Greg and Mandy's Travels

What is it about Carnival? We had a big one in Aruba on Saturday, arrived in Curacao to a mid sized one on Sunday, then today some things are shut in Bonaire as its Carnival Holiday here today.

Not many of the crew had enough time to get down the other end of Aruba on Saturday to see the big one, but lots went to watch last night in Curacao as it was near the port, and there are certainly some bleary eyes amongst them today. To make it worse, today is their staff practice emergency drill and inspection of their quarters, so keeping a smile on their dial is hard going.…

The captain had made a beeline for the leeward side of Curacao last night in order to shelter from the wind and swells, so we had a very calm night. Woke up as we gently came alongside the pier in the city.

A large cruise ship, the Zandam, sister ship to the one we took through the Inside Passage to Alaska, was also in town with some 3000 of its own passengers so the wharf area was fairly busy.

Alighted to join our free walking tour which was due to start a few minutes away at the old fort. After sitting there for a while with nobody else turning up, we wandered around to find some wifi, and received a new message from our guide saying that she was cancelling our tour, and sorry.…

“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya

Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama

Key Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go”

sang the Beach Boys, so I’ve always had visions of lovely sandy beaches surrounded by swaying palm trees. Wrong! Oranjestad, Aruba turned out to be dusty and pretty neglected. The central part of town was really like Rodeo Drive with a casino. Every high end store with suited security guards. Outside that block it was pretty scruffy and peeling. Look, I figure that it would be just lovely if you wanted to stay at an all-inclusive resort up the coast with its own private, manicured beach, and buy your wife something from Tiffanys with your casino winnings, but for the rest of us it was pretty average.…

A full day at sea, so little to report. The captain put the pedal to the metal last night to get up the coast and round the corner so the wind was abeam (that’s a headwind for us nuffies) to reduce the rolling, and so, when that was achieved, we’ve throttled right back and seem to be going at swimming pace to ensure we don’t have to do laps of Aruba before being allowed to dock.

Everybody emerged for a late breakfast. With little to do all day but eat and read and eat and eat a bit more, I reckon that the kitchen will be kept busy.…

All of the ship’s tours started around 8 this morning, which is a bit unusual, but later in the morning we worked out why.

We had signed up for the ‘Cartagena On Your Own’ tour, but it was anything but. Two bus loads of people set out expecting to be taken in to the city and dropped off to do their own thing. Nope. First we endured an hour and a quarter of driving around and being talked to continuously.

When we finally arrived in town and were walked to the assembly point we were told that we had to be back in 2 hours.…

This morning we berthed in the tourist capital of Colombia, Cartagena.

Cartagena is pronounced carta-heena, and there are t-shirts everywhere saying “It’s not Columbia, it’s Colombia” so now you’ve been told.

Our first paid shore excursion today for a walking tour of Getsemani, the arty part of town. It was marked ‘strenuous’ which is partially why we chose to go on it. Leave those on walkers to do the emerald tour or the coffee tour, and get some decent exercise. But no. When they announced it, three bus loads of waddlers got up, and really the most strenuous part of the tour was getting onto the bus.…

The San Blas islands are a group of around 300 small islands not far off shore in the Caribbean Sea at the western end of Panama close to Costa Rica, and today was our island day, with no town or excursions on the itinerary. 

Woke up to hear the anchor going down near an island that we later earned was Kuanidup Island. The day’s activities were listed as a beach day and a BBQ lunch, so we had planned to spend the day walking around the island on the beach before enjoying lunch. However, that plan went out the porthole as we peered out.…

So, let’s tell you about the ship that we are on. The Star Pride is one of the Windstar ships. As cruise ships go, it’s quite small. Only around 300 passengers, and its theme is relaxed and informal. No tedious formal dinners. Rock up for meals when you feel like it without a reservation – except at the fine dining restaurant. Coffee and donuts from early in the morning (yep, most passengers are American) and all day eats. Two sets of musicians for the bars, but no show production. An Open Bridge policy means that you are encouraged to pay the captain a visit if you so wish.…

Next weekend, the largest single sporting event on the planet known as the Super Bowl will take place in the US between Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The San Francisco team is known as the 49ers in recognition of the gold rush that occurred in San Francisco in 1849. Not only did it change the financial fortunes of the United States, but it also changed the politics of the Americas for ever. 

There was an urgent need to get people and supplies from the eastern cities of New York and Chicago to the newly discovered goldfields of San Francisco, and then return loads of gold safely.…

This morning I took a ‘free’ cycling tour of Panama City. Just like the regular ‘free’ walking tours that we do, this tour was tip based, with an extra charge for the bike hire.

Hiked down to the old town in the early morning sunshine to the starting point which was the historical ‘Coca-Cola Cafe’. The guide claims, and I cannot verify it, that it’s where Coca-Cola was first sold, made from the local cacao plants, was later marketed (very successfully) by the newly formed Coca-Cola Company, and eventually spread around the world. 

Only two of us on the tour, though the guide runs three tours a day and the next tour had twenty on it.…