Travel – Wandering Dawgs

2024 Island Hopping in the West Indies – Part 2

April 3, 2024Posted in TravelTagged Antigua, Barbados, Caribbean Cruise, Caribbean Islands Adventure, Cruising, Dominica, St. Thomas USVI, Tortola, Viking Ocean Cruise, Viking Sea, West Indies12 Comments

After going on this same cruise itinerary in 2022 we enjoyed the islands so much we wanted to visit them all again. This time we chose different excursions so that we could experience new things on each island.

February 17, 2024 Day 8: Wandering around the port of Barbados

We had two days to explore Barbados on our 2022 cruise. We spent the first day on a wonderful Photo Tour with Ronnie Carrington. The next day Henry went for a submarine ride in the Atlantis Submarine. You can read about both days at Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022 Barbados.

For our 2024 visit we wandered around the port of Barbados on our own. We enjoyed a leisurely morning on the ship and watched the Barbados Coast Guard come and go before riding a shuttle bus from our ship to the cruise terminal. We asked the driver for a good place to eat lunch and he told us to try Millie’s Snack Bar at the port. We love eating where the locals eat so we gave it a try. We knew it must be good when we saw the local police eating there. Our lunch was delicious.

February 18, 2024 Day 9: Panoramic Dominica and Jacko Falls

Our excursion for the day started with a scenic bus ride through the capitol of Roseau. Our driver stopped at an overlook on the side of the mountain for a view of the city before continuing up the mountain into the rain forest. We stopped at beautiful Jacko Falls in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Henry and I skipped the steep steps to the bottom of the falls and enjoyed viewing them from an overlook at the top. While waiting for the more adventurous people to return from the bottom of the falls we enjoyed a rum punch before hopping back on the bus for the journey back down the mountain to the ship.

On our first visit to the island in 2022 we went into a different part of the rain forest to see some other waterfalls. You can read about that adventure at Dominica Adventure 2022

February 19, 2024 Day 10: Antigua Catamaran Cruise and Lobster Lunch

On our first visit to Antigua in 2022 we took a scenic bus trip around the island. For our latest visit we wanted to experience the island from the water.

Our six hour Catamaran cruise in Antigua was just perfect. The crew was great, the skies were clear, and the scenery was spectacular with beautiful bays and white sand beaches. The captain and crew took care of us all day. We boarded the catamaran at the dock in St. John’s and cruised along the coast of Antigua with a stop for snorkeling and swimming near where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.

We sailed on the red Mystic Cruises catamaran

The crew set up tables around the boat for lunch while lobsters were being grilled. They served us a delicious meal of lobster, beans and rice, potatoes, and a salad along with rum punch, beer, and champagne.

After lunch the captain pulled up to a beach so everyone would have an opportunity for a swim and a walk on the beach before returning to the cruise ship dock.

February 20, 2024 Day 11: Tortola Safari Bus Trip to Cane Garden Bay

In 2022 we had a great day cruising in the waters around Tortola on a catamaran. This time we wanted to see more of the island itself. We boarded the bus at the cruise ship dock in Road Town. It was a slow, bumpy ride on narrow, twisting, steep Ridge Road up a mountain and then back down to the other side of the mountain to a beautiful bay and beach.

This Safari Bus was our ride for the day

As we traveled up the mountain we drove by a wall painted with the Ridge Road Mural. Several different artists created these scenes of life on Tortola. Our driver drove slowly as we went by because the road is too narrow for the bus to stop. There is more information about the mural in this article Behind the Ridge Road Mural.

We had about an hour to relax and enjoy the scenery at the Cane Garden Bay. We sat in the shade at the beach side restaurant enjoying the view before going back up the mountain to return to our ship.

February 21, 2024 Day 12: St. Thomas on our own

In 2022 we went for a catamaran sail to a beach in the U.S.V.I. National Park. This time we enjoyed watching the activity on the water from our ship before going ashore to wander around the Charlotte Amalie cruise terminal. The header photo shows the bay as seen from our veranda.

February 22, 2014 Final Destination: San Juan, Puerto Rico

After a relaxing and adventure filled cruise we arrived at our final destination of San Juan, Puerto Rico early in the morning. We disembarked about 6:30 a.m for our ride to airport. After two flights and a drive from the airport to our home we arrived relaxed, rested, and with many happy memories.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #292 – People Here, There and Everywhere

March 28, 2024April 2, 2024Posted in Photography, TravelTagged Lens-Artists, People Here There and Everywhere, Photo Challenge24 Comments

Tina has challenged us to show people. I usually don’t take a lot of people pictures and I’m not very good at taking them but I managed to come up with a few images for the challenge. The two musicians in my header image entertained us with Celtic music in a pub in Dingle, Ireland a few years ago.

