Florida, USA (6-9 December 2016)
Early the next day we boarded our flight from Oslo to
Miami and the trip went surprisingly fast. Between us we watched around 10 movies and due to the early
morning start we actually stayed awake the entire flight. It was pretty painless as far as long flights go and we were
soon in Miami airport and 25+ degrees and a whole lot more humidity. As silly as it sounds we are looking forward
to slipping from travel mode to holiday mode for the final month. We were staying in Miami Beach so had a ~30 minute
bus ride to our accommodation for the next couple of nights. Our journey home is really meant for defrosting and getting some
sunshine before reality hits. We decided to go via
the Caribbean so are here to check out Miami but based ourselves in Fort
Lauderdale for transiting to the islands (which isn't quite as simple as it
sounds as for most you have to come back to the States to get to them).
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| Miami Beach |
Now the racing around is done the exercise regime
kicked in with a little more regularity although a real shock especially for
Gary who was running in 2 degrees a few days ago and is now running in 28. We spent some time checking out the beach and went for a long
walk through South Beach's shopping street, marina, point and pier. The place is much as you'd expect - amazing cars, really cute
"Cuban" looking buildings, beautiful bodies, white soft sand, music
and sunshine. We walked back along
the beach walkway and past the outdoor gyms and police quad bikes before Lesley
went shopping for (and finally bought) a bikini. Then it was time to enjoy dinner and get ready for our transfer
up to Fort Lauderdale the following day.
An easy 45 minute drive into an area that oozes
money.
We didn't know it straight away but after spending
some time wandering around North Beach Village it became pretty obvious -
multimillion dollar homes and boats to match. Next morning we departed for the airport for our flight to the Turks and
Caicos Islands.
Turks & Caicos (10-15 December 2016)
The views from the plane as we approached the Turks
and Caicos Islands were unbelievable - turquoise water like you see in magazines
or on television and quite simply stunning. Once on the island we shared a taxi to our home for the next
five days, a studio apartment at the Yacht Club in Turtle Cove. The unit was perfectly placed right on the corner of the Yacht
Club property overlooking a couple of bars/restaurants and the dock and a
perfect spot to view the sunset. We're close enough to the entertainment we actually feel like
we're in it! The pool is amazing
and the weather just what we were looking forward to. Not a bad place to call home.
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| Working into relaxed mode... |
Time for relaxing - couple of runs and some
exercise, walks to the supermarket (about 2.5km away), walks to the beach,
swims in the sea and in the pool, some sun worshipping and watching the
catamarans come and go. That said we did manage to go out on a boat excursion with “Island Vibes
Tours”.
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| Visiting lizard |
Leaving at 8.30am and picking up the other guests
off the beach (Grace Bay) along the way we were fully loaded just after 9am.
The first part of the tour was cruising along the bay close enough that we
could see the resorts and condominiums that are privately owned and often
rented.
The most expensive being US $12,000 per night
(eeek!!!). They have a nice
piece of private beach as most are quite secluded but to be honest we're a
stone's throw from the same beach (which is miles long) and it is just as good. The water is unbelievably clear and so so blue that neither
photos nor words do it justice. We headed further
out to sea and spent around 45 minutes snorkelling on what is said to be the
third biggest reef in the world and it was beautiful with lots of coral and
plenty of fish.
From here we headed to an uninhabited and secluded
piece of beach where it was time for lunch and a walk to check out the resident
Iguanas and a lagoon. John (the captain)
and Matty (1st mate) were happy to fill us full of rum punch or
whatever liquid you preferred and then Matty went diving for Conch shells -
which were going to be the main ingredient in our lunch salad. The shells are beautifully coloured and surprisingly large and
the shellfish inside equally as large. The three Matty collected were used in making a ceviche salad
and a small serving provided to all 15 of us on board (+ the two of them). Think there was some chilli sauce or similar in it but it was
super tasty. Again, the clarity
of the water is hard to believe and you could look at these views forever - so
beautiful.
After we had all had our fill of life, nature,
beauty and sustenance the boat headed back to Grace Bay. We anchored here for a while and had 15 minutes to find our
inner child with a slide and diving board off the top of the boat. It was loads of fun. Dropped off at the beach we had a lovely 2km walk along the coast to get home.
Turks and Caicos has been a great place to visit
with exceptionally beautiful beaches and water. The inner island is a little greener and not as commercial as
you might think. A little out of the
way to get to (unless you live in the States) but for us was certainly worth
the effort.
