Friday, November 12, 2010

Home at last Nov 11, 2010

Crossed the border into Canada around 1PM Thursday afternoon and 40 minutes later was waiting for my ride to lunch and home.

It was a long trip - 26 days including getting to and from Boston and New Orleans by train.

It is getting late am I am tired so I will keep this post short but with plenty of rain in the forecast the next few days I should be able to finish off the daily posts.

Cheers

Dennis

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Cozumel November 5, 2010


SAN MIGUEL ON COZUMEL ISLAND NOV 5, 2010

While most people refer to our last port of call as just COZUMEL - that is actually the name of the island that sits off the coast of Mexico across from Playa de Carma - where the cruise ships anchor is actually the town of San Miguel - this is my fourth or fifth visit so I planned nothing in the line of excursions.

The weather looked dreadful as we docked and the seas where rough but the wind was doing us a favor - it was clearing the skies.

I had hoped to hop the ferry for the forty-five minute ride over to Playa but the return times meant I either got off the ferry - walked around for an hour and took the early one back or waited until 3PM and run the risk of missing the all aboard at 4:30 PM

I aborted any attempt to get to Playa this trip and instead just walked through the town - it was quiet when I first set foot in town but with the other four cruise ships passengers slowly coming in the center of town it wasn’t long before it was very busy - I found an internet cafĂ© - off the beaten path - the others I found were all busy - where it was just $1.00 for an hour - the service was somewhat slow but I got all the surfing I needed to do done.

Then it was time for a bite to eat and a little shopping which consisted of a bottle of Tequila for Jim at half the price of the duty free on the ship - $10.00 - some shot glasses to enjoy the Tequila in - three beer for $3.00 which I drank while walking around the downtown core - it is legal or at least tolerated to drink in public in Cozumel - three large diet Pepsi for ship board use. The Senor McFrogs and Carlos and Charlie’s club were right by the ship and were certainly living up to their reputation as a noisy but fun place to spend part of the day.

After finishing the beer it was just about time to head back to the ship but my beer drinking was hardly finished for the day as I had another Latitudes Party to attend - this one for those with more than a few cruises under our belts and the beer or drink of choice was free and they were bringing as many as you wanted - two big sleeves for me.

It was then off to dinner in the buffet - passed on the show as I was tired.



Tomorrow is our last full day at sea and I will have some closing thoughts to pass along when I do the journal entries for the day.!


Roatan Nov 4, 2010

Arrival in Roatan as seen from Deck 7 on the Norwegian Spirit.



ROATAN NOVEMBER 4, 2010 - A VISIT TO THE BAY ISLANDS

After two full days of sea travel I have arrived in the Port of Roatan located in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras.

As mentioned by the Captain during yesterday’s update - it is raining as we tied up in the port.

As this is my first visit to this port I am taking a Best of Roatan Island tour - about 3.5 hours.

I did bring an umbrella and rain jacket - just trying to decide whether to wear long pants or not - it was fairly cool by local standards as we sailed into port.

We have arrived about thirty minutes early and I have about an hour before my tour leaves.

Our first scheduled stop was for a short boat ride through a mangrove garden and pass some old wrecks.

As we arrived there a thunder storm hit and no one wanted to set out in the boat so we continued on our way to out first stop - a scenic overlook where we can see the barrier reef.

From there it was on to our next stop - an authentic native village of the Garifuna people who migrated to this area a couple of hundred of years ago - they put on a show for us - the village produces local products which they sell to the tourists who stop on the sightseeing tours.

Our last scheduled stop was another part of the Garifuna people’s display

This was our turn around point - then it was back to the resort for the boat ride since the weather had improved

After this it was back to the ship - I spent a little time walking through the village and through the Port facilities. Tomorrow our last port of call - Cozumel


Aruba and Curacao

This was one of the sights that greeted me after I got off the bus at De Palm Beach by the Radisson Hotel along Hotel row in Aruba.


CURACAO AND ARUBA OCT 31 - NOV 1, 2010

I am grouping these two ports together as I have already posted some of my activities to the blog from on shore internet stations.

Spend about an hour walking the beach sans shirt and I have the red streaks to prove it. It was n ice to take off the shoes and walk along the sandy beaches with the waves periodically lapping at your feet - a cool refreshing feeling on a muggy, showery day - while TS Tomas is some distance away it does seem to be spawning frequent T-storms that drop a fair amount of rain in a short period of time.

I had lunch during one of the storms at a McDonalds - there are a string of fast food restaurants in this area - by the time I was finished it was back on the bus and back into town where I got ninety minutes of internet for $6.00 and used almost all of it to get caught up on events at home. Usual problems facing the strata - nothing that missing me can’t be solved by the others.

Looking forward to seeing the baseball game if ESPN shows it but I suspect we will get the Monday Night football.

We did in fact get the football game and I couldn’t get a Canucks score on a sport network that seemed obsessed with the Randy Moss situation - finally got it on the ticker at CNBC the next morning.

More later









The Big Easy New Orleans Nov 7, 2010


After a two hour wait in line finally made it off the ship and headed for the hotel - it is located across the street from where I stayed the last time.

There were a couple of things on my to do list this visit - ride the streetcars and see some of the cemeteries - accomplished both.



First took the St Charles streetcar which uses only the old original cars and rode it to the end with a couple of stops along the way - At Loyola and Tulane University for a few pictures and at the Carolleton curve just to get some pictures. Then it was back downtown and on to the newer Canal Street cars for a trip along that line - didn't realize but at the end of this one there are three or four cemeteries to view - because New Orleans is actually below sea level they can't bury the usual way. Unfortunately they were closed by the time I got there but did get some images - brought a day pass for $5.00 to ride as much as I want.


Traffic is always fun in the downtown core because of the narrow streets or streetcar lines and it was doubly so today as Joe Biden was in town to play host to the Prime Minister of Israel and a Jewish Federation Convention.



Posting this from a free wi-fi in the lobby of the Hotel.

Cheers