After 10 years and over 400 days on 20 cruises, we hadn't cruised since 2019. With the worst of the pandemic over we wanted to see how cruising might have changed, and see if we would still enjoy cruising. So we booked an 11 day cruise in the Eastern Caribbean (very similar to our very first cruise in 2009) as it was easy to get to and was relatively inexpensive. (The Caribbean are not our favourite ports, we prefer less busy, less "beachy" ports)
It was not a photographic trip, so I only brought one all round lens that is not as sharp, or fast, as the lenses I usually use. The photos posted below are what I would class as "grab shots". (Although I was surprised and quite pleased with a few of them)
FT LAUDERDALE FLORIDA
Many cruise ships leave from Ft Lauderdale, ours included. We arrived two days early to ensure there were no flight issues. The day before we arrived the city had had 13" of rain and very strong winds. There were lots of flooded areas, some being enjoyed by the birds.
CRUISE SHIPS
The Caribbean is a very popular cruising destination, rarely will your ship being the only one in port on any day. Our first port was Philipsburg, Sint Maarten. We were in port with some 14,000 other cruisers from 5 cruise ships. This photo was taken at noon when most people have spread out over the island.
It can feel like walking through a canyon on the dock
Our ship was the Eurodam, from Holland America Lines (HAL), this was our 17th HAL cruise.
Other cruise ships that we came across during the trip included:
Sky Princess, Norwegian Sky and the Celebrity Ascent. We also shared berths with the Celebrity Apex in two ports. (Turns out The Celebrity Ascent was a brand new ship and had not had its maiden voyage yet.)
We were in one port with a brand new all suite ship from MSC, the Explora I. She had only been cruising 3 and half months.
The Explora carries just over 900 passengers. Some of the verandahs (ship talk for balconies) have hot tubs, the largest suite, that stretches fully across the stern of the ship just below the flag, has its only swimming pool/hot tub. The various notations on the hull of the ship appeared to be solid brass. A living room-like arrangement was set up at the gangway for passengers to take amomonent before heading out, or returning to the ship.
A new ship and cruise line to us was the small luxury ship from Ritz-Carleton, the Evirma. She carries 300 passengers
Smaller personal yachts are not uncommon. This is the Rock.It. She carries 10 passengers and a crew of 14.
While in port it is not unusual for the crew to be out training in the lifeboats. The Evirma crew seemed to be doing "man overboard" training .
While at sea, other cruise ships pass by from time to time, during the day, or night.
Ambulances play a part in cruising unfortunately. With up to 5,000 people on some ships health issues are bound to arise. HAL ships tend to carry a good number of more senior people - we had two ambulances greet us in Ft Lauderdale at the end of the trip. But ambulances were at dockside at other ports as well.
PORTS
The dock, where the ship comes in, can be at a shopping centre (not uncommon in the Caribbean) , or direct access to the main business area, or a freight dock some distance from where you might want to go.
The ships are still tied up by very thick ropes that are manually hauled up to the cleats/hitches. The longshoreman in Basseterre, St Kitts used bikes to get out to the end of the dock.
Derelict or sunken ships sometimes are not far from the dock
WILDLIFE (the non-human type)
The Caribbean is not normally a place to see much wildlife, but I'll always have a look out. (scroll over for the ID of each bird)
Brown booby
red-footed booby
magnificent frigate birds and brown boobys
Juvenile frigate bird
Male (red pouch) frigate
Carib grackle
mockingbird
Pekican
Zenaida dove
Eurasian collared dove
wild chickens
snowy egret
cattle egret
egret
egret
red-tailed hawk
yellow-rumped warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
Green heron
While not a bird, there are fish that "fly". These are not the best photos of flying fish - they appear suddenly and fly quickly (up to 35mph/55kmph). Click on them to enlarge and get a better look. They have long side fins that let them glide long distances (up to 650 ft/ 200m).
Chitons and crabs are on rocks along the shoreline
Needle fish and sergeant major fish
PEOPLE
I don't take many people photos, but a few catch my eye....
FLOWERS
The tropics is always a good spot to find flowers (scroll over for ID)
frangipan
Mexican petunia
yellow-bells
ramgoat dashalong
pride-of-Barbados
pride-of-Barbados
rangoon creeper
Ixora
hibiscus
sea lettucetree
sea lettucetree
lantana
desert-rose
cherry (That was what two websites said(??) )
MURALS, SIGNS, ETC
Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Sr,
Former Prime Minister of Antigua
FLAGS and LICENCE PLATES
Not as many flags as I expected.
Dominica
ST Kitts
Malta (Explora I registered in Malta)
St Thomas put Cdn flag up for 400+ passengers
The licence plates are rather plain in most islands
ARCHITECTURE
Houses
Shops
Church, streetscape, wiring mess, fish market and careful parking over open gutters etc
WEATHER (sort of)
Sun/Moonrise
Distant rain and a rainbow
"Mountain" peak holding on to the clouds
HALF-MOON CAY
Half-Moon Cay is the private island owned by Holland America in the Bahamas. Many cruise itineraries, stop at Half-Moon Cay the day before returning to Ft Lauderdale. You can grab beach chair and just enjoy the beach, or you can rent a shelter from a "(fabric) clam-shell" all the way up to a private cottage for 10 people. For a price there are various shore activities beyond swimming - sting ray pool, sea-doos, kayaks, small sailboats, bikes to ride, nature walks, and horseback riding.
REMBRANDT
Because of their connection to Holland, most HAL ships have displays of Dutch artworks and artifacts. Our little corner on the Eurodam had a collection of self portraits by Rembrandt. Some 17 of them. Who knew that Rembrandt did over 100 self portraits? I didn't. This collection covered works from age 22 to 63.
There were also portraits of three ladies by Rembrandt