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| Amazing sunset |
Caribbean Cruise – Windstar (16-22 December 2016)
Back in transit mode, after a relaxed start, we
departed T&C and headed back to Fort Lauderdale for another night waiting
for our next adventure to begin. We flew the following day to Barbados (after a 2 hour delay)
where we boarded Windstar - a sailing ship we would spend the next 7 days on
getting a little more of a glimpse of the Caribbean that we might not otherwise
have seen.
From
the moment we arrived at the port we were treated exceptionally well.
Cold towels and drinks waiting for us and a small bus to transport us to the
ship from the terminal (a walkable distance). We checked in and headed to
our state room. A double port holed room with private bathroom
facilities, wardrobe, drawers, small dining table, TV, robes and
slippers! A fresh fruit plate, chocolates, ice and water as well as a
fully stocked mini bar also waited. Our cabin steward, Saka, introduced
himself and from that moment on referred to us by first name.
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| Our room on the Windstar |
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| Pool bar |
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| Reception |
When
looking at cruise options Lesley had decided that a big ship (1000+ people)
wasn’t really what we wanted and that something smaller would be more
personable. The Windstar is clearly at the top of its game in terms of
service and has a guest to staff ratio of 127 to 99. The staff were amazing
from the captain, customer services and receptionist all the way through the
dining room, kitchen, operations and engineers. We are completely blown
away that the majority of the service team know us by name after only one
meeting. The boat is 134m long (110m at the waterline) with 4 masts up to
62m high. It is a sailing ship with 6 sails, 2,200 square metres of
canvas when they are all up. We experienced both the engine and wind
propulsion whilst on board and it was amazing to be on a ship this large
totally running on the wind.
That
night we sailed from Barbados (after the mandatory safety briefings) leaving at
6pm with the Windstar Signature Sailaway ceremony. This event happens
each time we depart a location and involves hoisting the sails to music adding
drama to the event – sounds a bit cheesy but was actually quite a special
spectacle.
There
is live music on board and a daily briefing by Philippe (voyage leader) about
what we have in store the following day. We headed to the restaurant for
dinner and again were completely surprised by the fine dining level of cuisine
and service here. The tables were mostly shared so it was also a
fantastic way to meet some lovely and interesting people on board. We
went to bed that evening and awoke in St Lucia, Pigeon Island.
There
are organised excursions every day that you can choose to partake in but
whenever the boat is docked or anchored the ‘independent traveller’ can go to
shore and explore the location. Pigeon Island (registered as a National
Park in 1979) was pretty cool and in the past has been used as a defensive site
both for the British and the Americans. The old fort still sits atop the
outer peak so we were off to explore. There are two peaks that we climbed
to get fantastic views of the bay, the ship and the island itself. The name
Pigeon Island has stuck even though in the 1970’s a causeway was constructed from
Gros Islet to the island turning it into a peninsula of St Lucia.
We
spent the day and night anchored in the bay and the next morning started
cruising up the coast of St Lucia, past the famous Pitons (two peaks at 771m
and 743m respectively). The Pitons make up part of a World Heritage Site
7,190 acres in size and are located near the town of Soufriere (ironically
where we stayed 5 years ago when the idea for this trip was born). It was
our only ‘sea day’ so lots of activities on board (as much or as little as you
wished to indulge in – cooking classes, cocktail demonstrations, line dancing
classes, fruit & vege carving, animal towel folding… you name it). We
collected our snorkel gear and had photos on the bow sprit (yes, just like the
Titanic movie) and spent most of the day relaxing in the sun.
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| Doing the 'Titanic' |
The
following morning we woke up in St Georges, Grenada. The island is known
as ‘Spice Island’ – famous in particular for Nutmeg (exporting 40% of the world’s
supply) and is very small at 34 x 21 km’s. The interior of the island is
mountainous so it appears bigger that it actually is and has a population of
110,000, most of which live in the capital of St Georges. Also grown in
abundance are cloves, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and about every fruit
known in the tropics. The town was super cute – discovered by Christopher
Columbus in 1498 – it has a beautiful horseshoe shaped harbour and really
picturesque buildings surrounding it, as well as the fishing fleet and numerous
other boats.
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| St Georges, Grenada - super cute and picturesque town |
Our
chosen excursion is today so after sorting ourselves out and grabbing our
snorkel gear we headed off the boat and onto another, the Shadowfax - 60 feet
of state of the art catamaran (known as ‘The Ocean Ferrari’). First we
sailed up the west coast of Grenada towards the marine park where we snorkelled
at the underwater sculpture park. Unfortunately visibility wasn’t great
and the sculptures are quite deep so ok if you can dive down (which Gary did)
to see them. From there we did an about turn towards Point Salines, the
southernmost part of Grenada. We sailed upwind on the Atlantic side to
the secluded island of Hog where we had grilled lobster for lunch – very
generous and absolutely delicious. From there we enjoyed a 90 minute
sailing cruise speeding back to the ship. The whole excursion lasted
about 6 hours and it was a great way to see a little more of Grenada.
