Posts Tagged ‘Caribbean’

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Skywatch Friday: Gran Piton

June 11, 2010

Gran Piton, St. Lucia. September 13, 2001.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

We’ve had rain off and on during this week, and I didn’t get out to take pictures of the sky.  So I went to my archives and pulled out this photo.

Gran Piton is one of the iconic scenes on the island of St. Lucia.  This picture of the mountain against the cloudy Caribbean sky was taken from a catamaran off the coast.  We visited St. Lucia on our honeymoon cruise in 2001.

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Watery Wednesday: The Antigua Coast

January 20, 2010

The Coast of Antigua from an old British blockhouse. September 12, 2001.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

One advantage of winter days is that there is not a great of yard work to be done.  That allows me to spend more time at my computer, catching up on projects that have been on my to-do list and reliving memories.

The picture above was taken on the coast of Antigua in the Caribbean.  Both Betsy and I really liked this island.  An old blockhouse, where the picture was taken, is in a dry, almost desert-like setting.  And yet we could look out over that incredibly blue ocean.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 16 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #66: St. Maarten Sunset

December 16, 2009

Sunset off St. Maarten. September 11, 2001.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

This picture of the sun setting on a smooth ocean was taken in 2001 off the coast of St. Maarten.  Some of that warmth would really be appreciated today!

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 13 Comments »

St. Lucia

October 1, 2009
Betsy on board our ship with Gran Piton, St. Lucia, in the background. September 13, 2001.

Betsy on board our ship with Gran Piton, St. Lucia, in the background. September 13, 2001.

The fourth port of call on our honeymoon cruise was Castries, St. Lucia.  St. Lucia was probably our favorite island.  It really did present itself as a tropical paradise.

We got to enjoy St. Lucia by taking a catamaran cruise along the coast from Castries to Soufriere.  That cruise gave us a wonderful view of the coast, including the Twin Pitons, one of the most prominent landmarks on the island.  We went ashore at Soufriere and visited Soufriere volcano and the plantation museum at Morne Coubaril Estate.

The first European to settle on St. Lucia was a French pirate, Francois Le Clerc known as Wooden Leg, who used the island as a base to attack Spanish ships.  The Dutch arrived around 1600, the English settled in 1605 and the French in 1651.  Fighting broke out between the British and the French in 1651 and continued off and on for 150 years.  The island changed hands fourteen times during that time before the French ceded the island to the British in 1814.  Today St. Lucia is independent, but remains a member of the British Commonwealth.

If you would like to see more of this beautiful island click HERE.

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Antigua

September 28, 2009
Betsy at St. John's, Antigua. September 12, 2001.

Betsy at St. John's, Antigua. September 12, 2001.

The third port of call on out honeymoon cruise was St. John’s, Antigua.  Antigua was an island we thoroughly enjoyed visiting.  We especially liked the beautiful coastline of the island.

Antigua was a major sugar-producing colony for Great Britain and, because of it’s strategic location, it became Britain’s most important base in the  Caribbean.  In 1784 Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua and established a naval base at English Harbor.  We visited Nelson’s Dockyard, the restoration of dockyard Nelson commanded.

We also visited Shirley Heights, which offered panoramic views of English Harbor.  Shirley Heights were fortified by the British for the protection of their base and contains the remains of gun emplacements and military buildings.  One of the unusual sights along the heights was cactus — parts of the island are arid.

To see more of Antigua click HERE.

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Scenic Sunday # 63: St. Thomas

September 27, 2009
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. September 10, 2001.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. September 10, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

A couple of weeks ago I shared some pictures of St. Maarten from our honeymoon cruise in 2001.  We were on St. Maarten on 9/11, which made for a very surreal day.

Our first port of call was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands.  While there we took a sea plane ride in the morning over some of the other nearby islands.  In the afternoon we took a tram to Paradise Point, a park and overlook that offered some fantastic views of the harbor and ocean.

To see more of our day on St. Thomas click HERE.

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Eight Years Ago Today — Barbados

September 14, 2009
Barbados

The view from Gun Hill Station, Barbados. September 14, 2001.

Last week Betsy did a post about where we were on September 11, 2001.  We were on a cruise that week (a belated honeymoon) and that got me to thinking about that cruise.

Eight years ago today (September 14) we were on the island of Barbados, the last island on our cruise.  Barbados is the eastern-most island of the Caribbean islands.  Barbados was a British colony from 1625 – 1966, when it became an independent nation of the British Commonwealth.

While on Barbados we visited Gun Hill Signal Station, which was the largest and most important of the British military outposts on the island.  We also visited St. John Parish Church (Betsy was still a Methodist minister at that time and enjoyed checking out the Anglican church), and Sunbury Plantation, a 300-year old plantation on the island.

To see more of our visit to Barbados, click HERE.

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Scenic Sunday # 61: St. Maarten

September 13, 2009
Sunset off Philipsburg, St. Maarten. September 11, 2001.

Sunset off Philipsburg, St. Maarten. September 11, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Betsy, in her blog yesterday, told about our day on September 11, 2001.  The beauty of St. Maarten in  the Caribbean was a surreal contrast to the events taking place in the United States.

The picture above was taken as our ship was leaving Philipsburg, our port of call in St. Maarten.   In spite of all the tragedy of the day,  This scene gave us a sense of calm and peace.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 12 Comments »

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