Caribbean Cruise (Aug 2003)

My sister and I found a pretty good deal on a cruise, and decided to give it a try. We booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise, leaving Ft. Lauderdale and stopping at St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Princess Cays in the Bahamas. 

My friends Christine and Mark were also on the cruise.

After two rather dull days at sea, with mediocre food and bad entertainment, we finally docked at St. Thomas. I hopped off the ship as soon as we docked and caught the ferry at Red Hook to St. John.Once on St. John, I took a cab ride from the dock at Cruz Bay to Waterlemon Bay on the other side of the island. The driver stopped at scenic overlooks so I could take pictures of the various beaches on the way.Trunk Bay - early morning
Cinnamon Bay
The Leinster Bay trail is 0.8 miles one-way to Waterlemon Bay, starting at the picnic area at Annaberg Sugar Mill.


The trail is a flat trail and follows an old Danish plantation road, a small stretch across the beach, and then a little bit through some underbrush. Once at Waterlemon Bay, it is a 0.1 mile swim to Waterlemon Cay. Then you can swim around the cay. Click here to see snorkeling pictures that include coral, starfish, sea turtles, and lots of fish.


After snorkeling, it was time to hike back to the road and catch a cab .

After taking a quick dip at Trunk Bay, it was back to the ferry and back to the ship.
Back on the ship to head to St. Martin / St. Maarten.

The excitement continues......

Snorkeling in the Caribbean

These snorkeling pictures were taken with a disposable plastic underwater camera at Waterlemon Cay CoralElkhorn Coral
Sea grass Sea Fans

Urchins
Sea turtle

Needle-nosed fish

Fish at Princess Cays, Bahamas

While snorkeling on St. Thomas, I didn't want to leave my regular camera (which was fairly new, since I broke my old camera in Venezuela) on the beach, even though there weren't that many people around. I wrapped it in 3 zip bags and put it in a water-resistant fanny pack while I snorkeled. I had another zip bag with my passport and money. The money stayed dry. My camera got soaking wet and destroyed.

Caribbean Cruise - St. Martin

St. Martin (French) / St. Maarten (Dutch)

My sister and I decided to go Dutch today and split a cab on St. Maarten.
Actually, we headed straight to the French side of the island and to Marigot. We did a little bit of shopping, but for some reason the bottoms of my shoes were really slippery. I was slipping and sliding (and falling) everywhere. We went into one mall and I could barely stand up. It was funny, weird, and annoying all at the same time.
After spending a few hours in Marigot, we had lunch and then hired a cab to drive us on a tour of the rest of the island. One of the places we stopped was near Ance Marsel.
We also headed towards Orient Beach
The driver stopped right at the junction that separated the regular beach ...
from the nude beach
After a brief stop in Philipsburg (Dutch side)
it was back to the ship for dinner and bad entertainment.
After another dull day at sea, we had a nice relaxing day at Princess Cays in the Bahamas. The next day.... back to Ft. Lauderdale and work.