  Cathedral Pool did have restrooms and a cafe, but the beach was quite a bit smaller.

We stayed just a few minutes here (had a quick dip in the water) and then made our way back to the start of the loop and where we were to meet the taxi.  We travelled back by taxi at noon to catch the last ferry (for us) at 12:45 pm.  The next ferry wasn't until 3:30 pm and our all aboard call was 3:30 pm.

I met a woman from Boston on the ferry who was travelling on the NCL cruise.  As we approached Road Town, Tortola I asked what time her all aboard time was and she said 1:30 pm.  Wait, what???  We are pulling in on Tortola Island at 1:22 pm and it is an 8 minute walk to the ship....you don't have time to spare!  She said, "I know.  I planned to get on the 11 am ferry, but the line up through the caves was so long that I missed the 11 am ferry!"  We stood aside and let her (and a few others on the ferry) exit first.  She ran to the ship...and as far as we could tell she made it on time.  We walked up to our ship by about 1:32 pm and NCL (who shared our pier) still had guests walking on.  J talked to a ship's officer and he said one of their excursions was late and wouldn't be arriving until 2 pm, so the ship was waiting for them to return!

Once back on the ship, we showered, ate and relaxed.  Tonight I had a Princess Cruises Captain's Circle event (for platinum and elite cruisers).  I learned a few things.  There are 3148 guests on this ship.  1100 guests are first time cruisers (and Princess is really happy about that).  The top three most travelled guests had travelled 856, 1365 and 1740 cruise days with Princess.  That is a lot of time on a cruise ship!

We have two days at sea to look forward to.  Despite my pictures and whining, the Virgin Gorda Baths really were spectacular and it was a delight to experience them in person!

Day 7 St. Kitts

So much happened today that it might be tough to fit it all in, but I will give you the Coles Notes version.

St. Kitts is part of the Commonwealth (as was Antigua) and seems to have pretty advanced government support. There were 3 other large ships in port and we wanted to ensure that we found a taxi to take us there. We got off the ship about 8:30 am today and found a taxi driver willing to take us to Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, graced with the designation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   Jeffery was our man! We had negotiated a rate of $40 US per hour - driving or waiting. I had researched this on Tripadvisor and knew this was a fair price. 

Jeffrey drove about 30 minutes outside the city of Basseterre to get us to Brimstone. Once you started up the winding hairpin road, it was apparent that you needed to be a capable driver as there was 3 or 4 inches to spare when drivng through various archways up the road. The Fortress opened at 9:30 am and we were the first in line to pay at 9:22 am. So when we got to the top - we were the first to have magnificent, unobstructed views!

A person did have to travel up some steep steps - but there weren't too many of them.

The first cannons were mounted on Brimstone Hill in 1690 by the British. The British realised the potential of the Hill as a place of defence and proceeded to fortify it. The Fortress was designed by the British Army Engineers, and built by African slave labor. It is not a pretty picture of history - but that is part of the world of travel - we learn about history - the good and the bad - and hopefully we are more enriched by the lessons taught.

In January of 1782, during the great struggle among European colonial powers and American republic for control of the rich Caribbean sugar islands, 8,000 French soldiers attacked the island and besieged the Fortress. About 1,000 defenders drawn from the Royal Scots and East Yorkshire Regiments, local militia and escaped slaves, fought valiantly for a month before finally surrendering on the 12th of February. A year later the articles of the Treaty of Versailles returned the island to the British and fortifications were continued until 1794. In 1852 British troops were reassigned and the Fortress was abandoned.

The Society for the Restoration of Brimstone Hill was founded in 1965 and in 1973 HRH Princes Charles (present day King Charles) reopened the first complete restoration, the Prince of Wales Bastion.

In 1983 St. Christopher and Nevis became an independent country. In 1985 Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque signifying Brimstone Hill Fortress as a National Park. This was affirmed by legislation in 1987.

The Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

This pristine setting and Officer quarters building housed just two officers. The barracks housed hundreds.

After spending 90 minutes at the site, we found Jeffery and drove back to the port.

