Well what can I say - Friday was an uneventful and lovely sea day. Beautiful day on the water. we also got a farewell from the crew as this was the last night for this leg of the cruise.
Today - Saturday we arrived in Colon, Panama. Sometimes called the city Panama forgot it's a working port that's not very attractive. After the Canal returned to Panamanian control the businesses and many of the residents of Colon abandoned the city in fear that things would change. Of course the act of leaving did indeed change Colon. Lot's of derelict buildings and an air of unkemptness and lots of garbage. We were docked in a working container. port - always fun watching the containers come and go and we visited the "Colon 2000" large ship terminal - although it was mostly closed because it was Saturday. Adrian did manage to pick up a bottle of run at the liquor store and was thrilled to be able to order a non-alcoholic punch, take it to our cabin and add some run. he was very proud of his accomplishment - he's on his way to becoming a seasoned cruiser.

Adrian and I had a fabulous day in Cartagena. Our ship was docked amongst the other visiting yachts and we were able to walk to the old town. Beautiful seaside walk, if very hot and humid. We broke our walk and exploration up with a coffee stop, then a brunch stop followed by an afternoon beer stop. In between we walked most of the old town area and the fort wall. Beautiful architecture, flowers and lots of fun shops, restaurants and bars to explore. Definitely a port we'd return to.

Today was a quiet sea day. I did attend a lecture on sloths and spent some time taking ship pictures so you can. see what the ship is like. Everyone on board was treatd to dinner under the stars tonight which was so much fun. 

Reception

Main diningroom

Future cruise desk

Shop display

Outdoor eating area for breakfast and lunch called the Veranda.

Indoor Veranda dining room

The Yacht Club - place for snacks, coffee and so on all day.

Reception area

One of two stairways - no elevators onboard!

Sloth Lecture

Lower level cabin hallway - only two decks with guest cabins onboard

Our Cabin

Pool Bar and Deck area

Coctails in the lounge before dinner

Under sail

Interesting day in Aruba. We arrived to another beautiful day in the crowded port of Oranjestad. Three other, very large 3,000 passenger plus ships also in port. We did our usual walk, away from the crowds to a wonderful beach side restaurant for breakfast. Got our steps in and managed to avoid most of the crowds.  We set sail from Aruba at 3pm, helped along by a large tug that kept us on the straight and narrow, away from so very close cruise ships and a challenging channel and reef for our exit. The remainder of today ad tomorrow we're at sea, heading to Cartagena, Columbia.

Curacao is one of my favourite islands. Wonderful Dutch architecture painted with vibrant Caribbean colour. We were greeted this morning with a beautiful rainbow. The ship is docked within the inner canal, past the swinging pedestrian bridge. A wonderful middle of the town location. We went for a long walk, explored the Rif Fort and found a wonderful oceanside restaurant for lunch. Lunch was fabulous and we had the restaurant to ourselves for most of the time! Later we walked the many street and alleyways exploring the shops, the waterside market and then settled alongside the quay for a drink and to watch the comings and goings of the pedestrian bridge as it moved to allow ships and tugs to enter and leave. Tonight we had dinner again in Candles, the shops outdoor deck restaurant while we remained docked in Wilemsted. Wonderful to get to dine by candlelight surrounded by Christmas lights.

Fabulous day in Bonaire. I started the day with a wonderful massage, we didn't dock until 12 noon. Once in Bonaire Adrian and I did our favourite - walkabout, and lunch onshore. The island is beautiful, known for its snorkeling and beautiful waters. Right off our pier was a fabulous restaurant over the water. The Dutchness of the island is visible in the architecture, as it will be across the 3 ABC islands. Exciting to see the Christmas decorations and the great lights. Today we received a lovely bottle of wine from the shop as well. Tonight was the ship's deck BBQ, lovely to eat in the open air with the Christmas lights shoreside as our backdrop.

Great sea day today. This morning some still warm chocolate chocolate chip cookies arrived - a gift from. the Chef after our chocolate tour yesterday. Adrian was off doing the galley tour when they arrived. We have 109 guests on board this leg of our trip and the Chef said we're eating like 160 people!!! This afternoon the bowsprit area was opened up to us for photos - lots of fun - even though we're squinting into the sun. 
At 5:30 we attended.a welcome back event on the bow in front of the bridge for folks who have travelled before with Windstar. This is Adrian's first time onboard but I have top-level status on this cruise line from my single days. The reception was followed by dinner with the Captain. Beautiful sunny day and lots of fun. Tomorrow we dock in Bonaire at 1pm.

Last night we had a great nights sleep - helped along by the sails and no engine noise. This morning we woke up to blue skies in the lovely small harbour in Granada. Just like Mayreau you'll notice some hurricane damage, yet to be repaired. We were lucky to join Chef Darin's market tour. Granada doesn't have a huge market but we had a great walk, a trip through the tunnel and some hills to get there. Lot's of nutmeg, cinnamon, fruits and veggies for sale. From here we visited a chocolate store where we were treated to a lecture on chocolate and sampled some fabulous nutmeg ice cream. From here Adrian and I went to Fort George and explored the community on our own. Ended up taking refuge from the noon day sun at the City Inn restaurant. Cold beer and good food as well as a chance to cool off. On our trek back to the ship we got caught in a heavy, and gratefully short, rain shower. Another day where our clothes went straight to the laundry.

Today we arrived in Mayreau. We anchored and took a tender to shore. Unlike the big ships our tender this time takes 30 people and we were actually all by ourselves o the way to the beach. Today the ship was taking everything they needed to provide a beach BBQ lunch onshore. We started with a hike from the tender dock to the beach favoured by the yachties - it was a big hill to the only town (it had no name) and from there down the other side to secluded bay on the other side of the island. Great way to start our beach day. 
After a lovely swim it was time for our BBQ lunch. The shio set-up included a full bar, steel band, lounge chairs on the beach, beach massage and so on. The steel band was fabulous and because we arrived early we were able to snag lounge chairs in the shade. We followed lunch with an afternoon swim before returning to the ship. Tonight we ate at "Candles" the open air restaurant on deck. It was a beautiful evening - with the ship under full sails only - on our way to Granada.

Beautiful sunshine and 29 degrees for our arrival in Bequia. started the day with coffee on the deck, followed by a quick gym (really tiny and surprisingly busy) then it was off to see the island.
We had a great lunch on shore, explored Port Elizabeth and then returned to the ship for a swim off the back swimming platform. The air conditioning in our cabin wasn't working and because the ship isn't full we got to change cabins - whoohoo. Tonight was the captain's welcome party - we're very good at taking advantage of all the opportunities for free booze!