SUNGRL

We docked in the commercial port on St. Kitts as two other cruise ships had taken the spots on the pier closest to town. We were shuttled down to the centre of town which is a hive of activity aimed mainly at the tourists. We did a spot of shopping and had a look around – the locals were very friendly.

We had booked a round of golf at Royal St. Kitts for 1pm so headed back to the ship to get ready. Again we shared a taxi to the golf club with Bill & Chris from Vancouver. Our taxi driver was Gloria and she was so lovely. Some of the crew were walking to town so she picked them up along the way and dropped them by the main road so they wouldn’t get lost. She chatted away and pointed out the sights. She told us about her 5 kids and how they eat her out of house and home every day. She arranged to pick us up again at 4.45pm to ensure we didn’t miss our embarkation deadline of 5.30pm.

The course is located in Frigate Bay, an affluent resort area which is sprinkled with estate homes and high end hotels all facing gorgeous stretches of sand. The course is owned and operated by the Marriott so is a typical resort course – quite pretty with wide open fairways so not super challenging. The first 11 holes are closest to the Caribbean side of the island and are surrounded by homes and hotels. The back nine go out towards and along the Atlantic Ocean so are a lot more picturesque. The course has recently been redesigned and renovated by renowned Canadian golf course architect Thomas McBroom.

I had a great round and shot 85. We really enjoyed the course and the staff were super friendly. After racing around in 3 hours 15 minutes we had some time to spare at the end so enjoyed a snack and drink in the bar. Steve also shopped up a storm in the pro shop which was one of the best stocked pro shops we have come across.

As promised Gloria was back to pick us up at 4.45pm and we were back in plenty of time.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus was so smitten with this volcanic island that he named it after himself. Since its discovery, St. Christopher — later shortened by British sailors to St. Kitts — has been fought over by the Spanish, British and French who, tragically, made it a center of the West Indian slave trade. Pirates, including the notorious William Kidd, enjoyed lucrative careers in Basseterre Harbor. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Saint Kitts has a population of around 35,000, the majority of whom are mainly of African descent. The primary language is English, with a literacy rate of approximately 98%. Residents call themselves Kittitians.

St. Kitts and sister isle Nevis were part of the British Empire until 1967, earning semi-independent status when they were named associated states of Great Britain. In 1983, the 65-square-mile St. Kitts and Nevis became an independent, two-island nation with a parliamentary government headed by a Prime Minister. While British holdovers such as cricket and driving on the left side of the road remain, the Kittitians are extremely proud of their history and how far they’ve come on their own.

Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean. The island of Saint Kitts is home to the Warner Park Cricket Stadium, which was used to host 2007 Cricket World Cup matches. This made St. Kitts and Nevis the smallest nation to ever host a World Cup event. Saint Kitts is also home to several institutions of higher education, including Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Windsor University School of Medicine, and the University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The island’s lush geography lends itself to eco-tourism, starting with the dense tropical rainforests that surround dormant volcano, Mount Liamuiga (known locally as Mt. Misery). Colorful birds and butterflies, as well as the green Vervet monkey, reside here.

For hundreds of years, St. Kitts operated as a sugar monoculture, but due to decreasing profitability, the government closed the industry in 2005. Tourism is a major and growing source of income to the island, although the number and density of resorts is less than on many other Caribbean islands. Transportation, non-sugar agriculture, manufacturing and construction are the other growing sectors of the economy.

St. Kitts is dependent on tourism to drive its economy. St. Kitts & Nevis also acquires foreign direct investment from their unique citizenship by investment program, outlined in their Citizenship Act of 1984. Interested parties can acquire citizenship if they pass the government’s strict background checks and make an investment into an approved real estate development. Purchasers who pass government due diligence and make a minimum investment of US$400,000, into qualifying government approved real estate, are entitled to apply for citizenship of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

St. Kitts & Nevis uses the Eastern Caribbean dollar, which maintains a fixed exchange rate of 2.7-to-one with the United States dollar. The US dollar is almost as widely accepted as the Eastern Caribbean dollar.

Slavery
The island originally produced tobacco, but changed to sugar cane in 1640 due to stiff competition from the colony of Virginia. The labour-intensive farming of sugar cane was the reason for the large-scale importation of African slaves. The importation began almost immediately upon the arrival of Europeans to the region.

The purchasing of enslaved Africans was outlawed in the British Empire by an Act of Parliament in 1807. Slavery was abolished by an Act of Parliament that became law on 1 August 1834. This emancipation was followed by four years of apprenticeship, put in place to protect the plantation owners from losing their labour force. August the 1st is now celebrated as a public holiday and is called Emancipation Day. In 1883 St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla were all linked under one presidency, located on St. Kitts, to the dismay of the Nevisians and Anguillans. Anguilla eventually separated out of this arrangement in 1971, after an armed raid on St. Kitts.

Sugar production continued to dominate the local economy until 2005, when, after 365 years as a monoculture, the government closed the sugar industry. This was due to the industry’s huge losses and European Union plans to cut sugar prices by large amounts in the near future.

On Monday we arrived on the butterfly shaped island of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is another island in the French West Indies which comprises Martinique, Saint Marten’s and Saint Bart’s. Guadeloupe’s two main islands are Basse-Terre to the west and Grande-Terre to the east, which are separated by a narrow strait that is crossed with bridges, hence forming the butterfly shape. Guadeloupe is an integral part of France, as are the other overseas departments. Guadeloupe also includes the smaller islands of Marie-Galante and La Désirade, and the Îles des Saintes.

As part of France, Guadeloupe is part of the European Union and the Eurozone; hence, as for all Eurozone countries, its currency is the euro. However, as an overseas department, Guadeloupe is not part of the Schengen Area. The prefecture (i.e. French regional capital) of Guadeloupe is Basse-Terre. Its official language is French, although many of its inhabitants also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Guadeloupéen).

We took a half day trip to discover some of the island. Our first stop was in the Parc National de la Guadeloupe where we walked to the Crayfish falls which are named after the crayfish that inhabit the pond at the base of the waters of the Corossol River. Again we were greeted with very lush vegetation. It rains in the mountains most days so water is not a problem on the island.

We then went to Les Jardins de Valombruese some botanical gardens with many local plants and flowers. We also saw some hummingbirds playing in the trees and extracting the nectar from the flowers. Our guide, Romeo was very knowledgable on the flora and fauna so we really enjoyed exploring the gardens. We also went into a little room where they had a display of dolls dressed in traditional clothing. The different outfits represented the area and class from which you came. 71% of the island’s population are of Creole descent which means they are descendants of the various ethnic groups that have come to the Caribbean islands over the years. In a way it is a cover all term which allows these people to have an identity. 80% of the population are Roman Catholics.

We then went to Distillerie Longueteau which is a family owned rum distillery. Here they use modern equipment to harvest the sugar cane and produce the rum which was in stark contrast to the distillery we had been to on Grenada. This distillery had been in operation since 1895. The sugar cane harvest season is from February to May. I tried some coconut rum punch which I enjoyed so purchased a little bottle along with some locally produced chocolate. There were so many other goodies that I would have liked to purchase but again would have trouble bringing back to NZ like vanilla pods, vanilla sugar and honey.

Sugar
Introduced to the West Indies in the middle of the 17th century, sugar cane growing is inextricably linked to the islands’ history and has profoundly shaped its landscape. After a peak in the middle of the 20th century, the sugar industry went into a long period of decline. Save for one, all the factories on the main island of Guadeloupe closed one after the other.

