Basseterre, St Kitts

Overnight sail of 155 nautical miles.

Wow, what a fabulous day we had.  Woke at around 6am and R went upstairs to get tea for us.

Up for breakfast, then into our togs and organised what we needed for our excursion.  This is a short-version blurb on what we did:

Boarded catamaran at Port Zante marina.  Leisurely cruise down the scenic south eastern peninsula, arriving at the snorkelling spot in a calm secluded cove of Shitten Bay (I kid you not).

The cruise down the coast was fabulous, with beautiful turquoise/navy blue water, and the crew were very entertaining and attentive – one of them was called Elvis.  Once we arrived at Shitten Bay, on with swim vests (which are inflatable if necessary), then into the water with flippers, masks and snorkels.  Not overly warm, but not cold enough to make you gasp.  The snorkelling sights were good, but not as good as Fiji.  About 30 mins in the water by which time I was quite cold.

Back onto the boat, and just after that they sounded the conch to get everyone out anyway, so my timing was pretty good.  Underwater camera was good, although it was very slow to take shots so your timing had to be pretty good.  Back on the boat, then cruised over to Nevis for lunch, and time on the beach.  Back on the boat, then 1.5 hour cruise back to Basseterre.  It was fabulous with an awesome crew, and a good group on board making it a lot of fun, helped along with lashings of rum punch.  Bought some tonic in port, then back to the ship as we were crusty-smothered in sunscreen (and I know you’ll just appreciate that description!).

Sister ship Celebrity Eclipse was alongside us - our ship on the right.

Gins on the balcony but the sun was straight in on us and very warm, ie it was actually too hot and we had to come inside and shut the curtains.  Went down to the Rendezvous lounge for a glass of bubbly and listened to Dukeland Quartet, who played ballroom to jazz.  We were totally entertained by a couple who were pissed as parrots, trying to dance.  She was in ridiculously high silver shoes, and a white cotton ensemble.  Everyone seated around the dance floor was watching them, totally bemused by the performance.  The woman next door to me said she really hoped she didn’t fall over as she didn’t think she had any underwear on – I have to say I wasn’t looking that closely!  Up to dinner, then tired bunnies in bed by 10.30pm.

St Croix (Croy)

Overnight sail of 107 nautical miles to get to St Croix.

I want to preface this blog by saying that when we bought the camera we also bought a case with a neck strap.  We also brought the binoculars with us from home which also have a neck strap.  So R has made a new rule, after the camera incident.  Camera or binoculars in hand – must have strap around neck.  So far so good!

Good night’s sleep however early awake around 5.30am.  Went for a walk around the jogging track, then had to wait for breakfast to start at 7am.  Cups of tea in the meantime.  Ship docked around 7.50am.  Off the ship after breakfast, and walked down the pier to Frederiksted.  Lots of American people on the market stalls flogging imitation stuff – not many locals on the stalls.

St Croix no longer has sugar canes (they were pulled out and the industry moved to Venezuela).  It’s main income source is not tourism (no surprises there – read on), but an oil refinery which is the fifth largest in the world.  The oil comes from Venezuela.  Gaye, the Lonely Planet Guide (LPG) has been a wonderful source of information, thanks.

St Croix is a funny place.  Very much like Fiji, however the locals are not friendly like in Fiji, unless they’re trying to sell you something.  The usual cruise ship stop in US Virgin Islands is St Thomas, and they’re obviously trying to spread the load (wealth?) hence us stopping at St Croix instead.  Walking around Frederiksted I was very hesitant and wasn’t sure how far into the town we should be walking, as I didn’t feel particularly safe.  R saw a guy outside a shop wearing a holster (obviously not empty).  The LPG says, “’Quiet’ doesn’t do Frederiksted justice.  St Croix’s second-banana town is utterly motionless, a patch of forsaken colonial buildings snoring beside a painted teal-blue sea.”  Right on all accounts.  There was more to do at Christiansted (apparently) so we jumped on a shuttle (30 mins travel time).  Well there possibly was more to do, but it was like stepping back in time about 50 years.  Sleepy little town, not geared for tourism but trying hard, lots of hippies.  Again we were warned about how far we could walk (ie three blocks this way and two blocks that way).  The shops were either ridiculously expensive or trashy knick-knacks.  And our usual rule is we have to eat on-shore to try the local food.  Nope.  Not here.  Too dodgy.  We got talking to a mother and daughter on the shuttle on the way over, and ended up walking round with them, buying a coffee from the one decent café in the town (just coffee, no food).  Realised there was very little to see/do and not a particularly nice place, so got the shuttle back to Frederiksted.  We had scoped a general store type place before we went to Christiansted that sold alcohol, water and tonic (and of course lots of other stuff) so bought that and headed back to the ship.  Liquor is ridiculously cheap, eg 1 litre bottle of Gordon’s Gin USD$9.99.  Water is expensive but cheaper than on the ship.  R reckons it’s his kinda town!   Emptied our water bottles, refilled with gin, and smuggled on board.  Primo.  Gins on the balcony for sail-away this afternoon.  Unloaded our contraband (take that, smarmy immigration man at LA airport!!), and up to the café/grill for lunch.  Into our togs and up to the pool for an afternoon in the sun/shade/pool.  Very nice.  Sailaway at 5pm, accompanied by gins, and dolphins ferrying us out to sea.  Lovely.  Formal night so into our gladrags and down for dinner.  Straight to bed after dinner as the after-dinner show (which I would have loved to have seen as it was ballroom) was at 11pm – too late for us!

