Wulff's Blog: 2000 Virgin Islands Barbados, Antigua & St. Martinque

Saturday, March 18

Annette and I left New Ulm a day early so we could stay overnight at the Days Inn in Minneapolis. The motel arrangement cost only $69 and included a seven days parking permit.

Sunday, March 19

Early wake-up call because of the 5:55 am flight departure on Northwest Airlines. The plane arrived in Detroit at 8:32 am and departed at 9:20 am. Arrival time in Puerto Rico was 2:34 pm.

A Royal Caribbean representative met us at the gate and escorted us to the pier in San Juan. It was still early afternoon when we boarded our ship, Monarch of the Seas.

We sought out our cabin #4591 located on the Main Deck. Waiting in our room was a gift-wrapped bottle of imported wine from New Ulm Travel. We usually book our cruise directly with the line, but if there is no additional charge we do our business in New Ulm.

The room we had selected was one closest to the elevator conveniently just off of the Centrum (pictured right).

We unpacked and set out our travel guides. Rather than eat in the formal dinning room we opted for a quick dinner at the Windjammer Cafe (pictured right).

Already on the first night there was entertainment in the Sound of Music Showroom.

After Show Time we returned to our room. Soon the announcement was made for all passengers to grab their life preservers and head for the assigned muster station. This test procedure is standard fare for all cruise lines.

The ship left port at 10 pm and we were on our way to the exotic islands. As we departed the partying had already begun at poolside. The dancing was quite animated and lasted well into the night, while the more sedate sat back and relaxed.

Participants of all ages joined in the revelry, including a rather portly gentleman who later became affectionately known as “Buffet.”

Monday, March 20

The Monarch of the Seas arrived at St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands) at 8 am.

The port was quite scenic with all bobbing boats and variety of sailboats in the background.

After an ample breakfast in the Flower Drum Song Dining Room, we walked down the gangway to launch out on our independent self guided walking tour of Charlotte Amalie. The city was named after a queen-consort of Denmark and Norway.

The walking tour was to be about one and a half hours long, with Fort Christian to be the first site. See lower end of map.

The following material I obtained gleaned from the Virgin Islands Vacation Guide (Google).

This Danish built fort, named after King Christian V, is the oldest standing structure in the Virgin Islands. The bright red fort was built to defend the Danish settlement and harbor from European attackers. Construction of this National Historic Landmark began in 1666 and ended in 1680.

Across the street was the Legislature Building. Located right on the harbor, is a pretty green, two story structure. The Legislature Building houses the offices of Virgin Islands’ legislators and their staff. The original building was a wooden structure erected in 1828 as barracks for Danish police. The present building is a reconstruction and was completed in 1874.

Located on Tolbod Gade is Emancipation Park. The park was named in commemoration of the July 3rd, 1848 emancipation of slaves in the Danish West Indies.

The Grand Hotel, built between 1839 and 1840, originally occupied an entire city block and was three stories high. The top story was lost around 1896, likely due to hurricane damage. The entire first floor is arched and the second floor includes a huge ballroom with balcony overlooking Emancipation Park. It presently houses several shops and restaurants
One block north of Fort Christian is the Lutheran Church. It is identifiable by its pretty yellow-gold color and its large welcoming arms staircase. This church was the official church of the Danish West Indies.

Back on the ship we dressed up for the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party. The ship left port at 5:30 pm. Tonight we ate in the formal dinning room and met the other six guests who were assigned to our table. They were friendly sociable people.

For Show Time we were treated to Tony Tillman, a truly a dynamic entertainer. Often compared to Sammy Davis Jr., Ben Vereen, this Baltimore native, who now lives in Las Vegas, has traveled the world giving performances to enthusiastic crowds. He did a wonderful job of impersonating the singing styles of other musicians.

Tuesday, March 23

Breakfast this morning was at a late seating in the Flower Drum Song room. We were not rushed because the ship did not dock in Martinique until noon.

Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is one of the twenty-six regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic. The Island was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. Source: Wikipedia (also info below).

The north of the island is mountainous and lushly forested. It features four ensembles of pitons (volcanoes) and mornes (mountains): the Piton Conil on the extreme north, which dominates the Dominica Channel; Mount Pelee, an active volcano; the Morne Jacob; and the Pitons du Carbet, an ensemble of five extinct volcanoes covered with rainforest and dominating the Bay of Fort de France at 1,196 meters. The highest of the island's many mountains, at 1397 meters, is the famous volcano Mount Pelée. Its volcanic ash has created gray and black sand beaches in the north (in particular between Anse Ceron and Anse des Gallets), contrasting markedly from the white sands of Les Salines in the south.