Despite its decline, sugar cane remains the island’s main agricultural crop both in terms of value and farmed area, providing a living for almost 30,000 people, including 4,000 growers. Today, the sugar cane plot is stable at around 12,000 hectares, with the 700,000 tonnes of cane cut producing some 70,000 tonnes of sugar. Another 60,000 tonnes are delivered to the eleven distilleries on the island producing industrial rum and rhum agricole.

More than 90% of the sugar produced is marked for export. Most of it is sent by bulk cargo ship to refineries in Europe. The remainder, special sugars, is packed in big bags and shipped to the EU in 20’ containers. Sugar cane processing is an almost virtuous activity that produces much more than just sugar and rum. Bagasse and molasses, by-products from the sugar refining process, are used in power production and as animal feed respectively.

Sugarcane belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops. Sugarcane is the world’s largest crop by production quantity.

Over the last 30 years bananas have reached 50% of the island’s exports with over 80% of all bananas being exported to Europe.

History of Guadeloupe
The island was called “Karukera” (or “The Island of Beautiful Waters”) by the Arawak people, who settled on there in 300 AD/CE. During the 8th century, the Caribs came and killed the existing population of Amerindians on the island.

During his second trip to America, in November 1493, Christopher Columbus became the first European to land on Guadeloupe, while seeking fresh water. He called it Santa María de Guadalupe de Extremadura, after the image of the Virgin Mary venerated at the Spanish monastery of Villuercas, in Guadalupe, Extremadura. The expedition set ashore just south of Capesterre, but left no settlers behind.

Columbus is credited with discovering the pineapple on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493, although the fruit had long been grown in South America. He called it piña de Indias, meaning “pine of the Indies.”

During the 17th century, the Caribs fought against the Spanish settlers and repelled them.

After successful settlement on the island of St. Christophe (St. Kitts), the French Company of the American Islands delegated Charles Lienard (Liénard de L’Olive) and Jean Duplessis Ossonville, Lord of Ossonville to colonize one or any of the region’s islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, or Dominica.

Due to Martinique’s inhospitable nature, the duo resolved to settle in Guadeloupe in 1635, took possession of the island, and wiped out many of the Carib Amerindians. It was annexed to the kingdom of France in 1674.

Over the next century, the British seized the island several times. The economy benefited from the lucrative sugar trade, which commenced during the closing decades of the 17th century. Guadeloupe produced more sugar than all the British islands combined, worth about £6 million a year. The British captured the island in 1759. The British government decided that Canada was strategically more important and kept Canada while returning Guadeloupe to France in the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the Seven Years War.

In 1790, following the outbreak of the French Revolution, the monarchists of Guadeloupe refused to obey the new laws of equal rights for the free people of color and attempted to declare independence. The ensuing conflict with the republicans, who were faithful to revolutionary France, caused a fire to break out in Pointe-à-Pitre that devastated a third of the town. The monarchists ultimately overcame the republicans and declared independence in 1791. The monarchists then refused to receive the new governor that Paris had appointed in 1792. In 1793, a slave rebellion broke out, which made the upper classes turn to the British and ask them to occupy the island.

In an effort to take advantage of the chaos ensuing from the French Revolution, Britain seized Guadeloupe in 1794, holding control from 21 April until December 1794, when Victor Hugues obliged the British general to surrender. Hugues succeeded in freeing the slaves, who then turned on the slave owners who controlled the sugar plantations.

In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte issued the Law of 20 May 1802. It restored slavery to all of the colonies captured by the British during the French Revolutionary Wars, but did not apply to certain French overseas possessions such as Guadeloupe, Guyane, and Saint-Domingue. Napoleon sent an expeditionary force to recapture the island from the rebellious slaves. Louis Delgrès and a group of revolutionary soldiers killed themselves on the slopes of the Matouba volcano when it became obvious that the invading troops would take control of the island. The occupation force killed approximately 10,000 Guadeloupeans.

On 4 February 1810 the British once again seized the island and continued to occupy it until 1816. By the Anglo-Swedish alliance of 3 March 1813, it was ceded to Sweden for a brief period of 15 months. However, the British administration continued in place and British governors continued to govern the island.

In the Treaty of Paris of 1814, Sweden ceded Guadeloupe once more to France. An ensuing settlement between Sweden and the British gave rise to the Guadeloupe Fund. The Treaty of Vienna in 1815 definitively acknowledged French control of Guadeloupe.

Slavery was abolished on the island on 28 May 1848 at the initiative of Victor Schoelcher.

Guadeloupe lost 12,000 of its 150,000 residents in the cholera epidemic of 1865–66.

In 1925, after the trial of Henry Sidambarom (Justice of the Peace and defender of the cause of Indian workers), Raymond Poincaré decided to grant French nationality and the right to vote to Indian citizens.

In 1946, the colony of Guadeloupe became an overseas department of France. Then in 1974, it became an administrative center. Its deputies sit in the French National Assembly in Paris.

Today, the population of Guadeloupe is mainly of African or mixed descent and largely Roman Catholic, speaking French and a Creole patois (Antillean Creole). There are also Europeans, Indians, Lebanese, Syrians, Chinese, and Carib Amerindians(remnants of the original pre-European population). The archipelago of Îles des Saintes is mostly populated by the descendants of colonists from Brittany and Normandy.

On 15 July 2007, the island communes of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy were officially detached from Guadeloupe and became two separate French overseas collectivities with their own local administration.

On 20 January 2009, an umbrella group of approximately fifty labour union and other associations (known in the local Antillean Creole as the Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP), led by Élie Domota) called for a €200 ($260 USD) monthly pay increase for the island’s low income workers. The protesters have proposed that authorities “lower business taxes as a top up to company finances” to pay for the €200 pay raises. Employers and business leaders in Guadeloupe have said that they cannot afford the salary increase. The strike lasted 44 days, ending with an accord reached on 5 March 2009. Tourism suffered greatly during this time and affected the 2010 tourist season as well.

The French Caribbean general strikes exposed deep ethnic, racial, and class tensions and disparities within Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe has an unemployment rate of approximately 30%. The urban and industrial areas resemble that of any French city with car and machinery dealerships, supermarkets and chain stores. It appeared a more sophisticated island than some of the other islands that we had visited.

We docked in Martinique on Sunday the 7th December so most things are closed. We decided to have a chill day wandering along the waterfront and listening to the local musicians who were playing at a nearby park. It was a stunning day and the waterfront is very picturesque. We went back to the boat for lunch and watched a jet ski race in the harbour. I went ashore again late afternoon to use the free wifi and ambled back to the ship about 6.10pm. The ship was leaving at 7pm so we all had to be back on board at 6.30pm. When I got to the gangway there were about 8 crew members milling about and smiling at me – I asked them if I was late and they said no, no. I came back to to our room and Steve said somebody had called to see where I was. I was obviously the last one back on the ship and they wanted to bring the gangway in early.

We were docked overlooking Fort de France which has been back in operation as a naval base since 2001.

Martinique is the definition of a refined French-Caribbean island – fashionable and elegant, with an abundance of flora. Filled with ruins and monuments, Martinique has been French, with few interruptions, since 1635, and offers gorgeous beaches, great food and a live volcano. Banana farming, sugar cane raising, the rum business and tourism are all important to the island.

Napoleon’s Empress Josephine, born on the island in 1763, is Martinique’s most famous native. She is both revered for her fame and reviled for her part in propagating the slave trade.