*We were serenaded with a Bob Wills classic while we enjoyed our steak at the Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo, Texas*

*Two crew members preparing a hot air balloon for launch at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.*

*Cooking lobster on the ship Viking* *Sea*

I’ll finish with a gallery of three tour guides we enjoyed during our travels.

Many thanks to our host Tina for the challenge Lens-Artists #292 – People Here, There and Everywhere

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #291 – Cityscapes

March 23, 2024March 23, 2024Posted in Georgia, Photography, TravelTagged Cityscapes, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Savannah, Savannah Georgia22 Comments

Patti has chosen cityscapes for this challenge. I’m not a city girl. I would much rather be in a small town, out in the country, or exploring nature.

There is one city that is near and dear to my heart and that is Savannah, Georgia. I was born in Savannah (I’m not telling you how many years ago that was) when my father was in the U. S. Air Force stationed at Hunter Air Force Base (now Hunter Army Airfield). We moved away when I was three years old. Many years later my husband’s job brought me back to Savannah. I’ve lived within 20 miles of Savannah for over 40 years.

Savannah is a popular tourist destination with it’s beautiful squares, ancient live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, a picturesque river front, Bonaventure Cemetery, and lots of history. Tourism increased after the release of John Berent’s novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. In Savannah the novel is known as “The Book.” Hollywood discovered Savannah and it has become a popular filming location for movies such as “Forrest Gump”, “Glory”, “The Last Song” and of course the Clint Eastwood directed “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.

Many thanks to our host Patti for the challenge Lens-Artists #291 – Cityscapes

2024 Island Hopping in the West Indies – Part 1

March 21, 2024Posted in TravelTagged Caribbean Cruise, Caribbean Islands Adventure, Cruising, Pitons, San Juan, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Viking Ocean Cruise, Viking Sea, West Indies15 Comments

After a rough start to 2024 Henry and I were more than ready to take off on an adventure to nine different Caribbean islands. A month before our departure I tripped and fractured my left arm. I did the happy dance when my doctor gave me the ok to go on our long awaited West Indies Explorer cruise on the Viking Sea. We were looking forward to the warm weather, turquoise waters, beautiful islands, and some new adventures.

We did this same cruise in January, 2022. We enjoyed the islands so much we wanted to visit them all again. This time we chose different excursions so that we could experience new things on each island.

February 10 – 13, 2024 Days 1-4: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our adventure started in San Juan on Saturday, February 10, 2024, the day before the Super Bowl. Our travel day started about 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the Savannah airport in time for our 6:30 departure. I couldn’t carry anything with my left arm so Henry had to manage all of our carry on bags through two airports. We enjoyed two nights at a beautiful resort before boarding our cruise ship the Viking Sea on Monday morning. The header image was taken at the beach at the resort.

I spotted the small iguana on the beach as he wandered next to people lounging on beach chairs. I soon saw a large iguana on the beach. I met a woman from Panama who told me she was the mama iguana in search of the baby. I don’t know if they ever found each other.

I posted about our first San Juan visit at Caribbean Island Adventure 2022 San Juan.

Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a Pina Colada at the pool bar. We were photo bombed by one of the servers.

After two enjoyable days at the hotel we boarded the Viking Sea on Monday. We spent most of the day on Tuesday relaxing on the ship. We took a stroll along the waterfront by the cruise ship docks and enjoyed watching the sunset from the ship as we cruised away from San Juan.

February 14, 2024 Day 5: Valentine’s Day on St. Martin

A bus tour around St. Martin was a fun way spend the day. Our driver Leroy drove us around the island pointing out points of interest including the many salt ponds. We stopped at a beach along the way and at the open air market in Marigot, the capital of the French side of the island. Once back at the cruise ship dock in Phillipsburg we walked around the port on our way back to the ship. We ended the day with a delicious Valentine’s dinner at Manfredi’s onboard the ship.

Henry enjoyed driving a 4×4 Honda Talon around the island on our 2022 visit to St. Martin. We had a great time watching the airplanes landing at the airport. You can read more about that adventure at Caribbean Islands Adventure St. Martin.

February 15, 2024 Day 6: Safari Island Drive around St. Kitts

Our colorful guide Christopher had many fun stories to tell as he drove us around beautiful St. Kitts in his safari vehicle. We passed by ruins from a sugar cane plantation and stopped to see black volcanic rocks. At our last stop we were treated to rum punch, the best we tasted on the entire cruise.

We took a ride on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway on our 2022 visit to St. Kitts. You can read about the fun we had at Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022 St. Kitts.

February 16, 2024 Day 7: Coastal Cruise to St. Lucia

A trip to the Caribbean is not complete without at least one boat trip. A coastal cruise to see the Pitons was a perfect way to spend the day in St. Lucia. Our ship was docked in the capitol of Castries in the northern part of the island. After boarding our tour boat we cruised south along the shore while our guide pointed out fishing villages, bays and other places of interest. The weather was perfect with blue skies and calm seas.

