My goodness, there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day, port after port, paperwork, social functions and soon, packing those suitcases.  I do apologise for not posting as frequently as I should, or used to; however Gerd, my Staff Captain, is having some R&R today while ‘parked’ in Roseau, Dominica and as one of us has to remain on board, I can catch-up with the blog and then later, the final touches to my reports.  Gerd is going diving, (scuba) with some other officers, something I used to do, however I have trouble ‘equalising’, so have not done any for several years. It was nice to have dry land under one’s feet after so many days at sea; they passed quite quickly though and Bridgetown, Barbados beckoned us.  It was windy on arrival, gusting up to 26 knots, however the harbour was devoid of other cruise ships and thus had plenty of room.  Having turned in the north end of the harbour, I backed in, my thought being that it could be worse by departure time, (which it was) and getting it out-of-the-way was more prudent.   Karen and I took a stroll ashore and wandered the streets, meandering through the markets and along the boardwalk which runs through the town.

From the boardwalk, the pirate ship awaits its crew

The colourful side-streets

Admiral Lord Nelson statue

Then onto Castries, St. Lucia; the entrance into the natural harbour is though a narrow ‘neck’ and then onto a short berth on which lies the cruise terminal shops. The ship has to be cleared by the local airport Traffic control, as we block the approach to the runway as we pass by, fortunately we did not have to wait this time. Karen and I decided that rather than do the ‘strolling’, we would find a nice hotel which offered a day-pass.  A quick search on the internet promised one nearby and so, without reservations, we headed for the “Rendezvous”.  Fortunately, they welcomed us in and for $65 each, offered us ‘all-inclusive’ use of the facilities, including lunch and drinks.  At any other time, I would have taken advantage of the latter 🙂 however, as ‘designated driver’ for at least 4-more days, I refrained.  We had a wonderful, relaxing few hours before returning to the ‘Amsterdam’.

Castries entrance from seaward.

The hotel accommodation.

And the beach

Enjoying a walk in the sand.

More of the beach.

And so I write from Roseau.  The steel-drum band music can be heard in the distance, the market stalls line the street adjacent to the pier and most of the guests (and Karen) are ashore, pillaging the town 🙂

Dominica in the early morning

Roseau beckons

A lovely view from the window!

Market stalls line the main road

Looking over the town

We leave here for St. Maarten, our last call before Port Everglades and then my packing begins.  We are due at the pilot station off Lauderdale at 5 a.m. on the 28th and docking by 6 a.m., another Grand World Voyage almost over, it seems like only yesterday that we departed.  What an adventure though, almost 33,000 miles and over $6m in fuel, isolated islands and glistening cities later, we are returning home. I will try to post while we’re heading northward, I have received some lovely photos of Vi and an equally lovely video of Emily, so I will share them here soon.  It isn’t long before I can give them a big cuddle :-). Until then!