Martinique is one of four islands in the Caribbean that’s part of France (also known as the French West Indies). Others include St. Martin, Guadeloupe and St. Barts. Few speak English there, and you’ll find that signs and menus generally aren’t meant to accommodate anyone who isn’t French.

Martinique’s New World history began in 1502, when Christopher Columbus landed on the island. The French claimed the island in 1635; for 180 years, ownership bounced between France and Britain, before the former took hold for good in 1815. Martinique became a region of France in 1974.

Today we took a tour around Grenada – what a fabulously lush and beautiful island. Sunny blue skies and a temperature of 29 degrees made for a great day. Our guide Louis picked us up from the terminal and we were off. Grenada is extremely hilly so we were pleased we were not doing a bike tour here : )

Our first stop was Fort Frederick which sits above St George’s Town and the port where our ship was docked. We had a fantastic view over the harbour which is a perfect horseshoe shape. Fort Fredrick construction was started in 1779 by the French and completed by the British several years later. A chain of forts (Fort Matthew, Fort Lucas and Fort Adolphus) adjoin Fort Frederick and are said to be connected by a network of subterranean tunnels. Large underground cisterns that held water for Her Majesty’s troops are still in use today.

We then drove to Annandale Falls which is a waterfall surrounded by lush vegetation. At the entrance to the path of the falls there were a few stalls selling local items including spice necklaces. They smelt wonderful and apparently last for three years – unfortunately I think NZ Customs may have a problem on my return into the country if I purchased one of these necklaces. There was a guy playing a guitar and making songs up about you as you walked along, for a tip of course : ) When we got down to the falls there were these young guys who climb up and jump off the cliff into the water – again for a tip. We had learnt that unemployment is about 32% on the island so we thought good on these people for using their imagination – it was great watching them jump off for you.

The Grand Etang National Park contains a lake that exists in an extinct volcano at 1,900 feet above sea level. We also saw a Mona Monkey.

As we drove around the island Louis pointed out various plants, fruit and spice trees. I was quite enamoured with the lush vegetation. The island is split into 6 parishes – St George, St John, St Mark, St David, St Andrew and St Patrick and each one has some little villages of which one is the capital of the parish. There were a number of fishing villages dotted along the coast line. The housing varied from quite nice to subsistence. There were a lot of old cars which had been left to rust out littering the landscape which I thought detracted from one of the most stunning islands I’ve seen – it was a shame. The hilly terrain all over the island gave us some great views of the coast line.

We stopped at the River Antoine Estate which is a rum distillery that still uses a 19th century water wheel to produce 152 proof liquor, considered too strong for visitors to bring home on a plane. The estate has been going since 1785 with very little change in the process over the years. We had a tour around the place and our guide was so lovely – she kept calling us all “my dear”. It was a Saturday so they weren’t crushing the sugar cane so we wandered freely through the place. NZ Health & Safety would have had a field day at this place.

The sugar cane is harvested and then the juice crushed from it – the water wheel produces the power for the crushing machine. It goes through the crushing process twice. The sugar cane fibre is then burnt in the boiling house underneath the boiling pots. The cane juice enters these pots through a wooden guttering. It is then filtered and collected before being processed into syrup via the boiling process. An important ingredient in the sugar industry is white lime which is added to the cane juice as a purifier and as a means of obtaining a satisfactory level of acidity. The boiling pots are made from copper or iron taycher and go from large to small or hot to hottest. They hand ladle the juice from pot to pot. It is then transferred to a holding tank for 48 hours where it cools in preparation for the fermentation process.

The cool syrup is then pumped into a goose neck shaped boiler where the main fuel used for boiling the rum is wood. It is heated up to a temperature of 250 degrees. At this point the alcohol leaves the boiler in the form of vapour or steam into the vaporiser. From here it goes into the condenser and turns into rum. This is then stored and eventually bottled. Most of the rum produced at the River Antoine Estate is sold on the island to locals and tourists alike. The produce 69% alcohol (138% proof) and 75% alcohol rum. The 75% version or 152% proof is considered too dangerous to take on a plane.

I did not try the 69% or 75% rum choosing instead to try the rum punches which were very nice but pretty potent. Some of our fellow travellers tried the straight rum and said it definitely had the ability to curl your hair. The Estate employs 98 people including those that harvest the sugar cane. It has employed many generations over the years – our guide said her Grandmother and Mother both worked on the Estate.

We then had lunch at a restaurant not far from the Estate. The food was lovely and you could taste all the local flavours. We had a local drink made from yellow apples and lime juice – so yummy.

Next stop was the Dougaldston Spice Estate – a historical monument to Grenada’s past, where most of the island’s precious spices (nutmeg, allspice, clove, cinnamon, ginger, cocoa, bay leaves, mace) are grown and processed. Over the years the original owners and people that used to work the estate have died off and the younger generation have not taken up the reigns – the Estate is now a fraction of the size it was. The nutmeg is sold to the nutmeg factory in town and the cacao is sold to the chocolate factory – they then further process it and export it. The cacao that is grown and processed on the island is used in chocolate blends offshore rather than to produce edible chocolate. The island used to be a big exporter of bananas too but due to competition from larger countries this industry has also diminished with most produce being consumed locally by the population of 110,000.

Grenada gets a lot of rain so water is not a problem – they collect it and treat it in the various treatment plants around the island. The electricity company on the island is Canadian owned and they use diesel generators to produce the power for the island which makes it quite expensive. It costs an average household USD120 per month for electricity. The fuel and oil on the island is purchased from Venezuela.

To the uninitiated, the Southern Caribbean island of Grenada is better known for its political history – U.S. troops intervened in a coup during President Reagan’s administration, at the time a controversial volley in the Cold War in 1983 – I don’t remember this but did some more research as it occurred in my lifetime (see below for more information).

It is also known for Hurricane Ivan, which damaged 90 percent of Grenada’s buildings, destroyed 85 percent of its nutmeg trees and left more than half the population homeless in September 2004. While you’ll still see some lingering effects as you tour around the island — churches without roofs, homes still being rebuilt. The famous nutmeg industry is still recovering from the 2004 hurricane – the trees take between seven and 15 years to mature enough to bear fruit. A year later with the help of international donors (Canada, the United States, China, Venezuela, and the European Union) Grenada had experienced a significant turn around in rebuilding efforts. By 2007, Grenada had participated as planned in the hosting of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

St. George’s is the capital of Grenada. The city is surrounded by a hillside of an old volcano crater and is on a horseshoe-shaped harbor. The city is home of St. George’s University School of Medicine. The main exports are cocoa bean cacao, nutmeg, and mace spice. It has a moderate tropical climate that ensures the success of this spice production. It is known as the Isle of Spice.

In 1666, a wooden fortification was constructed by French colonists on a promontory overlooking Grenada’s natural harbour and named Fort Royale. In 1705, work started on a new star fort on the same site, with four stone-built bastions, to the design of Jean de Giou de Caylus, the Chief Engineer of the “Islands of America” the French West Indies. It was completed in 1710. Meanwhile, the original colonial settlement at the eastern edge of the harbour called Saint Louis after King Louis IX of France, later known as Port Louis, was found to be subject to flooding and malaria, so a new town was constructed called Ville de Fort Royale (“Fort Royal Town”). When the island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the new administration renamed it Saint George’s Town, after the patron saint of England and Fort Royale was renamed Fort George, after King George III. On the 1 November 1775 there was a fire in the town of St. George’s known as the great fire of St George’s. After the great fire of 1771, most of the boarding houses on Granby Street were moved to Gouyave.

Following the withdrawal of Bridgetown, Barbados, in the mid-1880s, St. George’s went on to become the replacement capital of the former colony of the British Windward Islands.