Observations, Oddities & Otherwise (keep checking back)

• Of the 950 crew on board, more than half are in F&B and make/serve over 9000 meals/day.
• Americans have few words to express how their food tastes.  We use words such as great, beautiful, delicious, sublime etc etc.  Americans say their food is, “not good”, “good” or “very good”.  That’s it.  No other adjectives.  Boring lot.
• The captain on the boat in Curacao told us that marriage is becoming a thing of the past in Holland, as married couples have to pay more tax than singles, so people just live together and sign a contract as such.
• In St George’s, Grenada, they call (unofficially) speed bumps sleeping policemen.
• Everywhere the rasta’s have their dreads piled up on top of their head under these over-sized hair-net type coverings.  Not net, but all sorts of fabric with elastic bands around their heads.  We even saw one man in Roseau who had his beard dyed in rasta colours.  Quite unique!  One of the crew on board the boat that took us snorkelling in Bridgetown had his hair piled up under a rasta cap:

• We snorkelled at Champagne which Johnny Depp also did when he was here making Pirates of the Caribbean.
• In Basseterre they have tiny monkeys, ie about 8-9”, for tourists to hold and have photos taken.  No way, not going anywhere near them.  And they wear diapers, ie the monkeys not the owners.  Feel sorry for them, and no way would I give their owners any money.
• In St Croix they had American left-hand-drive vehicles, but drove on the left hand side of the road, thanks to their heritage.  Therefore the Americans were freaked out – ha.  Same in Roseau too.
• 98% of cars in San Juan don’t have front license plates.
• It would appear that more than 80% of the cars don’t have indicators.  Weaving in and out of lanes without indicating is perfectly acceptable, sometimes 2-3 lane weaving at a time.
• Walk on the right hand side of the footpath, and the right hand side of a staircase.
• Note to self:  Next time bring travel clock as there are no clocks in the cabins.
In Roseau the language is English mon, weeth faabulass Caribbean ax-sents, mon.

Old San Juan (OSJ) and Boarding Day

Late to bed and didn’t have a very good night’s sleep and were up at sparrow’s fart.  Went for a walk on the beach, then found a couple of loungers for an hour in the sun.  Went back into OSJ as we had only seen half the town a couple of days ago.

There were three cruise ships in, so the town was pretty busy.  Went for brunch at Caficultura (see Foodie blog).  Wandered around the town through the streets we hadn’t been to and have now seen everything we want to see.  Stopped at Rick’s Bar at Casa Blanca Hotel for a beer before heading back to the hotel for more time in the sun.  Another teppanyaki dinner, which was just as good as the first one – prawns for me this time.  Sat at a table with a local family of four (originally from Miami), and a couple from Boston who had got off a Princess cruise ship that day.  The father of the family of four was an FBI agent who had been in San Juan for three years of his five year assignment.  Crime is rife in San Juan, mainly drug related.  Already 300 murders this year, and it’s only March.  Corruption is also rife, with a recent bust of 130 people including 90 police officers.  Cocaine is the drug of choice, linked to the South American cartels.  We have seen the odd beggar in OSJ and I asked him if they were mostly destitute or druggies – he confirmed the latter.  Nice guy, with a gorgeous wife who looked like she was related to Eva Longoria.  They were there to celebrate his 11-year-old daughter’s straight A report card.  Every time she gets straight A’s she gets to have a dinner at her choice of restaurant.  Cute 2-year-old completed the family – very nice people.  The couple from Boston are going to e-mail us a recommendation of something to do in Castries.  They warned us to be careful in Grenada.  Early to bed and had good night’s sleep.  Up early this morning for last walk on the beach, and hour on the sun loungers, followed by coffee.  Up to our room for some last-minute ironing, then repacking everything.  Down to the pool café for lunch, then time to check out and make our way to the pier.  We were both very excited.  Huge queue to get on the ship, although processing was very quick and in all took about 45 mins.  The ship is fully booked so there’s about 2200 people on board.  A glass of bubbly on arrival, then to our cabin to go through all the arrival information.  Had emergency lifeboat drill, and waited for our last suitcase to arrive (delay due to pier traffic as there were 4 ships in port).  Sailaway not till 8.30pm which is our dinner seating so we had a couple of hours to have another look around the ship before changing for dinner.  Went to a show after dinner however we had to leave after about 15 mins as neither of us could keep our eyes open.