We stopped at the Cariloha store and bought a pair of bamboo sheets. Years ago both of our boys bought themselves a set of these sheets with their allowance money and loved the sheets. I decided it was time we had a set for our bed!

J realized he lost his sunglasses once we were near the ship. We backtracked to the taxi pick up area. Another taxi driver was kind enough to call Jeffery for us. He returned to meet us, we all walked to his van and found J's sunglasses on the car seat! We gave a $5 tip and said thanks, then returned to the ship.

Once back on the ship, we ate lunch in the buffet. We decided to try recreating a treat I learned about. We got soft ice cream in a cup, walked back to the buffet and added some coffee - and then enjoyed our custom made affogato! The movie Barbie was playing on the big screen by the pool, so we sat with our affogatos, and tried to keep in the shade while watching the final hour of the movie. That was fun.

We returned to our room and because I was dripping in sweat, I put on a bathing suit and headed back upstairs to take a dip in the pool. J decided not to as he only has one swimsuit and didn't want to start out tomorrow in wet trunks!

Once back at the room, we finalized our plans for Tortola tomorrow. I went to the Princess Captain's Circle cocktail hour at Skywalkers on Deck 18 Aft. I am now a platinum member of Princess so this is one of the perks. I clearly have never even set foot on this part of the ship, because I was stunned to see the moving ramp that takes a person up to Skywalkers (I thought it was an area for Ship's officers).

The cocktail hour is offered every day between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. It really doesn't hold that great an appeal to me since we eat dinner every day at 5 pm - but I wanted to check it out. I was pleased to meet a woman from Alabama who was on her own attending for the first time so we lined up for some hors d-oeuvres and found a table together. The food included fresh sushi, and a selection of other hot and cold appetizers and desserts. Discounted drinks are available too. The views from Skywalkers were amazing - allowing us to look down on three other ships in port.

I raced down to meet J for supper at 5:05 pm. Our waiter Christian and his assistant Nigan are really wonderful servers, anticipating our every need - like preparing chamomile tea for me and decaf coffee for J, before we even ask for it!

After supper, we went to another Theatrical production show called "Born to be Wild". It featured music from the 70's and 80's and a pink cadillac onstage!

We have an early alarm tomorrow - 6 am, so I must get this posted soon. Life is treating us well!

Day 6 Antigua and Barbuda

Today's post says Antigua and Barbuda - but I only add in Barbuda to make clear this is the country to be found in the Caribbean and not to be confused with Antigua, the city in Guatemala that we visited in 2025!

Our taxi driver Latoya told us there are 95,000 residents on the island of Antigua and only 1,200 residents on Barbuda.  She has only visited Barbuda twice, but many other people in her country have never been to Barbuda.

We paid Latoya to drive us to Nelson Dockyard about a 40 minute drive to the other side of the island.  She was quite a character.  She lives in a typical house that appears to be about 400 square feet and pays $1200 Eastern Caribbean dollars (about $615 CAD) per month for rent.  We agreed to pay her $40 US to drive us to Nelson Dockyard.  We decided to add in a stop at Shirley Heights for an extra $10 US. 

The view from Shirley Heights!

The Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site on July 17, 2016.  Combined entrance tickets to Shirley Heights and the Nelson Dockyard cost $15 US each.  At each location they asked us where we were staying.  Of course we said we were on a cruise ship - and they seemed genuinely surprised.  I think most cruise passengers come on organized excursions through the cruise line and arrive in greater numbers.

Wikipedia says the following about Nelson's Dockyard.  "Nelson's Dockyard is a cultural heritage site and marina in English Harbour, located in the town of Saint Paul on the Caribbean island of Antigua, in Antigua and Barbuda. It is the only continuously working Georgian era dockyard in the world. It was built in the early 18th century and abandoned by the British Royal Navy in 1889. The dockyard is named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lived in the Royal Navy Dockyard from 1784 through 1787."

Many of the 18th and 19th century buildings have been adapted for modern-day needs and enhance the rich cultural and natural environment.  

The Bakery was built in 1776 and is a small stone and brick structure, set back from the waterfront.

It seems that many people use the water around here as a modern marina, when touring the areas on sailboats, and needing to come ashore and stock up for longer journeys.