Though St. George’s was discovered by Christopher Columbus on this third voyage in 1498, the island was relatively neglected until 1650, when it was purchased by the governor of Martinique. The French began their colonisation with a series of skirmishes that virtually exterminated the island’s native Carib population. The survivors were pushed north to Le Morne des Sauterurs, where rather than surrender they jumped off the cliff to the jagged rocks below. Today the site of the Carib defeat is known as “Carib’s Leap.”

The average temperature is about 30 °C (86 °F). There are two seasons: the ‘dry’ season is from January to May and the ‘rainy’ season lasts for the rest of the year. There are short spells of rain in the dry period but they last no more than 5 minutes or so. Gray clouds over the mountains are the first sign of rain.

Spices
Nutmeg & Mace
Nutmeg and mace come from the fruit of the aromatic Myrristica fragrans tree. The alien tree was adopted as from March 3, 1967 to the Spice Island. The tree is an evergreen with dark green leaves and small yellow flowers, and grows up to 12 meters tall. It starts bearing fruit after seven or eight years and continues to do so for up to 40 years. The fruit looks like an apricot and when ripe, slit to reveal a walnut sized seed. Covering the shell of the seed are lacy, red-orange strips, which are mace, and inside the shell is the seed itself – nutmeg. It is valued as a cure all for digestive, liver and skin problems and it is believed that it has aphrodisiac qualities as well. It is used extensively for cooking to enhance the flavor of cakes, soups, desserts, drinks and sauces.

Cinnamon
This comes from the inner bark of the cinnamon tree (Cinnamonum verum). Whole or ground, it is a popular household spice internationally. It is used to flavor beverages and cakes.

Clove
This dried flavored flower bud, whole or ground (Syzygium aromaticum) is used at home to season hams, sausages, meats, mincemeat pies, fish, turtle preserves and pickles.

Sugar cane
From June to December, cuttings from the tops of cane are laid in holes about five inches deep by five feet square then covered with soil. As the cane grows taller, fertilizer is used. Between planting and harvesting, bananas, corn, peas, potatoes, and other crops are cultivated. January to May, the ripe cane are cut and delivered to the mill to be ground. Boiling and clarifying the cane juice is the next operation. The juice is strained after grinding and then taken to the clarifying copper to be boiled. (Wood coal is the main source fuel). Lime is added to speed up the operation. The liquid sugar is put into coolers for about 14 hours. The molasses is then drained off and taken to the still house to be made into rum.

Operation Urgent Fury (1983)
Sir Eric Gairy had led Grenada to independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. His term in office coincided with civil strife in Grenada. The political environment was highly charged and although Gairy—head of the Grenada United Labour Party—claimed victory in the general election of 1976, the opposition did not accept the result as legitimate. The civil strife took the form of street violence between Gairy’s private army, the Mongoose Gang, and gangs organized by the New Jewel Movement. In the late 1970s the NJM began planning to overthrow the government. Party members began to receive military training outside of Grenada. On 13 March 1979, while Gairy was out of the country, the NJM—led by Maurice Bishop—launched an armed revolution and overthrew the government, establishing the People’s Revolutionary Government. The leftist New Jewel Movement was seen favorably by much of the Grenadan population.

On 16 October 1983, a party faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard seized power. Bishop was placed under house arrest. Mass protests against the action led to Bishop’s escaping detention and reasserting his authority as the head of the government. Bishop was eventually captured and murdered along with several government officials loyal to him. The army under Hudson Austin then stepped in and formed a military council to rule the country. The governor-general, Paul Scoon, was placed under house arrest. The army announced a four-day total curfew where anyone seen on the streets would be subject to summary execution.

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as the nations of Barbados and Jamaica, appealed to the United States for assistance. According to a reporter for The New York Times, this formal appeal was at the request of the U.S. government, which had already decided to take military action. U.S. officials cited the murder of Bishop and general political instability in a country near U.S. borders, as well as the presence of U.S. medical students at St. George’s University, as reasons for military action. The reporter also claimed that the latter reason was cited in order to gain public support. It was later revealed that Grenada’s Governor General, Paul Scoon, had requested the invasion through secret diplomatic channels. Scoon was well within his rights to take this action under the reserve powers vested in the Crown.

On 25 October, Grenada was invaded by the combined forces of the United States and the Regional Security System (RSS) based in Barbados, in an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury. The U.S. stated this was done at the request of the prime ministers of Barbados and Dominica, Tom Adams and Dame Eugenia Charles, respectively. Nonetheless, the invasion was highly criticized by the governments in Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. The United Nations General Assembly condemned it as “a flagrant violation of international law” by a vote of 108 in favour to 9, with 27 abstentions. The United Nations Security Council considered a similar resolution, which failed to pass when vetoed by the United States.

The Bishop government began constructing the Point Salines International Airport with the help of Britain, Cuba, Libya, Algeria, and other nations. The airport had been first proposed by the British government in 1954, when Grenada was still a British colony. It had been designed by Canadians, underwritten by the British government, and partly built by a London firm. The U.S. government accused Grenada of constructing facilities to aid a Soviet-Cuban military buildup in the Caribbean based upon the 9,000-foot length, which could accommodate the largest Soviet aircraft like the An-12, An-22, and the An-124, which would enhance the Soviet and Cuban transportation of weapons to Central American insurgents and expand Soviet regional influence. Bishop’s government claimed that the airport was built to accommodate commercial aircraft carrying tourists, pointing out that such jets could not land at Pearl’s Airstrip on the island’s north end (5,200 feet) and could not be expanded because its runway abutted a mountain and the ocean at the other end.

Nearly 8,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines had participated in Operation Urgent Fury along with 353 Caribbean allies of the Caribbean Peace Forces. U.S. forces sustained 19 killed and 116 wounded; Cuban forces sustained 25 killed, 59 wounded, and 638 combatants captured. Grenadian forces casualties were 45 killed and 358 wounded; at least 24 civilians were killed, 18 of whom were killed in the accidental bombing of a Grenadian mental hospital.

The date of the invasion (25 October) is now a national holiday in Grenada, called Thanksgiving Day, and the Point Salines International Airport was renamed in honor of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop in 2009 to Maurice Bishop International Airport,

Today we docked in El Guamache on the island of Margarita just off the coast of Venezuela. I had decided to do a kayaking trip whereas all Steve’s table tennis had left him with a sore elbow so he decided to rest up for his upcoming golf games.

There were 24 of us on the kayak tour and we jumped into 4 open top jeeps to go across the island to the National Park. I was joined in my jeep by two guys from Miami, a couple from New York and a woman from Orlando. Lou, the woman from Orlando had visited New Zealand ten years ago and loved it. She thought it was so quaint – like a country stuck in the 1950’s but with internet! I told her we are not that backwards and I have been to some places in the US which truly are stuck in the 1950’s!

We got onto the highway which our driver, Antonio told us was a very important road – it is the only highway on the island that joins the east of the island with the west. We then went off road which was fun and drove alongside the longest beach on the island which is 26km long. Our kayaking guides Alfredo and Jeannine (husband and wife) met us at the kayak camp and we set off into the lagoon. Alfredo said if we had any questions to ask him, if we had any problems ask the wife!

They have a lot of bird and fish life in the lagoon. It is a salt water lagoon that is more salty than the ocean. It was a clear blue sky day with a temperature of 32 degrees – the kayaking created just enough breeze to keep me comfortable. We had to negotiate through some small mangrove openings into different lagoons. It was very picturesque and so quiet.

