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February 1st-2nd
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We leave Winter and head south :-) !
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Friday night - & we leave tomorrow !!
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Calgary - Saddledome in foreground
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Wow! -23! Snow clearing machines?
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February 2nd
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And de-icing! Brrrrr!!
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Westjet - super roomy and a hat rack!
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Atlanta ... never been here before
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Nice sunset coming into Fort Lauderdale
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February 3rd
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The Embassy courtyard - where we stayed - a great hotel!
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Why Jim says he won't eat fish & chips here :-)
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Our water taxi awaits ... for the Ft. Lauderdale waterways
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Lunch with & Chris and Janet at the Rooftop Bar
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February 4th
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Fort Lauderdale looking back from the Majestic Princess
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Our super nice minisuit - even Jill would be happy here - a bathtub !!
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Our super nice minisuit ... lots of room for computers, etc
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And lots of room for entertaining and interviews
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February 4th & 5th
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Just finished our 7:00 am swim in the indoor pool
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After a great group dinner in the dining room Kathy got this pic
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Jim & Karen on their way to the wine bar after a great dinner
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Kathy & Mark heading to the wine bar with temps of 70 + F :-)
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February 5th & 6th
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The Princess crew has been great to us
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They have the room set up theatre style
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Ed Peake entertaining our group
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The crew off to do room deliveries
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February 7th
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Ha ha ... our kind of port ... HH all day on Sint Maarten!
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Toppers Rhum Distillery - our first excursion, in Cole Bay
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The model of the distillery as our guide explained the process of making Rhum
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We got to try all of these, and more!
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February 7th
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Gotta like the wifi password - and that we did!
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Some more of the many samples we got to try - some were super good!
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Our tour guide, "Ash", points at more bottles for us to sample
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2 of our group were asked to cook and bartend (actually the girl's a doctor)
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February 7th
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The bottling conveyor, then corked by hand, the labled on the conveyor
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Enough rhum ... now we have confidence to try out the snorkle gear!
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We found a super nice beach all to our selves (to start with anyway)
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Then we had a camera war ... not sure who won!
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February 7th
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It's been years since we snorkled so we're practicing here
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It took a bit but we think we got the hang of it (we hope)
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The other half of the earlier camera war
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Kathy down there on our beautiful sand beach
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February 7th & 8th
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A drink at the beach bar ... relaxing and really nice
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When you do a selfie you don't notice your drink disappearing
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On the road back we could see our ship, with four others, across the bay
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Jim, Kathy, and Karen walking up the dock for a day at St Kitts
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February 8th
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On St Kitts. This is where you used to go to buy your slaves
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Enlarge this and you'll see a pile of Egrets (birds)
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A private taxi tour with Jim & Karen on St Kitts Sweet Island
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Kathy and Mark got sucked into paying the owners $10 each ...
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February 8th
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But it was kinda cool ... they are an African Green Vervet Monkey
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Atlantic on the left and Caribbean on the right - great view up here!
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One of the many beautiful bays and beaches on St Kitts
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Karen and Kathy getting the loungers ready for their guys :-)
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February 8th
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Us on holiday! A little rocky here but super nice warm ocean water!
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The beach goes for a long way ... and crystal clear water
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Very scenic ... great shots in both directions!
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Kathy got the camera and caught Mark on his way out ...
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February 8th
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And she didn't stop there. You can see I really enjoyed the water!
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Heading in for a bit of sun and a drink
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The girl showing me how to pose but it was too late ...
