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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Mar 28, 2022 08:00 PM Lush Sanint Lucia
-Castries - the capital city of Saint Lucia has a great natural port with the green hills in the background. It was a pleasure to stroll again narrow and crowded streets of the capital to the atmospheric catholic cathedral and the bazaar full of tropicall fruits. We are docking again of the cityside of the port - just steps from the poor parliament and main square with the century - old big tree. I wanted to see also a new place on the island and my choice was Marigot Bay - picturesque cove located in the south of Castries. Minibus stops for different destinations are spread out in the city but with the help of the friendly and helpful locals I foundcthe right one in the side street. Soon the were crawling the congested city center. Ufff... Then the road were climbing the hill overlooking the capital... Nice views! After 20 min they dropped me at the Marigot junction on the highway. I paid 1 USD (the official fare is 2,50 East Caribbean Dollar). Enjoying the views I started the walk uphill and downhill to the coast. After some 20 min it was possible to see the paradse bay. Half an hour later after a steep descent I was already in the little marina opposite the palmy beach. It is one more little paradise. Few movies were pictured here and world stars were spending here their vacations...
Surprisingly I met there a Polish couple! They gave me a lift back to the highway - thank you! I returned to Castries paying another dollar. Whet a day for just 2 USD!
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Mar 27, 2022 08:00 PM Barbados - no, no, no...
Today before 8 am we reached the port of Bridgetown of Barbados. The scenery was not imposing - we docked in the commercial harbor with the view of piles of containers and big port stores. Forget about nice views of the mountains like yesterday in Kingstown... I walked 400 m to the cruise terminal full of fancy shops. But sorry, no free internet there. Lady from the tourist office sadly said that you can have internet connection only in the city, if you pay for it. She lie, here is best kept secret: there is new Freedom Park called sometimes Golden) near bus terminal and there you can have free wifi connection at the table.
Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados has nice colonial buildings including the parliament, Queens House in the Queens Park and St Mike cathedral. But the people here are not as nice as on the poor St Vincent. They do not return the smiles and they do not greet you. The strong wind is blowing from the open Atlantic.... Let's sail bak
back! :)
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Mar 26, 2022 10:00 PM Saint Vincent after years...
After the calm day at sea (I met charming Valentina from the internet forum) we reached in the morning the island of Saint Vincent. The landscape was great from the first look, because it is volcanic island with the sharp, green peaks. I have been here some 24 years ago, heading onward by junk ferry to the Grenadines. Unfortunately it is Sunday today and in the streets of Kingston - the capital of thin insular state there is little activity and the lively market I remember doesn't work. People - the descendents of the black slaves are nice. I visited the botanicals garden ( the breadfruit tree descendent of the one brought from Tahiti by infamous cpt. Bligh is still there. And it is 4 kms walk from the cruiseship terminal to the Fort Charlotte located on the hill - the main tourist attraction. Lovely, sunny day!
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Mar 24, 2022 10:00 PM Santo Domingo stopover
After a 7-days loop around the Caribbean we are back in Santo Domingo to disembark some passengers and to take the new ones. I remain on the ship for the new adventures. They make me happy to tansfer me for the rest of the cruise from the inside cabin to the cabin with the window. It is worth to travel frequently with the same line and to collect their points! For the credit from Costa I paid also for the interesting excursion to the Altos de Chavon - the village of the artists on Dominicana located in the beautiful scenery.
My friends - the travellers from Poland shoul board the ship this evening. This will be a nice meeting!
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Mar 23, 2022 10:00 PM Catalina Island
After day at sea our ship reached little island Catalina. It is uninhabited, it belongs to the Dominican Republic. No pier there so we were tendering to find ourselves on the beautiful beach with the white sand and blue, cristal water. I spent there few hours sunbathing and enjoying Caribbean music. There are souvenir sellers and a bar. Pices are rather not for the budget traveller. What a day under a blue sky!
