Drive to Richmond Hill, Georgia

Wednesday, April 5

We left Bob and Max's about 11am and set off on the approximately 4 hour drive to Tom and Sandy's home in Richmond Hill. It was a pretty easy drive on I95 North, and we had a few stops for petrol and lunch. There was an unexpected halt on the interstate as all 3 lanes stopped before we crawled along for about 15 minutes until the traffic started flowing again. We were thankful that our GPS was working and it directed us to Tom and Sandys around 5:30pm.

They have a lovely home and made us feel so welcome. Sandy cooked a great meal, which we ate on the enclosed porch while listening to the rain and thunder and watching the lightning - it was quite a storm. Just before we were going to retire to bed an alert sounded on Sandy's phone - it was a tornado warning!! We put the TV on and watched the Weather Channel as it tracked the potential path of the tornado. Luckily it was just going to miss us by about 5 kilometres, but there were a couple behind the first one so we didn't get the all clear to go to bed until about midnight, so it ended up a later night than we had planned. Definitely not something you encounter every day, and a first time experience for us.

Melbourne, Florida (continued)

Monday - Tuesday, April 3-4

We were treated to French toast on the deck overlooking the golf course for brunch, and sat and chatted into the afternoon. Later on Max drove us to an outdoor shopping mall and then onto a nearby one that had a different range of shops. It was fun seeing the different shops compared to what we have at home, but we aren't too far behind in style, there's just a bigger selection to choose from in the US.

As it was getting late for dinner we decided to order Italian and eat in, making it a nice casual night. We also watched a movie about Savannah Georgia, our next stop, called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - it was a good movie and definitely got us into a "southern" state of mind!

Tuesday - Bob and Max took us on a picnic brunch on the shores of the Indian River where there are nice pavilions to sit in, as well as BBQ facilities. It was a lovely spot and we all enjoyed making our own sandwiches and trying to eat healthily for a change! We also met some other people there and had a good chat with them, as well as watching squirrels trying to get some of the food scraps - they are always cute to watch.

As we were driving home a big thunderstorm struck so we arrived home to flooded streets. Fortunately there were no leaks in the house, so we sat on the patio looking out over the golf course watching the rain. The white herons flew in to feed on the worms and it was cool just watching them as they are local to the area. We were happy to stay in again and watched some more episodes of Perry Mason and Gunsmoke - it's certainly fun to watch these old TV shows.

Melbourne, Florida

Sunday, April 2

We disembarked from the Koningsdam just after 9am, collected our luggage and went to the rental car shuttle area. Unfortunately we had to wait about 40 minutes in the sun before it came and took us to the office. After doing the paperwork we went to the car and turned our GPS on - alas it still had us in Canada from when we last used it in 2015!

We headed down the highway hoping a satellite would pick up our location, and after 5 minutes of driving it hadn't so we pulled into a Dunking Donuts store to give it some more time. Bob and Max had given us directions to their home in Melbourne so all we had to do was find the I95 North! A man gave us directions and we set off for the 2 hour drive, hoping the satellites would find us. 

As we got closer to Melbourne we decided to forget the GPS and just go with the directions we'd been given, and these were all we needed to arrive at Bob and Max's home. It was great to see them again and they made us so welcome. Bobs new toy is a 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible, so to show us around Melbourne we all went for a spin in it - what a great experience and the local area is very pretty with 2 rivers nearby, lots of golf courses and some beautiful homes. This tour was a real highlight for us.

We ate in and talked and talked, and later in the evening we watched old episodes of Perry Mason. We had so much fun and it brought back memories of watching this TV show when we were kids. It was also lovely to have a home cooked meal after 21 days of cruising and to just chill out with friends as we celebrated their 50th anniversary and our 35th!

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Saturday, April 1

Another fun time was had at Half Moon Cay! This is a picture postcard beach when you mention the Caribbean, and Holland America have set it up so everything runs very smoothly. We loved walking along the soft, white sand, swimming in the turquoise coloured water and lying in a deck chair listening to the gentle waves lapping the shore under clear blue skies.

We enjoyed the barbecue on shore before returning to the ship to face the dreaded task of packing as we finish this cruise and prepare to leave this beautiful part of the world.

Day at Sea

Friday, March 31

We attended a Mariner's recognition meeting before being taken to lunch where we caught up with Disney and Robin. After lunch we chatted with them some more, then went for a walk around the Promenade deck until it was time to get ready for dinner!

It was Gala Attire night again so we dressed up for dinner, enjoyed another lovely "surf and turf" meal and then watched the production show with the singers and dancers - they certainly work hard but are very talented. Another great day at sea.

Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Thursday, March 30

Our plans for the day changed just before we left the ship when we got a call from new friends Disney and Robin. They had booked an excursion in the afternoon but Robin had hurt her neck so they weren't going to go and asked if we wanted to use their tickets. We said yes and thanked them profusely - the excursion was a catamaran trip to 2 dive sites, one over a shipwreck and the other was with turtles!

We did a quick walk to the shops near the dock so we could use wifi, but the bar we picked had very slow wifi so we didn't achieve what we wanted to. Then it was back to the ship for an early lunch before we met the other passengers at 12:30 for the excursion. The catamaran was the Castaway Girl 3, and it was a lovely cat. We were excited, especially Noelle as it was going to be her first real snorkelling tour, and what a fantastic place they took us to first up over an old wreck.

It was about 40 feet down but the water was so clear you could see all the details clearly from the surface, and the water was so warm! Our guide Sienna told us about the fish and coral we could see, as well as the history of the wreck. We were snorkelling for about 35 minutes before we reboarded the cat and headed to Turtle Cove. The water here was only about 20 feet deep with a sandy bottom which also had some vegetation which the turtles feed on. Immediately we could see 3 turtles beneath us, all happily eating away, and then surfacing for air before returning to their food. We swam around and watched them for about 25 minutes, an absolutely fabulous experience. Thank you so much Disney and Robin.

On our way back to the ship we were provided with either rum punch or champagne, and we enjoyed chatting to some of our fellow snorkellers. We got back just in time before we sailed, a bit sunburnt and tired, but exhilarated by the whole experience.

Dinner in the specialty Asian restaurant Tamarind capped off a wonderful day in the US Virgin Isands.

Basseterre, St Kitts

Wednesday, March 29

Our ship docked a bit out of town today so we took a short taxi ride to reach the town and main port area. This had a Princess and Celebrity ship docked there today and it was very busy in the port shops. In all these islands the shops that cater for the tourists consist of jewellery, watch and clothes shops, and most of the clothes are in the bright Caribbean colours which look good here but "over the top" at home!

We wandered into town to check out the main sights, taking in the local market, the National Museum, St. George's Anglican Church,  a nice old clock (that wasn't working) in the middle of a roundabout called The Circus and Independence Square.

The locals were very friendly, and at St. George's we could climb to the roof to check out the view - Al chose to do this and it was very strenuous! After climbing a twisting stone stairway he then had to climb 4 very steep wooden ladders, with the last one leading directly onto the corrugated tin roof. The view was spectacular, but then the decent was even harder and it really took its toll on his legs.

After some refreshments we returned to the port for some shopping before heading back to the ship. We had planned to sit around the pool until we sailed but the sun disappeared behind some big clouds so we showered and went to early dinner.