We saw a lot of bird life – herons and pelicans were flying around. We then went onto a different part of the lagoon and saw the flamingoes. Alfredo then took us into a shallow lagoon where we saw lots of medusa which by scientific definition is a free-swimming sexual form of a coelenterate such as a jellyfish, typically having an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles around the edge. I could see lots of these medusa’s on the bottom of the lagoon. Alfredo picked some of them up to show us the different colours.

After we finished kayaking we had some refreshments which included local rum and coke. We then went for a walk on the longest beach on the island – it is 26km long but we just explored a small portion of it. It was then time to go back to the ship but prior to embarking I purchased a locally sourced and made mother of pearl necklace and earrings.

Margarita Island (Isla de Margarita) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. Primary industries are tourism, fishing and construction.

Christopher Columbus became the first European to arrive on Margarita Island in 1498. The local natives were the Guaiqueries people. The coast of the island was abundant in pearls, which represented almost a third of all New World tribute to the Spanish Crown. Margarita Island was fortified against the increasing threat of pirate attacks, and some fortifications remain today. In 1561, the island was seized by Lope de Aguirre, a notoriously violent and rebellious conquistador. Around 1675 the island was captured again, this time by Red Legs Greaves, a pirate known for his humanity and morality. He captured a fleet of Spanish ships off port, before turning the guns on the forts which he stormed and claimed a large booty of pearls and gold. Construction of the fort Santa Rosa was ordered by the governor, Juan Muñoz de Gadea, after the French buccaneer Marquis de Maintenon attacked the island in early 1676.

The island gained independence from the Spanish in 1814 after the collapse of the First Republic of Venezuela. It became the first permanently free territory in Venezuela. In the same year, Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi was detained for over three years in a dungeon of the Fortress of Santa Rosa on the island in an attempt to put pressure on her husband Juan Bautista Arismendi, who was fighting for independence. Simón Bolívar was confirmed as Commander in Chief of the Venezuelan Republic on the island in 1816. From there he started a nine-year campaign to free Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from the Spanish Crown.

Most of the island’s 420,000 residents live in the more developed eastern part of the island, which includes the large cities of Porlamar and Pampatar along with the state capital of La Asunción. The island can be reached by direct flights from Caracas, scheduled or chartered flights from a number of North American and European cities or ferries from Puerto La Cruz, Cumaná, and La Guaira. The climate is sunny and dry with average temperatures ranging from 24 to 37 °C.

Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America with an estimated population of about 29 million people. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.

Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence, which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of Gran Colombia. It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela.

Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital, Caracas, which is also the largest city in Venezuela. Since the discovery of oil in the early 20th century, Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves and been one of the world’s leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The 1980s oil glut led to an external debt crisis and a long-running economic crisis, in which inflation peaked at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rose to 66% in 1995 as (by 1998) per capita GDP fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak.

The recovery of oil prices after 2001 boosted the Venezuelan economy and facilitated social spending which significantly reduced economic inequality and poverty, although the fallout of the 2008 global financial crisis caused a renewed economic downturn. In February 2013, Venezuela devalued its currency due to the rising shortages in the country. Shortages of items included toilet paper, milk, flour, and other necessities. As of June 2014, Venezuela’s inflation has increased to 62%. This was one of the main causes of the 2014 Venezuelan protests.

United States–Venezuela relations are the bilateral relations between the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Relations have traditionally been characterized by an important trade and investment relationship and cooperation in combating the production and transit of illegal drugs. Relations were strong under conservative neoliberal governments in Venezuela like that of Rafael Caldera. However, tensions increased after the socialist President Hugo Chávez assumed elected office in 1999. Tensions between the countries increased after Venezuela accused the administration of George W. Bush of supporting the Venezuelan failed coup attempt in 2002 against Chavez. Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. in September 2008 in solidarity with Bolivia after a U.S. ambassador was accused of cooperating with violent anti-government groups in that country, though relations were reestablished under President Barack Obama in June 2009. Despite Venezuela’s stated desire for improved relations with the U.S. and its appeals for mutual respect, tensions between both nations are still high as of 2012 due to continuity in U.S. foreign policy under Bush and Obama. In February 2014, Venezuelan Government ordered three American diplomats to leave the country on charges of promoting violence.

With rising oil prices and Venezuela’s oil exports accounting for the bulk of trade, bilateral trade between the US and Venezuela is surging, with US companies and the Venezuelan government benefiting. Nonetheless, since May 2006, the Department of State that, pursuant to Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, has prohibited the sale of defense articles and services to Venezuela because of lack of cooperation on anti-terrorism efforts.

Chávez dared the U.S. on 14 March 2008 to put Venezuela on a list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, calling it one more attempt by Washington, D.C. to undermine him for political reasons.

In May 2011, Venezuela was one of the few countries to condemn the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

Venezuela and the United States have not had ambassadors in each other’s capitals since 2010.

Shy pink flamingoes, gentle sad-eyed donkeys and elusive sea horses all share something quite rare in today’s world. They flourish on or around Bonaire, one of the ABC isles (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) deep in the Southern Caribbean. Each lives in sanctuaries set up by island residents who boast an awareness and level of conservation that few countries can match.

Though ecotourism is one of the latest buzzwords in the travel world, Bonaire, just 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela, was a world leader in the field of ecology long before the term was even coined. The isle’s greatest claim to fame is proudly touted on its license plates — “Diver’s Paradise.” This is no tourist-bureau puffery, although many believe that the license plates should read “Nature Lovers’ Paradise.” Beyond the diving and snorkeling, there’s windsurfing, kayaking, bird watching, kite boarding, fishing, mountain biking and horseback riding.

Many Caribbean islands brag about their underwater worlds, but Bonaire has set the standard by which everywhere else in the world is measured — it led the way by protecting sea turtles back in 1961, banning spear-fishing in 1971, making it illegal to remove live coral in 1975 and establishing the first marine park in 1979. It also helps that the island is outside the traditional hurricane zone and is a desert island with no river runoff into the sea.

It has been called “Arizona by the Sea” for its climate and abundance of cacti. There is no rainy season and temperatures are consistently pleasant with lows in the 20s and highs in the 30’s. Unlike its better-known neighbors, Aruba and Curacao, this isle of 20,000 residents is quiet and laid-back. There are no flashy Las Vegas-type casinos as in Aruba or a showy pastel-colored capital city as in Curacao.

The first recorded Bonaire scuba diving began back in 1962 when Don Stewart, a would-be California actor, dropped anchor on this small, arid boomerang of an island. Considered the father of Bonaire diving, he was the first to use fixed moorings to prevent coral damage and helped set up the Caribbean’s first island-wide underwater park. He has received numerous international awards for his conservation efforts. The park is a United Nations Environmental Program Model Marine Protected Area.

“By the mid 70’s I developed the belief that divers are entitled to unrestricted use of the world’s seas for pleasure, knowledge and economic advantage, but must leave no mark,” Stewart said. “I like to think of Bonaire as the universal center of reef ecology. We’re like Greenwich, England: small and unknown, but everyone is setting their watches by us.”

Given the above accolades we decided we needed to get out and about on the island to see this nature first hand. We took a cycle tour to Lake Goto. Our guide Jason met us at the pier and we drove out of town and got on our bikes. We biked alongside the coast line which was stunning – the water is so clear. Along the way we saw some brightly painted yellow stones with names on them – these apparently represent dive sites which are just off the shore – the majority of the dive sites surrounding Bonaire can be reached from the shore – no boat required.

