After waking up by the ship docking at the port (the deck just below and in front of my cabin contains lots of the gear used to moor the ship), I left at 9:20 through the gate.
My earlier (poor) research said that it was about a 25-minute walk to the place where I should meet my father and Maria; however, I arrived ten minutes after I left the ship and 30 minutes before the agreed time 🙂
The bar had opened, so I bought a Coke. I paid by card and realized I didn’t know if it was Euro or USD. When I checked the receipt, it said 2,5 USD. The Dutch side uses USD, but the French side of this island is run on the Euro.
It was a delight to see them both. It’s been almost two weeks since I met my dad, and a lot longer since I saw his sister. Just talking Swedish for a longer period of time was nice.
They ordered a beer each, and we just sat for an hour, just talking about our respective adventures. The heat doesn’t really encourage strolling during daytime, but after a while, we took off and walked down “beach street”, “front street”, and then “back street”. I found a mug (can a mug be made of glass?), so that was settled.
We continued to a restaurant called Greenhouse, and managed to find a table that had shade, but was also exposed to the wind. It’s really nice to have the breeze cooling you off, even if you are in the shade. I had a taco salad with chicken, which was quite refreshing. It was great, because they had been here for a few days, and they had all the wifi passwords, so I could just get the passwords from them. Darn, it’s a challenge being without cellular data, though today is probably the day I needed it the least, since I spent most of the time talking to them, instead of checking Facebook.
We decided it was time for a swim, so we walked down to the beach, found a spot close to the water between all the sunbeds you could rent, and put our stuff there so we could see them. I packed my little waterproof pocket with my passport and cellphone and brought it into the water. This way we could take a picture while in the water!
I don’t really know how long we spent in the water, but it was probably about an hour, just floating around, enjoying the view and each other’s company. Not as fun to do alone, though.
When we had had enough, we stepped into a nearby hotel bar and ordered something to drink. Didn’t really hear what the thing I ordered was called, but it had kokos in it, I think.
Around 15:30, we said our goodbyes, and they ordered a cab while I took off to the ship again. No need for a cab when it was only a 10-minute walk.
No warship alongside today, but three other cruise ships, I think I was on the smallest one. I went back to my cabin to grab my little camera and headed up to the helipad that is just outside my window.
I wanted to do a time-lapse of the sunset, but I got greedy, and set it to take a photo every 0,5 seconds. Even at 2,0x speed, the clip becomes too long. Maybe I’ll give it another shot later during the cruise. Here’s the result anyway.
After a well-needed shower after all the sweat and salt water, it was time for dinner. Went to the Windjammer Market and buffet again. This time some woked chicken and vegetables with some rice, and some churros for dessert.
Hung out a while in the Schoomer bar, reading before going to the Coral Theater for a show with Tape Face. A really funny and entertaining hour.
Back to the cabin to write the post and do some research on what to do in St Croix, our next stop.