We signed up for a four hour island bus drive that took us from the French civilization of Fort-de-France to the interior rain forest and then to the mountainous region. See map on right.

En route we stopped at the Church of the Balata, a Scaled Down Replica of the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris.

We continued along a mountainous road that was beautiful, but this was a harrowing experience because the roadway was very narrow and extremely winding.

It started to rain and our bus driver stopped so we could photograph the cascading water of the River Alma.

The driver pointed out a mountain that was the highest point on the island.

Banana plantations lined the road as we started our drive downward.

We reached the coastal area where the old Martinique capital of St. Pierre was located. The new city was built around the ruins.

The city was mostly destroyed on 8 May 1902 when the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, killing over 30,000 people, which was the entire population of the town, as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city.

Only one man miraculously survived, a prisoner kept safe in a cell deep underground in the St Pierre jail. This man, Louis-Auguste Sylbaris, later toured the world with the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Of the many boats that were anchored in the wide harbor, only one survived the catastrophic eruption in 1902.

The ruins can be seen along a walk throughout the entire village. The must-see of the ruins is the old jail , called the cachot de Cyparis, where the sole survivor of the eruption was kept.

We followed the beautiful coastline back to Fort-de-France.

Colorful Fort-de-France

Parting shot of Fort St. Louis. In 1638, Jacques Duparquet, first governor of Martinique, decided to have Fort Saint Louis built to protect the city against enemy attacks. The fort was soon destroyed, and rebuilt in 1669 under Louis XIV.

We departed Martinique 5:30 pm. Show Time featured Comedy Juggler Dan Bennett. Dan Bennett learned to juggle in 1970 when he was eight years old. It was in college however that he discovered his propensity for comedy. While earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Dan worked as a teaching assistant in the math lab. His love for teaching soon spilled over into tutoring with comedy

Wednesday, March 22

The Monarch of the Seas arrived at the port of Bridgetown, Barbados at 8 p. We had now reached close to Venezuela, the southernmost location of our cruise. Barbados has an interesting history.

BRIEF HISTORY (Google excerpts)

The first indigenous people were Amerindians who arrived here from Venezuela. Paddling long dugout canoes they crossed currents that challenge modern sailing vessels. They made their new home in Barbados along the coast, leaving behind hardly a trace. The Arawaks were short, olive-skinned people who bound their foreheads during infancy to slope it into a point. (History of Barbados). In 1200, the Arawaks were conquered by the Caribs.

The Portuguese came to Barbados en route to Brazil. It was at this time that the island was named Los Barbados (bearded-ones) by the Portuguese explorers, presumably because of a plant found there with a bearded appearance.

Despite the Caribs' ruthless warlike abilities, the island was taken over by the Spanish in 1492. The Spanish imposed slavery on the Caribs. Slavery and the contagious European small pox and tuberculosis ended the Caribs' existence (History of Barbados). Spain, however, passed Barbados over in favor of the larger Caribbean islands (History of European Overseas Exploration and Empires). This left the island open for anyone who wanted to colonize it.

The first English ship touched the island on May 14th 1625 under the command of Captain John Powell. The island was therefore claimed on behalf of King James I. The colonists established a House of Assembly in 1639. During the 1630s, sugar cane was introduced to the agriculture. The production of sugar, tobacco and cotton was heavily reliant on the indenture of servants. White civilians who wanted to emigrate overseas could do so by signing an agreement to serve a planter in Barbados for a period of 5 or 7 years. Descendants of the white slaves and indentured labour (referred to as Red Legs) still live in Barbados.

A potential market formed for slaves and sugar-making machinery by the Dutch Merchants who were to supply Barbados with their requirements of forced labour from West Africa. After slavery was abolished in 1834. After these citizens had been educated, they wanted something more than working in the cane fields. Some of them gained prominent offices in Barbados. Others worked in common jobs, and still others stayed in the cane fields (Barbados History).

Barbados was first occupied by the British in 1627 and remained a British colony until internal autonomy was granted in 1961. The Island gained full independence in 1966, and maintains ties to the Britain monarch represented in Barbados by the Governor General. It is a member of the Commonwealth.

***********

Annette and I ate a late breakfast before leaving for our Atlantis Submarine Tour. After being greeted on the dock by musicians, we took a taxi-bus and a ferry boat to reach the boarding area.

