Sailing & Singing in the Caribbean -Part 3

 Day 5 we were in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. 

Richard got up early to drink coffee and tried to watch the sunrise, but it was too cloudy. We both went to the 8am concert.

Liberated helped us get the day started right -with some worship.

Aaron Stutzman family This guy pretty much made the show when his family was on stage, in our opinion. Fun to watch. We liked his dad's yodeling too. 

Graceful rocking the boat...

The Millers led a meaningful praise & worship time

We slipped out of the theater at 10 so we could nab some breakfast before they closed down the buffet. 

Our captain made up the time we lost going back to DR by picking up speed overnight. Ahoy, matey, I spy land! 

We docked in St Thomas at 11:30am. We watched from Deck 4 while the dock lines were secured; they hauled 6 of those heavy lines to the pier with that boat below. 

We were not far from the airport and saw quite a few planes taking off. 

We watched the staff setting up the gangway and people disembarking...  

By 1:30pm, it wasn't sprinkling anymore so we got off the ship. Our first time on a Virgin Island.

So I had a map for a historic walking tour that I wanted to do. According to the map, you just get off the ship and the first (of 16) sites is right straight ahead, but we couldn't find it. None of the streets were marked so we could not match the map to what we were seeing. We walked & walked, in the wrong direction several times. Finally we got smart and turned on Google Maps, but in the process of getting where we wanted to be, we were a block behind the main street and walking in a seedy area of town. 😲 We got yelled at by a local, and it was quite frustrating that the sidewalk would suddenly end so we'd have to cross the street, only to have it end again 100 yards farther on that side and we'd have to cross the street again. We inadvertently saw the "real" St Thomas, not the cleaned up tourist part we were supposed to see! Added to this, it was miserable humid. 

Along the way, we saw local gas prices...

A Moravian cemetery...

...and an old Jewish cemetery.

As we walked, I crossed more and more sites off my list as unnecessary to see. Too muggy & miserable.

Oh look, there is the famous Zora's custom sandal shop! Ok, now we're getting somewhere.  

And the Grand Hotel! The Grand Hotel opened in 1841. It doesn't really look it anymore, but it was once a premier hotel, hosting lavish parties due to its prime location and stylish interior, until 1975 when it closed. In 2000, the building reopened as the Grand Galleria, housing a variety of shops and restaurants. 

Eureka! We finally found #1 on my bucket list- the famous 99 Steps. This staircase street was built in the 1700s. I didn't count, but according to the internet it is technically 103 steps. But hey, what is 103 more after the several miles we already walked?! 

From the top. Proof that we really did climb up there. 

View of Charlotte Amalie from the top, with our cruise ship way back there between those 2 hills.  

From this vantage point, we discovered there are two piers in Charlotte Amalie! If we would've docked at the one off to the left of this photo above, our map would've lined up perfectly- the walking tour would've started right off the pier. But because we were actually docked way over there, 1.5 miles from town instead, that was why we couldn't find anything and got in all that extra walking. 

We climbed farther up Blackbeard's Hill. I thought this was going to be Blackbeard's Castle (below) but when we got there, it was gated off. Turns out it is The Inn at Black Beard's Castle, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. According to their website, these 5 acres are known as "The Williamsburg of the Caribbean” and has historical manor houses dating as far back as the late 1600's.  

We happened upon the 3 Queens statue, which wasn't on my list. The plaque reads 

THE THREE QUEENS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

In 1878 three former slave ladies on St. Croix led an insurrection against the Danish Government for improved working and living conditions. During this action, a major portion of Frederiksted was destroyed by fire. This revolt is known today as “FIREBURN” and the ladies are renowned as “Queen Mary, Queen Agnes and Queen Matilda” – The Three Queens of the Virgin Islands.

We were close to a number of other historic attractions, and we started following Google Maps towards the actual Blackbeard's Castle, but we were hot and tired and the sky looked like it could let loose with rain any minute so we said "phooey with it" and headed back downhill into town. We ignored most of the tourist shops. We spied a sign that said "chocolate factory" and detoured inside, only to be hugely disappointed by the false advertising. It was a souvenir shop with a small case of chocolates. Nope. 

