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Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
Bobbie and I had a great time on our 8-day cruise that included stops in Aruba, Bonaire and Grand Turk. We boarded the Carnival Sunshine on Feb.5 in Port Canaveral and returned yesterday. After a 7-day cruise a few years ago, we had decided never to do another long cruise. But, this was to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and was worth the time, for sure! We booked an aft stateroom with a balcony, so it was very peaceful and private.

We've heard people rave about Aruba for years. Most had flown there and spent several days mostly on the beach. We took an island tour on an air-conditioned bus and got to see a bit of everything. The Casibari Rock formations are an interesting variation of shapes, to say the least. I climbed to the top to be able to say I did it!

Bonaire was kinda ho-hum. We got off the ship long enough to snap a couple of photos and buy a cheap souvenir.

Grand Turk is small but interesting to tour via an open tram. One of their claims to fame is the splashdown of John Glenn's capsule in 1962 about 10 miles offshore when he had to leave orbit early and drifted off course. A replica of the capsule is on display at the entry of the airport. Another "sight" is the free roaming donkeys. We got to see a group of them when the tour stopped at the lighthouse. Bobbie and several others got to feed them some bread. Yep, you look for entertainment where you can find it!

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One thing I did on this cruise is a total disconnect. On previous cruises, I'd get some level of Internet connectivity; this time, I decided to forego that connectivity. Now, I downloaded a lot of tutorial information and videos before we left home so I had those and some drawing exercises to do in VCarve Pro and SketchUp. Other times, it was great to just sit on the balcony and watch the waves!!!
 
Are those tall spindly cacti saguaro's... wasn't aware they grew anyplace outside the Sonora desert.

Had a friend in Calif back when I was with TWA that made several trips down to Aruba to go diving. He said it was one of the better places in the Caribbean to dive.

I've met a number of people who have made cruises and they all seemed to have enjoyed them (maybe except those on the ship hit by the hurricane last month..:) ), but after steaming around in 200 mile circles for 30 days at a time when I was in the navy and assigned to a radar picket ship trapped below decks in the radio room, don't think I would enjoy spending a week at sea on a ship that from pictures I see, you can't get outside... Glad you enjoyed your cruise and great pictures on the island.

The only island I've ever visited in the Caribbean is Trinidad... It's a pretty nice place and I enjoyed my trips there even though they were all business and not much time for sight seeing. I did a little sight seeing there when I got lost coming out of my agent's office in Port of Spain and turned the wrong way and spent almost two hours trying to figure out where I was and how I was to get off the roundabout that circled Queen Anne's park. The drive south from POS to San Fernando was through the cane fields, so not much to see there. I did take about an hour in San Fernando to drive around the south end of the island. No camera with me, so no pictures.
 
Are those tall spindly cacti saguaro's... wasn't aware they grew anyplace outside the Sonora desert.
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I've met a number of people who have made cruises and they all seemed to have enjoyed them (maybe except those on the ship hit by the hurricane last month.. ... don't think I would enjoy spending a week at sea on a ship that from pictures I see, you can't get outside... Glad you enjoyed your cruise and great pictures on the island.

The only island I've ever visited in the Caribbean is Trinidad... ...

I don't recall seeing any cactus like the Saguaro. The cactus we saw grew straight from the ground with no branches. It's used as fence material by many folks down there. You can cut the top off of a stalk, stick it in the ground and it will grow. With all of the needles, it does a good job of keeping critters in or out, as the case my be.

We've done nine cruises and enjoyed all of them. The first were in staterooms with an ocean view, then we treated ourselves to a balcony stateroom. There is so much to do onboard that you don't really feel like you're cooped up at all.

Trinidad is one of many islands we haven't visited yet. We flew to Sint Maarten several years ago and spent a week. Since then, all of our island-hopping has been on cruises.
 
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