11 night Southern Caribbean Wayfarer Cruise with Holland America - December 2015 -- Florida

Last Update: 17-JAN-2019

PART - 1 - December 2015 - Florida - First sea days to Bridgetown, Barbados

All photos were taken with a Canon EOS-70D 20.2mp camera (white date) or a Go Pro Hero4 Silver (red date) or a Moto-X 2013 (Green Date)

For a detailed description of the Canon EOS-70D 20.2mp camera setup I am using, visit my Camera Page

Any video was from all three cameras and converted with AWS Video Converter 8


Part 1 -------------------------------------
DEC	6	S	Fly to Ft. Lauderdale
DEC	7	M	Cruise - Ft. Lauderdale
DEC	8	T	Cruise - At sea
DEC	9	W	Cruise - At sea
DEC	10	T	Cruise - St. Martin
DEC	11	F	Cruise - St. Lucia
DEC	12	S	Cruise - Bridgetown, Barbados

Part 2 -------------------------------------
DEC	13	S	Cruise - Fort-de-France, Martinique
DEC	14	M	Cruise - St. Kitts
DEC	15	T	Cruise - St. Thomas
DEC	16	W	Cruise - At sea
DEC	17	T	Cruise - Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
DEC	18	F	Cruise - Ft. Lauderdale - FLY HOME - Mary Cold

Sunday - DEC 06 2015 -- Baltimore, Maryland to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Looking Northeast at the Patapsco River with Brandon Shores Generating Plant exhaust on a chilly December morning. The road that you see is I-97.

I-97 and Maryland RT-32 intersection.

Annapolis, Maryland

Funny to see this. One of the cruise ships returning to Baltimore. The lower part of Kent Island is across the bay from it. This was very late so they must be having issues again.

Looking at Calvert County, Maryland towards Drum Point. The Chesapeake Bay on the left and top and the Patuxent River on the right.

Solomons Island Maryland and Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK/KNHK)

Looking down the Virginia Peninsula towards Norfolk in the distance. The left side is the York River and the right is the James. You can see the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Cheatham Annex

Surry Nuclear Power Plant and Hog Island Wildlife Management Area in the James River

Approach into Ft. Lauderdale. Looking at Port Everglades Inlet where the beach does not line up.

View from room. This is the second time we have stayed here. Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach, 440 Sea breeze Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316 - We would definitely stay here again.

Very windy here and as a result the beach was a mess. Still, nice to see people swimming in early December

You can see the palm trees blowing to the right because of the high winds

Amazed that they have these expensive composite chairs on the beach. These won't last (Part of one is already been broke off) and I am sure they will be stolen. (In DEC-2017, I looked for these chairs and I did not see any)

We ate at Coconuts Waterfront restaurant. I forgot what Mary had (photo of the mess) but I had stone crabs. I have always wanted to try these and they were around $70 for 7 claws. Will definitely get these again as they were very good. Lots of work but worth it. Also, these are seasonal so you have to be here at the right time of the year.

The Florida stone crab is usually fished near jetties, oyster reefs or other rocky areas, just as for blue crabs. The bodies of these crabs are relatively small and so are rarely eaten, but the claws (chelae), which are large and strong enough to break an oyster's shell, are considered a delicacy. Harvesting is accomplished by removing one or both claws from the live animal and returning it to the ocean where it can regrow the lost limb(s). To be kept, claws must be 2.75 inches (70 mm) long, measured from the tips of the immovable finger to the first joint. Mortality rates for declawed crabs are unknown.

Monday - DEC 07 2015 -- Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

AM Views from the room. The 7-11 by the hotel was a big rough. Walked down around 9 last night for some beer and chips and had to dodge the homeless and hookers.

Cloudy morning - They have the Christmas displays up

Walking along A1A

Looking up / Down the beach

They were removing seaweed - Nice toys

More tracked toys

Flag out for Dangerous Marine Life - We asked and it was a stinging critter

On the ship. Nice room but we would discover an issue when it got dark.

Port views

Well, here was the issue. The light. This very bright light was left on all night. Because it would shine down on the ship most of the light would refect back up at you thru the glass railing It made it so you had to have the drapes closed all night - Not good as we like to lookout to see what we were going by. One of the reasons I take Eastern Carribean cruises is to see all the islands. Mary complained and asked to have it turned off and they said they did not know how to turn it off. (later after we moved it was off some nights) I looked to see if I could just cut the wire off and I could have but since we said something it would probably result in us being tossed off the ship. Also, I figured it was 220v system so a good way to get fried.

So, we fought with them and they eventually moved us. The second cruise in a row that we had to move. The new room we had no issues at all and the rest of the cruise from a room perspective was great !

Holland Americas larger Eurodam departing

Departing on a cloudy but warm day

Looking up the beach at Ft. Lauderdale

Tuesday - DEC 08 2015 -- First full day at sea

Sunset

Master Dining Room

This evening towel critter

Wednesday - DEC 09 2015 -- Second full day at sea

Lunch - Time to kill that diet

Nice View of nothing

Sunset time

Not too many people out

Amazing how many GPS satellites you can see when you are in a very flat place

More sunset

Nice. Good place to hide a city

Tonight's critter

Thursday - DEC 10 2015 -- Sint Maarten (St. Maarten)

This was the last time we were here before it got slammed in the summer of 2017. We like St. Maarten and it was sad to see it get hit.

Looking appx. 30 miles to Saba from St. Maarten

We took a cab to Little Bay Beach with the plan to walk a couple of miles back to the port.

This is another picture perfect beach with fine, white, powdery sand. However, depending on the tide, the stretch of sand can become narrow. The waters are calm and make for high underwater visibility. They bay is a great spot for snorkeling, and has a lot of other water sports. Hotels and restaurants are available on the beach as well.