We could've hailed a taxi, but we made it this far, we can surely make it back to the ship. Despite intermittent rain showers. Thankful we had the foresight to carry the umbrella with us. 

Spied this beauty of a palm tree enroute. If Google Lens is correct, it's a silver bismark. 

We boarded the ship at 4:45pm, just as the rain started in earnest. With just enough time to freshen up before our 5pm dining. We checked an app on my phone and discovered we had walked 6 miles that afternoon in St Thomas! We didn't spend any money on the island- our only souvenirs are photos and memories. For those of you who believe Richard is lucky to have his own personal 'travel agent' and my extensive research always pays off big, Richard can tell you sometimes I make mistakes and he gets has to be my longsuffering sidekick. 

It was Caribbean Night in the main dining room. Richard had the cutest little pork tacos, 

NY strip steak, 

and blueberry cobbler with ice cream. I had coconut shrimp, pesto tagliatelle 

and Royal chocolate cake. 

There was a waiter's parade in the dining room that evening. 

Richard was playing card games with his cousins while I caught up on journaling & reading in our room that evening. He didn't take any photos of it, but here is one of him visiting with his uncle Aden. My hat is off to them for cruising at their age. 

8pm Good-bye St Thomas.

Day 6 we were scheduled to go to St Croix, US Virgin Islands but due to weather conditions, we were not able to go there. Fortunately for us, Royal Caribbean was able to get us a day in San Juan, Puerto Rico instead. (On our previous cruise, a port of call got cancelled due to weather and we didn't get rescheduled anywhere else- it was simply an extra day at sea. It felt like you didn't get the "bang for your buck" you had paid for, so I was really thankful we got a substitute this time.) Staff & fellow passengers who were more 'in the know' than us said it was actually an upgrade. 

We docked at 7:30am. A dining room attendant found us a table; we shared a table with 2 ladies in the Sail & Sing group that once again had connections to our families. Small world. 

There were free charter buses to get us from the pier over to Old San Juan, if I'm not mistaken compliments of Royal Caribbean. We got dropped off next to Castillo San Cristóbal, a citadel built in the 1700s to guard the city from enemies approaching by land. I wanted to climb up there, but thought we would catch it on the way out, however we did not. Going rogue is not my comfort zone. I had not done any research on this location since we didn't expect to go here, so we were exploring "blind". I'm sure we missed a lot of cool stuff.  

It was sprinkling part of the time we were in town, as evidenced by the splatters on our shirts here. 

Love their colorful buildings! 

We wandered up & down the streets browsing through the shops. There is a weird phenomenon that can strike after you've been on a ship for several days- your brain has adapted to the rolling pitch of the ship, and when you are back on land your brain is still trying to compensate. You feel almost dizzy, slightly "drunk". Well, I had a healthy case of that while we were shopping in San Juan. Picture feeling unsteady on your feet in tiny shops full of glass trinkets plastered with signs "you break it, you buy it!" After awhile I told Richard "get me out of here!"

We did purchase some local coffee, a magnet [to add to our collection from other countries we've visited], a shirt for Richard, and a mini cup & spoon set for our grandchildren. The irony of shopping for souvenirs from Puerto Rico was not lost on me! You see, I well remember as a child when the mushroom factories were built in our neighborhood. The high humidity and the pungent smell of the mulch required to grow mushrooms made it undesirable work for most Americans, so the owners imported Puerto Ricans to work for them. Living the American dream was thrilling for them, but having one's neighborhood overrun by immigrants was not pleasant for us. I remember in particular how they drove like they were still living in PR -ignoring American traffic laws- and other such hazards/annoyances. I developed a bit of prejudice against PRs. 

This is the view of the bay from Bastión de las Palmas. A plaque there reads This park, here in Bastion de las Palmas, was once a strongpoint along San Juan's defensive city wall. To guard San Juan's harbor, Spain included a strategically placed bastion here when they built the city wall after Dutch forces entered the harbor in 1625 and attacked, looted and burned the city. Today the views of San Juan Harbor, that were once so important to the city's defenses, can be enjoyed from this public park, that was built on the old bastion.  