Sun & Camera

Good evening, bloggees!  We have swapped to evening blogs cause sitting on the sun lounger typing is not good for one's neck!  Not when you have recently been diagnosed as having arthritis in your neck - no no no, not a good thing to do!  So now sitting very sensibly at desk in room typing.

Today we spent about two hours at the pool, most of which I was on the laptop doing our blogs.  Not very good use of one's time when I can do it at half the time in our room.  So, to recap we had been for a walk up and down the beach this morning then spent 2 hours in the sun.  Guess who didn't have sunscreen on for his walk?  Guess who's looking lobster-esque tonight?  Heh heh heh, not I said the fly!

By midday-ish we went to Plaza Las Americas to go to the Sony shop to check about our camera - which as you may recall Richard dropped yesterday.  Would take days to repair at a cost of around $150 USD.  So no chance there.  Buy another one as the dropped one was blurring the photos around the edges.  New model (which came out last week) USD$299 compared to AUD$600 six months ago (the model of which is no longer in stock) - remembering the AUD is pretty much 1:1 to the USD at the moment.  Primo!  We'll get the old one repaired, or claim on insurance.  R&S, there may be some benefit for you here!  While at the mall also bought some lip balm and a cook book (check Foodie blog).

Dinner tonight at Atlantica - again, check foodie blog.  Have video-skyped Nola and David tonight and thoroughly enjoyed talking/seeing them - was a lovely call.  Adios for now.

Old San Juan

Hola!  After leaving you yesterday, we caught a taxi into Old San Juan, about 15 mins away.  The traffic going into Old San Juan was very heavy as there were roadworks going on so the driver could not take us all the way to Fort El Morro which was our ultimate destination.  We were dropped at a city square, about 20 mins walk from the Fort.  The city is very colonial and quaint, with some fabulous architecture. 

Lovely blue cobblestones line the streets which were cast from residues of iron furnaces in Spain and brought over as ships' ballast.

The weather was fabulous and there were lots of school groups flying kites in the grassed area outside of the fort.

We stopped and took lots of photos along the way, and unfortunately just outside the fort Richard dropped the camera.  I must admit, I looked towards the heavens and thanked my lucky stars it was not me that dropped it!  Since then he has been heard to mumble "idiot" along with "golly idiot" at times....  We are off to the Sony shop today to see if it can be fixed before we get on the ship on Monday.  Otherwise we'll buy a new one and sort it out when we get home.
We also found a neat little spice shop - I'm going to do a Foodie blog so will tell you about it in that.

Six miles of walls enclose Old San Juan, some 50 feet high and 20 feet thick, with a ring of sentry boxes.  The guide book says, "This formidable look was a necessity during the turbulent days when there was a continual threat of invasion; both Francis Drake and Jack Hawkins led attacks on the city in the 16th century.  Parts of the city date from its foundation in 1520 but most of the city was restored to its current 18th century style."  There are two forts within Old San Juan - El Morro and San Cristobal.  We only went to El Morro as we figured that if you've seen one fort you've seen them all.  El Morro was huge - 6 levels in total - I don't know how long it took to build but I suspect quite some time in those days considering how thick the walls were.

We then wandered back to find a place for lunch, and took up a recommendation to go to Raice's.  Again, check out the Foodie blog to see what we had.  We also found a great souvenir shop where we bought sun hats for ourselves, along with a few family presents.  Poor Richard kept on paying for each thing (as he's the money man), then I'd find something else which he'd pay for, then I'd find something else.  I think we did 6 transactions in total - although paying cash fortunately.

