Tortola, Twenty Years Later

 The last part of the cruise seemed to be a revisit to places we hadn't seen for a very long time. Our previous visit to Tortola was in 2002 when Larry, Bruce and I surprised my parents on Crystal Harmony for their 50th anniversary.

I was up and looking out when we arrived, and certainly couldn't recall seeing the marinas and houses that were visible from our side of the ship. We didn't have an excursion booked for this port, as something had happened to the bookings I had made at home, so we took a walk around the visitors' area that had been built at the pier around 2017 (this according to one of the security officers checking ID on the pier).

Looking toward Roadtown and the multitude of boats. Almost
all of the sailboats we saw there were catamarans, and we're
sure that many are chartered to winter boaters

A lovely view with one of those catamarans
leaving port

Looking under our ship's lines toward Virgin Gorda
and a couple of the smaller British Virgin Islands.

The tourist authority had built an area, similar to those in most other Caribbean ports, with shops, bars, food booths and small restaurants, and some of the old standards are there too: Diamonds International, Effy Jewelers, Del Sol Colour Change and Cariloha Bamboo. Roadtown sure has come up in the world since 2002 when there was absolutely nothing anywhere near the pier, and certainly not this built up community that supports the cruise and pleasure boating industries. We'll be back sometime in the next couple of years and I expect we'll see a little more of the island then.

We've covered pretty much everything about the ship and our ports on this cruise. Regent Grandeur is a lovely ship, the crew is fantastic, and the food is wonderful. What else can you ask for? We had a couple of last days with our friends before packing up and heading home. We will be back on Regent in January on Explorer, another sister to Grandeur, but we have a couple of other trips before then.

YAW in Dominica

 YAW - Yet Another Waterfall!

We had not done a tour in Dominica for quite a few years, so as we had not booked very many on this cruise, we decided to join an island tour to revisit the Emerald Pool. Our drive first took us through the centre of Roseau, the capital city. There are many historical buildings here, including this community centre that was a sugar mill 'back in the day'.

From the time we woke up and looked outside, the clouds had been threatening rain, but, being the optimistic tourists we, and everyone else on the tour, were, nobody brought raincoats or umbrellas along. As we drove the 45 minutes into the middle of the island to Emerald Pool, we had quite a bit of rain.

But fortunately Mother Nature decided to smile on us all and the rain let up a little while before we arrived. The hike from the parking lot/admin building was about 20 minutes each way over uneven stairs and an at times rugged pathway, but the walk was worth it in the end. 

As I'm finishing the blog at home, I thought it would be interesting to find the photos I took when we were last at the pool sometime in the 1990s (pre-digital). Here's what it looked like then:

Obviously it wasn't as rainy on that trip. The fall
was much smaller and the pool was a brighter
colour due to the sun shining in.

It started to rain again as we trekked back to the bus, though we were under cover of the rain forest most of the way and didn't get too wet. We had to dash into the admin building where we had to dodge the large tour of Germans from the AIDA ship that was also in port, and then run up to our bus.

The rain continued for a bit as we returned to Roseau for a quick drive-by as we headed toward the other falls on our tour, Trafalgar.

One of the houses on the way

To get to Trafalgar Falls, you have to go through a small community, and there's only one fairly narrow road leading up to the Visitor Centre. And, Heaven forbid, there's somebody parked on one side of the road. Then it is basically one way past the car or bus. We had to do a little manoevering to let a bus come down the road, and we were stopped beside a high fence that bore this sign:

I couldn't resist taking the photo of the sign. You couldn't see over the fence anyway, but I certainly would not have taken one of any people, clothed or otherwise, that I saw.

The falls also had a walk over uneven stairs to get to it, but, again, the walk was worth it. This is actually 2 waterfalls that come together into a river in their gorge. The river a little upstream of Trafalgar Falls is also used to provide hydro-electric power for the island.

Another look back in time. We must have taken almost exactly the same tour in 1990-mumble when we did it last!

On the way back to the bus, I noticed that some of the small plants on a rock wall were moving, and found this little guy making his way along under camouflage:

and then we passed one of his cousins a little further along the path.

The sun had finally come out, and we had a few minutes at the Visitor Centre while we waited for the group to join up. I discovered a couple of wild orchids hiding amid the leaves and ferns on a tree:

Our final stop for the tour was above Roseau at Morne Bruce. This is the highest point of the town and the site of the Prime Minister's residence and offices. Our tour guide was very proud to state that the current prime minister is not only a woman, but also indigenous, of Carib heritage. We couldn't resist getting the tourist shot of our ship from there.

Another nice day in the Caribbean, and the last busy day for the cruise. Somehow, though, I never managed to get the blog finished while we were on board!                

San Juan, One More Time

We worked out that this was the fourth time we were in San Juan in the past 16 months, so there wasn't much to go looking for. Just to get off the ship for a while, we wandered through the old town for an hour or so. We did see, once again, the guide who took us on the foodie walking tour in March of 2023. Given that she must do multiples of these foodie tours each week during cruise ship season, she manages to stay very slim!