Nearby is Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud. (I took the picture, knowing I could figure out later its significance. ha) This tiny chapel was built to celebrate a miracle. Allegedly in 1753 the Cristo Street was host to a horse race where one of the participants could not stop his horse and plunged over the cliff. The Spanish Secretary of Government, Don Mateo Pratts, was watching the drama unfold and allegedly cried out, “Christ of Good Health, save him!” (Legends differ on whether the rider survived or not.) As the story goes, the Secretary of Government ordered the construction of this chapel on site, dedicated to the saints of health. Since then, visitors have come to this little chapel to pray for cures or miracles. It can be viewed at any time, but the iron fence across the front is only open on Tuesday afternoons and religious holidays.

I was intrigued by the blue brick streets. Fun fact: these cobblestones turn blue over time from wear and exposure. They were brought as ballast on Spanish ships in the 1700s, and were used by road builders to pave streets of San Juan.  

Right next to the chapel is the entrance to Parque de las Palomas [Pigeon Park]. Little bags of bird seed are for sale, and the birds know exactly who is buying- this woman just purchased birdseed and is getting mobbed! While we were distracted with watching her... 

...oh, hello! This friendly lil bloke swooped in for a short roost. 

And then Ryan swooped in for our picture for Sail & Sing's Facebook page. 

Actual pigeonholes LOL 

We went in search of Calle Fortaleza, reportedly one of Old San Juan's oldest and most photogenic streets, known as "Umbrella Street". We found it, but there were NO umbrellas! Only the lines criss-crossing the street where they should be hanging. Seriously?! Who doesn't put umbrellas on their Umbrella Street when it's raining? SMH.

We got pulled into a beauty shop for a free collagen treatment, but firmly extricate ourselves from the enthusiastic saleslady's grasp as soon as we could. Is there any more unlikely "bull in a china shop" than us? 

This was La Rogativa sculpture. (Ditto for taking a picture, figuring out its significance later.) A Rogativa is a large procession of people making a plea to God for help. Cool. The legend goes that the British Armada took control of the city by naval blockade on April 30, 1797. The desperate governor of San Juan ordered a “rogativa.”  The women, led by the bishop, marched through the streets that night; they sang hymns, carried torches and bells, and prayed for their city’s deliverance. The British mistook the sights and sounds as evidence of the arrival of reinforcements. Considering themselves to be outnumbered, Abercrombie’s fleet abandoned the city promptly. 

Guard Tower on the fort wall

The piña colada was invented in San Juan, although the details are disputed. Three different bartenders claim the invention as their own. The Caribe Hilton claims that its bartender served the first piña colada in 1954... A plaque in front of Restaurant Barrachina claims it created the drink in 1963... Regardless of what really happened, the piña colada became Puerto Rico's national drink in 1978. It was on my bucket list to get an authentic pina colada in San Juan. Mission Accomplished.  

By this time, we had walked quite a ways -made many turns- and were "all turned around". My sense of direction is terrible, so when Richard gets mixed up, we are really in trouble. We walked & walked trying to find the square where the buses were picking us up. I won't mention any names but someone had 3 cups of coffee that morning and there were no public restrooms to be found. Google Maps was 'no comprehendo' of what a public restroom was, and the one port-a-john we spied was padlocked. Go figure. In fact, Google Maps acted more confused in general than we were so we turned it off and relied on instinct. You know how things start to look familiar and you're not sure if it's because you're getting back to where you started out or because you're going in circles? Eventually we just asked someone else from the tour group and they pointed us in the right direction. We weren't far off. 

I spy Richard's uncle Aden & cousin Linda in the town square...

We waited in line for the bus where we had been dropped off. Eventually those of us in the line realized that buses were not allowed to park there and we had to go down the block a bit. Ramos Buses were arriving like clockwork so we didn't have to wait to get a ride back to the pier. 

We went for pizza, back on the ship. Harlan & Lorraine were there and waved us over to sit with them. We 'raised a slice' in mutual honor of Jay's 50th birthday that day and Lauren's engagement. 

