Drew on a Boat: Days 64 - 68: Grenada, Fort de France, Sint Maarten, Sea, Bahamas

December 15, 2011 22:33

To say I'm exhausted from this cruise would be an understatement.

I think I best summed it up when I was talking to a buddy on Monday night after Fort de France and told him that on Tuesday I was heading to the beach from 8 til 11 then working from 12 til 5 and 8 til 12 then heading straight to a crew party until 2 and then working from 8 - 1 Wednesday and that I was already looking forward to the nap I was going to have Wednesday afternoon…

That small sample of schedule is pretty much how the entire cruise went; work, shore, work, sleep and then repeat. It was a lot of fun and a great few days but it just kills you after a while. That being said I wouldn't change a thing.

Grenada was stunning and it's a shame we had such little time there and don't return again. I had done zero research and as a result was completely blown away when I walked off the gangway and was greeted by pure blue water fringed by rolling green hills speckled with light coloured houses with red roofs. Grenada is known as the spice island and it was instantly clean why. First of all every two steps you took someone was trying to sell you spices and secondly the whole place smelled like nutmeg. It definitely wins the prize for the best smelling island as well as most picturesque. We only had a couple hours so Stacey, Tina and I set out into town and headed for a fort on top of a hill in the middle of town. The walk up was killer, especially with the lack of exercise I get onboard but it was worth it. From the fort we had an incredible vantage point over the whole island. Unfortunately other than walking around town a bit after this was all we really had time for which is a shame because after we got back to the ship we found out there was a pretty amazing beach just a short water taxi ride away.

Fort de France was another port we didn't have a lot of time in but Anatollio, Viki and I found a way to make the most of it. We headed straight into town in search of breakfast and swimming. Conveniently we found both in their nearby downtown. We grabbed McDonald's for breakfast and some fast internet before heading across the street for a swim in the warm and clear water. I took the snorkel out and at first it didn't seem like there was going to be much to it until I came across 3 small crabs no bigger than a toonie fighting over a piece of meat. I stopped swimming and hung around to watch the show but almost as soon as I got there a little fish about 4" long swam up, stole the meat and swam away. The poor little crabs just stood there as if they had just found out there wasn't a Santa Clause. At this point I turned around and realized that there was a whole school of these little fish and they proceeded to follow me around. They were just as curious of me as I was of them because I would swim down they'd swim up to check me out and if I stood still for a while they'd come up and nibble at my feet. After this I swam over near a dock and found some wild urchins and something that looked like anemones that when you got too close to sucked back into it's little tube thing that anchored it to the rocks. Not too snabby for a place I didn't think I'd see anything.

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten is another port that it's a shame we don't return to. It's definitely the most cruise friendly port we've been too as within a 20min walk you pass every shop and restaurant you could imagine and then come to an endless white sand beach. It was another day where we worked in the afternoon so we tore off the ship at 8am to meet up with a regular passenger who had kindly offered to show us the way. This was especially nice because it's pretty normal to waste a good 30mins in a new port just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. We spent the morning on the beach and lounging in the warm water. I literally spent 3 hours in the water before going back to the ship for a quick shower before starting work.

That night we had a crew party which actually wasn't that exciting but just getting every one together for a few drinks and some dancing isn't too bad. The only problem is they played the same drum and bass music all night that for all I know might as well of been the same song on repeat. Also during these parties it's a second hand smokers paradise as these people smoke cigarette after cigarette. Gross. I stunk when I left the party. Mind you I did finally make a lady friend so I guess it wasn't all for not. :)

On the sea day I finally got my 2 hour nap I talked about at the beginning of the post. Mind you 2 hours felt like 2 minutes before I was headed back to yet again.

Today we were back in Nassau where once again the weather didn't cooperate. So instead of lounging on the beach it turned into drinking at a bar by the beach. Not a bad compromise. :) Tonight at work was crazy. In my four hour shift I spent a grand total of 15 minutes out front because I had so much work to catch up on for the end of this cruise and the start of the next. The annoying part was for the last half hour when I was just trying to get finished up and get out of there I kept getting called out front because I was the only one in the office who spoke French. Luckily all the guests were relatively easy but I still ended up sticking around for an extra 30mins to get everything wrapped up.

Needless to say I'm more than ready for the next cruise.