From St. Maarten -- Jan 9 -19
St. Maarten
We arrived in St. Maarten for two nights in a hotel before the cruise
We stayed at the Holland House Hotel in Phillipsburg on the "board" walk
It was a great hotel with a very nice resturant
St. Maarten Birding
We went birding each day we were there - climbed a hill above the town for this view
Nancy spots a bird
We had our best luck at the Salt Ponds - a place where they used to evaporate
water to produce sea salt. Now it's a wildlife area. This is a moorhen.
Solitary Sandpiper
Snowy Egret
Stilt
We also saw several Iguana
In the trees around the Salt Pond
White-Cheeked Pintail - a life bird for us
Grey Kingbird
The Ship
We cruised on the Star Clipper. This is our third cruise on this line.
A Four-Masted, Barquentine-Rigged Sailing Ship © Star Clippers
This is a small ship - 360ft long, 50ft beam, 85 cabins
Cabin and Dining accomodations are pretty much like those on a larger cruise ship
Virgin Gorda
We visited seven islands - Anguilla, Jost van Dyke, Tortola, Norman Island,
Virgin Gorda, St. Kitts and St. Barts. Most stops included lots of time on the beach.
On Virgin Gorda, we visited the Bitter End Yacht Club -
A a great place to vacation if you love sailing
We also had a barbeque picnic on a private island
St. Kitts
We toured the island of St. Kitts
This is the Great House at Fairview - a former Sugar Cane plantation.
It also had an interesting botanical garden.
We passed an Egret Rookery
This is the Brimstone Hill Fortress built on a 780ft hill by the British in 1690
The view from here was great!
We visited the Caribelle Batik Studios where they showed us how batik materila is made.
Also there was Romney Botanical Gardens
A very good collection of native and tropical plants.