These columns once supported the Sail Loft.  Large wooden trusses supported the structure above that was essentially a workspace for the repair of sails.  Beneath the loft is a narrow canal that runs under the structure where longboats carried the sails that needed mending.  The sails were then hoisted up into the loft where they could be repaired.  In 1843, the building was severely damaged in an eathquake and then finally destroyed in 1871 by a hurricane.  The Sail Loft was not rebuilt so the stone columns were capped to seal and protect them.

After touring the Nelson Dockyards, we walked 20 minutes up and down the road to Pigeon Beach.  It was high noon and very hot - but a manageable distance to walk.  We made our way to Catherine's Cafe to buy some lunch.  I envisioned a simple menu since the restaurant was on the beach.  Instead it was a lobster and fresh tuna menu.  J asked the couple eating near us where they got their chicken sandwich from.  They told us to ask for the beach menu and so we did!  It was a tasty lunch - but expensive (nowhere near as expensive had we not discovered the beach menu)!

Our lunch view from Catherine's Cafe on Pigeon Beach.

After lunch we changed into bathing suits and rashers and walked onto the beach.  We found a patch of shade.  I went in the water to swim for a bit and cool down.  When I returned, J went out with his mask and snorkel to see what he could discover.  

It turned out to not be a great snorkelling beach but it was a lovely beach to enjoy a few hours in the afternoon.  Latoya returned to pick us up about 2:40 pm (20 minutes early so we wouldn't worry) so we packed up our belongings and headed back into town.

Back at the ship, we cleaned up then went to dinner.  I experienced an amazing degree of customer service tonight.  I went to Guest Services to ask if a Tortola educational lecture (scheduled at 5:30 pm while we were eating supper) would be taped and could be watched on TV at a later time.  The woman (Bethesde or something like that) said she would find out.  I went directly from Guest Services to dinner at 5 pm with J.  At 5:20 pm Carl who is the Maitre'D came to our table to tell me he had a message from the front desk.  He then advised me that the lecture would not be taped!  That allowed me time to eat my appetizer, leave J at the table, run to listen to 25 minutes of the lecture, then return in time to eat the main course. Things were a little slow in the dining room so that was to my benefit!  I was totally impressed that the agent at the front desk would know it was time sensitive information to get to me - and passed the message to the dining room staff to let me know it!  We are doing an independent trip while in Tortola and I wanted to hear what Lance Schuler would advise on getting to our destination that day.  I found out what I needed to know and was very appreciative of the efforts of the Princess staff tonight!

We chose not to go see the solo magician/juggler tonight - but enjoyed a quiet night in our room tomorrow.

Tomorrow we visit St. Kitt's!

Day 5 St. Maarten / St. Martin

We awoke to another lovely day in the Caribbean.  It was 27 C - and felt a lot hotter than that with humidity!  I'll take these temperatures and humidity over snow any day!

We had booked an independent tour with Bernard's Tours and were scheduled to meet just a few minutes walk from the ship at 10 am.  The friends we met on yesterday's tour from Oregan decided to sign up for the four hour tour as well.  

The port area around St. Maarten has been beautifully developed with shops, gardens, signage, shade and washrooms.

Nine of us loaded into an air conditioned van and set out for our tour with our driver and guide, Jay.  He was a competent driver (in some very tight quarters on streets) and a knowledgeable guide.

St. Maarten signed a treaty to peacefully co-exist as an island owned by two countries (the French and the Dutch) in 1648.  Quite the foresight to peacefully work out differences almost 400 years ago!  There are about 100,000 residents on the entire island.  People can simply cross the border from the Dutch side (where we docked) to the French side and back without any passports or even stopping for any reason.  Each government has their own schools, police forces etc operating separately.  The island is known as St. Maarten on the Dutch side (40% of the land) and St. Martin on the French side (60% of the land).

The island has some amazing statues paying tribute to their history at roundabouts on the roads.  As we circled the Great Salt Pond, we saw the Salt Pickers statue, which illustrates the traditional method of salt harvesting from days gone by.

