Day 23 Roseau, Dominica

 Woke up to a beautiful sunny moring.  Temps are the same, low 80's.

Had an early breakfast in our room as we had an early excursion, Dominica's Favorites.  This is a 4 1/2 hour tour.

The roads here are very winding, very narrow with drop offs to large gourges, very few guardrails, almost a MommaMia experience.  There are many volcanic mountains on this island, non active at the moment.  There is a Chinese influence here as they helped build a hospital, called Friendship Hospital, they also help with road re-surfacing, and building.

Our first stop was at the Emerald Pool.  There were about 200 steps we had to navigate down to the pool.  Once there, it was worth the trek.  The problem was getting back up.  It was strenuous to say the least.

The pool is surrounded by huge ferns, other plants and is in the rain forest.  They do have boa constrictors here, however, we did not run into any.

The next stop was to have a refreshment of local juices, water, or a rum punch.  I had the passion fruit juice which was very good, Rich had the rum punch.

The children here start school at 2 1/2 or 3 years and go until they reach 16.  From that age they can choose to work or to further their education.  They do wear uniforms, even the ones in college.  

The next stop was at Trafalgar Falls.  This was anoter hike, about 200 stairs.  I declined doing this one.  Rich was brave and trekked down to see the two Falls.  One is called momma and the other poppa.  Momma fall is shorter, but more powerful.  Poppa fall is very long as the picture shows.

 Trafalgar Falls

Pappa

Momma

We stopped at a lookout where we could see some ships in port and the vast expanse of the shoreline.

We drove through the Botanic Gardens, did not stop, but saw many different flowers.

Roseau from the lookout:

We spent the afternoon, just being lazy after all the trekkig we had done earlier.

Tomorrow we will be in St.. Maarteen.

Until next time...

Day 22, March 15, Bridgetown, Barbados

 Rain, rain, go away

Woke up to rain, we have a tour today, Discover Barbados.  We have been here before, but this tour is a first for us.

Thankful that the rain is warm, even though we get wet, it is not cold at all.  There was a large bus that held about 20 of us.  By the time we did a drive around we arrived at Bathsheba.  This is a beautiful beach area, but in the drizzle, not so much, but it was nice.  There are coral rocks along the beach, very large ones.

We were offered either a fruit juice or a rum drink.  We opted for the rum drink, no surprise there, it was a large drink and plenty of rum in it.

Barbados has many acres off sugar cane, hence, they are noted for their rum and also molasses.  This is a very lush island, lots of tourists abound.  Pop sensation Rihanna is from here.  

There are luxury hotels, went by one, where a room is $3500 a night.  Unfortunately was sitting on the wrong side of the bus and could not get a pic.

Next stop was St. John's Church, very old church, beautiful stained glass windows.  By this time the drizzle was gone and remained cloudy.

Next stop was a visit to a garden, it was just okay.

We were glad to get back to the ship.  Lunch was at the pool deck and the sun was breaking through, finally.

Dinner again was Compass Rose.

Chicken consume

Mixed green salad

Beef loin

Ba-Ba ah rum

We have an early excursion tomorrow, so we skipped the show.  Next stop is Dominica.

Until next time.

Day 21, March 14, Friday Sea Day

 Weather, sunny, humid

Today is the last of the 3 sea days, yay!  The seas are behaving and they are super smooth.  We sat on the veranda and watched for the flying fish.  There were many of them.  The color of the water has changed and is more dark blue, with orange seaweed floating around.

The morning was spent at the pool and taking in all this lazy time.  

In the afternoon we attended the speaker series:  The Audacious Tale of the Failed Coup in Dominica.  This was a great talk and we learned about how the mob played a part in this.

They had a pre-dinner entertainment which featured the production team.  Based upon James Bond, there was singing and dancing.  It was a great time.

After dinner we went to a piano concert.  Oleksandr Melnychuk, from Ukraine, played a melody of classical music.  This was also a great evening.  The house was packed and he received standing ovations.

We called it an early evening as we will be in Barbados tomorrow and will finally have an excursion!

Dinner pictures:

Lentil soup

Green salad

BBQ beef

Rich's Pecan Pie with ice cream

Bev's vanilla bean ice cream

Until next time...

