JAN 9, 2013 AT SEA on the way to ARUBA

JANUARY 9, 2013 at sea ON THE WAY TO ARUBA

Well, last night as we sailed from Les Saintes we had a following sea and it must have been pretty good since we all got a good night's sleep, only occasionally did I wake up with the odd bang or bump somewhere in the vicinity!

We were first for breakfast on the La Veranda back deck at 730am when they open for breakfast (we usually are!) and enjoyed a variety from pastries (Terry says they have an excellent pastry chef on board) to fruit to smoked salmon (Wally's favourite) to waffles!  I had a conversation with Kuda the grill chef from Indonesia (mother was born in Kalimantan) and he told me that he was leaving the ship in Curacao.  He had resigned due to the long 14 hour days with heavy work including hauling garbage around after he had spent all day on his feet doing the cooking.  I have really enjoyed Kuda and his willing and smiling face every day, and will be sorry to see him go.

Before 9am we were settled into what we consider to be the best spot for hanging out and enjoying the sun.  This is on deck  6 and is the sun deck, along with sun cots and hot tub, and 4 lovely easy chairs.  But at the very front of deck 6 there are 4 what we might call "Bali beds" with thick cushions and an overhead canvas.  The view is ahead (over the roof of deck 5) and it is stable and quiet!  We spent all day until 3pm here with a break for lunch downstairs.  Vishal brought us up iced water (and later on a BBC) and we read, talked, enjoyed the sunshine and generally had a very peaceful day.

After lunch (tacos, ribs and salads) it was so hot that we took a dip in the pool on deck 5 - quite the experience with a major wave from side to side from the ship's motion, this was followed by a major disturbance at 430pm when a massive downpour appeared from nowhere and everyone had to run for cover - getting soaked in the process!  That was the signal for showers to wash off the heat from the day and dry clothes!

Enough time for a G&T or margarita and then it was time for dinner.  Filet tonight was excellent.  Banana creme brulee for dessert.  A few tunes in the lounge with a Grand Marnier and then stayed awake long enough to watch the Captain and 3 crew play Liars Club (where they are given a word and each one explains what it means -   but only one is correct.  Some explanations were quite funny and most of us had no idea who was telling the truth).  After the full day of sun, we were quite ready for bed when we retired at 11pm, our latest night so far.

JAN 8, 2013 ISLE DES SAINTES

Wednesday January 7, 2012  LES SAINTES, TERRE-DE-HAUT anchorage, French West Indies
Today was so enjoyable and a real surprise to us - we knew very little about the 8 small islands to the South of Guadeloupe - they are part of the French West Indies but so different than the island of Guadeloupe.  We departed from the Petit Cul-de-sac Marin Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre around 6am and headed pretty much due South with the large half of Guadeloupe on our right (West) for the next two hours.  The wind was blowing very strongly but we had a following sea  so the rolling wasn't too bad aboard.
The Isles des Saintes is comprised of 2 main islands Terre-de-haut and Terre-de-Bas and 6 rocks Ilet-a-Cabrit, La Coche, Les Augustins, Grand Ilet, Le Redonde and Le Pate.  Terre de Haut is the most interesting and the only island with overnight accommodations for visitors.

Shortly after 8am we pulled into the bay of Iles de Saintes, most often called Les Saintes - it was so pretty with all these bays and islands around us and pretty little houses dotted around, all with red roofs.  On top of the hill we could see Fort Napoleon which we were to visit later in the day.  We were waiting to load on the first zodiac going ashore - well, the first tender after the planned shore excursions booked with the Tere Moana had gone ashore.  The Tere Moana tour cost was $99 USD for the 3 hour island tour including 1 hour at the beach.  As soon as we jumped off at the dock you could sense the charm of this little town with all the stores and restaurants everywhere - lots of colours and areas to sit and enjoy.

Swiss friends of Wally and Ellen were taking the ferry over from Guadeloupe to meet them and due to arrive around 10am.  So we watched as a ferry pulled in shortly behind us and there they were!  Wally and Ellen had met them 4 years ago on a Celebrity cruise through the Panama Canal and now they are in the Caribbean for the Winter!  They had all reconnected essentially as Wally and Ellen headed to the airport to fly down and in a matter of days had made a plan to spend the day together in Isle des Saints - they all had a grand day!