Taxi back to the hotel, and down to the pool for a spa.  Very nice Teppanyaki dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel.  Sat with a table of Spanish-speaking people, so no conversation there.  We've decided that speaking Spanish would be a definite advantage for anyone wanting to live in the US, or work on cruise ships.  There were heaps of Spanish-speaking people on the last cruise, so we're thinking there will be heaps more on this one.

Up later this morning at 7am, and have been for a walk on the beach, and here we are at the pool again.  This is becoming a routine!  Only two days to go before we board the ship - getting excited again!  Adios for now!

Foodie blog

Check back here regularly for our culinary adventures!

Thursday dinner:  I had the smoked salmon and lump crab roulade, creamy lobster bisque, poached flounder, and crème brulee.  R had the country terrine, creamy lobster bisque, sirloin steak with blue cheese, and the apple crumble.  The table shared a braised lamb shank which was absolutely beautiful and falling off the bone.

Thursday breakfast:  We went to the main dining room for a la carte breakfast.  I had baked apple stuffed with nuts and raisins, then grilled Scottish kippers with steamed potatoes.  R had fruit salad, then eggs Benedict.  We then went on a galley tour and went through two of the six galleys they have on board.  We saw a fruit carver:

And a pastry chef, the dessert chef who was sculpting marzipan:

All the ice cream is made on board, except for a couple of low fat ice creams.  We also saw one of the dish-washing lines, obviously not in operation.  The tour ended in the Olympic Restaurant (the only fine-dining restaurant on board) where from the restaurant they have a large window showing the galley:

Wednesday dinner:  I had the salmon gravlax, chicken and corn chowder, and the lobster melange with a half lobster tail, two prawns, and one scallop.  Mete, our waiter, told us if we wanted more lobster just to ask.  So we did, and he brought out another full plate which R and I shared.  Fabulous!  R had the traditional steak tartar, and he also had the chowder and the lobster.  It was a formal night last night, and after mains we had to wait for dessert, as all the waiting staff paraded around the restaurant bearing Baked Alaska’s to rapturous applause as we thanked them for their service over the last 10 days.  The Alaska’s were then sliced up and served to everyone for dessert.  Paul, our assistant waiter, gave me the last slice in the Alaska which was the thickest of all – and was laughing as he gave it to me cause it was so big compared to everyone else’s.  Yumbo!

Wednesday lunch:  At Iguana Joe’s in Aruba.  In a fabulous white, pink and turquoise building, with a nice outlook over the very busy main street.  We shared everything – coconut shrimp to start (which just looked like breaded fried shrimp so didn’t take photo), then the shrimp jambalaya:

And shrimp in a coconut curry sauce (most of which sat in half a coconut in its shell which we nibbled on afterwards):

Tuesday dinner:  I had Maine lobster ravioli with wilted spinach, cream of chicken soup, Mahi Mahi Indian style (with curried veges), followed by a yummy chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream.  R also had the ravioli, then the pheasant terrine with dark cherry confit, veal medallions with saffron fettucine, and of course the chocolate lava cake – with chocolate ice cream.

Tuesday lunch:  We found a restaurant called Indi’s Spice House.  We’d been hanging out for a curry and this was the place.  We had buffalo wings to start, then we shared a shrimp curry (with naan) and a shrimp biryani.  Didn’t take photos as they were your typical curry.  Golly they were good.

Monday dinner:  I had marinated red snapper escabeche, spicy tropical gazpacho, and tiger prawns marinated in garlic, butter and lime juice – delish.  Followed by chocolate swirl cheesecake.  Even more delish.  R had the shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, and also the tiger prawns.  Then for a complete change he had apple pie.  And chocolate ice cream.  Had to get it in there somewhere!

Monday brunch:  A spectacular occasion with 15 minute photo time first as the buffet is a work of art.  The food was absolutely beautiful.  Briefly, I had lots of cold prawns with seafood sauce, rice noodle stir-fry (freshly made with your own hand-picked ingredients), marshmallows and strawberries dipped in the chocolate fountain.  Ooh and some lovely coffee walnut bread.

Here’s a couple of photos to show you the ice and fruit carvings.