We had amazing panoramic views of Dutch St. Maarten from the top of Harold Jack Hill lookout point between Cole Bay and Philipsburg.  It did require a bit of legwork to get to the top of the Hill - but only a couple of minutes of effort.

We stopped briefly at the border monument between the French and Dutch territories of the island and did not need to show a passport!

We then drove to Marigot, the French capital of the island.  We climbed the 99 steps to Fort Louis.

At the very top of Fort Louis, with the French flag flying over my shoulder!

After Fort Louis, we had some free time to get out and explore.  J and I chose to go to Rosemary's Creole Seafood to try some local cuisine.  J in particular wanted to try conch.  So we did!

It was interesting to see most shops were closed on Sundays - a tradition all but forgotten in North America.  There were a few vendors open selling souvenirs and clothing at an outdoor market.

We all met Jay our driver and loaded back in the van for the drive back around to the Dutch side of the island.  A few of the women had plans to go shopping for jewellery on Front Street, so we decided to hop out and explore the area before returning to the ship.

Great Bay Beach is a walk, a taxi or a water taxi away from the ship, seen in the distance here.  It looked lovely and certainly we had the heat to have appreciated the water - but we didn't have our swim suits.

St. Maarten has developed a beautiful walking path to follow back to the ship, seen above.

The heat of the day sapped me of my energy and I appreciated cooling off with a shower back in our stateroom.  After another lovely dinner, we went to the Theatrical show:  Fantastic Journey.  Another great show, with dazzling technology, many costume changes and a high energy rock concert show!

We were happy to make three calls today - the first to my 93 year old Mom to wish her a happy birthday!  Then we spoke to our boys JG and P.  Great to catch up with them all.

Now we need to figure out what we will actually do in Antigua tomorrow.  I made a reservation for an eco-tour and now can find none of the meeting place details!  Ta ta for now!

Day 4 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

We had such a busy day.  It is only 7:47 pm and I am beat!

We took an excursion through the ship.  It was a kayak and snorkel at Cas Cay/ Mangrove Lagoon, St. James, and Compass Point Marine Reserves and Wildlife Sanctuaries.  The ship used Virgin Island Ecotours to provide our experts and resources for the day. The Cas Cay Wildlife Sanctuary was a gift from David Vialet in 1987.

We met at the pier at 10:20 am this morning and found there was just six of us on the tour!  I was shocked!  Two other people had booked and decided not to come.  We did this tour in 2013 just after the Christmas holidays with our two kids and there were about 25 on that tour.

We began by taking an open air jeep driven by Butch to our sanctuary.  At the sanctuary, our guide Allonso introduced himself.  We were able to secure dry clothes and valuables in a locker while we paddled.  J and I climbed into a double sit on top style kayak. We paddled for about 30 minutes and heard more about the red mangrove tree. It sacrifices one yellow leaf where it directs all the salt so the tree can survive in brackish water.  When Allonso picked a leaf from the tree and encouraged us to lick it - it was pure salt!

We went past a section where the mangroves had died in Hurricane Irma in 2017.  There are heavy fines for breaking off a limb of a mangrove tree as it takes years to grow back.

Upon arriving at the sanctuary we jumped in the water to cool down for five minutes.  

We then went on land and found many hermit crabs.  The hermit crab will crawl up high in the mangrove trees when they sense danger (like when a hurricane is approaching!)  It is part of their survival strategy.

This tent structure is not to provide shade to us - rather to protect hermit crab shells, when they fall out of the mangrove trees after climbing high!  They will climb as high as four metres to escape predators and high tides.

We then walked out to the Caribbean Sea to the Blow Hole.

We had some amazing scenery today!

After walking back to the kayaks we donned our masks and snorkels. We were snorkelling at times in about 3 feet of water, near the mangrove trees.  We saw barracuda.  Our guide saw a puffer fish but I never saw one!

After our snorkel we were gifted a tiny Hershey chocolate bar and cold bottles of water to hep sustain our energy for the paddle back.  In this case the wind and current were at our back and it was a pretty easy paddle.  Once back at the dock, Allonso told us we had paddled a little over 3 miles.

