'13  Returning to St. Thomas, finding fun in the West Indies, and seeing more of Puerto Rico  

After spending the afternoon in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, watching football at a local pub, the ship departed at 10 PM.  The arrow points to the balcony of our cabin on deck 8 directly behind the ship's bridge


First stop St. Thomas, but instead of returning to Saphire Beach, Bridget and I did a kayak tour out to a cove where we snorkled on a reef and hiked through mangroves.  There was a quick stop for everyone in the group to pick-up a hermit crab for a race.  I found a little guy that was very quick and
proved a decisive winner!



Our guide is pointing to another island where the deepest trench in the Atlantic Ocean runs directly between our position and the other island.


Glass elevators in the Atrium of the ship


Dance show by the wait staff during dinner every night


Life boats of another ship being tested in Barbados 


A peacock welcomed us at the Barbados Wildlife Preserve.  Note the size and hieght of the peacock.  Have you ever seen a rabbit this big?



Okay, there's the rabbit!  If you were standing next to him
 he would almost be waist high.  They are called Mare.


This monkey ran up to us and jumped onto vines overhead


Lazy iguana


Oops!  We woke-up a tortois.



Running overhead were a troop of green monkeys, the workers at the preserve call The Gangstars



A group of deer surprised to see someone with a camera


The next day in St. Lucia included a trip to a remote beach where the rich and famous go for vacation.  There was more than one private yacht with either a power boat, a helicopter, or both on board.



Someone from our group met Gwyneth Paltrow on the beach while the rest of us were busy snorkling on the coral reef directly off the cliff face.


In St. Kitts we found a local spot for lunch.  After, we discovered it was across the street from the local prison.


Spent the day in St. Maarten at the beach.

Eventualy we returned to San Juan and drove across the island, first to Mount Arecibo and then to Ponce on the southern coast.   Pictured above is the famous Ponce Firehouse and cathedral located in the city's central square park.


Nightlife on the Boardwalk in Ponce


The souvenir shop's pirate ship is named Mayflower.  I don't think the Mayflower was a Portugues Man-O-War galleon.


Mount Arecibo radio telescope observatory listening for aliens and taking radar pictures of Piphos, a planet killer asteroid that passed the following evening closer to Earth than some of our satellites.
XM Radio Sat. = 75,000 mi., Piphos asteriod = 22,000 Mi.)


This poster from the movie Sorcerer is not far from what our treks to Mount Arecibo were like.  Watch the movie to see the type of roads we had to drive over to get there.