Month: December 2010

Today was another fine day. We left the ship and had hoped to just wander around town. Two things quickly became apparent. One, at least the first part of the town right off the cruise ship was filled with high end shopping. Two, we were approached pretty much constantly by men asking if we wanted to tour the island. They were all polite I’ll grant them, but
it is very wearing always having to fend them off. So we did grab a cab
(the only lady in the bunch) who we bargained with to take us across the
island to “Nelson’s Dockyard” a UNESCO heritage site. She took us over
to her son, whom she instructed to “take good care of them”. He was very friendly, and while driving gave us some of the island highlights. About
70 thousand native people on the island. Apparently this island also
grows the sweetest pineapples. He offered some running commentary as we
drove.
Nelson’s Dockyard was described the world’s only Georgian dockyard with people plying their traditional craft trade. So I expected something like
Doon Heritage Crossroads meets a dock. Not quite. First of all let me
say, the buildings are lovely, and many have been restored. One of them,
the former Admiral’s quarters was a little museum. The rest of the
buildings were an assortment of restaurants and shops. Oh, one of the buildings had people sewing sails in it, but with machines. Anyways. At the end of these buildings was the actual harbour, but it was filled with modern day Yachts. And I mean YACHTS. The kind that appear in movies,
with lots of room, and staff aboard. So one of the old buildings also
had a little booth on Yacht ownership, from which Albert of course took a pamphlet. It was very beautiful, but strange to see anchors and winches
dating from the 1800s beside these modern ships. Still a nice outing.
On the way back J slept in the car, and Deville (our driver) took us by an old sugar mill. (This would all make more sense with pictures, but there
is no way I can upload them with this satellite connection). Once back
in town, Albert bargained for a mini steel drum for the kids. It has
notes labelled on it, and while bulky, is quite light. I’m looking
forward to playing around with it, we even got a little sheet of music.
We had to walk back through the shopping area, so I caved and bought
myself some sunglasses. It is just so very bright here. I did manage to
walk by the SWATCH shop without making a purchase, but don’t worry I have
faith I will buy one before the cruise is done. Back at the ship we had
lunch, and did the usual afternoon routine.
I should mention that while most people on this ship are happy, pleasant and glad to see a few kids, there are some strange and grouchy ones too.
For example. I waited in line this morning to get some fried eggs, and
while mine were cooking, the next lady ordered. She ordered 2 eggs, and
when the time came for them to be flipped she said to the cook, “Can I have 2 new eggs, those yolks are broken”. Broken yolks?? Really?? Is that such a big deal? Wow. Daddy also encountered someone in line who pointed out which piece of French toast she wanted and when she was served it, she made them put it back and get the exact piece she had picked out.
Really?? Also when we sat down at breakfast daddy tells me that the couple across the row got up and said “Let’s leave before all the noise
begins”. Wow, some people spend a lot of energy being grumpy and
thinking the worst of people! I must say as far as the kids go, most people are happy to see them. Everyone likes to wave and play peek-a-boo with J during meals, it gets quite distracting for him, and I must say it makes R a little jealous. She however has her group of lady friends that she meets and chats with. She went over to see them at dinner and soaked up all the attention. The ship is rocking somewhat this evening, so I hope I don’t have crazy dreams again like last time!

Every night we are given a sheet of history, tips and a map for the next day’s Island. The description for Dominica was that it was a relatively
“young” volcanic island. “Dominca’s rugged mountains drop precipitously
into lush valleys creating the picture of tropical paradise…” So late last night we decided that daddy and R should try to do an excursion today.
So daddy went and found there was still room on the Rainforest Tram ride.
Sounds cool eh? Yah, only not so much for people who don’t like heights!
So J and I stayed behind. The left soon after breakfast. J and I
wandered ashore. The town itself was somewhat run down. We were the
only cruise ship docked, and the locals had set up a market like area on
the pier. We browsed there. I got R a sundress. Cute boy clothes for
J’s age were definitely lacking however. We walked to the end of the
market, then walked into the town. The info sheet had said that the sidewalks were in disrepair, and boy were they not kidding. The whole town seems run down, and sidewalks were treacherous, if there at all. I had J in the stroller and I had to keep my eyes on the ground the whole
time. It was very hot, and we quickly grew tired of walking around. We
headed back to the ship and hung out on the Lido deck by the pool (in the
shade of course!). Once J got bored of that I took him to the Promenade
deck thinking I’d just walk him until he fell asleep, but those
traditional deck steamer chairs looked to dog-gone comfy. I parked him
beside me, and rocked the stroller until he fell asleep. After we got
lunch, and just as we finished, daddy and R caught up with us. They had had a good time. R made friends with all the elderly ladies on the tour, had them laughing at her jokes, and wrote a story with one too.
Apparently she didn’t even sit with Daddy on the bus ride, but with her new friend “Char”! Char also has a grandchild adopted from China.
They took some pretty spectacular pictures, I’ll have to post them later.
The afternoon was spend by the pool. I swam with R until her friends arrived at which point she happily let me sit in a deck chair and just
watch. I was quite content with my audio book on my ipod. Daddy and J
went for naps. Late afternoon I coaxed my prune like daughter out of the
pool (she’d been in it for over 3 hours) and got everyone cleaned up for
formal night. I wanted us ready early so we could get the photographer
to take pictures of the kids. The ones of J turned out so great the other day, I wanted ones of both of them and R. We’ll see how there are
tomorrow. J was really restless and hard to keep happy during dinner,
and R was out of sorts too. She had complained in the morning of her stomach hurting, and that worried me. Apparently some of her little friends had been sick this morning too. Great, just what we need. I think J was unhappy because of cutting teeth and just being tired.
Here’s hoping we don’t get sick.