Tuesday 2nd April – Port of Spain,
Trinidad.
Not a very exciting day…went
ashore but found that the duty free doesn’t sell cigarettes, so Nesta not too
happy!
We went for a stroll along
the sea-front but decided against walking into town as the “characters” we saw
from the bus yesterday were not very appealing. This is another place we would
not recommend.
On a more positive note we
saw evidence of stores being loaded onto the ship J
We were due to leave at 7pm
but were unable to because the locals, who were refuelling the ship, spilled
oil into the sea which meant the ship was covered in it. A team of cleaners
with some form of chemicals, judging by their “ghost-busters” outfits, had to
wash the hull of the ship. Apparently we will not be allowed to dock in any
Caribbean port with oil on the outside of the ship! The Captain and Kevin were
taking lots of photographs and there was a lot of activity on the quayside….
Quite entertaining!
Nesta took the opportunity to
be fast asleep before we sailed at 10pm whilst Ian and the team won the quiz in
her absence… Another Voyages of Discovery pen!!
Wednesday 3rd April – Day at Sea.
Nesta went to sea-stretch
this morning and then we had breakfast before the port lecture on Aruba…Don’t
think we learned much, unfortunately.
Highlight of the day (?)
After four months, Ian finally played bridge!! Even more surprising, we weren’t
bottom… in fact we finished equal 5th out of 10. Ian was really
tired afterwards (aah) and we’re not sure if we’ll repeat the experience –
takes too much out of you!
In the evening quiz the “Old
Lags” won again but - as Nesta went to bed because she was feeling dizzy and
Wes decided to leave as well - Ian, Austin, Sue and Wally had to drink the
prize of two bottles of wine between them! The evening show had an unplanned
comedy moment when Paul tried to sit on a non-existent chair and did a full
backward roll. He and Andrea then had trouble singing because they were
laughing so much… wonder if they’ll keep it in?
Incidentally the clocks go
back half an hour tonight for our visit to Venezuela… Does anybody know why
those 30 minutes are so important?
Thursday 4th April – La Guairá, Venezuela.
Today we have officially
circumnavigated South America!! We were last here on 29th December…
seems ages ago.
On Glynis’ recommendation we
joined her on the full day tour to the Topotepuy Gardens and El Hatillo. This
involved driving round Caracas. The traffic here is much worse than Bristol!
Kamikaze motor cyclists everywhere (even going the wrong way against three
lines of traffic!) and free for all’s at roundabouts, junctions etc. etc.
The Gardens were lovely with
lots of humming-birds, exotic flowers and excellent views over the city.
El Hatillo was originally a
small town but has now been swallowed up by Caracas, but it still retains a lot
of its charm. The locals seem to be concerned about the weakness of the bolivar
ahead of the Presidential elections in a fortnight and were offering four times
the official exchange rate for dollars – so lunch was quite cheap!
That evening there was a quiz
(our team got absolutely hammered) and an “Abba party” on the Lido deck but
Nesta still isn’t feeling too good so went to bed again.
Friday 5th April – Oranjestad, Aruba.
The Captain had great fun
parking as it was windy. Got a line ashore at the bow but had to shoot a line
ashore at the stern. This was attached to a port authority truck which then
tried to pull the ship into the quay. Unfortunately, a ship weighs quite a lot
and there was a scary moment when the truck was actually being pulled towards
the sea. The driver jumped out and his colleagues just managed to untie the
rope narrowly averting disaster! The ship went round again and this time with
the help of a tug that was pushing us towards the quayside, we managed to
“park”.
Did the “best of” tour so saw
most of the island. This is the most prosperous Caribbean island we’ve been to.
Little sign of poverty – the guide confirmed that no-one sleeps rough and
although there wasn’t full employment it was almost 100%. His only worry was
that about 65% of the population had jobs in tourism so if something happened
to that the islanders would be in a very precarious position.
In the afternoon we went for
a walk and found a supermarket so stocked up on gin, tonic and mouthwash! No
cigarettes again though L
Had another cards evening
with Andrew and Alison (the last one because they are getting off in Jamaica)
and because Nesta is still not feeling well she went to bed and Ian and Andrew
(again) put the world to rights over a whiskey or three!
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