What IS the Secret of Monkey Island?

October 30-November 6, 2012
Dominica
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Curaçao
Aruba
Isla Margarita, Venezuela

What do the next five ports have in common?  I'm mostly just sharing pictures of them from the ship, or from just a brief little walk around the port.  I didn't have much luck getting on many tour excursions, and I had IPM twice, so unfortunately what you see is what you get.

Not gonna lie...kind of sketchy.

Good from far (far from good).

But it looks awesome at night time!

Thank you Lucas Arts

The above picture is actually my tribute picture to the entire Lucas Arts Monkey Island Franchise. 



Here's the original from the 1992 pc game:

And here's me loving my Monkey Island Moment.



St. Vincent & the Grenadines:

Every once in a while the ultimate in bad luck happens: the combination of a port we only visit once, and In Port Manning.  Thus, we have here St. Vincent & The Grenadines from the ship.

Wishing the spa girls knew how to cut hair without clippers.

The ABC Islands
Starting with Curaçao

Just a little north of Venezuela, you can find three Islands called the Dutch Antilles.  Affectionately, they're called the ABC Islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.

On this day in Curaçao, I may have had IPM, I may have just been asleep the whole day because I had been reading the Game of Thrones books throughout the night time, either way, I didn't get off the ship this day, but I managed to climb to the top of the ship and get the 360° view.

Forward:

The above bridge is a pedestrian bridge that is floating.  It's attached on the right, and every time a ship needs to get by, it detaches on the left and floats in.  The funny thing about this bridge is that it doesn't give you much warning, and it moves with people on it, and they have to wait until the whole process is over to get off.

Starboard:

Aft:

Port:

Aruba!

Okay, I remember why I didn't get off the ship today.  I slept through most of it, and then I worked on the church service with my spare time.  Everyone else got off the ship today, and they all talked about how amazing it was.  Apparently some of the best beaches in the Caribbean are here in Aruba.  Sadly, beaches aren't really my thing.  I can appreciate a good one every now and then, but I've got nothing but beaches every day of my life now.  I'm really starting to miss the Baltic.  I may be in Aruba, and it may be beautiful, but I hear Estonia calling out to me.

Anyway, here's a tree in the middle of the water!

These are clouds.  I thought it was a nearby Island, but then they moved!

Isla Margarita, Venezuela

This was the ships first time in Venezuala.  There was kind of a ceremony where the captain was presented with a plaque signifying its first time in port, but all I saw was a bunch of army people walking around with drug dogs and eating in our panorama lounge like they owned the place.  Can I just say that I hate the look of entitlement?  As soon as I see the look on your face that you're expecting something, and that you're not going to say thank you...@#$% you, you're not getting it.  Anyway, eventually the Chavistas got off the ship, and then so did I.

There was only one problem: we were in a place called El Guamache which was nothing.  It was a 45 minute cab ride to anything.  Not to mention, we're on an island of Venezuela.  So, we're in a city of nothing on an island of not much.  Good job [name of my cruise company].  I expect you got great ratings for this one!  Oh well, that's how you learn.

Nevertheless, there was the one restaurant, and this one beach.  It was, in fact, something.

Hey Chavez, even your dogs are starving!

View of the nothing from the top of my ship.

Okay, I take it back.  El Guamache was not nothing.  It was a cargo port.  Sail with [name of my cruise company] and you can take a six star ship through all the third world cargo ports of the world!

Panorama of the nothing from the top of my ship.

Ha!  The Nothing.  Never Ending story referrence.  10 points for me!

Next time, I manage to land a semi awesome tour in Grenada.  Pictures and a video!

St. Maarten, our unexpected stop.

Sunday, October 28, 2012
St. Maarten

After two more days of sailing, we were scheduled to be in Saint Barth's.  Well, we show up there and the water is so rocky that we can't operate the tenders safely, so we turn around and head to the next closest Island which is St. Maarten, not even an hour away.  Are the guests mad, eh, probably, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  Safety First!

And wouldn't you know it, St. Maarten turns out to be the home of the guy who calls himself "The Yoda Guy."  Apparently, he's one of the people who helped out with the creation of the original Yoda robot for Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.  He also was involved with many other aspects of the Star Wars movie, and as a result he has created this little museum.

And of course it was closed because it was Sunday.

Even though it was closed, I was happy to have been there.  My mom and grandma went there once and brought me back some souvenirs.  It's always fun to see a place where someone in your family has been before.

I feel like this second story restaurant is missing a "d."

You know what's awesome?  Day passes to resorts!

And if you look left, you can see a swim up bar.

Because I always photograph my food.

Vince and Marcy: Best Friends.

That just might be St. Barth's over there.

Room Service!

Thankfully, we didn't sail until late that night, so we were able to experience the full range of benefits from the resort and even stay a little into the night.

Me and the moon over the water.

Because I like to leave you with that WTF type feeling.

Marcy and Vince.  Like I said, best friends.

Bermuda!

October 24-25, 2012
Bermuda

Because I love Indiana Jones, I'm a little obsessed with these iMovie maps.

Here's our next itinerary:

After a two day sail from New York, New York, I stepped out to watch the sail in to Bermuda.

A chain of Islands, neither of which are very tall so that you can see the ocean in front, in between, and behind, Bermuda is an incredible place.

And after non stop pointless ship duties for two days, it's time for a well deserved vacation.

Can you find me waving?

Joy

Why not do yoga on the beach in Bermuda?

Okay Vince, you win.

Most unexpected pleasant surprise about Bermuda: Wild Chickens!

This really happened.  It got to the other side.

What Bermuda has over many other Islands in the world is that fact that there are so many beaches, if you just keep walking, you will inevitably have your own private beach.

Or your own private cove.

After our beach adventure we took a cab back to St. George's where the ship was docked.  As it turned out, the driver was a really cool guy.

Here's the proof.

Popped into the used antiques/thrift store by the ship.  Got excited because I saw collectors spoons, and my mom collects these, so I thought I would get her one.  However, they weren't from Bermuda.

Garden Grove, CA?  Really?

And Marcy made a new friend.

The next day, the next beach.

More Chickens.

Before graduating to roads, the little ones are trained on the sand.

"Where'd he go?"

This was one of those places that gave me the feeling of, "Wow, I can't believe this is all real."

And then just a few hours later, it was time to go.  Our stay was brief, but at least we had an overnight.  I won't be back in Bermuda until my next contract on the Spirit, so I'm glad that we saw as much of it as we did this time around.

The good people of Bermuda have come out to give us a send off.

Goodbye, Bermuda.  See you next year!

Bermuda, sail away.

Why not watch it with me?

Bermuda, sail away video.