Antigua and St. Lucia

19th and 20th January 2016

Antigua

Today we arrived in Antigua, a port we had visited several times before, so we decided to have a lie in before we ventured out into the 29 degree heat to walk around town, which were located adjacent to where the ship was berthed.  After a couple of hours walking around town we found a nice quiet bar where we had a beer and a burger, whilst we took advantage of the free Wi-Fi, to download our e-mails etc.  After a pleasant day we returned to the ship for a quick sun bathe before preparing for our evening meal.

St. Lucia

Today we arrived in St. Lucia, again a port we had visited several times before.  However this time we berthed adjacent to the town, whilst P&O's sister ship the Azura berthed in our usual place.  Doreen had no complaints as we were right next to the local markets and shops.

We had decided to take an excursion to the north of the island an area we had not visited before.  Our first stop was to a typical art gallery, where we watched a lady doing Sarong painting, before venturing on to Rodney Bay, a popular resort area for tourists.

After a visit to view a Roman Catholic Church we stopped at Pigeon Point a national landmark next to the Sandals Grand luxury hotel, a more upmarket tourist area compared to Rodney Bay.  

After a brief stop we continued up the coast to the Cap Estate, known as the Beverly Hills of St. Lucia, where the million dollar houses can be found.  We stopped here at the Sea Breeze Heights for spectacular views over the coast line.  

It was now time for refreshments, so we were taken to the St. Lucia Golf and Country Club, where we relaxed for half an hour whilst drinking a rum punch.  

After a very pleasant tour we returned to the ship for lunch before we went into town to look around the local markets and shops.  After a few hours we found a very pleasant bar, where we had a beer and a Virgin Pina Colada, and used the free Wi-Fi to Factime Andrew and Nicola.  We just managed to get back on board before the heavens opened and we had heavy, heavy rain uncharacteristically for St. Lucia.

Tomorrow we have a well earned sea day before arriving in Curacao.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbados and Guadeloupe

17th - 18th January 2016

Barbados

We arrived early to a rather grey, wet morning although temperatures were at 25 degrees.  We had an early start on our excursion entitled Photographic tour of Barbados, where we were driven across the island stopping at various locations to take our photographs, unfortunately the rain didn't help with the quality of the photographs.  However the tour guide was extremely interesting and kept us amused.

After a visit to the Scotland district and the scenic east coast we stopped at Bathsheba for a well earned rum punch.

Guadeloupe

The next day we arrived in Guadeloupe, where the weather was much improved with temperatures approaching 30 degrees.   Our trip today was entitled Grand Terre Panorama, where we drove along the coast to St. Annes, where Doreen browsed a local handicraft market, whilst Geoffrey walked along the beach watching pelicans diving in the sea to catch fish.  Doreen found many items to buy but unfortunately only had a purse full of American Dollars and we were on a French island that only took Euros!!!!! 

We continued our journey to La Pointe des Chateaux a peninsular where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea, passing en route the golf course where some episodes of Death in Paradise were filmed.  

Our return journey to the port took us through the centre of the island to Morne-a-l'Eau, where we made a brief stop to view the beautiful cemetery with its architectural black and white design.

We returned to the port and made enquiries of the possibility of getting a taxi to Dehaie, (which was on the other side of the island) where the majority of filming of Death in Paradise takes place, but as it was getting late in the afternoon and the taxi driver wanted to charge 200 Euros, we decided not to go and returned to the ship to watch the sun set and after dinner we went to the show and saw Ben Makisi, a tenor, who sang one of Doreen's favourite songs Pokarekare Ana, which was a perfect end to a perfect day in Guadeloupe.

Crossing the Atlantic

11th - 16th January 2016

Since leaving Tenerife the captain has set course west to the Caribbean, the first part of the crossing was a little rough due to a low pressure to the south of us, which the captain tried to avoid.  However, we are now getting close to the Caribbean and the seas have calmed, the skies are blue and temperature has risen to the mid twenties centigrade.

We have been keeping ourselves busy during the day, having joined the art class and Doreen the craft class.  We are enjoying Annie Barnham, who is teaching techniques from first principles, involving more free painting techniques such as wet in wet.  Doreen has attended a few of the craft classes, but feels it is not really her scene.  The teacher, Christine is mainly doing decoupage, and quite honestly Doreen finds it a little bit boring.




During the day we keep ourselves busy attending various lectures, which have included Eric Knowles (Antiques Roadshow) and a psychologist who tried to teach us how to improve our memory.  Doreen also has her retail therapy in the well stocked shops in between various refreshments during the day.



In the evening we get dressed early for our 6.30pm dinner and often sit on the Promenade Deck watching the world (or sea) go by including the beautiful sunsets.

After our meal which so far has been of a very high standard, we usually head for the Theatre for the 8.30pm show, featuring acts from comedians, singers, flutist, cellist, mind reader and shows performed by the resident Headliners Theatre Company.  Geoffrey was very pleased to get a front row seat for the Abba tribute performance.





All in all we are enjoying the first part of our cruise and getting ready for our arrival in Barbados tomorrow, followed by three consecutive port calls to Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Lucia.

We have been gaining time whilst crossing the Atlantic and are now 4 hours behind you at home.

Tenerife

Monday, 11^th January 2016

Hi everyone who follows our blog.  We are on board the Oriana for another cruise holiday, this one for 50 nights, around the Caribbean and across to America, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico.   We have had a rather rough three days, along the English Channel and across the Bay of Biscay, but things seemed to have calmed down a bit as we approached Madeira and then on to Tenerife.

Today was our first stop and that was at Tenerife and we went on an excursion to the Gardens of the Valley.  This included three very different gardens, firstly a Botanical Garden full of trees and shrubs collected around the world.

We then visited two very beautiful private gardens over looking Puerto de la Cruz ,the  first was the Risco Bello Gardens where we were treated to a glass of local wine, followed by the Orchid Gardens of Sitio Litre.

 The weather was perfect about 21 degrees and sunny, so a very enjoyable day. However we are off again crossing the Atlantic towards the Caribbean where although the temperatures are in the lower 20 degrees we are experiencing some 6-7metre swells.

Doreen and I have joined the Art class again (run by Annie Barnham ) and Doreen also goes to a Craft class which is currently making cards ( mainly Decoupage ). Along with attending lectures by Eric Knowles on Antiques we are keeping busy between  meals !!!