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| Santa! |
That
evening was a little different with Angel’s Harps Steel Band (a local band from
Grenada on board) and a BBQ dinner outside around the pool area. Dinner
was amazing (as is all the food here) and then the crew entertained us (along
with some enthusiastic guests) with line dancing and a ‘deck party’ accompanied
by DJ music. A long day but really enjoyable and we were on our way again
(sailaway) at 9pm.
We
woke up in Tobago Cays, St Vincent & Grenadines. Tobago Cays are an
archipelago of five small uninhabited islands – Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau,
Petit Tabac, Baradal and Jamesby. They make up the Tobago Cays Marine
Park consisting of 5.7 square kms of sand bottom lagoon. Although these
islands are uninhabited they are surrounded by three larger inhabited islands
of Union Island, Mayreau and Canouan. Another very picturesque spot to
spend the day and time to get over to one of the islands to do a bit of
swimming/snorkelling.
We
set sail at 5pm for a short time to reach the bay just outside Mayreau where we
spent the night and the entire following day. A mammoth effort from the
crew who move half the ship onto the sandy bay so the guests can spend it at
the beach. Massage, yoga, pilates, water sports and volley ball on the
beach, as well as a BBQ lunch and deck chairs and umbrellas for everyone.
The
exercise classes and water sports platform are available every day on the ship
as well as a spa, casino and gift shop. There is very little you can’t do
whilst on board.
Although
not the smallest Grenadine Island, Mayreau is tiny at only 2.4 square km’s and
is inhabited with a local population of 271. There is very little here (no
bank, no taxies, no buses, no airport) but it is edged by beautiful beaches –
the longest of which (Saline Bay) is ~1.6 km’s long and the most popular on the
island – also Windstar’s base for the day. There is a tiny village atop
the hill and a stone church (Immaculate Conception Catholic Church) that is the
last reminder of the islands French and Catholic heritage.
We
stopped for a quick drink on the way down the hill (and a quick wifi update)
before heading back to the beach. Lots of animals here, among them goats,
bunny rabbits and turtles. They are obviously all treasured by the locals
as they have huts built for them, the bunnies even had individual names on
their huts; it was very cute.
That
evening after dinner the crew put on a talent show which was really
entertaining. Singing, guitar and harmonica, dancing (traditional and
modern) and even a synchronised swimming display (without water) which was
absolutely hilarious. They simply put everything into making sure that
the guests here have a wonderful time and you can partake in as much, or as
little as you like. It was a wonderful evening full of fun and laughter.
The
next morning we awoke in Bequia, also part of St Vincent &
Grenadines. It was once the area’s most important whaling station and unfortunately
still has a license to hunt 4 humpbacks per year. Although the
restrictions are that they must do this the old fashioned way (in a row boat
with a harpoon) so catches are limited and we were told they are lucky if they
get 1 a year (which is still 1 too many in our books). Bequia is the
northernmost and largest island of the group with a population of ~5,000 and is
18 square km’s in size. Port Elizabeth is well established and a popular
spot for luxury launch and yacht to stop to replenish supplies.
We
headed ashore and went for a wander up the hill to Fort Hamilton to get a great
view of the bay. The houses are very picturesque as they are all
different colours; life here appears to be pretty simple. We took some
time to walk the waterfront around the bay and check out the local’s shops
having a quick beer at the Whaleboner Restaurant before heading back to the
boat for lunch. Just a short stop here as we need to be sailing by
2pm to reach Barbados for sunrise the following day.
That
evening we had dinner at Candles which is the more exclusive restaurant on the
pool deck that everyone gets to go to once. It was a perfect way to
finish the trip, although we were in for a bit of a bumpy night ahead as we
sailed back towards Bridgetown, Barbados into the wind.
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| The awesome crew |
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| Dinner at Candles, our final night on the Windstar |
It
was a sad farewell the next morning at breakfast as we had met lots of lovely
people and had lots of interesting conversations with them. We are not
what we would call cruise people, but this was a fantastic experience with the
most incredible and personalised service, so much so that perhaps we will again
cruise with Windstar or one of their sister boats in the future (they are much
smaller than the large 1000+ boats). If you are looking for some real
R&R and to be treated extremely well it certainly comes highly recommended.