We were able to rinse of the salt from our bodies with a simple freshwater outdoor shower.  I used one of the two change rooms to change out of my wet clothes into some dry ones. We tipped Allonso, then boarded the open air jeep for the ride back to the port.

We shared and airdropped photos with our new friends from Calgary and Oregon!

Once back at the ship we were starving as it was now 3:30 pm so we headed up for a slice of pizza and a miso soup.  We had dinner reservations at 5 pm so we didn't go overboard.

Back in our room J showered and we both fell asleep after our fresh air and exercise.  I awoke at 4:30 pm, had a shower, rinsed off all my gear and woke J.  

We headed to the Italian restaurant for our wonderful specialty meal.  It really wasn't crowded - perhaps that was because the all aboard call wasn't until 7:30 pm tonight. J had a charcuterie board for an appetizer and I had a seafood stew.  He ordered fettuccine alfredo and I ordered chicken parmesan with a side of fettuccine!  We both had chocolate desserts and J had the best coffee of the cruise!  Delicious!

As we were leaving the restaurant we decided to walk on the Promenade deck.  We saw that the Norwegian Epic ship had left port while we were in the restaurant.  We went to see if the Oceania Allura was still docked ahead of us - but it too, had left.  Then as we rounded the port side of the ship we saw it leaving the harbour.

I took this picture - it may be the closest I will get to an Oceania ship in a while!  We love Oceania cruise ships - but they are at a higher price point that Princess.  We all make choices in life and we are thrilled to be cruising the Caribbean once again!

While heading back to the room, we saw that Omar and Valeria, a Mexican couple were performing Cirque du Soleil type acts in the Princess Theatre.  Amazing strength and flexibility as well as some flashy lighting techniques to enhance the show.  This was J's favourite so far!

Of course I had to write my blog tonight.  We look forward to docking in St. Maarten's tomorrow!

Day 3 At Sea by

We experienced our first day at sea with this cruise today.  A person can keep very busy with a variety of activities on a cruise - but we have our preferences.

After breakfast in the dining room we went for a walk on the Promenade Deck.  There are chairs on this deck, so people can sit an enjoy the view and not be around the business of the pool on the Lido Deck.

I decided it was too wet on one side to safely walk (waving splashing up in the night I suspect) so we headed inside the forward doors on Deck 7.  This put us right next to the Princess Theatre and we saw an educational port lecture was going on so we sat down to listen.  The destination expert was Lance Schuler and at 9 am he was talking about the highlights of St. Thomas & St. Maarten.

The above slide shows our itinerary where we started in Florida, then travelled to Princess Cays in the Bahamas and tomorrow we will stop in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

After lunch, I returned to hear the same destination expert talk about our the following two ports in Antigua & St. Kitts.  These talks always share helpful hints about visiting the port - especially if you plan on travelling independently (i.e. not on a ship's excursion).

By 3 pm, J and I decided to go play cards up on deck 15.  We found a table in the shade and enjoyed the fresh air (if not our game of Frustration, which I lost)!

Tonight was formal night, so J put on his jacket and tie and I wore my long sleeve red dress.  At dinner I enjoyed escargots for an appetizer and halibut for a main course.  J had beef carpaccio and beef tenderloin for his main course and he was happy with how they cooked it (blue!)

We both ordered the chocolate mousse for dessert.  Yum.

After supper Captain Stephen Lewis and the officers had a champagne waterfall in the piazza to welcome guests aboard.  The piazza was full with well dressed guests (including us) eager to watch all the goings on.

We went directly to the Princess Theatre after Champagne Waterfall welcome because we knew the Theatrical Production Bravo was being performed.  

The Caribbean Princess had 14 singers and dancers and 7 orchestra members.  They put on a phenomenal show, ending with Andrea Bocelli's Time to Say Goodbye, pictured above!

I see the Artemis II splashed down successfully tonight - that was being aired on the big screen above the pool called MUTS (Movies Under the Stars).  I would have liked to have seen that, but had to pick and choose what to see and do.

So we raced upstairs to see the recovery of the astronauts on the big screen!  It was our "Where were you moment on this cruise"!

It has been a lovely day at sea!

Tomorrow we visit St. Thomas!