2008/2009 Caribbean Cruise

A friend of mine recently taunted me about the lack of activity on this blog (thanks Evo) so I thought I would extract a digit and do a post.

I recently started working for Google out of Mountain View, California. I been there 3 months now and I may make my Google experience/our California experience part of another post but the relevant part of that segway is that I ended up getting about 10 days off over Christmas/New Years for only 2 days leave out of my book - hence we are doing a cruise in the Caribbean. We have cruised down this way before but that was whilst doing our patriotic duty following the Australian cricket team around for the 2007 Cricket World Cup - we did a good job because Australia won that competition :-) See previous blog entries.

The Boat

We cruised with Sea Dream Yacht Club on the Sea Dream II - a very nice boat and a good step up from the Celebrity line we cruised with last time.

























The boat is smaller and as such we do tend to feel the waves a little more than one of the bigger boats but the service is top notch, the staff are so well trained and helpful and the destinations are gorgeous.

San Juan

We started in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we spent a night and did some nice walks around San Juan with its lovely forts and other defensive architecture. Narrow streets with shops and cafes tucked into the buildings through arcades and courtyards to keep it cool. We stayed at the Sheraton which was good as it was nice and close to the harbour where we had to board the boat. Further shots from San Juan can be seen here.
























St Thomas

This is part of the US Virgin Island and you really can tell. Our images of the Caribbean from last time were of small island communities making do in paradise. This part of the Caribbean had a distinctive US feel to it, from the oversized stupidly large petrol guzzling vehicles to a massive over emphasis on retail. It was still OK, we went and did a walk through town to some of the local sights such as Black Beards Castle. There are plenty of photos that can be seen from here although the trip we did to Black Beards Castle was enjoyable. They have done a great job of preserving the historic buildings and gardens and the self guided walking tour was fantastic. The houses are setup with period furniture and fittings and offer a stunning view over the ocean, you almost expect to see a sailing ship full of treasure pull into dock.
























St Martin (Marigot and Waikiki Beach !)

Another very nice slice of France in the Caribbean with a difference, this one also has a Dutch side and the island has both French and Dutch affiliations. We went to the beach and lazed around in the sun, the beach (interestingly enough) was called Waikiki by the locals but its real name was Oriental Bay. Still it was a nice beach.























More images available from here.

St Barts

Wow - what a place. If you ever want to be a couple of billion dollars worth of boats in one place you need to come here. This small parcel of France in the Caribbean is amazing, it is really the playground of the wealthy. The first night we were here we pulled up behind Paul Allen's yacht (co-founder of Microsoft), we would have gotten closer but for fear of getting to close to Larry Ellision (founder of Oracle) and his super yacht - and there appear to be several boars of the same size in the area for New Years as well. For some reason our invitation to Jay-Z and Beyonce's party didn't arrive but the fireworks over Gustavia made up for it.

We ended up spending 2 full days in this port due to weather elsewhere, it is a very nice little town that openly displays its wealth - floating and on land.

























We had a nice walk around and a meal in town on the harbour and you will see from some the images.

No bone fishing yet

We had arranged to do some bone fishing in and around Anegada but due to weather the boat stayed an extra night in St Barths so that was not to be - next time. Instead we went for a ride on a jet ski and went swimming off the back of Sea Dream. Steve also rode on the banana boat ride and of course took great pleasure in tipping it over ! The other kids loved it.

Jost Van Dyke and Tortola - images

Another absolutely fabulous spot. We were supposed to go ashore from here and do a hike over to a place called Foxy's but as soon as we stepped ashore we headed back to the boat and got changed into swimmers and came back for a morning of beach lazing. Check me out beach lazing...

























We did snorkeling and swimming and generally had a great relaxing morning.

We went to Foxy's that night (but without a camera - duh !) and it truly is a must go and see place but the beach also had some great local bars that oozed beach and Caribbean life. The Soggy Dollar bar was one of these.























Instead of tenders (the boats life rafts pressed into service as a water taxi), we went ashore in zodiacs . The beach was magic - bugger the walk ! Check out this chick on the beach having a good time.

I had a nice lunch from one of the bar/cafes on the beach with a sand floor and there were no shortages of people selling other 'tobacco' style products on the beach !

In the afternoon we went over to Tortola by 14m Shark Cat for a tour that was to swim with Dolphins. That was a lot of fun, they truly are fantastic creatures. We could not take cameras into the water with us which is not only to protect our cameras but also a great revenue stream for the operators - selling us hard copy photos (who does hard copy photos nowadays?) at an incredible mark up - so we have photos of our experince but we wil get them framed.

We docked in Tortola at a place called Sopers Hole - a place that is truly beautiful and if we were ever to return in our own boat it is surely a place that we would pull in for brunch one day. On the way back we caught the big cat again and the skipper broke out the rum punch - as he put it - '...there is ALWAYS rum on my boat!"























Virgin Gorda, Bitter End Yatch Club

It is very hard to explain this part of the island chain other than picture postcard perfect and if you look at some of the images I took, especially at Bitter End Yacht Club you will see what I mean. It is a resort with a heavy emphasis on water sports and one of the places I think we are bound to return to.
























After going to the Bitter End we headed over to a small beach where we had a beach party, bbq and champagne and caviar served on a surfboard in the water.























There was a great BBQ setup, a bar and we also played some volleyball as well as doing a lot of swimming, snorkeling and just lying around.


With this our 7 day cruise was at an end, we had a fantastic time, met some lovely people and made a vow to return to what is a gorgeous part of the world.

Stephen and Emily