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Jim talking to Hetricks on the way back down the boardwalk
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February 8th & 9th
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The red dot is the ship and we went to Frigate Bay Beach
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This pic of Chris and Janet was sent to Chris' sister Michelle
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Pulling in at St Lucia and up by the Silver Sea's Silver Moon
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Ssshhhhh ... Kathy making coffee in our room 1st thing in the AM
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February 9th
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The Viking Sea pulling in behind us as we enjoy our morning coffee
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Kathy posing on the "L" at St Lucia while we awaited our boat
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A selfie in front of the "ferry dock" where we were to meet the boat
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The path to the ferry dock - we were sure we had the wrong place
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February 9th
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Guess we're in the right place as there's the "Trick Sea", our ride
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The Majestic Princess from our boat as we headed out to sea
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Storage tanks for freighters to drop off crude oil that is then sent to another island to get refined
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Four other couples, the captain & our guide, and us on the Trick Sea
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February 9th
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The Mangrove ... just stopping for ice (which sounds promising) :-)
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Back out to sea ... some pretty fancy houses and boats in here
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Hotels; with separate rooms $82 per night, the other big one, $1800
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The breasts of the female island behind & like a human one is usually bigger
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February 9th
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Pulling in to Sugar Beach for an awesome 45 minutes to snorkel
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"Trouble", our guide, handing out beer and rum punch to all of us
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A dip in the hot sulfur mud ponds - felt super nice and smooth
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Then they painted us with darker mud (except for one hand print Mark did)
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February 9th
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Our guide had my camera and made good use of it while we rinsed off
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They told Kathy to leave her face for photos :-) Smile!
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On the board walk above the pool with the falls
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It looks cold ... but everyone else is going in so I guess ...
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February 9th
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Not like it looked, in fact it wasn't that cold after all
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I'm thinking I now have most of the mud off Kathy's face
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And here we are all nice and clean and ready for formal night ...
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Our cat fix on the walk out - a photo for Jill and Erica!
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February 9th
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Mark had the Marlin. Kathy said she thought you hung them on the wall.
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Kathy had the BBQ chicken and said it was really good
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Here's our whole group enjoying an included lunch that was very good
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Almost like an old western town looking up a side street
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February 9th
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A crack in the wall is actually a cave, you could hear and see the bats inside
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Lovers Rock. Our captain guided the boat in through it
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Kids jumped off the top and swam to the boat to get paid by us ...
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When going through the hole in the rock we kissed for the photo :-)
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February 9th
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Sandals Resort ... one of three Sandals on the island
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4 of our group got let off here ... they jumped off the boat
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Trouble handed the bags to them when they got to the bow and could stand
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All four made it, girls standing but the guys were knocked down by the waves
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February 9th & 10th
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Six of us still on the boat and heading home after a great day
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Our reservation for us and Jim & Karen at the steak house - stay tuned
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Kathy, Janet, Chris, Gary, & Marilyn waiting on our cave tour
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Beth & Larry ... memories? -:) ... head protection for the hard hats to follow
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February 10th
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This tour explained most of the islands were volcanic but Barbados was coral
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Hard hats on and ready for the Harrison Cave Tour to start
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Pretty incredible caves, stalactites and stalagmites everywhere!
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And water and pools, ponds, and voids everywhere you look
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February 10th
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85% natural and the rest built so we could get to see this amazing place
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No it's not ice, it's natural formations from water and limestone, etc
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Big pools in huge caves all along our train route
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Our guide Hailey was awesome ... explaining stuff to us behind the group
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February 10th
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She took this photo of Kathy and I as the group got ready to leave
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Another large pool ... not very deep but very deep silty bottom
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One more look at stalactites and stalagmites as we finish our train ride
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A beautiful place - very nicely put together for the public to enjoy
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February 10th & 11th
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Years back the whole island was sugar cane, this is some that's left
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Mark standing by the Barbados sign as we return to the ship (left)
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The Club Med 2 in port as we pull alongside in Trinidad
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The city hall building for the City of Port of Spain, Trinidad
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February 11th
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Six of us did 12,900 steps around Trinidad ... so friendly!
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The performing arts theatre ... massive and super nice!
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Some really nice, architecturally historical homes along our walk
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This shows one of several in a row of 5 or 6
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February 11th & 12th
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We met up with Chris and Janet for a photo at the sign on the walk back
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Our bus as we do a private group tour of Grenada
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Bamboo grows wild here and is used for many different things
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Jim said "too bad there wasn't any greenery on Grenada to look at :-)"
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February 12th
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It is a very lush island. Our tour destination was Belmont Estate
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A fairly large plantation that grew cocoa and more, and made chocolate
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Janet and Kathy pondering their next step ...
