Caribbean Cruise...Day 7

Day 7– April 10, 2008
Location: Castaries, St. Lucia
Weather: scattered showers/partly cloudy, 79 degrees, rough seas
Excursion: Marigot Beach
Distance sailed from Miami: 1769 miles

Today was a great day! Well, it started off not so great, but it got better! We stayed out a little late last night at the casino. That and I couldn’t sleep really well since I took a humongo nap yesterday and I’m still feeling like crap from this stupid cold. So who knows if we just slept through the alarm this morning (that was set for 7am) or if it just didn’t go off. Either way, we missed the alarm.

Our beach excursion was supposed to meet at 830 am. Well, Kerry got up to use the facilities and was wondering what time it was, when lo and behold, it was 831. Oh crap!!! So we made record time getting our swimsuits on and beach bag together and ran down to the theater, which was the designated meeting spot. It was 843. We asked one of the excursion staff if it was too late and our tour bus had just left. We were able to get on a different excursion to a different beach, though. So all was not lost. This excursion was a little longer, with the bus ride taking 45 minutes each way. But along the way we ad a lovely tour of the island. St. Lucia is a huge producer of bananas, plantains, mangos (they have over 50 different kinds!), pineapple and coconuts. It was cool to see all the banana plantations and trees along the sides of the roads with tons of mangos growing on them. The flowers on the island were also amazing. Such vibrant colors. Unfortunately, we bought sucky rechargeable batteries for the camera that only lasted about 45 minutes. What the heck? So we didn’t get any pictures of any of hem. Nice. They are going back as soon as we get home.

The place we went was Marigot Bay Beach. Not a huge beach, but it was very nice. It was also the beach for a resort, so it wasn’t very crowded. The morning started with a few rain showers, but by the time we got to the beach, it had stopped raining, but was sill cloudy. The bay was very shallow…...you could walk out quite a ways and the water was only up to your knees. It was very nice. The local entrepreneurs were also out. Kerry had an offer for a few different, uh, illegal mind altering substances, which he promptly declined. I found a cool necklace (that was probably made in china!) and bracelet. After a few hours at the beach, we got back on the bus and headed back to the ship. Of course as soon as we drove away, the sun came out from behind the clouds. Go figure.

Nothing exciting to note tonight as we sailed away from our last port of call. I can’t believe that our amazing vacation is almost over. We got cleaned up and I headed up to deck 13 to catch a few rays, or rather a few clouds. I just wanted some time to stretch out on a lounger, relax, and finish a book.

Our timing was off again for trying to see a show. We had dinner again at Cagney’s Steakhouse. Once again, it was so delish! More gambling after dinner, along with not winning the $163000 lotto. Bummer. Another $50 down the slots and I left Kerry at the poker table and headed back to the room to go to bed. I am beat!

The next two days we are at sea on our return voyage to Miami. Bummer.