It was very warm and humid but thankfully there was a breeze. We had a few stops along the way and Jason talked about the surroundings. Aloe Vera used to be grown and produced on the island but this has since been abandoned. Jason peeled some aloe vera for us to try – it is so bitter! He said there are three uses for aloe – the first is having a plant outside your front door to ensure a happy and healthy life, the second is the various medicinal uses and the third is mixing it with limestone to create a cement like paste that is used in the building trade. The yellow coloured houses we saw around the island are a result of this process.

At the end of the island we could see these large storage tanks – these are used to transfer various things from larger ships to smaller ships heading to Venezuela. Bonaire has a naturally deep port whereas Venezuela doesn’t. It is also used for ships that are not welcome in Venezuela – the products are transferred to ships bearing flags that are welcome in Venezuela.

We then headed inland to Lake Goto. Jason had us do an exercise on the edge of one part of the lake – he split us into girls and boys and we had to come up with a word about the opposite sex that we disliked. Crikey – one word! We then had to shout this word at the top of our lungs to hear the echo across the lake. The girls came up with snore while the boys came up with strip – go figure? Anyway, legend has it that this was the way the Indians used to communicate with each other across the lake in conjunction with smoke signals.

We then went around the lake to see if we could spot the pink flamingos and wallah there they were. Unfortunately they were a little way off shore but when the sun was on them you could see the lovely pink colour. This pink colour is a result of their diet of brine shrimp. Apparently in the mating season the numbers get to 15,000. Jason said there are currently about 200 on the lake. They are highly social birds among their own species but are skittish around humans.

With a comfortably dry climate and steady trade winds, Bonaire has long been recognised as and ideal locale for the production of salt. For over three centuries, the island’s culture and prosperity was dependant upon this most important of the world’s spices. Salt is still produced on Bonaire, although the stunning salt beds of Pekelmeer are also home to one of the hemisphere’s great populations of flamingoes.

We then carried onto a little settlement called Rincon where they had a cactus distillery. After my experience with the aloe vera I wasn’t too keen on cactus liqueur so I settled for a rum ball – yum!

It was then back on the bus to return to the ship. Along the way we saw donkeys and goats. Apparently the goats are owned by various farmers who let them out during the day – they then roam freely grazing where they can and return home in the evening on their own accord. Well most of them do says Jason. We really enjoyed our day out on the bikes exploring Bonaire and learning about all sorts of things. We also learnt that we definitely need to work on our bike fitness when we get home, especially given we have three bike trips on the horizon when we return to Aotearoa : )

We then enjoyed a stroll through Kralendijk (pronounced Crawl-en-dike) which is the capital of Bonaire.

Yesterday we docked in Aruba at 12pm and caught a taxi to Tierra del Sol Golf Course with another couple on the ship. Aruba is part of the ABC Islands in the deepest part of the southern Caribbean. The other two islands that form the ABC islands are Bonaire and Curacao which are all under Dutch rule and are also referred to as the Dutch Antilles.

The taxi driver was in a hurry to get back to the port to get another fare so drove at break neck speed. Surprisingly I managed to get a quick look at the surroundings that were flying by – I noticed that the majority of the road signs and shop signage was in English. Most locals speak English, Spanish and Dutch, as well as Papiamento — a language native to the ABC islands. Bon Bini means welcome : )

“One Happy Island.” This, the official motto of Aruba, is plastered on each taxi’s license plate. Aruba’s economy is fueled by tourists’ dollars, and much of the island is heavily developed for them. Beyond that, Aruba has a rich, layered heritage. The first people to inhabit the island were a nation of Arawak Indians. (The name Aruba seems to have derived from the Arawak Indian word oibubai, which means guide.) In 1499, the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda laid claim to the territory for Queen Isabella. Nearly 200 years later, the Dutch captured the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire from the Spanish, and much of that heritage can be seen in its pastel Old World architecture.

We checked in at the club house and then went to the driving range which sits on a hill facing the Caribbean where a head wind torments you. I have decided that wind is the natural element that I dislike the most. I was thinking this was going to be a fun round if we have to contend with this wind the whole way – I needn’t have worried as most of the holes were lower down and some were protected by various natural barriers. There were a couple of holes on the back nine though that were rather challenging as they were straight into the wind.

The course which opened in January 1995, was designed by Robert Trent Jones and was really enjoyable. The terrain was similar to what we have encountered in the desert in Arizona with lots of cacti and scrubby foliage. We played the first 10 holes on our own and then joined up with the couple we had shared a taxi with – Bill & Chris from Vancouver.

After golf we went back to the ship which was docked in Oranjestad (translation Orange Town) . The town was built around Fort Zoutman shortly after it was built in 1796 . Initially the town had no official name, being known only as the town on the Bay of Horses (Paardenbaai in Dutch), a place from which native-bred horses were raised and exported to neighboring Curaçao. The town has been the capital city of the island ever since and has a current population of about 30,000.

The city is named after the first King Willem van Oranje-Nassau (William of Orange-Nassau) – the first heir to the Dutch House of Orange. The name was conferred on the city in the 1820s when interest in Aruba increased due to the discovery of (alluvial) gold deposits.

Oranjestad is a jumping nightlife mecca, filled with restaurants, cafes, clubs, lounges, bars and casinos as we discovered when we went back ashore to explore. We went and had a few drinks at a bar called Mojito’s – good timing too as it was happy hour.

Aruba’s rich, multicultural past is reflected in the cuisine, architecture and warm, friendly people. What began as a fishing outpost for Amerindians has changed hands between the Spanish and Dutch throughout the centuries, and is now a diverse constituent country of the Netherlands. The population of Aruba is about 105,000 which is made up of a broad international mixture of well educated people with a pleasant nature and a zest for hospitality. The modern Aruban is generally of mixed ancestry, claiming Caquetio Indian, African and European roots. Aruba’s strong economy, excellent living conditions and prime weather continue to attract individuals from all over the world. Today, the island claims more than 90 different nationalities, who live and work peacefully on the island.

Best of all, there really is no bad time to visit Aruba. Located only 20 miles north of Venezuela, temperatures are consistently pleasant (lows in the 20s, highs in the 30s), there’s no “rainy” season, and its location is far below the Atlantic hurricane belt, so it’s less likely to be impacted by storms. Aruba’s dry climate is home to large mondis (forests of cacti), and you may feel like you are in Arizona, rather than the Caribbean!

After another day at sea we arrived in the Bahamas. It was sunny but very windy. We went ashore to be greeted by lots of singing and dancing and general mayhem among the locals – they are an outgoing bunch and although not unfriendly definitely not as friendly as the Bermudians.

The town of Nassau which is the capital of the Bahamas is a bustling little place with mainly t-shirt and jewellery stores aimed at the tourists on Bay Street which is the main shopping street. We had booked a Bites of Nassau Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour but it didn’t start until 11.30am so we checked out the town. We went to the Straw Market where the locals sell straw hats, baskets, carved figures, necklaces and the like. Here you can barter with the vendors to get the best price.

We then went to the Christ Church Cathedral which was our meeting place for the tour. Dating from 1837, this Gothic Episcopal cathedral is the venue of many important state ceremonies, including the opening of the Supreme Court, during which a procession of bewigged, robed judges emerges, followed by barristers, and accompanied by music from the police band.

Our tour guide from Tru Bahamian Food Tours was Murray a born and bred Bahamian. He was so enthusiastic, knowledgeable and passionate we knew we were in for a good few hours.