So we headed into the central area and saw scooters for rent for 25 euros for the day - what a great idea - this looked like the perfect way to spend the day touring the island on the scooter.  We went to sign up for the day, there were lots of folks getting off the ferries looking to rent a scooter - it seems that taking the ferry to Isles de Saints for the day is a popular excursion to take.  Well it turned out to be 25 euros for  50 cc and 40 euros for a 125CC which is what we needed for two passengers.  No problem........ except that we hadn't brought driving licenses with us since we had not planned to rent a scooter!

Terry took the zodiac back to the Tere Moana - turnaround should have taken minutes but there was already a full load of passengers waiting on board to come to shore!  No problem - they sent a second tender so Terry was back in little more than 30 minutes.  We rented the scooter from E U R L Archipel Location Scooters (a very helpful lady from the office helped us and showed us the map and where to go) and with our helmets on we were away!  There is no traffic allowed along the front street of town (how smart they are) and lots of very narrow one way streets as well, but we headed for Fort Napoleon at the top of the hill - and boy those narrow little concrete roads were very steep, and the locals fly by very fast, and the tourists walk along completely blocking the street and oblivious to the scooter traffic - not easy driving!  Fort Napoleon opens from 9 - 12:30 PM.

We arrived around 1145pm and managed to make very good use of our 45 minutes at Fort Napoleon.  It is in excellent condition with deep dry moat all around, and barracks and former prison cells, along with cannons and cannon balls.  The panoramic views are spectacular, really breath taking, and we even saw two iguanas in one of the trees - beautiful!  The grounds are very well kept with a wide variety of very large cacti.  The fort itself has some excellent displays inside including dioramas of various battles that were fought here mostly between the British and the French - some showed the plan of attack from all the war ships with tiny models in blue, white and red depicting the various Nationalities, as well as under whose command.  There were two massive model  ships (maybe 6 feet high by 8 feet long) just beautiful to see.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and highly recommend it to everyone who gets the opportunity to visit Les Saintes.  They took US dollars here (thank goodness) $5 USD each to enter.

When the Fort closed and we were ousted, we headed off to the the large beach on the Eastern side Plage de Pompierre - this was windy and quite rough - but several rows of palm trees lined the beach so very pretty.  It also had a large complement of chickens and goats (and one cat) as inhabitants who were most interested in what the visitors might have brought for lunch!  There were a couple of restaurants and snack bars at the beach and close by for refreshments and lots of parked scooters! Next stop was back across the hill and past the the town heading to the beach Plage de Crawen - only half a dozen folks here enjoying the ocean which was calmer than at Pompierre.  Last beach stop was at Pain de Sucre (Breadfruit) and this beach gets its' name from the rock at the point which resembles a breadfruit.  This was a long walk down a pretty rocky trail - halfway down another restaurant and refreshment stop!  But well worth the walk - there was no wind here and lots of large boulders along the shore so as a result the water was very clear and calm. I'll bet there were 50 or more folks on this tiny beach and several sail boats anchored in the peaceful bay.  There were  even folks cooking a fish, no doubt freshly caught, wrapped in palm leaves over a coal brazier.

It was very hot and the winds were gusty, quite often we would round a corner and we'd catch a gust that would take us by surprise. Our last beach stop was Plage du Figuier - all the roads were up and down - on this one we came across a small herd of goats with two tiny young goat twins feeding from Mom!  We had pretty much covered all the roads and beaches, so we drove back into town Le Bourg and dropped off the scooter.  The office was closed from 12-230pm so we had to wait a few minutes until the maintenance man appeared and checked the scooter over, then told us all was in good order, so we left our helmets and walked around Le Bourg for the next hour or so checking out all the small stores.

We were very surprised when the next tender came into the dock and it had 3 large suitcases on it - I asked the one lady who exited what was happening.  It turns out that she was having so much trouble with sea sickness that they had decided to fly from Guadeloupe to Aruba and meet us there!  Oh dear.  We were back on board shortly after 4pm and enjoyed a BBC which Vishal made for us - Bailey's Banana Colada - excellent!  Then it was afternoon tea - small tuna buns and lovely variety of cookies made fresh every day by the kitchen!  In the bay there was a kite and wind surfing club and we watched for a long time as these folks surfed close to the Tere Moana around the bay with a zodiac to help them if they had any difficulties - all beautiful coloured sails flitting speedily around the bay with the high winds!  All 6 of us relaxed on La Veranda back deck and enjoyed watching the last zodiacs arrive from shore, then get put away inside the Tere Moana, and the the engines were started and away we went.

