Caribbean Cruise: The Everglades (2.16.25)

We left our ship at 7:30 a.m. on February 16, 2025, and our plane to Salt Lake City didn't leave until 6 p.m.  We spent the morning on a shore excursion to the Everglades.  Everglades Holiday Park was impossibly crowded, with all the ships returning from the Caribbean this morning.  Still, we enjoyed a ride on an airboat through the Everglades, and an alligator "wrestling" show.
 

The airboat rides were part macho, full throttle race through the channels of the Everglades, and part gentle glide through the mangroves and sawgrass, looking for alligators and birds.  Dave and I preferred the gentle glide.

The Everglades have a unique beauty, full of sky and water, low-lying trees and bushes, and water plants.

Our guide had just told us he couldn't guarantee seeing an alligator when there he was, eyes and snout peeking above the water.

Spanish moss hung from scrubby trees along the water line.

The alligator wrestling presentation was led by a tough looking guy.  He told us that the reason Florida residents can get alligators removed from their swimming pools and backyards for free is because the trappers sell the alligators to processing plants for their hides and meat.  "I'm a no-kill trapper," he told us. "When I catch alligators, I take them to zoos and refuges."  He also told us, "These alligators at the show are my friends."

Caribbean Cruise: Morning Glory (2.16.25)

Dave and I were up before dawn on February 16, 2025, the day we sailed into Miami.  We stood on our veranda, transfixed by the beauty of seven or eight cruise liners, all sailing into the Miami port at the same time.  The ships were lighted up, the port was lighted up, and the white and colored lights of Miami's skyscrapers were all aglow.  

Miami is a big container port, so we first saw the huge cranes, ready to load and unload cargo from all over the world, as we sailed into the harbor.

We passed two of our Royal Caribbean sister ships, already docked.  Most Caribbean cruises are seven days long, and Saturday morning must be a big day for returning to Miami.

The pier was splendid, with purple lights.

We had a panoramic view of the Miami harbor, as dawn began to lighten the sky.

Caribbean Cruise: Explorer of the Seas (2.15.25)

As we sailed from the Southern Caribbean back to Miami on February 15, 2025, we walked around the ship, taking photos.

The Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas was medium-size for the Royal Caribbean fleet--3000 passengers and 1000 staff.  It felt very big and a bit crowded to us, after sailing on the 1250 guest Oceania ships.  We realize that different cruise ships appeal to different types of people.  The Explorer of the Seas had elaborate recreation equipment that Oceania ships lack--a miniature golf course, wave pool, water slide, skating rink, and several swimming pools.  It even had a chapel!  The ship didn't, however, have the educational speakers, well-stocked library, and chef-led cooking classes that we enjoyed on Oceania.

The food was delicious, if not quite as gourmet as on Oceania.

The Caribbean is a tourist mecca.  At the best known ports, such as San Juan and St. Martin, the cruise ships were literally "wall to wall."  I didn't mind that very much.  I read my 600 page Lonely Planet Caribbean travel guide cover to cover, took the longest shore excursions at each port, and felt I learned a lot about the six islands we visited.

We tried each of the three "specialty restaurants" on Explorer of the Seas, which compared to very good restaurants at home.

On our last night on board, we ate at the oriental specialty restaurant.  Our waiter asked if we were celebrating anything special.  When we said we weren't, he asked when each of our birthdays was.  He said that my birthday, March 17, was close enough to February 15 for a special treat.  The wait staff sang me "Happy Birthday" and brought a molten lava chocolate cake with a candle to blow out!  It was a fitting finale to an excellent trip.  I also added #s 121, 122, and 123 to the countries I have visited--Dominica, Antigua, and St. Kitts!

Caribbean Cruise: St. Kitts (2.13.25)

Plantation houses and more forts.  St. Kitts, an island we visited on February 13, 2025, grew sugar cane in the 1600s through 1800s and participated in the "triangular trade"--Britain sending ships to Africa to pick up slaves to sell in the Americas, and then bringing sugar back to Britain. 

We visited Wingfield Estate, a sugar plantation home dating to 1625.  

"The Brits make themselves comfortable," my mom and dad used to say about the British colonists in Burma (Myanmar), where we lived for three years.  Wingfield Estate seemed very comfortable, and very British, even on this obscure island.

It had a formal European garden, filled with palm trees and tropical flowers.

I remembered the fragrant white gardenias, from when I was a little girl in tropical Burma.

Inside, the living room floor and furniture were made from dark, stained mahogany.

The plantation china featured the plantation owners and the Union Jack.

There was a "smoking room" for the gents and a tea room for the ladies, as well as an office for the plantation manager.

There was even a British wig propped on a desk.

The family took baths every week in this stone tub. No running water yet.

I was fascinated with the plantation museum, which showed the people who had lived at Wingate Estate for many generations.

We next visited Brimstone Mill Fortress, the best preserved fort we saw on our trip. 

Back in Basse-Terre, the capital of St. Kitts, we wandered the downtown.  We stopped at a grocery store, where taro roots and raw coconuts were piled high.

"Valentines Day is big on St. Kitts," our guide told us, and we saw stalls around the city, selling stuffed animals and candy, wrapped with red bows.

We stopped at a local bakery for a slice of guava cheesecake.

Two girls in their school uniforms stopped by the bakery for an after school treat.

On our walk back to the ship, we passed a menu advertising a nearby cafe.  The soups included "Red beans and pigtail," "Turkey neck," and "Conch water."  We were glad to be eating on the Emperor of the Seas.