Sunday dinner:  We both had prosciutto & melon to start.  Then I had lobster bisque, crispy groper which was groper wrapped in filo (they say phyllo) and baked.  Yumbo.  Followed by chocolate raspberry flan.  R had cream of broccoli soup, herbed crumbed rack of lamb, and chocolate meringues sandwiched with chocolate cream.  Anne the expert meringue maker (not) reckoned the meringue was not that good cause the meringue mixture had not been beaten enough to dissolve the sugar.

Sunday lunch at The Nutmeg.  Firstly, we were disappointed to find out – after we got our beers (a local beer Carib) – that roti’s were off the menu.  Dammit.  R’s menu was limited as his first two choices were also off the menu, so he ended up having chicken creole (basically grilled chicken with creole sauce).  It was on my list to try conch, and this was the place.  Conch fritters to start which we shared – minced conch with mashed potato and herbs (not sure what else) with tartare and seafood sauces:

Then I had the curried conch.  Conch is very similar in texture to a calamari hood.  The conch was thinly sliced and in a nicely warming curry rice.  Served with rice, and steamed carrots and beans:

Saturday dinner (no lunch cause we were snorkelling):  I had goats’ cheese cigar (pastry spread with goats’ cheese, rolled up and deep fried (looked like a spring roll)), French onion soup, grilled tuna, which was absolutely beautiful, and a fabulous custard, pear and chocolate dessert – chocolate on the bottom of the ramekin, then diced poached pear, then custard.  Yumbo.  R had spinach turnover, baked potato cream soup with bacon lardons, veal cordon bleu, then of course a chocolate dessert.

Friday dinner in the specialty restaurant on board, the Olympic, which was the sister ship to the Titanic.  The restaurant has been recreated from the original including some original panelling, with original table settings etc on show.  The food was magnificent.

Comp melon ball salad to start.  Then I had the foie gras which I had never had before and I rather quite enjoyed considering it was offal.  Then the heirloom tomato & mozzarella salad, followed by a comp red wine sorbet.  Lobster tail, then Grand Marnier soufflé.  Golly delicious, all of it.  R had the scallops, the goats cheese souffle, the surf and turf, followed by the chocolate soufflé.

Indiscriminate use of butter:  We noticed in San Juan at the teppanyaki restaurant that everything cooked on the hot plate had a huge knob of butter added before it was served.  Then at the Atlantica (also in San Juan) the whole restaurant smelled of butter, and the grilled seafood I had you could smell the butter too.  Then last night at The Olympic, with our lobster they came along with melted butter which was liberally spooned over the lobster.  Did it make a difference?  Hell yes.  Would I do it at home?  Hell no.

Friday lunch in Castries at The Coal Pot.  What can I say?  Yum, yum, yum, in the most magnificent setting.  Photos of each course – yes, food wankers I know.  Menu:A’s entrée of St Lucian Crab Back:

R’s entrée of Coquilles St Jacques:

A’s main of Creole Calamari:

R’s main of Jumbo Shrimp in Coconut Curry Sauce:

Thursday dinner:  I had seafood risotto with grilled prawns & a scallop, then baked potato soup with braised frogs’ legs.  Disappointing main of poached lemon sole stuffed with shrimp – they had overdone a herb which I couldn’t identify and just over-powered everything.  However the coconut crème caramel made up for it. R also had the seafood risotto, then chicken liver parfait, then osso bucco, and surprise surprise another chocolate creation dessert, much the same as the last two nights.

Also in Roseau we found a spice shop, which I could smell from down the street.  No photos allowed, bugger it.  All the spices were in open plastic buckets on the counter.  All sorts of spices – from coriander seed to black cardamom.  Lots of ready mixes too.  Fabulous aroma.

Thursday lunch at Waterfront Hotel, Roseau:   R had grilled scampi & fries, and I had Caribbean seafood stew, with steamed carrots & beans and what was either boiled cabbage or cauliflower stalk.  Salad was lettuce with sliced cucumber and grated fresh coconut.  The stew was in a tomato sauce and had a nice spicy warmth to it.  The fish was very meaty, thinking something like swordfish.  It was delicious.

(photo to come)

Wednesday dinner:  I had cod fritter, then vichyssoise, then seafood risotto, followed by petit banana cake with chocolate sauce.  R had veal tonnato, then cream of sweetcorn soup, then steak with shoestring fries (ie very fine like your shoestring, funnily enough), followed by chocolate mousse slice (another chocolate dessert for R – there’s a surprise!).