Day 20 March 13 Thursday

 Mixed weather.

Today was a sea day, now in the Atlantic Ocean.  

We normally catch some rays right after breakfast for a few minutes.  Today was a special day as it was the King Neptune's Country Fair.  On the pool deck were many tables that were set up with many different kinds of games, ring toss, string wind up thing, small basketball hoop, pillowcases on pillows where the fastest person wins.  The pool had 3 people in it and you could toss 3 hoops onto them.  The seas were rough so there were waves in the pool, but everyone was having fun.

There was a speaker later on and we heard the Atlantic Oddities, Unraveling the Enigmatic Bermuda Triangle.  All of the speakers we have listened to have been very good.

As the day continued, I was getting seasick again.  This is highly unusual for me as we have many days at sea.  Mystery to me as to why.  We had reservations at the Steak House which we had to cancel.  Rich ordered room service for himself, I settled with a fruit salad and cheese and crackers.

We are hoping the not-so-rough seas settle down.  

Until next time...

Day 19, March 12 Sea Day

 Sunny, warm, humid

Today we are sailing in the Amazon heading toward the Atlantic.  The Amazon is a good ride, we are hopeful the Atlantic will be the same.  

Whenever there are sea days, there will be a few lecturers.  In the morning we heard about Shipwrecks and Time.  It was rather good.

Sea days for us are just lazy days, wish we could stack them up and use them at home when needed.

All our meals were in Compass Rose, all good.

Chicken Satay appetizer

Green salad

Swordfish fillet

In the afternoon we attended a lecture on How the Banana Helped to Shape the Caribbean, rather interesting to hear how the banana made its way to the western world.

At the Banana Republic talk

We were invited to a special food demo for Platinum members and above on Regent.  There were appetizers and drinks available.  The two chefs demonstrated a Pan Fried Swordfish and a Brazilian Flan.  Recipes were handed out.  

We did not go to the night time show.

Another sea day tomorrow in the Atlantic.

Until next time...

Day 18, March 11 Santarem, Brazil

 Same Weather:  warm, sunny, humid

Today we arrived in Santarem.  This is a large city along the Amazon.  After breakfast, we walked outside along deck 11 and got an overview of the city.  This is another anchored port.  

Sanntarem

This is our last stop before we head to Barbados.  We will be having 3 sea days, 1 in the Amazon, and 2 in the not-so-friendly Atlantic.

There has been a 25 percent tariff if you purchase anything onboard, whether it be jewelry, clothes, etc.  This tarifff was lifted at 5 pm.  It is a Brazillian thing.

We spent the day taking in some rays and walking around the ship.  

Our dinner was in Compass Rose and it was good.

Avacado fritters

Lentil soup

Beef stirfry

Chocolate mousse

Apple rhubarb crisp

The show was held earlier than normal, at 5:45 instead of 9:30.  The cruise director, Ray, had the spotlight on him.  He is an amazing entertainer who sings and has his puppets.  He is 85 years young.  We cannot tape any of the shows, otherwise, you would be amazed as well.  He loves and lives to perform.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the great Amazon.  Another nice relaxing day for us.  

Until next time...

Day 17, March 10 Parintins, Brazil

 Sunny, warm

Today we are in sunny Paritins.  This is another anchored spot, tenders both the ship's and the local tenders are being used.

Paritins cruise terminal

Paritins water front

There is one excursion and that is to see the Boi Bumba Folk Show.  This is a very colorful show, lots of loud music.  We did see this show back in 2012, but, of course, it had changed.  We explored the little town as we remembered there were some shops nearby.  When we got there, those shops that we remembered we long gone.  We walked around and there were many people that would take you on a tour, but we declined.

We took one of the local tenders back to the ship and we were the only ones on it.  It was a very short ride back, about 5 minutes.  

Last evening we heard the singer, Jeri Sager.  She sang many Broadway tunes.  We have heard her before on our last cruise.  

Tomorrow we will be in Santarem, another anchored port.

We both had potato soup

and bean salad

We both had Salmon

Bev's coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce

Rich's sticky date pudding

More pictures:

Our ship the Navigator

What the Amazon looks like from out Veranda

Until next time...