♪♪Oh, waddya do on a rainy day in an ark? If we were at home, we'd go out and play in the park...♪♪

So it was raining and we were in a port, therefore there are not many people around onboard. Perfect time to go on the waterslides. Am I right or am I right? We're going to get wet anyway, so who cares if it's raining. I have not been on a cruise ship yet with waterslides that I didn't go on them.  

2 Amish guys were the only ones using the waterslides when we got there. The staff guy at the top tells you to cross your arms over your chest, tuck your chin in, and keep your eyes open. Aka stay low and away you go. I came shooting out of the yellow slide and went completely under water! Yes, it's shallow, but if you're laying down it's deep enough to cover you, I found out. I was not prepared for that and I inhaled [salt] water. 😁 There is a staff guy at the bottom and you have to give him a thumbs up to let him know you are ok; it took me a couple seconds. After I caught my breath/stopped coughing, we went again but switched slides. People, I got stuck 3 times in the blue slide!! Richard went barreling down the yellow slide so fast his stomach was a little queasy afterwards, while I was wondering how one gets rescued from inside a waterslide on a cruise ship. Horrors, a grandma should be old enough to know better than to get herself into these predicaments! I skootched and wiggled to get myself moving again and Richard was almost concerned till I finally exited with a small splash. Some Plaut Dietsch adults with Sail & Sing showed up to try the slides, so we decided to call it quits and let them to it. I needed to wash the salt out of my hair anyway and really wasn't interested in needing rescued by a lifeguard from a waterslide.😆 (If I'm not mistaken, this was the day a 3rd medical emergency left the ship. 3 on one sailing?! What is up with that?)

It was European Night in the main dining room. Cheese sticks- it's my lucky day! 

Fish 'n' chips. Yes please! 😋

Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding

Ok, is this a UK thing? The dessert in the foreground was called sticky toffee pudding  and described as 'warm steamed date pudding with caramel sauce and whipped cream'. Umm, this is not what we call date pudding -it's cake! And the red dessert to the left was called English trifle, described on the menu as 'sherry-soaked sponge cake layered with strawberries, vanilla custard and sweet whipped cream'. This, my friends, is mostly jello. The menu didn't say anything about jello! At most there might have been one teeny cake cube in there, but I'm not sure of even that. So underwhelming! It's not that it tasted bad, it just was not at all what we were expecting. 

Right after dinner we made our way to Studio B for the next Sail & Sing concert. We wanted a better seat this time, and early arrival was the key in this smaller venue. 

That evening was awesome! 

Back during the shutdown of 2020, a friend of ours got us started listening to Dan & Amanda. 

They brought their daughter out on stage to sing, which was super cute. 

Their drummer was fun to watch as well. 

Eduard & Christine Klassen. This is not your average plinky-harp-playing. And he does have a interesting testimony. Blogger gives me issues with inserting video clips, but you can find videos of his music online, if you're interested. 

When Graceful was preparing to come on stage, Ryan claimed to be jealous of the attention they were getting as the sole acapella group. He thought he could do just as well and pulled together an "impromptu" group, the Gospel Espressos... I tried to add my video here but it's too large of a file. Let's see if a FaceBook link to someone else's video works... 

We might be a wee bit prejudiced, but Graceful still had the Gospel Espressos beat, hands down. 

Ryan did some more ventriloquism for us. We laughed so hard! I was was enjoying the routine so much when he was teaching Derek Miller ventriloquism that I forgot to take any pictures. Take my word for it, it was super funny.  

While Amos Raber was coming on stage for his set, Ryan did a comedy routine drawing his portrait.

That was a new one for us- never seen a dry erase board that could "talk" -the mouth & eyes they drew actually moved. What kind of 'magic' markers were they using??

Maybe it's because I'm not musical at all, but I'm fascinated by young kids playing instruments.

This was possibly the best evening of the cruise. So much fun! 

I was planning to finish up the cruise recap in this post, but it's long enough so I'll split it into one more post. Coming soon...