This was our last day together for the next 5 months, and unfortunately our last days usually don’t go so smoothly. We awoke to find that my credit card had been billed $210 in gratuity, which we feel is extremely excessive, and it took 45 mins to get that straightened out (we tipped extra on our card for the Camp Carnival Daycare workers, to find that none of the money went to them – not happy about that). I did like that there were several employees at the taxi stand in San Juan (upon leaving the boat) that issued a fee slip before it was your turn for a taxi – no haggling, no ripping you off by not starting the meter. They do, however, charge $1 per bag extra). After a $22 taxi ride to our hotel, Coral by the Sea (a 2 star hotel… the worst; will never ever stay here ever again), we were crammed in this teeny lobby (could hold about 5 people comfortably) with literally 30 other people who were all waiting for a room. We were all tired, Belle was being two (terribly rotten) & the staff was rude & unhelpful. We got to the hotel just after 11 am, and checkout wasn’t until noon, so we had to wait until after 1 pm for our room. We had a rental car reserved, but decided to just hang out in our room. We have to be at the airport NLT 4 am, as Josh leaves for Korea at 6:15 am and Belle & I return to CA at 6:10 am (via Miami).

Today we visit our very last island, St. Kitts *sniffle, sniffle.* We love the island tours, and were surprised to find a full island tour today (minus the bottom peninsula -- every other island had a partial tour, but the lengths were all about the same of 2-3 hrs) that started at the Basseterre Bay & circled the entire coastline. We toured through the capital city of Basseterre, Bloody Point, Brimstone Hill Fortress, Willetts Bay & Dieppe Bay (where you can see the Caribbean Sea to the west meet the Atlantic Ocean on the east), volcanic rocks and several neighbor islands off to the distance. The scenery was not much different from that of Antigua, Barbados & St. Lucia, but we definitely experienced more history (and held a tiny baby monkey for $1 each). We are leaving early today (4 pm) to arrive back at Puerto Rico early tomorrow morning (7 am).

Tonight was the Carnival Legend Show and Josh had dressed up as and sang Elton John’s Crocodile Rock. He did so great! Really! It was so exciting to see him up on stage rockin’.

Awww, our very first wedding anniversary was spent on the Island of Antigua. We snagged another island tour for $25 pp/ 2.5 hrs. This island was very dry (desert-like) and was exactly like the first few (impoverished, with shacks and stray dogs everywhere); nothing outstanding or memorable about this island. Tonight we will be leaving port at 6 pm, destined for St. Kitts at 7 am.
The official currency of Antigua is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar.

Dominica is absolutely, positively the high point of this trip! We snagged 2 seats on a guided tour bus for $20 pp and had a great time. Now THIS is what I was expecting. This is the first Caribbean island that had any lush to it… huge leaves, tons of vegetation, just about any fruit you can imagine, but it was the least developed of the Caribbean countries (the rain forest was beautiful- very comparable to those in Costa Rica). I lit up when the tour guide (who was amazing…he knew more about the island than I know about myself!) hopped off the bus and grabbed a handful of cinnamon leaves and lemon grass. He explained how natural herbs & spices are used every day, to battle/prevent all sorts of illnesses, diseases, promote health, longevity and well being. I am into this stuff HUGE (I am working on my Registered Aroma therapist certification right now) so I feel right at home here. We did a small hike and saw 2 waterfalls (40-50 ft tall), a spurting sulfur spring, botanical gardens, a bus crushed by a hurricane (1995) and the cutest mongoose. The ship set sail again at 5 pm & we will be arriving in Antigua (yeah!!) at 8 am. The official currency of Dominica is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar.

In Barbados there were tons of taxi drivers poaching unsuspecting visitors at the Bridgetown Port as we made our way to inquire about an island tour. We found a minivan & haggled our rate from $25 pp to $20 pp for a 3 hr tour. The vans held 10-12 people & the drivers won’t leave until all the seats are full. We travelled the coastal highway 1 up to St. James Anglican Perish, which is the oldest church on the island (1625). We passed through several communities- we even drove through the Sandy Lane Country Club, where Tiger Woods was married (we tried to find the hotel where the end of season 9 of Friends was filmed, but it was “somewhere on the other side of the island”). The main item of interest on this island was the sea turtles, which we swam with in the Caribbean Sea, at Blue Monkey Beach on the SW coast. Unfortunately the cruise had a catamaran charter excursion ($99 pp) which anchored about 100 yards offshore, so there were about 40 other snorkelers fighting for the turtles. It was amazing! The turtles were so graceful, curious & inviting. Our Fun Ship set sail again at 5 pm & we are scheduled to arrive in Dominica at 8 am.
The official currency of Barbados is the Barbados dollar.

We set sail at 5 pm last night, and arrived in St. Lucia at noon. We had never done a ship-sponsored tour, so we battled the excursion line to book a volcano & sulfur springs/mud bath tour (the world’s only drive-in volcano) for $49 pp for 4.5 hrs but it was full (along with the diamond mineral waterfalls and warm mineral baths for $45/4.5 hrs). So, we opted for the “Pirates Extravaganza” for $89 pp/4hrs. With as exciting as this sounded, it was a huge disappointment. Brig Unicorn, the 140 ft, actual ship used in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” picked us up in the cruise-liner port of Castries and sailed us to historic Pigeon Island, where the French battled the British. The tiny brick walls were hardly worth noticing (I was expecting something magnificent…like the beaches & battles of Normandy, France). We were then left on the “beach” for an hour (the snorkeling was not completely awful as the shoreline was lined with large rocks & housed a good amount of larger fish), at which time the ship picked us back up and returned us to the harbor. It was neat to see the boat, and they passed around pictures of Jonny Depp with the crew, but it was about 5 mins cool and not 4 hrs (and $200) cool. It was way, way too touristy for us. We instantly decided that this was the last and only cruise tour we would ever do. Our Fun Ship set sail again at 8 pm and we will arrive in Barbados at 8 am. St Lucia’s official currency is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar.

Yeah! 7 Days of sun & sail through the Caribbean! At 7 this morning we docked at St Thomas’s Crown Bay Harbor (US Virgin Island), and the 3 of us made our way through the downtown area of Charlotte Amalle. We toured the Blackbeard’s Hill, marched down the 99 Steps, sat in Roosevelt Park…and then had to take the fussy tot back to the ship for a nap (we didn’t discover that the cruise offered free daycare until 10 pm until right around 10 pm). The harbor locals only offered one tour for $25 pp, and it didn’t leave the local area. From what we saw, this island was not terribly impressive. Here their official currency is the US Dolar.