So excited to arrive in Antigua. The ship was moored up by 8am, right up against the dock in the centre of St Johns, the only town on the island. Quite biggish I would imagine in Caribbean terms and charming in a ramshackle, old fashioned kind of way. It reminded me of Castries, St Lucia when I was there in the late 1970s. There was a bit of "cruise ship" smartening up right on the quay but otherwise everything was the same, largely unmodernised. Engla...

Had a bit of a sleep-in because we were so tired last night. Got up about 10am to find the wind still blowing pretty strong 7 and a grey sea. The temperature is about 28C and when the sun came out it was hot but still quite a bit of cloud about. The pools were closed this morning due to extreme "slop". They opened again this afternoon after the wind eased off. Hopefully this will be a good omen for Antigua tomorrow. We lay by the (closed) pool for a few...

A most enjoyable day ashore in Curacao. We arrived at the dock about 0900 and we were very much ready to go. It was sunny and partly cloudy but very warm. The wind was still blowing, a strong and constant force 7. Luckily we were diving from the shore so that didn't matter very much. As we came out of the dock gates there was a chap with a sign with Bob's name on it. We said "are you Mark" and he said "yes" so we loaded our dive gear into his truck and ...

Our first day cruising in the Caribbean….. blowing a gale….literally….. Force 8 all day. Not exactly the idyllic surroundings we were expecting. It has been hot and sunny - IF- you could get out of the wind. We managed to find a nook by the pool this morning and I settled there for a read. The pool was empty of course otherwise there would have been a tempest in there too. Bob went to a lecture on the history of transatlantic liners which he said ...

A momentous and exciting day as we passed from the Pacific to the Caribbean by way of the Panama Canal, one of the greatest feats of engineering in the world. An interesting place. It is actually where Columbus landed in 1502 and the only place on the American continent he ever visited. He was convinced there was a navigable way through the continent and this belief and desire remained for 400 years. There were various attempts to build a canal here mostly ...