Wednesday lunch:  BBQ on Nevis.  Sausages, chicken marylands.  Salads were pasta, and the most fabulous grated coconut salad that included carrots and raisins – have to search the internet for that.  Cucumber/tomato/celery/ peppers salad, and wedges of watermelon.  Yum, after over 2 hours on the water and snorkelling.

Breakfasts on board:  While we were in San Juan we had Zone Bars for breakfast, so to get on board and have “real food” was great.  There is everything your little heart could desire, although in saying that fruit is pretty limited to melons, pineapple and whole fruit, ie oranges, pears and apples.  I guess what I’m trying to say is no berries.  There is every cereal you could ever imagine including porridge, bircher muesli, cornflakes, rice bubbles etc etc.  Eggs every which way, including already assembled, eg eggs Benedict. Along with bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, omelettes, waffles, French toast, brioche.  European breakfast, American, Asian.  Help-yourself coffee, tea, water, and of course a wide selection of juices.

Tuesday dinner:  I had smoked salmon and cream cheese roulade, followed by lobster bisque which was lovely with the right amount of spice.  Sea bass for a main with sweet corn & potato mash, and steamed spinach, followed by New York cheesecake which was lovely – couldn’t finish it.  R had beef carpaccio, followed by French onion soup which was a bit of a challenge with it being a formal dinner so he was in his best clobber, and the cheese was really stringy.  No mishaps though!  Mains (which in American terms is Entrée) was Rack of Lamb with steamed potatoes and carrots, followed by a fabulous chocolate creation – choc biscuit base, with mousse filling, and chocolate layer on top.  Very good.

Tuesday lunch on board so nothing to write home about.

Monday dinner on board.  Different from our last cruise as 4 courses rather than 5 – but do you really need 5 courses!!!  The menu is two pages with a Classic Choices on one page which does not change through the course of the cruise.  Classics such as prawn cocktail, French onion soup etc etc.  3-4 choices per course.  The other page changes daily.  I had blue swimmer crab on avocado, then gazpacho, followed by breaded fish with rice and a fresh tomato sauce, finishing with ice cream profiteroles with chocolate sauce.  R had a goat’s cheese tart, then mushroom soup, followed by lamb shank tagine style with rice and mixed vegetables, also finishing with profiteroles.

Monday lunch at the pool café before we boarded the ship.  Caesar salad with grilled chicken for me, and lamb souvlaki for him.

Sunday dinner repeat teppanyaki performance at Momoyama.  Richard had the same special except rather than scallops there were prawns, and I had fillet steak & prawns.  Yum – again, it was very good.

Sunday brunch in Old San Juan at Caficultura and we both had the French toast brioche with pineapple marmalade and fresh grated coconut, washed down with a latte.  Recommended in a couple of guidebooks and was absolutely superb.  I’ve done a Juliet and taken a photo cause it was so good!

Saturday dinner at Atlantica, recommended as one of the best seafood restaurants in San Juan.  Travel blogs said a mediocre environment but fabulous food - we thought both were great, with the waiting staff decked out in ship's captain gear.  Very authentic!  And the food was as good as they said.  R had grilled langoustines - 6 in total accompanied with boiled potatoes and mashed sweet potato.  I had the seafood mixed grill which was (some singular, some more so) mussels, cockles, scallops, calamari, crab claw, salmon, mahi mahi, prawn, lobster, and funny fried thing which we think was minced crab reformed into a claw thingy.  Very succinct, I know!

Saturday lunch at a pizza joint at the mall.  To start with we had baked chicken wings served with three sauces - blue cheese, sweet & tangy, and spicy.  Followed by pizza with sausage, ham, shrimp etc.  Yumbo.  Great server who was very attentive and occasionally tried to speak to us in Spanish.  No go there!

Went to Borders to Plaza los Americas today and bought Smoke & Spice (Cooking with Smoke - the Real Way to Barbecue) by Cheryl & Bill Jamison for a steal at $16.95.  It's a 482-page tome and I've been looking at it on-line and was sceptical about buying it.  However now I've been how good it is - was a no-brainer to add to my collection!  Looking forward to trying out new recipes on our smoker.

Friday dinner at Momoyama, the Japanese restaurant at the hotel.  Decided on Teppanyaki which was a good call as it was golly beautiful.  Started with miso soup, then salad, then had the special of fillet steak, chicken breast, and scallops.  The chef was a great showman, who also spoke Spanish so therefore spent more time talking with our table mates (4 of them) rather than us.  Was good fun though.  Completed with a bowl of chocolate ice cream.  We were full to busting by the time we'd finished - or as Henry would say absolutely stuffed.  Our table mates had chosen the surf and turf menu with the surf being prawns - which looked absolutely beautiful so if we can't find a different restaurant to go we just might have to go back there.