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Which turned out to be a Belmont Estate rep showing us a fresh cocoa pod
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February 12th
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and the cocoa beans inside the pod that he had cut open
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Kathy holds one bean cut in half ... quite bitter tasting
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One of the drying racks that rolls in and out from under the building
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One of the many drying racks inside one of the green houses
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February 12th
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Some great examples of some of the many fruit grown on Grenada
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A sign and photos showing the history of the Cocoa industry here
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An African Tulip Tree with it's huge flowers
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A very scenic and super well kept place. Kathy posing by a very old wall
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February 12th
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After a group lunch in the onsite restaurant we did a group photo
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Back on our buses we saw a reminder of tubing with J & K a few years ago
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Another kitty ... more like ours than the last one but still small
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A roof top greeter at our stop at Grand Etang National Park
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February 12th & 13th
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Super hilly, narrow, and they drive on the wrong side of the road
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Back on board Mark MC's the evening get-together in a super nice theatre
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Look what we found ... no Okanagan wines in it though :-(
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Kathy talking to the executive chef in our private group galley tour
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February 13th
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Another private group tour, this time the ship's galley
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Stainless steel everywhere! These are a few of their ovens
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The list, in order of rank, of the approximately 280 cook staff
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Marilyn and Gary Pinder in our cabin for an interview for the radio show
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February 14th
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Alongside in Curacao ... love the colour of the water!
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It's hard to show in pictures but compare this photo with the next one
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The bridge opens & closes left to right horizontally on boat shaped floats
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It's now open and everyone is allowed to walk across. Very unique!
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February 14th
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A very pretty little town and you can see a few of the floats under the bridge
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One of two blue boxes containing the engines, over the legs, for the bridge
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Stopped in here to make a valentines day dinner reservation :-) for tonight
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Janet samples the blue Curacao that was used to make the Blue Lagoon drinks
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February 14th
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Amazing - he had hearts braided in his hair for Valentines Day
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Our waitress at the 5 O'clock Somewhere Bar & Grill
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Now back to "The City Curacao" for another Blue Lagoon, appies, & dinner
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Valentines Day is Chris & Janet's anniversary of their engagement
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February 14th
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Our waitress took a photo for us at the dinner table
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The moving bridge lit up special for Valentines Day
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Had to do a Valentines Day selfie with the bridge background
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Looking back from the bridge at where we had dinner by the blue light
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February 14th
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Our waitress took a photo for us at the dinner table
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The moving bridge lit up special for Valentines Day
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Had to do a Valentines Day selfie with the bridge background
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Looking back from the bridge at where we had dinner by the blue light
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February 14th & 15th
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Chris & Janet had a small engraved padlock that they locked to a branch
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These two are having too much fun - from mudslides to blue martinis
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Alongside at Aruba ... another pretty & clean little Caribbean Island
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We docked early here so saw the sun rise above the town
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February 14th & 15th
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Debbie and Marilyn joined Jim, Karen, Kathy, & Mark at Eagle Beach
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This guy is making a killing at $10 per chair & $35 per umbrella
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A nice day swimming and sun tanning on our last beach day, Aruba
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One last beach day selfie in the sun! Note the sand around us :-)
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February 17th
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We watched other lucky people heading out on the Emerald Princess
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The Hollywood Lounge and our "don't make me go home" reception
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A farwell to our super pawnshop guitar - donated to the ship staff
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One of our tables waving to the kitchen staff at the "Baked Alaska" parade
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February 18th, 19th, & 20th
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Flying out of Ft Lauderdale we saw the Majestic Princess (with Jim & Karen)
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On the flight we got free wine and a cheese plate (both were ok)
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Back at home and laundry! (not sure why Kathy's pile is so much bigger)
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The ship photographer's pictures of us ... and the next row too ...
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February 20th
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We have announced the 2026 cruise destination! A Bucket List Trip for many!
February 16th to March 7th, 2026
Machu Picchu Tour PLUS a 14 day Incas and Aztecs cruise on the Oceana Vista
from Lima Peru to San Diego! Download the
2026 cruise info here.
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