Here are a few photos to add to our collection:

On the sail in to San Juan, most people are gaping at the fortress of El Morro. This time I thought I'd look to the other side of the channel to see what was there.

Some of the buildings in Old San Juan are quite lovely, but the streets are too narrow to get a good photo of them.

So far this small chapel, the Capilla del Santo Cristo, has never been open while we were in town. It is apparently quite pretty inside. Someone disturbed all the pigeons in the Parqueta next to the chapel just as I was taking a couple of photos.

There are always flowers blooming somewhere in town, mostly bougainvillea.

It was quite warm, so we were happy to get back to the ship to cool off. I went for a swim while the pool was still free and the deck wasn't too crowded.

Our next stop was Gustavia, St. Barts. We had thought to take the tender to shore and walk around for a bit, but stayed on the ship instead. We have remarked to each other that we are having one of the laziest cruises so far, but the next trip will make up for it as we will be going to a lot of places we have never visited before. I have been working on my needlepoint, having picked up a couple of new Stitch 'n Zip projects, my knitting and even my sketching. To make up for no photos of St. Barts, here is some of my work:

I knit 2 pairs of toddler mittens and a hat as well as finishing
most of this little Stitch 'n Zip case (I did the last bit at home)

The first pages of my watercolour journal for 2024

The Food Post

 The one everyone always waits for! We have eaten in all of the venues (finally) and can now post a fairly comprehensive showing of the different available cuisines. We haven't taken any photos of La Veranda's lunch buffet or the Pool Grill, but we still have 2 days as I write, so I will make a point of adding those to the list.

Sette Mari (or Seven Seas in Italian). The breakfast and lunch buffet at La Veranda is converted to an Italian restaurant at dinner. The food is so good that we've been there 3 times on the cruise!

The appetizer selection served at the table and
also available on the buffet. The main courses are all
served at the table

I can never resist a good Osso Buco, and this one was
excellent. Not too big, either!

Rigatoni with bolognese sauce. The good thing is that
you can ask for anything to be served in a smaller size
so you can sample more things.

Veal Marsala

A small portion of Lasagna that Mary Ellen had

Prime 7, the Steak House. The three specialty restaurants that require reservations are almost always booked out, so we were very upset to discover that the reservations we had made for the second cruise, the 10 day portion, had disappeared from the onboard system. Fortunately they could change Mary Ellen's reservations to 4 people, so we were still able to have some dinners there.

This is a Korean Summer Roll appetizer. Different!
Larry found it delicious.

My Snapper main. It had some brussels sprouts in the 
veggies. Those things are really getting popular.

On our second visit, we also had these little
'amuse bouche' tomato soups.

A goat cheese and mushroom appetizer. One of my
favourite combinations.

Shrimp cocktail. Something we hadn't had
for a very long time. A lot of the classic
dishes are making a comeback.

Mary Ellen and I shared a platter that included
beef, chicken, lambchops and sausages. Just a nice
size for two people.

Key Lime pie for dessert

Prime 7 and Chartreuse are also open for lunch on many days, with a small menu, often related to what is being served at La Veranda with a  few additions. We went to Prime 7 one day.

Fisherman's platter - 2 each of scallops, calamari
rings and fish pieces.

Larry's burger. The portions here are smaller
than those at the Pool Grill, and it is 
certainly quieter!

Chartreuse is the French restaurant on board. It is a beautiful room and the food is also spectacular.

Goat cheese souffle

Chartreuse specialty fried escargot. Larry tried
them, but still prefers the regular ones.

Lamb chops

A crab cake appetizer that Larry had on
our second visit

Artichoke tart - the whole lattice piece
was made from truffle! I loved it!

Vegetable spring roll appetizer

Dover sole is a crowd favourite at Chartreuse, so I
had to try it. Very nicely done

You know Larry didn't eat this! Mary Ellen's beets
with goat cheese.

The final specialty restaurant is Pacific Rim. Asian fusion, beautifully presented and extremely delicious. It is the favourite of most people we know.

Duck and Watermelon salad

Mary Ellen had this eggroll style appetizer

Tuna tartare, one of Larry's favourite appetizers

Vegetable potsticker style dumplings

These Korean barbecue ribs were fantastic!

Larry tried the Canadian lobster tempura

This is what they serve as a welcome appetizer. Edamame
beans out of the shell along with the nori cracker and
peanut sauce.

Sashimi appetizer with 3 types of fish

They also had a soft-shell crab tempura appetizer
which I really enjoyed

Larry's sea bass main course.

A coconut tapioca pudding for dessert

We've eaten dinner at Compass Rose, the main dining room a number of times as well, but haven't taken any photos of the dishes we had. They were just as good as the specialty restaurants. The menu has a 'daily specials' side as well as an extensive list of 'always available' options that you can customize with sauces and side orders to your heart's content.

That's a quick look at the food. There are only so many words you can use to describe the food, so instead of repeating them, we'll just say it is consistently outstanding!