We found a herb & spice shop in Old San Juan.  There were lots of dry spice mixes - everything you can imagine.  Tastings of all types of salsa and pickles - some hot, some not - from plantain to banana to mild chile to searingly hot.  Lots of local recipe books.  You could also get spices by the ounce.  And they had these wonderful tea-towels which you could easily put onto something else - or make a cross-stitch and frame perhaps if you were really creative.  Or in my case make it up in powerpoint and print it!

Friday lunch at Raice's, a Puerto Rican restaurant recommended to us as a good seafood restaurant in Old San Juan.  The female waiting staff were dressed creole style in white cotton flowing skirts, peasant style blouses, and scarf headgear.  It was very busy and we had to wait at the bar for a table.  Bugger it, we had to have a local beer - Medalla - which was very good.  We both had grilled garlic prawns and had to choose a side dish to go with it.  We wanted to stay with the Puerto Rican theme so rather than choose fries or salad, R had white rice with beans, and I had fried green plantain.  The rice came in a plate, with the beans (as in haricot) on the side in a wee container.  They were in gravy which tasted just like regular gravy but didn't really look like regular gravy, but also in there were chunks of pineapple and courgette.  Different - glad we tried it though.  My plantain came with a seafood dipping sauce.  The plantain was cut in slices about 4ml thick, lightly battered and deep fried.  Quite dry, therefore you needed the sauce which was slightly spicy.  Quite nice, but probably better as a snack to have with beer.  Lunch was washed down with a glass of Argentinian chardonnay - was meant to be sauv blanc but they got it wrong.  Never mind.  All in all, a great lunch.

Thursday dinner was at Ruth's Chris Steak House at the hotel.  Comp sourdough bread and butter to start.  R had surf and turf - he says the best fillet steak he's ever had, with 6 grilled prawns (which of course are called shrimp here).  I had bbq'd prawns which were good but not what I expected.  I should have known the difference between grilled and bbq'd.  Grilled is cooked on a griddle, and bbq'd is cooked and covered, no make that totally smothered in bbq sauce.  I must admit, R's prawns looked much better than mine. The other thing we learned that night is to drink water before you go to dinner (we have bought water at a supermarket) - it's not safe to drink the tap water here, so you must buy bottled - but the restaurant charged an astronomical $7/bottle.  Bugger it, means we just have to drink wine!  Oh well, win some, you lose some, I guess!

Are we there yet?

What a day.  Night.  Both.  Seemed like forever.  When are we gonna get there?  How long?  You're kidding???

Rewind to Immigration in LA.  How to make one feel like a criminal in one easy lesson.  What was our business in the USA?  What were we bringing into the USA?  Ummm, let me see - that would be ourselves and our luggage.  Don't understand the question we said.  He - the one wearing the gun - said very slowly "connnnnnntraaaabaaaaaaaaaaannnnnd" - oh no we said, nothing like that.  Just our personal belongings.  It was all very serious - no smiling, no laughing, face the front, and certainly no small talk.  No trouble though, and only took about 10 mins, but a bit intimidating.

We left the hotel not long after I finished the last blog, as we were concerned that we couldn't reserve seats on line, and the plane was showing very full.  Was just as well as it took an hour to check in and get through Immigration.  Oh yes, there's another story.  Do you remember on our last trip when we got to Hong Kong, and I thought someone was telling Richard about the Thai food on Level 8?  (And for those of you who don't remember, it was actually a level 8 typhoon.)  Well, I had another moment like that going through Immnigration in LA.  The airport caters for both domestic and international travellers, and all must go through the same rigmarole (ie what we go through for international travel).  And going to Puerto Rico is considered domestic as it's within the USA.  So out with the plastic bag for gels and lipstick etc, and the laptop - also had to take everything out of our pockets, remove our shoes, and I had to take off the pashmina which I had wrapped around my neck cause it was so golly cold.  I went through first, and was told to walk into the x-ray machine, turn to the left, put my feet in each of the blue squares, and stand like a preacher.  Excuse me?  Stand like a preacher?  Note that I did NOT say this out loud.  So I turned to my left, thinking what the golly does stand like a preacher mean?  Put my feet in the blue squares, looked up and there was a picture of how to stand.  Oh, stand like the picture!  Damn Spanish accent!!!  From LA on, all announcements are broadcast in English then Spanish on the plane, in the airports, and most brochures are printed in both languages too.