What
we will remember about our Windstar cruise:
The
amazing service
The
People we met
Beautiful
blue and clear water
Weird
weather (beautiful one minute, downpour the next)
The
ship
The
food
Super
cute Caribbean islands
Barbados
(23 December 2016 – 2 January 2017)
A
short taxi ride from the ship saw us at our new home (for 11 days) “Blue Orchid
Beach Hotel” in no time. We have a self-contained studio unit overlooking
the beach with a pool on each side of us as well as a beautiful sandy beach, so
the R&R options are endless. We unpacked and settled in, caught up on
our emails as we were now back on wifi after our cruise and then went for a
short wander to the supermarket. It is certainly a reminder that it is
Christmas soon and the supermarket was much like you’d expect at home – super
busy. We had a nice lunch out and opted to relax at home that evening
listening to the waves break just outside our room.
The
days all blend into each other when you’re in such a beautiful spot doing
nothing other than what you want. Christmas Day was a great surprise as
we awoke to a Santa stocking hanging on our door full of goodies – a really
nice touch from the hotel. We opted not to go to the Christmas
concert/dinner as we had our own lobster, prawns and chardonnay to devour, but
we got the full view and sound of the concert sitting on the pool deck so had a
great time enjoying the entertainment anyway.
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| Christmas dinner |
We
did manage a couple of tours while we were there, the first being the Historic
Garrison tour which lasts around 3 hours. We visited 5 locations on what
is now a Unesco World Heritage Site – Barbados’ Historic garrison. Dating
back to 1650 the site is thought to be the most intact and authentic 18th
and 19th century British Garrison complex in the world. First
up was George Washington house – built in 1717 the house originally cost £15 a
month to rent (the equivalent of US $3,000 per month these days) and it is
still beautiful although having been restored there are only a few parts of its
original self left. The privy and bath house is still there as well as
the original kitchen in a building detached from the house. Great site
and lots of commentary about the history which included the fact that George
Washington lived in it for 6 months as a 19 year old.
Then
into the Garrison tunnels. These were originally built in 1818 as
drainage but were also used for communications. We walked through a ~60
metre section of the at least 3.2km’s of tunnels. On to St Charles
Fort (1730) which is perfectly placed on the headland overlooking the bays on both
sides, it also has its own cannon graveyard on the beach below – of course in
today’s Barbados style it also has amazing views!
Past
the barracks, of which there are many, and then onto St Ann’s Fort. We
headed into the Officer’s Mess for a refreshing drink before heading beneath
into the 1801 gunpowder room which now houses the National Armoury – one of the
finest 17th century cannon collections in the world.
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| Officers Mess |
Our
final stops were the soldier’s jail with its tiny cells and then the 1804 Main
Guard, where we watched the ‘Changing of the Sentry’ in front of the clock
tower. The tour was great but the commentary from our guides James &
Peter really made it – they had so much information to share and it was truly a
learning experience.
The
second tour we did was the LOS Barbados tour, which is a full day tour around
the island where we got to see a little more of Barbados (other than our
beautiful beach and home pad). It took in Harrison’s Cave where we ended
up 50 metres below the surface yet still 215 metres above sea level. The
interesting thing about this cave, apart from the natural beauty within it, is
just how wet it is (drips from above you) and also that it is a constant 24
degrees which is substantially warmer than any other cave we have ventured
into.
Moving
onto the West Coast we visited Bathsheba - it’s a beautiful area most known for
its unusual rock formations. Great photo opportunities here right before
we stopped for lunch.
We
passed the Morgan Lewis Windmill (a sugar cane factory windmill) and Cherry
Tree Hill, both of which we stopped at for photos and then on to St Nicholas
Abbey. After watching a video of the history of the Abbey we had time to
wander around the grounds, lovely gardens and buildings – all of which are part
of a rum distillery that is still in operation. The Abby was reached by driving
down Mahogany Avenue – which as its name suggests is lined with Mahogany trees.
Our
final stop was the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. Not a big place full mainly
of tortoises and green monkeys but also had deer, mara (looks like a cross
between a rabbit and a small deer), birds, caiman, snakes and Cuban iguana.
We were there right on feeding time which was interesting and entertaining to
watch. This tour was a good mix of different sites and views and was a
wonderful way to see a little bit more of this beautiful and small nation.
Apart
from our two excursions we really did just relax here, celebrated Christmas, said
goodbye to 2016 and welcomed in 2017. Our New Year was spent at the local
Tiki Bar where we watched fireworks at midnight overlooking the beautiful
bay. Feeling pretty spoilt as we have done no more or less than we wanted
and answered to no pressing timetables (no buses, trains or planes to catch) or
plans that needed to be made. We have soaked up the beauty and marvelled
at the water which is such a stunning shade of turquoise blue and you can even
see right through the waves it is so clear. We had a stunning sunset
every night to finish the day on as well so all in all a beautiful spot and no
regrets for deciding to head home via the Caribbean.
