St Maarten March 23 2009

St Maarten March 23 2009
A mixed verdict on this place as John liked it and Sue didn’t. This difference of opinion may have been due to the quality of the guides we both had on the tour, John’s was a very entertaining, highly educated chap who knew his stuff and put it over in a very amusing way, while Sue’s was rather surly and not very entertaining. Anyway the Island is half Dutch and half French which makes for an interesting mixture of cultures and influences.
Most people seem fluent in all three languages, English being the third one and it was obviously a lot more affluent than previous islands we have visited, very much geared for tourism with several lovely beaches with fine coral sand and very blue seas but there was a more sophisticated way of life and Sue compared it to Florida. It certainly has an airport and runway big enough to accommodate large passenger jets and there are many flights from the US and Canada. Cost of living was much higher too, two espressos cost John $6 US, “How Much?” and while it was a duty free port the prices we pretty dear so we were not unhappy to sail away, along with three other large cruise liners who were also in the port.
On the subject of the sail away the top deck of the Oceana when they hold the evening sail away parties does resemble a scene out of the TV show “Benidorm”. The cost of cruising has come down a lot and this cruise in particular has attracted a large number of families who would normally be at home on the Costa Brava. On the last evening in the Caribbean when the ship set sail for the UK there were 1998 drunken voices singing in unison (not Sue and I), Land of Hope of & Glory, Rule Britannia and God Save the Queen. A frightening spectacle! If you wanted proof that the English as a race are overweight there is ample proof on this ship. I’ll publish some pictures to show what I mean when I am able. Enough said, it takes all sorts.
Tuesday March 24th Antigua
Another day and another island but this one is less hilly and even drier. The main industry used to be sugar cane but the local people didn’t like the hard manual work involved and found they could make more money from tourism. Today there were only two liners in but the locals were very happy to see us and show us around the delights of the island which are cricket, (the Viv Richards Stadium is magnificent), the wonderful beaches and the historical Nelson’s Dockyard which dates back to 1670 when the Royal Navy recognised the value of the place as a base. Columbus has discovered it in 1493 but the Spanish lost out and the Royal Navy built the dockyard in 1725. Much of it has been preserved and restored for tourists, I noticed with a significant contribution from the EEC, why I wondered?
This is our last port in the Caribbean and tomorrow we wet off across the Atlantic for Madiera and then Southampton. For me, John, it’s the start of lectures and tonight I’m doing an appearance on the ship’s radio station to promote them.
More news when we get to Madiera. As I said earlier we cannot publish pictures yet due to the slow speed of the ships internet connection. I’ll put the photo’s in when I get a better connection which may not be until I get home but do look out for them as there are some good scenes.

Our First few days.

Here we are again, at very short notice on board another P&O Ship about to give more lectures, this time in the Caribbean on out way back to Southampton.
We had only a weeks notice to pack and go from Manchester to Barbados on Friday, March 20th. So it was a 4 am start and eventually to bed at what was around 2.30 am UK time next day” We saw precious little of Barbados as we landed in mid afternoon, jumped on a bus and were whisked to the waiting Oceana where our luggage duly followed. Our impressions were therefore limited to a view from the bus, fairly flat landscape and a windswept countryside, mostly grey concrete coloured houses and lots of sugar cane fields.
Next morning we woke early due to the four hour times difference with the UK and found ourselves looking at the very hilly and pretty island of St Lucia. Sue and I volunteered for escort duties and were sent off on a lovely tour travelling by catermaran and coach looking after some very happy passengers. Lots of fabulous reggae music on the cat, sailed into Marigot Beach seen in the picture, dancing, a swim in the warm seas and everyone helped along by a generous serving of Rum Punch. There was a pleasant lunch of local food and a tour of the local volcano and sulphur pools, very smelly but we felt no pain from our trip at all. We were little tired by bed time. Couldn’t find out whether Wales had triumphed over the Irish in the rugby final as CNN did not report it!
Sunday, another Island and another tour for both of us around Dominica, less hilly and less affluent than St Lucia it was never the less a very good place to look around helped by some excellent local guides who showed us the volcanic beaches, botanical gardens and the emerald falls where Sue had a dip in the waters. It’s said that a dip in those will take ten years off your life, so she’s now back to 30!
During the night Ocean ahd continued its journey northwards through the Windward Islands and today, Monday we woke to find ourselves in Saint Maarten, half Dutch and half French so we expect the natives to wear clogs and eat baguettes with a tulip tucked behind their ears! Who knows we will explore as we escort our various tours and report more later... Sadnly it's not possible to post picrues as the ship's system is too slow. I'll try to load some later at aninternet cafe.

Final Post of this trip, March 1st Skipton

So that's it we have arrived back home after nearly five weeks we are back in sunny Skipton.

We spent our last two days in Sydney, having driven back from Avalon on Thursday morning over the famous Harbour Bridge, what a nightmare trying to navigate to the car hire return address in the middle of town. That evening we had a very special time, started with dinner at Doyles on Circular Quay, you can see Sue in front of the restaurant

and then it was off to the Opera House concert hall where Sue had managed to book tickets in the Sydney Opera House for Ashkenazy’s opening concert as new resident conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, it was Mid Summer Nights Dream but a very avant guard production with a cast of actors performing Shakespeare’s play of the same name. It was an interesting experience to say the least we had a lovely time, when we came out in an open air bar by the Quay there was live jazz from a Stephan Grapelly type group so we had to stay for an hour and enjoy that too.

Friday was reunion day, for lunch we met up with Katheryn and Andy, two friends we met on the Oriana so we went back to the Fish market for oysters and sushi and in the evening it was a reunion with with the honeymooners, Tony and Anne Hibberdine who's wedding we had attended the day before we flew out. They had just arrived on a different cruise from South America so as our wedding present we took them for dinner at the top of the Sydney Tower, a revolving restaurant similar to the London Post Office Tower. While the food was only average the views were splendid as you can see.

Saturday after a last breakafast at La Renaissance, our favourite French Cafe anywhere in the world, we set off on the long journey home. Virgin to Honk Kong and from there to Heathrow. It would have been more enjoyable if we could have travelled business class but P&O only offered "lepper" class and we would have liked two seats at the side of the aircraft but the luck of the draw saw us in a row of four and next to the toilet for 24 hours so that took the edge of our sleeping plans. Nevermind it's been a wonderful trip and we hope all our friends and relatives who have followe dour adventures have enjoyed reading it nearly as much as we did.

Another blog when we set sail again