Our final frontier....Barbados, Antigua, & Puerto Rico (6/12-14/17)

The last few days of our cruise were filled with sun, food and relaxing.  Because we have visited our last three stops many times, we only scheduled tours on catamarans.  It was grueling, but we survived!

In Bridgetown, Barbados, we took a four-hour sail that included both snorkeling and swimming stops.  It is a tour we have taken before and each time we have loved the experience.   During the second stop, the crew grilled lunch and, during the sail back, we enjoyed a buffet lunch, rum punch and good music.  Our only concern for the day was to make sure we had applied enough sunscreen!

During a previous trip to Barbados, we experienced a noticeable earthquake.  We had stopped for a brief swim at a beach, when the open air bus we were traveling in, began to shake.  We asked the guide if Barbados frequently had earthquakes and he assured us they did not.  As we made our way back to the ship, we passed schools and government buildings that had been evacuated with everyone standing outside.  Unfortunately, all of the local craft shops at the pier were also closed.

Our stop in St John’s, Antigua, was a repeat of Barbados, only a little longer.  For a total of six hours, we sailed, bobbed in the water and again enjoyed a freshly grilled lunch.  Once again, we were careful to avoid sunburns.  Not everyone on the sail was as careful.  Some of the folks on today’s sail were with us the day before and some should have used a little more sunscreen.  Many did not realize that medication they were still taking to protect them from malaria in the Amazon made them more susceptible to sunburn.

We did not leave the ship in San Juan.  We were scheduled to take an excursion that included a rum tasting, a fort visit and a walking tour of old town San Juan.  Unfortunately, we both were catching a cold and the weather forecast for high heat and humidity influenced our decision to cancel.  The rum tasting would be the only new experience and the prison tour and old town were a lot of walking with no shade.  We heard from others that took the tour that the group voted to skip the fort due to the heat and go shopping instead.  They also came back very wet due to a pop up rainstorm!  I guess we made a good choice.

We did actually get off the ship, as everyone on board was required to pass through immigrations in San Juan.  Passports in hand, we queued up in the terminal to have our documents reviewed.   Once cleared, we planned on reboarding the ship directly.  However, US immigrations would not allow anyone, including the captain, to re-board until everyone was cleared and there was a discrepancy of seven passengers.  After about 30 minutes, they found the error and back on board we went.  Well almost, just as they gave the all clear, an ambulance arrived to pick up a passenger from the sick bay.  This briefly closed the gangway again.

Link to photos:

Barbados, Antigua, Puerto Rico (6/12-14/17)