Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Day 15 at sea & Day 16 Return home.

Day 15
We spent the day sailing back to Tampa.  Roak had his second acupuncture treatment with excellent results, again.

Day 16
Disembarked at Tampa.  Flew home!  Great trip.

Now we are planning Roak's 80th birthday party/ies:  one here in November and one in Holland in the summer-all things going well!

Thanks for following our journey.  Cheers, Peter & Roak.

Day 13 at sea & Day 14 Grand Cayman

Day 13
At sea.  Swimming and reading.

Day 14.
Grand Cayman.  We spent the day onboard.  GC is basically a sand bar where the telephone poles are higher than the trees.  However, the beaches and water are something to behold.




Roak took his first swim since his back injury.  He swam with the dolphins, too!








He also had his first acupuncture treatment-miraculous.
Later, dinner with Bart and Ronette in the Pinnacle dining room.  Great food and great company, as always!


Day 11 Curacao & Day 12 Aruba

Day 11.
Curacao.  A must visit for anyone interested in period architecture and friendly people.  We took a fabulous tour of this quaint island and its capital-Willemstad.  We loved it and look forward to returning some day.





Day 12.
Aruba.  Visited the capital-Oranjestad and then took an interesting tour of the whole island.  It has rattlesnakes and boas.  Went to the beach and spent the afternoon at Palm Beach.  Would like to return there too.





Dinner that evening onboard at Le Cirque with friends we met (Dee and Don from Tucson).  Great meal but too much goose pate!

Day 9 St Lucia & Day 10 At sea

Day 9
St Lucia.  Quaint little island.  Beautiful scenery.  We stayed onboard for another quiet day.



Day 10
At sea.  Another quiet and enjoyable day:  swimming, reading and another bucket of beer.

Day 7 US VI & 8 Antigua

Day 7.
St Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  We stayed on board for a quiet day of swimming and reading.  Roak went into a hot tub for the first time since his back injury.



Day 8.
Antigua.  What a beautiful little place.  Met some of the colourful locals and heard them speaking the native creole language-some French; some English; some Portuguese; some Dutch.  Then, we went to the beach for a day of swimming and drinking rum punch-and it did have a punch.


Day 5 at sea & 6 Puerto Rico

Day 5.
Day at sea! Time spent by the pool; enjoyed a bucket of beer; read dutch newspapers.

Day 6.
Puerto Rico.  We visited an unspoilt rain forest filled with exotic birds and plants.


Day 3 & 4 Key West

Day 3
Boarded the Ryndam and set sail for Key West.

Day 4
Boarded a scenic trolley for a fun tour of the quaint town of KW.  Very folksy place with lots of old buildings and restaurants.  Saw the life size replica of the statue of Marilyn Monroe standing on the grate.


Day 2 in Tampa

Explored the nature part surrounding the Grand Hyatt Tampa.  Beautiful place.  Saw iridescent small black lizards; egrets; tiny hermit crabs; nesting doves; and, sloughed snake skin (yikes).  In the evening had dinner with Bart and Ronette at the Oystercatcher Restaurant.  Very good food!


First night in Tampa

As many of you already know, blogger blocked me out of the blogsite during the trip.  Arggh!
However, I will update it here for everyone to see and read.

On Jan 24 we flew to Tampa via Toronto.  Great flight.  Waiting line to pass through US Customs.  For us, next time, Nexus.

Arrived in Tampa in the early evening.  Met Bart and Ronette for a drink before we all went to bed.