The Atlantis was underwater when we arrived which gave us a chance to see the submarine emerge from the water. Before boarding the bobbing ship, we had to wait for the emerging passengers to disembark.

Our tour group was seated in two narrow rows along the walls. Here we could watch out through a series of windows situated for easy viewing.

We entered the unique world of coral formations, sponge gardens, multicolored fish and exotic marine life. Among our encounters were barracuda and sea turtles.

Annette returned to the ship while Fred took the waterfront walk to Bridgetown. The weather was hot, but he felt that, more than likely, we would be here only once. He walked around old "Trafalgar Square" and a statue of Lord Nelson, erected on 22 Mar 1813, is older than the statue and square of the same name and fame in London. "Trafalgar Square" was officially renamed National Heroes Square in April 1999, in honor of the national heroes of Barbados.

And then the Dolphin Fountain

On the way back Fred stopped at an Open Public Fish Market. He walked around the employees scaling and cleaning fresh fish that had just been brought in from the sea. Then he continued on toward the ship on Princess Alice “Highway.”

The Monarch departed Bridgetown at 5 pm. Fred had a chance to shower and dress up for the Captain’s Cocktail drinks for repeat passengers.

Show Time was really funny tonight as we were entertained by the comedy of Ed Regine. Ed has headlined shows across the country, and appeared on the Tonight Show, MADtv, Last Comic Standing, and many more TV shows. His film credits include Charlie Wilson's War and Next Stop Wonderland.

Thursday, March 23

This morning entailed a served break in the Flower Drum Song dining area. We had time for leisure eating because the ship would not be in Antigua until 9 am. We did not leave until 10 am.

The main objective here at St. John’s was to meet Bryan Schnech, the WELS staff minister here on the island. He was to be our guide for the day. Before taking us to the mission church, he gave us a personal tour of the area around St. John’s, starting with Fort James which overlooks the bay.

Fort James is a fort at the entrance to the harbor of St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. The fort was built in 1706 to guard St. John's harbor and is one of the many forts built by the British in the 18th century. Fear of French invasion prompted the construction. It is located on a headland overlooking the town northwesterly.

Then Bryan took us over to the Mission School of WELS -- St. John’s Lutheran. We started by touring the classrooms of the friendly children and dedicated teachers. It was really great to meet teachers whom I taught as students in New Ulm.

The classrooms were attractive places of learning.

The children wore uniforms, as was the tradition in all school systems in Antigua.

Then Bryan took us around the church grounds to see the bell tower, the playground and the church.

Inside the church we met the pastors and were invited to sit down for a steel drum concert put on by the school children. They performed from the church balcony and produced the most beautiful music.

The Steel Drum, or "Pan," is a unique instrument, and one of the most recently invented. It is a skillfully hammered 55-gallon oil barrel which has been carefully tuned by hand to produce perfect musical tones. The steel drums were developed in Trinidad during the early years of the 20th century. Old rubbish tins, car parts and garbage can lids formed the first "Iron Bands".

Deanna Schnech took over for Bryan as our tour guide and treated us to lunch at their home. We had a chance to meet their lovely children. Deanna had taken history classes from Fred in New Ulm and still remembered the old days.

After driving us around the city, Deanna dropped us off at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church (1847).

We were only a short distance from the pier, but on our walk back to the ship we passed many colorfully painted buildings.

At dinner that night we were attacked by mean looking pirates. The ship photographer captured their foul deeds. First Fred was assaulted...

And then Annette (but she didn’t seem to mind the attention).

Friday, March 24

The Monarch sailed during the night before arriving at Philipsburg, Sint Maarten 8 am. The Dutch portion of the Island on the map is in green. Sint Maarten is an "island territory," a component of the Netherlands Antilles comparable to a municipality. The Netherlands Antilles are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands though not in the European Union.

The water was quite choppy and the crew had difficulty loading passengers into the tenders. We stood in line, but eventually the captain called off all attempts to transfer passengers to the port city. We had to satisfy ourselves with views from the ship.

This evening was formal night so we dressed for the occasion. At dinner we had our photo taken with our wonderful waiters.

Celebrity Show Time featured the famous Fred Travalena, “The Man of a Thousand Voices.” As a variety performer, Fred frequently appeared at the casino theaters in Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City as well as Performing Arts Theaters around the country.

And then there was the Gala Midnight Buffet preview that afforded us the opportunity to view the chefs’ delight before consumption time. At Midnight we sinfully stuffed ourselves.

Saturday, March 25