'Cruising' is hard work! We left San Juan, Puerto Rico Easter Sunday evening on the Dawn Princess. After spending the first day at sea getting to Barbados, we visited a different island each day. Each island had its own unique attractions, but beaches, sightseeing, and shopping were a constant theme. In addition to spending most of the day ashore, there were also shipboard activities, entertainment, and of course, 24 hour food service!

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note: Each of the photographs is a thumbnail image of the original. Just click on the thumbnail to view the full size picture.

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• Special moments
• Getting started
• Day at sea and 1st formal night
• Barbados sight seeing
• Barbados snorkeling trip
• St. Lucia
• St. Martin/San Maarten
• Tortola
• Virgin Gorda, The Baths
• St. Thomas
• San Juan - El Yunque

Of course we checked out the pool as soon as we could.

Main pool area - early morning

Michael getting 'tanked up' early Monday morning with Meghan

Bathsheba is on the wild east coast of the island.

The island is made up mostly of coral, unlike the majority of the other Caribbean islands, which are volcanic in origin. Coral fossils like this one can be found on just about any cliff face.

These black bellied sheep are raised for their meat

Berries close-up

Sea coast by Animal Flower cave. These are sea caves, offering unique vantages to the sea.

We met Marilyn and Caroline through the Cruise Critic board. We toured Barbados with them in the morning. We saw one another each day to compare travel notes.

The mini bus we took to board the snorkel boat was environmentally friendly. It supported safe emissions both outside the bus and in.

Sister boat [Wildcat II] also doing the turtle snorkel.

Resting after turtle snorkel. We were each required to wear a life vest as a safety precaution, given the number of snorkelrs in the area. The straps were annoying, but necessary to keep the vest from riding up over you mouth.

The tour touted the Berwyn shipwreck in Carlisle Bay. However, the real exciting part of this snorkel session was the adjoining reef and our guides who brought along a big loaf of bread for feeding the fish.

Sun on Catherine

Mount Gay rum factory. From a number of local Bajans, we learned that rum is made from molasses, the by-product of extracting sugar from sugar cane. So, while sugar is the main export, it is the rum, made from left over molasses, for which the island is most famous. Based on our personal sampling, not to mention the fact that Bajans been making rum here for over 300 years, we agreed that they make a very fine product!

After snorkling we take a beach and rum punch break!

Michael finds a nice place to sit on the beach.

One tired snorkelr

St. Lucia

Michael's first scuba dive of the day was at on the marine preserve on the north side of the Soufriere bay. This picture is the view looking south the to famous Pitons.

This is a view of Soufriere bay from land looking north to the dive area. This site is known as Grand Caille [ a.k.a. "The Big House"].

View of the town of Sourfriere and Pitons looking to the south.

The second dive site at South Beach and the sister Sandals dive boat. Both sites had an abundance of fish, corals, and other interesting sights.

While Michael was off diving, Sonia and Catherine took a taxi ride down to the Soufriere area to the the 'drive in' volcano, sulfur vents, and other sights.

Can I interest you in a blue banana?

Catherine with fishing pier and friends.

Marigot bay as seen from the sea.

The town of Marigot and surroundings

Harbor scene at dock in Marigot.
Old fort guards over tourist shops and native fisherman

What's left of original salt flats

What's a vacation without a nudie beach?

It was easy to tell the visitors from the regulars by the extent of their tan coverage.

Parasailors could see the full expanse of the mile+ beach at Orient bay.

Four cruise ships at a single dock create a shaded canyon.

Ship appeared 'light' when passengers are ashore!

Both berths at the small dock were already taken.

For ports that don't have sufficient docking facilities, cruise passengers get 'tendered' to shore. The Dawn Princess used 4 of its lifeboats as tenders. But with 2,000 passengers wanting to go ashore and each tender only holding 150, it takes a while. I'm glad we only had to tender at one port.

Our ship looked especially big from the deck of 'Speedy'.

These were our choices for getting to Virgin Gorda. It was a nice 30 minute ride with some great views of the many small islands in the area.

'Speedy' didn't live up to its name, leaving 25 minutes late.

Of course, life on the ship for the crew was 'just another work day', as they made some minor engineering changes to the superstructure.

Some 'work' seemed especially refreshing on a hot day. This was a 150-pound block at the start.

From the sea, it just looks like a pile of rocks. But up close, is was an amazing labyrinth, home to a great many fish.

By this time on the trip, we were interested in a shady beach spot. This was also the hottest day of the trip. Of course, hiking 350 yards down to the beach and then back up did not help!

There were plenty of rocks to climb around on, with a 'path' taking you over to the next cove.

Although this was the driest island [and hottest] we visited, there was still abundant vegetation. This is a Turk's head cactus [Melocactus intortus].

The taxi park at the ferry dock.

This beautiful beach was right next to the dock. Several of our fellow passengers took the opportunity to cool off.

Another formal night and late night activities. The one on the right they call 'the champagne waterfall'. 150+ champagne glasses with passengers invited to join in the photo op. Free champagne for everyone!

One of many flowering trees at Sapphire beach.

Sonia and Catherine under the shade of the seaside grape trees.

Flowers seemed to be turning up everywhere, here at the beach.

Sapphire beach panorama

After the beach, we made a visit to Coral World Marine Park at Coki Point. The park has a lot to offer beyond its famous 3 story tower in the sea. There is also a 80,000 gallon reef encounter tank -- feeding time is great! And a marine garden with 21 aquariums and terrific air conditioning.

Our taxi driver took the scenic road back, which gave us some great panoramas of the island. This was our third visit to the island, but it was still breathtaking.

We bid a fond farewell to St. Thomas, heading back to San Juan. Another cruise ship leads the way.

When you can see the white underside of this tree's big leaaves, you know that a storm is on the way.