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| Bridgetown |
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| Bridgetown |
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| Bridgetown |
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| Bridgetown houses |
What we will remember about Barbados:
Transparent and super turquoise blue water
Sea breezes
Beautiful sunsets
Bridgetown's history - the Garrison
The Women's amazing braided hairstyles
Local taxis - aptly named suicide vans by tourists (as they
squeeze as many as possible in)
Super soft sand
Preparing
for Home (3-7 January 2017)
Our last few days in Fort Lauderdale and Houston really were
transit days only although we continued to enjoy time to exercise, the beach,
pool and sunshine. We did managed to do a water taxi tour of the canals
in Fort Lauderdale to see how the other half live! Multi-million dollar
mansions and luxury yachts, including the US$130m+ 7 Seas owned by Steven Spielberg
(24 permanent crew on board). We got the final chores done too and lots
of time to reflect on what an unbelievably amazing year it has been filled with
so many experiences, excursions, sights and emotions. We will be forever
thankful for this experience and certainly know it won't be the last longer
term travel we will do. We hope that everyone has enjoyed following our
adventures and we thank you for sharing it with us.
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| How the other half live... |
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| Spielberg's 7 Seas |
Wrap Up
Wow and just like that "383 days" is over. It is impossible to share in a few words (or
even in a hundred plus pages on our blog) what we have experienced and how much
this last year has impacted our lives. There have been lots of beautiful, beautiful
places, beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and beautiful people. That has been checked by sadness and tragedy -
particularly Rwanda and countries going through tough change like Tibet, South
Africa and Bosnia and finally by the heartless act we got caught up in at the
Fort Lauderdale Airport as we prepared for our trip home. Much of what we have seen and experienced
forces us to reflect on home and we realise just how lucky we are to have grown
up and live in NZ.
People are going to ask for highlights so here are a
couple:
Antarctica The Galápagos Islands
Beautiful Tibet
Africa and our overland trips with "Absolute
Africa"
The Balkans - untapped
The Gorillas in Uganda
The Northern Lights
Of the
things we’ve seen and places we have visited it’s hard to be highlight specific
but to elaborate a bit further the below is our list of the best/most
amazing/prettiest/most beautiful/memorable of the following:
Cities -
Prague (Czech Republic) and Cusco (still one of our favs) followed closely by
Krakow (Poland)
Landscape - Antarctica and Patagonia
Continents - Africa and Antarctica
Sunsets - Africa and Caribbean
Hikes -
W-Trek (Patagonia) and Lost City Trek (Colombia)
Beaches -
Koh Tao (Thailand) and Worthing (Barbados)
Mountains –
Switzerland and Tibet
Wildlife –
Africa, Galapagos and Antarctica
Emotions -
Rwanda and Prague (Jewish quarter)
Gorgeous
People - Tibet (the Tibetan indigenous people) and Uganda/Rwanda (followed
closely by Botswana and Namibia)
Devastating
- Nepal (still reeling from the 2015 earthquake) and Bosnia (war is still so
real and visible)
Surprising -
Colombia (tourist appreciative) and Montenegro (gorgeous)
Effectively
there is nothing that we wish we hadn't seen or spent the time to do. Every day has been worth it and we have met
some wonderful and amazing people who have added to our beautiful memories and
for that we thank you all.
A few travel facts:
383 days travelled
Visited 49 countries (40 new for Lesley & 32 new
for Gary)
6 out of 7 continents (ironically missed Australia)
33 different currencies used
Travelled to both the Antarctic and Artic circles
Experienced both the midnight sun and the polar night
Straddled the Equator in both Ecuador and Uganda
Got to 5,200m above sea level
Climbed 2 volcanoes - 1 active
Air travelled 135,926 kms (3.4 circumnavigation of
the world)
196 hours of flying time
Made 65 flights with 24 airlines
Gary ran 65 times – 600km's
Lost a couple of padlocks
Broke a camera lens
Wrote 160 pages and over 100,000 words of travel
notes (typed travel notes!!!)
Took about ~30,000 photos of which we have kept and
named ~12,000
Things we couldn’t have done without – super glue
and a sewing kit
Wish we had – taken an underwater camera
Spent no longer than 5 hours (once) out of each
other's company in the entire trip – and yes we are still together and very
happy ;o)
Regrets - none
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