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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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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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Mar 16, 2022 10:00 PM Around the village, along the coast...
There are many little shops in La Caleta, it seems that many people lives here from the commerce. Shops are poor, with limited number of goods. Lotteries are popular here, even in the small village you can find many Lotto points. The sea was quiet rough today when I was walking on the sharp rock of the coast. So much garbage around! It seems that nobody is cleaning the areas outside the beaches. New guests appeared in my empty hotel: from Germany and France. We were listening to Latino music around the pool till the late evening...
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Mar 15, 2022 10:00 PM Nice walk to La Romana
The suburb La Caleta, where I live now is some 5 kms west of the central La Romana. You can reach the downtown by motocycle taxi for 100 pesos or by junk minibus gua-gua paying 40 pesos. But I was walking because I like to meet the people on the way, to see their life and to exchange smiles. La Romana is not an elegant and well developed city. Locals appreciate most the huge supermarket Jumbo. Apart of it there is green main square with the city hall and the church of Santa Rosa de Lima. Crawling the streets you can find the samples of old Caribbean architecture - small and colorful wooden houses. On the main squeare you can also find few modern sculptures (I like most the bull opposite the city hall. I went as far as the river bridge. The miniature port is located in the mouth of the river. The Port is empty today. I believe that my ship will appear there the day after tomorrow!
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Mar 14, 2022 10:00 PM By bus to La Romana
Santo Domingo do not have universal bus terminal. Intercity buses are departing from differents points on the city map, depending of destination. I easily found the "Express La Romana" stop. Ticket for 2-hours ride costs 210 pesos and the bus is not bad: it has a/c and the driver appears in the white shirt! We were going via tollway - first charging post is just before the airport junction. I expected nice views along the coast , sorry not much. First nice beach was visible in Nueva La Romana. The driver was so nice to drop me on the outskirts of the city on the junction to Caleta. I was walking with my bag 4 kms to reach my Sol Azul hotel near the beach. The hotel is nice and almost empty, with on orgy of bougenvila flowers aroud. A little paradise. Except the internet connection which is weak and only around the bar. But Angela smiles so nice! Let's enjoy!
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Mar 13, 2022 10:00 PM Mercado Modelo & Amber Museum
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Main market on Monday should be open... I went there in the morning looking for the folklore and fresh fruits and... I found only the rows of souvenir stalls. At the time there was only one tourist - me! The vendors offered me Dominican cigars - 4 dollars per piece after long bargaining (no, I do not smoke). T-shirt cost 5 dollars. You can find some vegetable stalls on the streets just behind the mercado, bot the choice is limited. You can buy cana - the sugar cane from the carts - see picture. So I went to visit the Amber Museum. Who knows that they mine the Amber in this corner of the world? Yes, they do! The museum, located at the bottom of the San Francisco ruins is very nice organized and worth a visit. They charge 2 dollars entry fee. Discounts only for the locals... In the afternoon I was strolling along elegant Malecon - coastal promenade with the old ramprts, monuments and palms. There is little beach right at the ship's entrance to the port, but a lot of comunal garbage is sailing on the waves too. I bought a big papaya for the lunch, paying 100 pesos - it will be enough for two days!
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