On one island was a wind factory with 7 large wind mills - the same high tech versions that we see everywhere in Alberta and California.  We didn't really get a sunset but enjoyed hanging out on the back deck watching the islands fade into the distance.  The Tere Moana does not have a "sail away" signature tune (at least not yet) so we brought out the IPOD and speaker and had our own tune from the Windstar (Vangelis 1492) and Amazing Grace by Cecilia  a wonderful version with whales singing as background - just haunting.

All too soon it was a fast change for dinner and we were thrilled to have Fernando from Peru as our server - he is so excellent and so far one of the very few who has learned our names.  Avocado and crab salad (delicious), Caesar salad, osso bucco, and chocolate mousse cake with the pairing of a great white pinot grigio and red merlot.  We were served and finished in one hour - we enjoy getting through dinner at a fast pace - then it was a relax and aperitif in Le Salon enjoying ? on the piano - ? even played a couple of tunes from Les Miserables at our request - he is very competent.

JAN 7, 2013 GUADELOUPE

JAN 7, 2013 POINTE A PITRE, GUADELOUPE - French West Indies
After a very rocking and rolling night (and not too much sleep)  we looked out at sunrise to see the massive island of Guadeloupe outside our window - Guadeloupe is really like two islands - one huge and one much smaller joined together by an isthmus which is where the capital city of Pointe a Pitre is located, population 18,000.  Pointe a Pitre is situated on a limestone plateau  on the south west potion of the island of Grand-terre.  As Tim (the shore excursion and destination manager said "consider the Western island to be a healthy lung and the Eastern island to be an unhealthy lung" and that's how the islands look - like a set of lungs. The large Western half of Guadeloupe has very high mountains and was covered in rain clouds the whole time that we were there.

We headed towards the sheltered port, Petit Cul-de-Sac Marin, in the centre of Pointe a Pitre to the Quai where Captain ? from Croatia docked the Tere Moana very gently behind the La Ponant yacht - a beautiful sleek yacht carrying only 46 passengers.  (Ponant cruises owned the Tere Moana before selling it to Paul Gauguin Cruiseline).  There were at least 6 immigration officers from Guadeloupe in the library processing our passports, but eventually all was OK and we were cleared for entry into the French Island of Guadeloupe.  It was 12 noon when we arrived and as we wandered the streets we realised that in true French fashion, almost every store was closed for lunch until 230pm!  Next to the central spice market centre we found a wonderful clothing store with a very helpful assistant - we managed to buy 3 tshirts and a pair of pants for Terry - very cool designs and different than anything else we had seen.  Fortunately he took credit card for payment - and since the entire island takes only Euros we were very lucky since we did not have a single Euro to our name!

Ellen and I found  beauty accessory supply store (Linda looked great, just like Cher, in a long black wig!) but we couldn't buy the items we wanted since they would not accept US dollars and no credit cards - c'est la vie!!

We wandered around the town centre area, maybe 20 blocks, and saw municipal buildings, the memorial centre, the original theatre - some great buildings but only the government buildings in good repair.  All the rest needed some help, and at the very least a good coat of paint!  At 230pm all the stores started opening up agin and we have never seen so many shoe stores - such variety and styles and most from only 15 to 30 euros a pair!  The clothes stores were full of cheap trendy fashions for the young, or young at heart, unbelievably bright colours and wild styles - it was fun - and the noise!  So much music and surprisingly mostly latin music.  We did find a couple of African stores with lovely clothing and accessories and playing great music - especially Oumou Sangare (album Seya)  from Somalia which we really enjoyed - must buy that CD!

Eventually we wandered back to the Tere Moana in Petit Cul-de-Sac Marin and boarded in time for cocktails around the pool. It had been an interesting unplanned stop in Guadeloupe, but not necessarily the best stop for a Caribbean cruise itinerary.  The best news?  After dinner we all settled down for a good night's sleep docked at the harbour with no rocking and rolling - heavenly!!  

JAN 6, 2013 ST BARTS

Sunday Jan 6, 2013 ST BARTS
After a pretty rough night of rocking and rolling, we were awake before sunrise and looking out at a cloudy horizon with the sun peaking underneath.  We wanted to get out early on the first tender into Gustavia Harbour so breakfast at 7:30 on the back deck of La Veranda and then the six of us headed out.