Not sure what they are

On the way back to the port we walked up to Fort Amsterdam (Little bay)

This was a cool place to visit but we were all alone in an isolated area. I felt that we needed to be very alert here but had no issues.

Built by the Dutch in 1631, was overrun by the Spanish in 1633. In 1644 it was Peter Stuyvesant, who tried to recapture it, and he lost one leg during the fighting. Most of the construction was demolished, when the Spanish left the island in 1648. In 1737 it got the actual name by the Dutch. Up to 1950 it was used as a signal station. One can visit the fort for free. Just report to the security at the entrance of the hotel and leave the car at the parking lot.

A Frigate bird

Looking back at the port from Fort Amsterdam

More Fort views - Sunny and upper 90's ! NICE !

Iguana walking along the wall with our ship in the background.

Looking back at Fort Amsterdam

Walking along Front Street where I found my store.

The shops along Great Bay Beach

Back on the ship. Pool area is busy and parked next to the Carnival Breeze - YUCK !

Looking at where we were - Fort Amsterdam

Looking Back to the Sint Maarten Port & Cruise Ship Terminal

St. Barts off to the South

Looking back at Fort Amsterdam where we walked from.

Looking back to Little Bay Beach where we were earlier in the day

In the elevator we are reminded what day it is

Passing north of St. Eustatius. You can see the oil tanks of Statia Terminals N.V. which operates an 11.3 million barrel oil and transshipment port here. You can also see St. Kitts to the left out in the haze

We had a group of Brown Booby's following the ship. They are very fast and hard to photograph. They were going after the flying fish.

Now passing east of St. Eustatius. Now St. Kitts beyond St. Eustatius to the right

Sunset time. As usual, nobody but us are out. Sunset was ok but no green flash.

Looking back at Saba

Mary playing basketball on a moving ship. (We got yelled at because one of the dining areas is below this and the bouncing ball made too much noise. Oh well)

They have these cheese & fruit plates. You need to take 10 of them to get full.

Tonight's towel critter

Friday - DEC 11 2015 -- St. Lucia

Views of the HAL Oosterdam as we get further away from Castries

All the dogs look the same on the islands

We hired a taxi / tour to take us to Lushan Country Life Nature Park

This is the web page write-up: This is your encounter with nature in St Lucia, right in heart of the city. Take a scenic ride to a simpler time, visit with Mama who will share her folk tales and her kitchen table. Enjoy fresh fruit, coconuts, do bird calls with the guides and learn about the healing powers of the trees and plants all around you.

We hiked around and were shown many different fruits and flowers. It was interesting

Unknown beach

Back to the port and we had some time to kill walking around Castries.

Walked around a park that had some Christmas decorations and street views

Went over and looked at the cool church - Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Castries

And the cool giant tree located in the small park at Derek Walcott Square near the old church.

We always like to walk around the Castries Central Market as they have so many different types of fruit that we have no idea of what we are looking at. Its reasonably safe as many other cruise people are usually walking around.

As we walked back the 1/2 mile or so to the port we had to pass a few very aggressive beggars (one in a wheel chair). In addition, we had a woman that started yelling at us because she said that we had white privilege. She was very hard to ignore but we just kept walking. At this point we were very happy we did not spend much in her wonderful little country!

Walking back to the safe white privilege transportation vessel.

Various views from the ship of Castries, St. Lucia

Looking up at the overlook and the Governor General House.

Not sure what type of bulk cargo they were offloading but they had a bunch of trucks lined up to receive it.

Good warning. I bet that would hurt

This was one of the guys that works the anchor lines. He needs more fruit in his diet.

Looking down the runway at the Castries, St. Lucia - George F.L. Charles Airport.

Vigie Lighthouse - The French established a village at the base of Vigie Hill in 1745, and a military headquarters on Vigie Height. Three forts were built, Choc Fort facing Choc Bay, Fort St. Victor at the entrance to Grand Carenage Bay (Castries Harbor), and Fort Montagu overlooking Petit Carenage Bay

Interesting military radar left of the lighthouse

Looking down towards Soufriere and Petit Piton (left) and Gros Piton (right)

Dolphins following our ship

Petit Piton (left) and Gros Piton (right)

Day of the week reminder

The top of Petit Piton (Elevation 2,483 feet) with the 255mm lens

Tree kill area due to CO2 gas from the "walk-in" volcano is actually quite interesting. Originally used by the French army for sulphur mining, this ancient collapsed sulphur volcano in the middle of a forest is quite unique.

We took advantage of the Buy one Get one drink specials.

Sunset with a storm off to the west

It ended up not being that good color wise

The ships tender bringing people back from the Exclusive Historical Island Extravaganza shore excursion. It ended in Soufriere as the Oosterdam went this way to pick them up.

Tonight's critter

Saturday - DEC 12 2015 -- Barbados

We have been to Barbados many times. We think we hired a taxi (small bus) to take us on a island tour with a group of people.

Views from one of the higher points on Barbados. You can see back to the port

Very tropical

St. James Parish Church, is located in Holetown, St. James, Barbados. It stands on one of the oldest parcels of consecrated land on the island, often known in Barbados as "God's acre". Part of the Diocese of Barbados in the Church in the Province of the West Indies, St. James Parish Church is just north of Holetown, beside Folkstone Park.

On our way to Mount Hillaby

Views from Mount Hillaby, situated in the parish of St.Andrew, is the highest point of the island - at 1,115 ft. or 343 meters above sea level! Naturally this site is one of the best scenic lookouts in Barbados, particularly of the eastern and northern sections of the island.