Days 1-10. Caribbean ports: Puerto Rico, Virgin Gorda, Saint Barts, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Barbados
Our first port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. The hurricane damage was only moderate on this end of the island.
We took a walking tour of the city and this historic fort.
A clean shot!
Kathy found a Puerto Rican friend.
Soda pop factory.
Back to sea on our way to Virgin Gorda. Not a bad view from our cabin… not bad, at all.
We tendered into Gorda. With under 400 passengers, it was a snap! Octantis is visible in the background. She never drops anchor, but instead relies on geopositioning thrusters to stay in the same location and orientation.
Virgin? No. Gorda? No. Kathy poses by a totally random sculpture basically in the middle of nowhere.
Gorda is lite on tourism basics like shopping and restaurants (or maybe even a town), buy by gosh the beaches and reefs are to die for.
We did a drive-around-the-island tour, ending at The Baths and The Tunnels: a famous boulder-strewn point with lots of pools and tunnels.
See, told you there were tunnels.
On to Saint Barts, where we watched the Octantis’ watercraft from our cabin… this is one of the tenders.
We board the zodiacs from openings in the sides of the ship. They’re used to shuttle people to the sub or waiting kayaks, or just for joyrides as we did this morning.
For kayak trips, the expedition staff string out the kayaks as in this photo. Passengers have to transfer from a Zodiac to the kayak. Best to practice this a few times in nice, warm water before Antarctica!
This is one of the two S.O.B.s (Special Operations Boats- hey, I didn’t name them!). We haven’t ridden in one, but this morning they were out for sightseeing around Saint Barts. Later, this one was doing donuts to the delight of the passengers (and crew). These are the ones that get launched from within the Octantis.
Approaching Gustavo, the capital.
Another view of Gustavo.
Zis eyeland eez French.