4.5 hour flight from LA to Miami, dozed on/off, uneventful really.  Got to Miami, and had 2 hours to kill before flight to San Juan.  All good, boarded the plane which was chocka, and were sitting next to a flight attendant who was transferring from Miami to San Juan to get a flight which was to be the last leg of a 3-day shift.  Got chatting to her while we waited for the plane to leave.  And we waited.  15 mins late - no announcement.  30 mins late - no announcement.  Our seat-mate (whose name we don't know) said it was most unusual to not have an announcement about why the delay.  Finally the captain said they were waiting to refuel but they were being told "we don't know how much longer it will be", and that all other planes were being told the same thing.  The next announcement, about an hour later, said that the refuelling truck was now at the plane and we would soon be on our way.  So, 2 hours late, we were finally ready to go.  Engines on, and taxi out to the runway.  And we taxied, and taxied, and taxied, then an announcement saying there were a couple of mechanical issues and we were going to another gate to get the aircraft serviced.  Doors were opened as they had to turn the air off, and an hour later they said we had to disembark and take all of our belongings with us as they didn't know how long we'd be.  Off the plane, and we found out there had been a fire at Miami Airport and refuelling was being done by truck rather than underground tanker, which is why it had taken so long, and less than 40% of planes would be getting out of Miami that day.  So if the mechanical problems on our plane could not be fixed, we'd have two-fifths of five-eighths chance of getting out of Miami that day.  Thank goodness we'd allowed a couple of days before getting on the ship.  So, off to the coffee shop, and a look around a bookstore, then waiting waiting waiting.  Two hours later we were told the problems had been resolved and we could get back on the plane.  Hooray - everyone cheered and clapped.  Back on the plane and away we went - 4 hours late, but better late than never.

We were absolutely knackered by the time we got here and both brain-dead - yes, more so than usual.  Unpacked, had a look around the hotel, swim (freezing cold!) and spa, drink at the pool cafe, early dinner and lights out at 8pm.  Woke up a couple of times through the night but straight back to sleep, and we both woke up at 5.45am so consider that we've done really well.  Have been for a walk down the beach, and now on a couple of sun loungers by the pool.  Will post this, then we're going to head into Old San Juan for a look around, then hope to get back to the pool by mid-afternoon.  Nice.  Great way to start a holiday.  Adios!

It never rains in California....

You think?  Well, we can tell you it jolly well does rain cause here in LA it's pouring, misty and only about 14 deg - yowser!  And I've got a jolly cold too, so not a good way to start our holiday.

Back to yesterday.  Left home at 8am and had a good run in the traffic so were at Richard's work before 9am.  Picked up Karen, who then dropped us at the airport.  Had a good flight from Melbourne to Auckland, watching The King's Speech along the way.  What a great movie - thoroughly enjoyed it - I could so sympathise with him.  Colin Firth thoroughly deserved the Oscar.  Met up with Richard's boss, Eric and his wife Sal in the lounge in Auckland as they were on the same flight as us to LA.  Good flight across the Pacific (albeit with me sneezing and blowing the entire way), this time watching Black Swan - Chris, you were right - what a bizarre movie.  Natalie Portman was brilliant, but what a weird movie.  Managed about 4 hours sleep on the plane, although not impressed at them waking us up for breakfast 3 hours before landing!  Service was very slow as it was a new plane and staff had only been trained in the last two weeks, and most people were still asleep anyway.  Through Customs, and our bags were waiting for us on the carousel.  We're on the ground here for 12 hours, so got a day room at an airport hotel, fell into bed and slept for just over three hours.  Fortunately had some cold & flu tablets in our medicine bag, so feeling much better after taking one of those.  Shower, and downstairs for coffee and pizza.  Back up to our room to pack, along to the lounge for a glass of wine, and here I am.  6.45pm local time, and we'll leave in about an hour to get the shuttle to the airport, for a 10.20pm flight to San Juan via Miami.  Adios, amigos!!

You're going WHERE????

Bloody hell, Jessie!!!!  I've just read their blog and they're going away again.....  I wonder who will be coming to look after us?  Rhiannon - Siobhan - Nana - Grandad - hellooooo?????  Anyone?????

Quick, Jess, let's make a run for it.   Uh oh.......too slow..... bugger....... off to the cattery we go......