It turns out that for tenders Tere Moana uses extra large zodiacs for their tenders - when not in use these are retained in a large side locker on each side of the ship which lifts up so that the zodiac can essentially be driven right up alongside the ship and then winched in for storage.  It is large with a 115 horsepower motor and easily handles 14 passengers plus two crew.  We were each given a bright red lifejacket before getting on board the zodiac which we boarded from the marina deck at the back of the Tere Moana on deck 2.  It was wise to keep any cameras in a plastic bag or case since we did get some splashing from the aves - the wind is still blowing like crazy across the Caribbean.

In Gustavia Harbour we started our walk around the harbour at 915am and being Sunday it was very quiet - in fact as we were to find out almost with no exceptions EVERY store was shut uptight!  As one store owner told me, it's a Catholic Island and they all go to church and stay closed every Sunday.  She had a top end gourmet food supply shop(amazing stuff and variety) and she said she catered to the Americans with their big yachts  and so opened every day.

The walk was very enjoyable  a first for Wally and Ellen, but unfortunately the light was not on at JB's house (Jimmy Buffet) so we couldn't stop by to say hello.  We finished the walk with the hike up the stairs to the? viewpoint for great photos before walking back down and around the corner to beautiful Shell Beach (Shell Plage) - the beach is thousands of pink shells - just beautiful although sometimes a little dance work required in and out of the water!  We swam several times - large swells rolling in and out but a lot of fun! At one point a large black cloud rolled in but apart from sending everyone scurrying off the beach we received no more than 10 drops of rain!  We were still on the beach so back into the water we went.

There are several sailing boats anchored here - it is quite sheltered, so obviously a popular spot to go to - and for everyone who comes into St Barts, Gustavia Harbour - an easy and level walk, maybe 30 minutes from the drop off point in the harbour to the beach.  There is a restaurant and bar on the beach Do Brasil, and they also rent sun cots there - very expensive unless you are eating at the restaurant.   Oh yes - St Barts (full name St Barthelemy) is a very French Island so there is also a good selection of half naked people (or half dressed - call it like you will) on the beach!

We walked back to the harbour to pick up the zodiac tender back to the Tere Moana.  All the stores were closed including two stores that sell high end rum - this was a shame since we had promised to buy Clark a bottle of aged rum from St Barts  for his Birthday last October (he was 21 I believe). We arrived back at the Tere Moana at 135pm barely in time for a late lunch (lunch is served 1200pm- 130pm today) and really enjoyed the salads and cold cuts.  You can also order from the grill (burgers etc).
The afternoon flew by as we sat on the top deck enjoying sunshine and BBC's from Vishal at the pool bar - this a Bailey's Banana Colada - and much too good!  In the Grand Salon (the lounge) we were informed by the Captain that due to the unusually strong windy conditions in the Eastern Caribbean we would not be going to English Harbour Antigua as planned in our itinerary tomorrow, but would be heading straight to Guadeloupe. The windy sea conditions have caused very many folks to be sea sick and English Harbour is not very protected, especially for getting folks on and off the Tere Moana to tender into shore.  So by heading straight to Guadeloupe we would get there about noon and then spend the night tied up to the dock and everyone would be able to get  good night's sleep. As much as we will all miss the day in Antigua, we will all appreciate a good night's sleep and a safe anchorage for the night.

Dinner was excellent - steak and baked potatoes with caesar salad off the "always available" menu versus the daily specials. Each evening Ryan (the sommelier) generously serves a white and red wine matched to the evening menu. Our waiters to date have been Fernando from Peru (who we love), Iputu from Indonesia, and Arnold, plus Andreas the Maitre'd from Germany.  We departed St Bart's around 6pm and watched the lights of both St Barts and St Maarten (which is only about 40 miles away) fade into the distance.  It was a very rough passage down to Guadeloupe and not many slept well - Terry, as usual, would be the exception who pretty much slept like a log except for the times when I was up and noisily rolling around the cabin trying to negotiate between the bed and the bathroom!

JAN 5, 2013 BOARDING TERE MOANA IN MARIGOT, ST MARTIN

SATURDAY JAN 5, 2013  TERE MOANA, ST MARTIN

We spent a full day in Phillipsburg Sint Maarten before catching the taxi with all our baggage to head over to Marigot, St Martin on the French side of the island to board the Tere Moana - our home for the next 14 days!  Tere Moana was docked in the freight harbour - so our entry was quite unconventional! After handing over our passports at the gate, we were processed as exiting Sint Maarten/St Martin then dropped at a container!  Our large bags were taken from us and then we entered the container which turned out to be the security processing centre!  We had our bags scanned and had to walk through the metal detector ourselves.

