Southern Caribbean cruise 2009, part 7

Day 7
St. Kitts
September 12, 2009

Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end and today is our last stop on our 7 day southern Caribbean cruise. Today we're in St. Kitts.

Here are some pics of the island as we docked:

All 6 of us decided to go to the beach today. Mr. Bob stayed back onboard. He's not cut out for all this walking and the heat. Plus, he can chase women without us seeing him! ; )

We grabbed a taxi and headed to Cockleshell Beach which was about a 30 minute ride through some amazing countryside. Along the way we rode up and down winding roads. At one point we could actually see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other! Very cool!

We arrived at Cockleshell Beach around 10am.

The bar:

Of course, we arrived early which was good and bad. It was good because we had our choice of chairs and umbrellas, which were all $5 each. That's a cheap $15 when the sun beats down on you like it does in the southern Caribbean! The bad thing is since you're the only ones there you get hit on by every vendor there! The aloe vera vendors were numerous and at one point Connie gave in and had a foot massage for $20. They wanted $30 but I said "give her $20 worth." Another guy had a cute monkey named Sarah. Since I knew I wouldn't be around monkeys anytime soon I decided to give in and let him place Sarah on my shoulder for pictures. Of course, for a price; 4 pics for $5. Here I am with cute little Sarah:

Another thing you won't see at any other beach is Wilbur. Wilber is a wild boar that is HUGE! Here's Wilber lounging. By the way, he is untied; just lays around all day.

To give you an idea how big Wilber is I asked Connie to squat next to him. She did, reluctantly!

When the heat set in the umbrellas went up!

On the ride to the beach we saw a wild monkey cross the road. That was cool! When we got to the beach someone said they saw 3 monkeys about 3 feet tall on the side of this mountain. I never saw them the whole time we were there. They are obviously smarter than us; they were in the shade!

Of all the things you think about seeing in the Caribbean THIS is not one of them! I mean, you're in the southern Caribbean and you see this???

A Clemson flag? Not one mind you, but 3! The owner obviously has some sort of connection with Clemson. These were hanging in the outdoor bar.

As with all the other beaches we had our pic together standing in front of the ocean:

The girls, Connie, Diane, and Vicki

Mark cooling out with a cigar and a book:

Beach babe

After 3 hours in the intense Caribbean sun we left to head back to the ship. Once at the dock/mall area we saw some street performers in island garb.

The shopping area next to the ship:

One last pic in front of the Victory:

(actually in the rear, but who's counting)

Back up the gangway:

And back to the Panarama Deck we went. The afternoon sun really cast some nice shadows on the landscape.

Do we REALLY have to go home????

A fort we passed on our way out of dock.

Relaxing before our last dinner onboard:

(our dinner time was 8:15 pm every night)

View from our balcony as we sailed away from St. Kitts. I believe that's Nevis.

Before he left, Mr. Bob's nurse gave him a big spoon to wear around his neck. The nurse told him, "when those pretty girls ask you if you want super sex tell them you'll have the soup!" (soup or sex).

So, here he is with the pretty girls and his soup!

As we sailed toward San Juan and the last sunset was before us I snapped one last pic. The cruise was about over but the memories will last forever!

The next day, Sunday, September 13th, we awoke and had breakfast in the Pacific Dining room. Then we went upstairs to get our things ready to leave. Our luggage was already off the ship. They take it the night before debarkation and it's waiting for you in the ship terminal.

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With the embarkation being a total nightmare I was more than a little concerned about the debarkation process! Would it also be horrible?

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Well, we were number 8 in the debarkation process. When they called our number we went down the elevators to deck 0. (Puerto Ricans were told to go to deck 3) We quickly went through a fast moving line of people. Once a Carnival employee told us to have out our passports. We did. He saw them but Customs is the one who will need to see them. We found our bags, hailed a porter, and began making our way toward customs. The porter asked us if we had our customs forms. We did. He asked for them. We gave them to him and when he got to the customs officer he handed them to him barely slowing down. We kept up with the porter and kept moving. No one asked us for our passports! I really didn't realize this until we were outside waiting for the transfer buss to the airport! Man, the whole debarkation process from start to finish was about 10 minutes! Nice!

We boarded the transfer bus and went to San Juan airport to wait for our flight out. Once there it began to rain pretty hard. It dawned on me that we'd had perfect weather all week. No rain, just plenty of sun.

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This was a great cruise. Connie said she thinks it's her favorite so far. I would have to agree. Having a different port each day actually made the week seem longer, not shorter as we had feared. I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone. I would consider doing it again, and one day probably will.

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Thanks to Carnival and the crew of the Victory for making our vacation a wonderful time!