Our destination was the Pitons which are the two volcanic peaks named Gros Piton and Petit Piton located near the town of Soufriere. The Pitons are a UNESCO World Heritage site and glorious to see. The captain slowed the boat as we approached the Pitons and moved the boat around so everyone could have a good view and take a photo.

On our return trip to Castries the captain took us into Marigot Bay for a view of the harbor. There was music, dancing and rum all the way back to our ship. What a beautiful day in the Caribbean.

This was our fourth visit to St. Lucia. On our first two visits we stayed in a house near the town of Soufriere. Our main reason for going there was to go scuba diving in the beautiful reefs around St. Lucia. Our third visit to St. Lucia was in January, 2022 on our first West Indies cruise on the Viking Sea. For a look at the northern area of St. Lucia visit Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022.

With my wounded left arm it was difficult to hold my camera. Most of these photos were taken with my cell phone. Getting in and out of the buses and on and off the boat was challenging but the drivers and boat crews were very helpful everywhere we went.

Coming soon is a post about our adventures in five more islands.

2023 Panama Canal and Central America Adventure

January 16, 2024Posted in Nature, TravelTagged Belize, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Cruising, Ft. Lauderdale, Gatun Locks, Jamaica, Panama Canal, Roatan, Viking Mars, Viking Ocean Cruise20 Comments

In November we spent two exciting weeks on a cruise to the Panama Canal and Central America. The cruise was filled with relaxing sea days and tropical port destinations.

Our adventure began in Ft. Lauderdale where we enjoyed a night at the beach before boarding our ship the Viking Mars.

There were two relaxing days at sea before we arrived at our first destination. It took us most of those two days to sail around part of Cuba. As you can see in the image below there were times we were close enough to see land.

Rain was coming down hard as we arrived at our first port of Montego Bay, Jamaica. After traveling in a small bus up a narrow, rocky, dirt road we arrived at Rockland’s Bird Sanctuary where the rain came down all around us but we were cozy and dry on a small covered terrace. We were surrounded by rain forest with native hummingbirds flying all around us. I even had one land on my finger to feed from a small bottle of nectar.

Our ship docked for a day in Colon, Panama near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. The excursions for the day were all cancelled because of large demonstrations which caused wide scale disruptions in the country of Panama. We were able to set foot in the country of Panama by visiting the duty free shops at the cruise ship dock. Later in the day Panamanian dancers came to the ship to put on a fabulous show.

The main event was traveling through the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. These locks are over 100 years old and the gates are the original gates. New locks were opened in 2016 so that the new, larger ships can travel through the canal. The ship traveled from the Atlantic into the Gatun Lake and then turned around and went back through the locks to return to the ocean.

*Passing through the Gatun Locks on our way to Gatun Lake*

*A cargo ship was going towards Gatun Lake as we made our return trip through the locks*

*As we traveled back to the Atlantic this huge container ship was right beside us in the new canal*

*Lush tropical landscape beside the canal*

*Our ship passed under the Atlantic Bridge going and coming*

Our next port was Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The Monster Bus, a custom made six-wheel drive air conditioned vehicle, was our transportation into the rain forest and through a banana plantation. Our journey took us through small villages and farms where we saw water buffalo, pigs, and other animals. I was on the lookout for sloths and howler monkeys the entire time. We could hear the monkeys high up in the trees but all I could see was the leaves moving as the monkeys moved through the treetops. On our way back to the ship the bus driver stopped so we could get a look at a sloth in one of the trees.

In Roatan, Honduras we boarded a small bus and traveled up narrow roads to visit the Carambola Botanical Gardens. We learned about the plants and medicinal purposes of many of them. The first image below shows different stages of the cacao beans.

Thanksgiving day started with a boat ride up the Belize River. Our wonderful guide Melissa pointed out wildlife and told us a about the history and customs of Belize. Just outside the mouth of the river we saw West Indian Manatees surface to take a breath but they didn’t cooperate for a photo.

Later that night we enjoyed a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. In the gallery below is a Great Blue Heron, an Iguana, a Crocodile lying beside the river in someone’s front yard, and a Black Howler Monkey watching his us as we rode by.

The port of Cozumel was crowded with several other large cruise ships and the temperature was in the 90’s so we oped to skip our excursion for the day. I wandered around the shops at the port to pick up some Mexican Chocolate and other goodies to take home.

In between ports we had several sea days. Many activities were available while at sea. We enjoyed a tour of the bridge, a galley tour, had high tea one afternoon, and I got a massage one day and took a cooking class another day. We both enjoyed the many beautiful places to sit and read or just relax. We stared off into the ocean in search of whales but what we mostly was were birds such as the brown booby shown below. The chefs prepared some special meals with foods from the region. One afternoon we sipped coconut juice fresh from the coconut – with or with rum. I enjoyed the pools and the Nordic Spa every day.