There was a man checking what he was seeing on the scanner and a lady checking us through the body scanner.  This was quite funny since after I walked through she said to me "did you ring?"  After I had determined she had been on the wrong side of the body scanner when I walked through I said "no I didn't ring but I will walk through again anyway!"  Then I saw that where the man was checking the bag xrays he had several pen knives and knives, obviously removed from the bags that folks were carrying on.  This just didn't make any sense since you could have just put these in your checked bag and picked them up 10 minutes later when they were delivered to your stateroom!

We were then taken 5 at a time in a very luxurious mini van to the Tere Moana where we were on board within minutes and soon sipping champagne in the main lounge.  There were at least 30 other folks there.  Boarding had started at 3pm so I guess many folks had boarded early and we did meet one chap who had taken the 7 day Caribbean cruise the previous week and was now doing a back to back on the Panama Canal cruise that we had booked on.

The Tere Moana is the new ship for Paul Gauguin cruise line - who only have 1 other ship - the Paul Gauguin - a beautiful 5 star ship which is based in Tahiti and does mostly Tahiti Society Island cruses with some extensions to New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands and Marquesas.  This new luxury yacht Tere Moana holds 90 passengers, 57 crew and was operated before by Ponant Cruises (as Le Vivent) and has now been purchased by Paul Gauguin cruise line and upgraded.  The Tere Moana was built in St Malo France, registered in the Bahamas, 330 feet long, 46 feet wide, with a draft of 11.5 feet and tonnage 3504 tonnes with a maximum speed of 14 knots.

Last week was the Tere Moana inaugural cruise and christened on Saturday Dec 29 2012 as it departed from Marigot for its' very first 7 day inaugural cruise.  The staterooms are beautiful - all brand new luxurious furnishings in shades of beige and cream - top end cotton bed linens and L'Occitane amenities.  It is quite spacious with king bed, two chairs, mini fridge stocked with beer and soft drinks, SONY Ipod player, SONY DVD player, LG flat screen TV, small dresser with surrounding mirror with light.

The staterooms have lots of storage - more than any other stateroom that we have been in, including many drawers and large hanging closet, which is also where the electronic safe is located. Each stateroom has 220 and 110 voltage electrical outlets.   We were quickly unpacked and soon sitting on the top sun deck number 6 in basket chairs being served copious amounts of Marlborough Sound sauvignon blanc by the bar waiter Vishal from Mauritius.  The back half of Deck 5 has a swimming pool, bar and some sun cots and sitting chairs and tables - the front half has staterooms with balconies.  Deck 5 also has The Moana Spa and the Fitness Centre which has 2 lifecycles, 2 treadmills and one rowing machine.

The other staterooms are on decks 4 and 3, none of which have balconies.  Also on deck 4 is a small library and internet station with 3 computers, as well as La Veranda restaurant used for buffet breakfast, buffet lunch and afternoon tea.  It also has a grill for cooked to order eggs, burgers, etc.  On deck 3 is a large spacious lounge with piano and bar - beautiful pearlised leather couches and chairs, again with fabulous sateen pillows in navy and cream stripes.  Deck 3 also is the main entry level for the Tere Moana with the reception desk and La Boutique - with some fabulous Tahitian pearl jewellery.  The main evening dining restaurant L'Etoile (the star) is on deck 2 with stairs that lead down to it from the lounge.

The mandatory safety drill with life jackets was at 545pm - that didn't take long for the 90 passengers!  Dinner is from 7 - 830pm and we were showered and enjoying a lovely dinner at a table for 6 which was squashed in the back of the restaurant.  Most definitely L'Etoile is pushed to handle all the guests and feels cramped but especially this one set of tables at the back of the restaurant.  The wait staff form the Philippines are gracious and helpful and served us a lovely meal including Caesar salad, herb crusted catch of the day.

After dinner we sat outside on the back of deck 3 where Terry enjoyed a glass of port - smokers can also use this deck.  We were scheduled to depart at 11:15pm but everyone was on board so at 10pm the engines were in full gear and we pulled away shortly afterwards.  We only had about 40? miles from Marigot, St Martin to the French island of St Barthelemy (St Barth or St Barts) our destination for tomorrow - but the Captain spent all night at sea and I'm afraid the wind made the water rough and it seems that this ship might not cruise as smoothly as it could since we were in for a night of rocking and rolling!!

Dec 29-Jan 5, 2013 Sint Maarten & St Martin

Dec 29- Jan 5, Sint Maarten & St Martin Dutch CARIBBEAN