Our first stop was Bahamian Cookin’ which has been owned and operated by Mrs Wilson and her family for the past 25 years. Here some of the group had Conc fritters – not being shellfish fans we had groper bites. They were delicious. Murray showed us a conc shell and told us how they dive for the conc’s and extract the meat from the shell. They never discard the empty conc shell’s where they find them as the conc’s will not return there. Instead some of the shell’s are ground down and used as building materials. Next up was twice cooked chicken, rice and peas, sweet potatoes, coleslaw and macaroni cheese. It was delicious – good homely flavours.

We then stopped off at Balcony House which is the oldest wooden building in Nassau having been built in the 17th century. We noticed a lot of the buildings were this pink colour which relates to the sap of a tree that they use to colour the paint.

We then walked through Graycliff – a Georgian-style hotel and restaurant, this stomping ground of the rich and famous was constructed by Captain John Howard Graysmith in the 1720s. In the 1920s, it achieved notoriety when it was run by Polly Leach, a pal of gangster Al Capone. Later, under royal ownership, it attracted such famous guests as Winston Churchill and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The person that now owns it has diversified into cigar and chocolate making. As we walked through the lobby we noted it was pretty fancy – it costs USD900 per night to stay there and is a known celebrity spot. Apparently Jay-Z proposed to Beyonce there and it is not uncommon to see members of the Saudi Royal Family lying around the pool. You can actually pay USD25 per day to go and use the pool and the wifi.

We went to the cigar factory but didn’t see any cigars being made – instead we had a beer tasting. The beer we tasted was a beer brewed locally called Sands using the Bahamian spring water. It was a light beer which is actually in contrast to what they prefer to drink which is a dark lager. Due to the hot temperatures the lager gets warm too quickly making it taste bitter hence the lighter Sands which doesn’t take on that bitter taste if it gets too warm.

We then went across the courtyard to the chocolate factory and shop. We sampled a key lime pie flavoured white chocolate which was delicious. It shouldn’t really be called chocolate as it contains milk. The second tasting was a salted caramel dark chocolate – delicious. The chocolates are all handmade. At the moment they are importing the cacoa but have planted some trial plants on the island to see how they grow.

The Bahamas was under British rule until they gained independence in 1973. They are still part of the Commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth being their head of State and have a similar government and legal system as other Commonwealth countries. We walked through the grounds of Government house which sits up on a hill overlooking the town. This hill used to have some significance with the poorer and darker people living over the hill as opposed to the white merchants living in the main town area of Nassau. This house is the official residence of the archipelago’s governor-general, the queen’s representative to The Bahamas. (The post today is largely ceremonial, as an elected prime minister does the actual governing.) This pink-and-white neoclassical mansion dates from the early 19th century. Poised on its front steps is a rather jaunty statue of Christopher Columbus.

We found an old English post box outside Government House that dated back to King George’s reign – it had GR on it rather than the current ER.

We then went to Van Breugel’s Bistro and Bar for seafood chowder or tomato soup in the case of the non shellfish lovers. The chowder and soup had a Thai influence and were quite spicy. The bread and garlic butter tempered the spiciness. It was interesting as the spiciness really hit the back of your throat rather than set your lips on fire as I have found most spicy food does. Given that I am not a spicy food lover I actually quite enjoyed it – it was very tasty with small amounts of basil and feta in it. Van Breugel’s is one of the high end restaurants in town and is frequented by a lot of the Government and business people of the Bahamas.

Time for our educational stop at Pure Carribean which is a specialty tea and spice merchant – my sort of place. Murray had pointed out a few trees around the town on our walk and explained the uses of some of them. The Bahamians place a heavy reliance on natural medicines and Murray’s knowledge of these things was fantastic. We smelt and tasted a few of the local products.

We then went to Athena Cafe and Bar which is a Greek restaurant but the patriarch of the restaurant had given our table away so we went to our last tasting before back tracking. Our last tasting was the Tortuga Rum Cake Company – the owners had started distilling rum which sold OK before they experimented with adding it to cakes – it was an instant success. The cake was very moist and although apparently due to the cooking process only contains 1% alcohol you could definitely taste the rum. We only had a small piece and that was definitely enough for me. Steve wouldn’t touch it – sprits of any description taste like cough medicine to him.

We back tracked to Athena where we had a lovely Greek salad with sheep’s milk feta and kalamata olives. They import the cheese and olives from Greece and Murray emphasised that feta is not feta unless it is made from sheep’s milk. The family that own this restaurant have been on the island for many years and below the restaurant is a jewellery store which is also owned and operated by the family.

There were eight of us on the tour – 2 Canadians, 4 English people and us 2 Kiwis. Murray talked the entire time – as I said earlier his knowledge was amazing but there was a lot to take in so I don’t feel like I have done him justice above. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 4 hours and we bid fond farewells to our fellow tour party members.

Bahama Basics
Country – The Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Capital – Nassau, New Providence Island
Official Language – English
Unofficial Language – Bahamian Dialect, Creole
Population & Area – Over 380,000 people representing 50 countries from around the world. The Bahamas is an archipelago made up of over 700 islands and 2,000 cays, spanning a surface area of 5,382 square miles from the southeastern coast of Florida to the northwestern coast of Haiti.
Climate – Average temperatures range from 23 to 30 degrees celsius year round. Summer runs from late May to September and includes the rainy season. Winter is much cooler and brings with it a refreshing island breeze.
National Tree – Lignum Vitae
National Flower – Yellow Elder
National Bird – Flamingo
National Flag – made up of three colours – the aquamarine represents the ocean, gold represents the rising sun and the black represents the strength and unity of the people
Political Status – Independent Parliamentary Democracy, Member of Commonwealth States
Head of State – Queen Elizabeth II
Governor General – Dame Marguerite Pindling
Prime Minister – Perry Christie
Major Industries – Tourism, Financial Services, Fishing & Agriculture (they used to be a leading pineapple producer before the Philippines & Hawaii over took them)
Currency – The Bahamas has it’s own currency called the Bahamian Dollar but the Bahamian Dollar is pegged to the US Dollar so the currencies are used interchangeably
Claims to Fame – Columbus’ first landfall, Ernest Hemingway’s hang out, Academy award winner Sidney Poitier’s birthplace, Pirates of the Caribbean & James Bond movies, Olympic gold medal sprinters, World’s third largest barrier reef and the clearest waters on the planet.

Nassau’s modern growth began in the late eighteenth century, with the influx of thousands of American Loyalists and their slaves to the Bahamas following the American Revolutionary War. Many of them settled in Nassau (then and still the commerce capital of the Bahamas) and eventually came to outnumber the original inhabitants.

As the population of Nassau grew, so did its populated areas. Today the city dominates the entire island and its satellite, Paradise Island. However, until the post-Second World War era, the outer suburbs scarcely existed. Most of New Providence was uncultivated bush until Loyalists were resettled here following the American Revolutionary War; they established several plantations, such as Clifton and Tusculum. Slaves were imported as labour.

After the British abolished the international slave trade in 1807, they resettled thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy on New Providence (at Adelaide Village and Gambier Village), along with other islands such as Grand Bahama, Exuma, Abaco and Inagua. In addition, slaves freed from American ships, such as the Creole case in 1841, were allowed to settle here. The largest concentration of Africans historically lived in the “Over-the-Hill” suburbs of Grants Town and Bain Town to the south of the city of Nassau, while most of the inhabitants of European descent lived on the island’s northern coastal ridges.

Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town; it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. Rebuilt, it was renamed Nassau in 1695 under Governor Nicholas Trott in honour of the Dutch Stadtholder and later also King of England, Scotland and Ireland, William III from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Due to no effective Governors (after Trott), The Nassau was in bad shape. In 1703 Spanish and French allied forces briefly occupied Nassau.

From 1703 to 1718 there was no governor in the colony and by 1713, the sparsely settled Bahamas had become a piratehaven. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau and that they outnumbered the mere hundred of inhabitants in the town. They proclaimed Nassau a pirate republic, establishing themselves as “governors.” Examples of pirates that used Nassau as their base are Charles Vane, Thomas Barrow, Benjamin Hornigold, Calico Jack Rackham, and the infamous Edward Teach, known as “Blackbeard”; along with female pirates such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

In 1718, the British sought to regain control of the islands and appointed Captain Woodes Rogers as Royal governor. He successfully clamped down on the pirates, reformed the civil administration, and restored commerce. Rogers cleaned up Nassau and rebuilt the fort, using his own wealth to try to overcome problems. In 1720 the Spanish made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Nassau.

During the American Civil War, Nassau served as a port for blockade runners making their way to and from ports along the southern Atlantic Coast for continued trade with the Confederacy.

In the 1920s and 1930s Nassau profited from Prohibition.

Today we docked in Santa Marta, Colombia. Santa Marta is the oldest city in Colombia, founded in 1525 by a Spanish Conquistador, the city is located on the northern coast of South America in a beautiful bay of quiet Caribbean waters. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, it was populated by a native groups of Indians that included the Karib & the Arawak. Among the indigenous inhabitants, the Tairona had the most complex social, economic, religious and political organization; they also developed an intricate and advanced system of terraces and irrigation to support their agriculture.

Nowadays, this city of nearly half a million residents finds that the economic impact of the region’s banana plantations has been surpassed by an increasing number of tourist activities that are enhanced by the city’s exuberant tropical vegetation, topographical contrasts and emerald-colored ocean.

Up until a few years ago, this port town 150 miles north of Cartagena was a hotbed of criminal activity, like so many other places in an increasingly calm Columbia. Today, much of the historic center has been freshly scrubbed, parks sprout flowers and greenery and people mingle on the shady edges of the Plaza de la Catedral or relax on benches at the Parque Bolivar (named after Simon Bolivar, who liberated Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador and who died in Santa Marta).

While the city is no longer dangerous — thanks to a strong police presence — even a cursory walk around downtown Santa Marta reveals a place in transition. Artfully restored 19th-century buildings sit alongside crumbling structures. Boutique design hotels like La Casa del Farol, with rooms conjuring Paris or New York, have popped up next to youth hostels. Glassy condos rise along the palm-tree-lined boardwalk, where below, men hawk 10-cent shots of strong black coffee from pushcarts.

Santa Marta’s flag consists of two colors: white and blue. White symbolizes peace, in that all are united without restriction. Blue symbolizes the sky, the sea, the magic found in the horizon, and the snow-capped Sierra Madre mountains.

We took a tour to Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta where we walked through a lush forest to see the Quebrada Valencia waterfalls. The park is of such ecological and cultural importance that UNESCO declared it a Biosphere Reserve. Wildlife abounds, including Sierra parrots, tapirs and paramo deer. A variety of exotic flora also flourishes.

We had to cross a few rivers to get to the waterfalls. There were quite a few locals swimming in the natural pools. I climbed up a bit further to see higher up the waterfall – it is surrounded by lush vegetation. I could hear a lot of birdlife but unfortunately I didn’t manage to see any – the bush is very dense.

On the way to the waterfall we passed a few locals on horseback and a few little houses with chickens roaming wild. The locals had come out and were cooking local foods on barrel BBQ’s. There was a small banana plantation along the way also. I bought some organic chocolate from one of the locals on the way back – it is just cacoa powder and cacao butter and has no sugar added – it smells like chocolate but is quite bitter. Might have to take it back to Switzerland at Christmas time, melt it down, add maple syrup to sweeten it and give those Swiss a run for their money on the chocolate front : )

On the way back from the waterfall these four local teenagers were sort of walking with us – they kept looking at us and smiling and giggling. Towards the end of the walk one of them said in broken English – can we take your photo. I said sure – next minute I had the two girls and a guy lining up to have their photo with me. World famous in the Colombian forest : )

The temperature was about 32 degrees and 70% humidity – it was nice to feel heat like that again. We drove back through the town on the way back to the port and it was so busy – there were street vendors and people everywhere. It reminded us of Thailand but crazier.

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country situated in the northwest of South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and it shares maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments.

The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, with its capital at Bogotá. Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 “Gran Colombia” had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Panama seceded in 1903.

Since the 1960s, the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict. The conflict escalated in the 1990s, but since 2000 the conflict has decreased considerably.

Colombia is ethnically diverse, the descendants of the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, Africans originally brought to the country as slaves, and 20th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East have produced a diverse cultural heritage. This has also been influenced by Colombia’s varied geography, and the imposing landscape of the country has resulted in the development of very strong regional identities. The majority of the urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains, but Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines.

Ecologically, Colombia is one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, and is considered the most megadiverse per square kilometer. Colombia is a middle power with the third largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Its principal industries include oil, mining, chemicals, health related products, food processing, agricultural products, textile and fabrics, garments, forest products, machinery, electronics, military products, metal products, home and office material, construction equipment and materials, banking, financial services, software, IT services and the automotive industry.

Today is Thursday November the 27th – Thanksgiving Day and we are back on the Atlantic enroute to the Bahamas. There are a lot of Americans on the ship so there has been a lot of talk about Thanksgiving. I have never really understood what Thanksgiving is all about so thanks to the daily bulletin put out by Oceania I now understand:

Thanksgiving is said to originate from a mix of European and Native traditions where festivals were held to give thanks for a good harvest and for workers to rejoice together after much hard labour. It’s celebration is now an annual tradition in many parts of the world, ranging from the lower key Harvest Festivals in the churches in England to the popular Thanksgiving celebrations marked in Canada and Grenada in October, in Liberia on the first Thursday of November and in both the United States of America and in Leiden, Netherlands on the fourth Thursday in November.

It was back in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed that a national day of thanksgiving should be celebrated in the United States. Unlike other festivals and celebrations of red, white and blue, the traditional autumn colours of gold, orange and brown are used to represent fall.

The modern American Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts where the settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. The feast is now represented by the popular Thanksgiving dinner, traditionally featuring turkey as its centrepiece, so renowned that the National Turkey Federation has presented the President with a live turkey and two dressed turkeys as part of a ceremony held every year since 1947.

In 1987 Ronald Reagan declared the live turkey should be “pardoned” so it could live out the rest of its days on a nearby farm. Subsequent Presidents have continued this developing tradition. It is said that Reagan adopted the idea from a similar event hosted by Harry Truman which he took from an anecdote of Abraham Lincoln, pardoning his son’s pet turkey.

Popular sports fixtures and lavish parades now run alongside traditional family gatherings as the fourth Thursday in November stretches into a four day weekend. The world famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been held annually in New York since 1924 and features floats with scenes from Broadway plays, balloons of cartoon characters and high school marching bands. The float that traditionally ends the parade is the Santa Claus float, the arrival of which is an unofficial sign of the beginning of the commercial Christmas season. Other parades are held the length and breadth of the US, including one of the largest to be found in Detroit, where the city Mayor presents Santa Claus with a key to the city.

We decided to partake in the Thanksgiving menu offered in Jacques the French restaurant on the boat : )