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Mar 21, 2022 10:00 PM Colorful Curacao
Bon bini! - that' s how they greet the people on the Netherland Antilles. Curacao is wealthy island before the hidden oil refinery - they process the oil from the nearby Venezuela... But the same time the old Dutch architecture of their capital Willemstadt is on the list of the World Heritage of UNESCO. The color houses spread out along the canal with a high bridge in the background are realle lovely. When I was here for the first time years ago I wanted to climb to this bridge for the view. Finally I was escaping from the bridge because walkers are not allowed on this narrow bridge.... :)
Today on the pier the local ladies in the national costumes were welcoming us (see picture) - later I was walking with pleasure the well known trail to the market place. But in the meantime they built new galleries and hotels near the new pier - thanks God far from the old town. Curacao is always famous for the blue color liqeur. Let's try! The wind is blowing from South America. It should be a rough night in the sea!
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Mar 20, 2022 10:00 PM Aruba after years...
Oranjestadt is even biggest now and has bigger dencity of the buildings, includind new industrial halls. I do not like it. To utilize the bonus fron Costa I took the tour around the island visiting well- known tourist places: the natural bridge on the eastern coast, then the Casibari Rock formations - the most interesting granites on the island. We went also to the lonely California Lighthouse. Around La Palma there are new, hight hotels with a crowds of tourists from USA. Eagle Beach is more cozy ,
wide and still has beautiful white sand. But the temperature during the day and strong operation of the sun makes not possible to stay there longer than an hour.. But Aruba is still beautiful and attractive - especially out of the capital. Lovely day!
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Mar 19, 2022 10:00 PM Sunday on Bonaire...
Bonaire Island in the Caribbean Netherlands. I am very close to South America! Bonaire is very tiny and sleepy - it is famous for the great snorkeling and diving just from the beach, for the production of the salt from sea water and flamingoes. Good news: they allowe us to go to the shore individually. You must just show your covid vaccination certificate. Kralendijk - the capital of the island has nice samples of colonial architecture - colorful Dutch houses. Tropical flowers and birds are around. On Sunday morning any locals went to the churches - the biggest I saw was catholic St Bernard.
Nice, sunny a d very humid day!
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Mar 18, 2022 10:00 PM Day at the sea,,,
Day at sea.. We are sailing to cut the Caribbean from the top to the bottom - down to the Bonaire Island. I have enough time to perform the solid laundry. The sea around is silver and blue because it is a bit rough. But I do not care because I do not know what is sea sickness. The food is tasty and unlimited with the big ariety of fruits (I like most the papayas). The bottle of champagne - gift from the captain for the frequent passenger was waiting in the cabin. No Poles on this cruise, but I found a nice couple from the Netherlands to talk about travelling. Imagine that there is only 20 English-speaking passengers on this cruise!
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Mar 17, 2022 10:00 PM My ship is here but....
I checked at the local Health Service: to board Costa company ship you need covid PCR test done up to 72 hours before boarding or covid antigen test made up to 24 hours before departure. After breakfast I took crowded gua-gua to the center of La Romana and walked to the lab located close Cana Monument. I paid promised 1700 pesos and after 20 minutes I got negative result of the test printed.
Walking to the ship I took a nice picture of my ship docking in the mouth of the river. Then, avoiding nasty taxi and mototaxi drivers I reached the port gate and soon - open-air check-in hall. Vaccination certificate and PCR test result! - that's how the people from the Costa crew greeted their frequent passenger. -I have fresh antigen test! No, we will not allow you to board the ship without PCR test! No further discussion!! They gave me the address of the REFERENCIA lab, where they are ready to conduct express PCR test in 3 hours. But this cost 100 USD! Very painful for the budget traveller, but what should I do? Thanks God the ship is departing in the late evening. So right now I am waiting for the result of the test. Hoping that the result will be negative again and I will sail anyway.
If yes, tomorrow will be full day at sea and no connection to the internet, so be patient, please! :)
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