As we hugged the coastline of Dominica and then Cuba to shelter from the worst of the swells, we spent the day heading back to Miami. In the evening there was a retirement dinner for Captain Flokos, ending his 45 years at sea. He told me that the fireboats in Miami would not be spraying water as he pulled into port (as they do for retiring airline pilots) so I guess the dinner was an alternative.
The dinner was held in La Reserve, the most upscale restaurant aboard, with a fixed menu of carefully chosen courses and wines. It was quite elegant. Here are some pictures from the event.
Dimitri's last Oceania Club event.
At dinner, a farewell speech
One of the elegant wines and a nifty way of pouring it out
There was lots of glass raising and clinking...
All pictures were optimized for small size because of the slow upload speeds. And I didn't size them for 4"x6" prints. If you want higher resolution or suitable for making prints, let me know and I'll send them.
Not our scheduled stop -- that would have been St. Barts. Unlike Australia, being unable to use one port in the Caribbean means that several others nearby may be usable. And that's why we ended up in St. Thomas. Heavy swells from the big storm up north shut the St. Barts harbor, leaving us with a second choice.
St. Thomas is a huge shopping mall with cruise ships parked outside. If you have a need for Tanzanite, this is your place. We had no such requirement, so once again we just walked around and enjoyed the nice weather. Only one rainy day on this trip,
Just some pretty pictures of the harbor
Shopping everywhere
Looks like a contemplative soul, but actually just checking the phone
One of the interesting structures on the island is Blackbeard's Castle, rumored to have been a watchtower used by Edward Teach (Blackbeard) during his days of plundering. Perhaps he's still around...
And although St Thomas may have been an excellent base for freebooting, I think he chose it for proximity to Hooters.
We arrive in St. Lucia on a Sunday. Not much was open, but we walked around and had a good time just exploring. We were here during the ATW cruise of 2016 and had taken a ship's excursion.
Immediately next to our dock was a large shopping area. Many shops were closed for Sunday, but we were able to buy a few things.
We docked at the northern dock, about a mile from the downtown. There was a water taxi available, $5 roundtrip.
The city tour trolley was running, actually full of Riviera people on an excursion. We happened to follow the tour bus down the street to the...
...local cathedral, where Mass had just finished. Families in their Sunday best were leaving the church and talking in small groups. We sort of merged into the excursion group and entered the Church where we could admire it.
The church had sustained some damage during one of last years hurricanes. But it was still beautiful.
Some churchgoers underneath a flowering tree that sets off their clothing choices.
Derek Wolcott Square is right across the street. It was locked so you couldn't enter, and still had Christmas decorations up.
Just outside the park we came across a group of cricketeers, waiting for the bus to pick them up and take them to the game (match? test?).
This was the team captain. In his Tampa Bay Buccaneers hat.
The water taxi comes to pick us up.
Passengers aren't the only ones who have to endure lifeboat drills. As we water taxi'd back to northern dock, the crew was manning their lifeboat stations.
Our water taxi captain
At dinner, a farewell speech
One of the elegant wines and a nifty way of pouring it out
There was lots of glass raising and clinking...
