Cruise 2011 Day 12 – St Croix

Cruise 2011 Day 12 – St Croix

I dragged my butt down to Latte-tudes Barista Bar and had a nice cup of coffee waiting for me. Kelly was already down there with Mark & Robyn when I showed up to publish the Day 11 blog report. They went off to breakfast while I uploaded the last day’s diary and a few pictures. 

We left the ship (at Frederiksted) and after a short walk came upon a Cruzan Rum Lady giving out free samples! As the rum factory was on our list of spots it was a natural to try it. The coconut rum was very nice and reminded me of the rums my dad Roy used to bring home from his trips south.

Next it was off to get the rental car (Jeep Wrangler) and the Avis lady on the island was most helpful. The documentation was completed on the steps of the local pharmacy and we were on our way. The map worked well and we were driving past the rum factory in no time. U-turn and we arrived just as a tour was heading out. Perfect timing!! The girl named Chris gave us a great tour and we got to see right into the huge vats that were fermenting inside an open building. I cannot describe the aroma in any fashion that would do it justice. Let’s just say it smelt wonderful.  We had a look inside a storage building and there was row upon row of 55 gallon rum barrels.  

 

Vats fermenting

We tried to smuggle one out under Mark’s shirt using me as a decoy but she said to put it back…darn! Obviously she has see other Canadians down here!

Pictures of the barrels with a Canadian.

  

Once the tour ended we were treated to a nice rum drink of our choice.  This was a very different tour from the Bacardi Factory but it well worth it. We headed off trying to get some caches and got all turned around in a hilly subdivision. We had planned to go to the east end of the island but made a command decision to head to Cane Bay Beach.

 We arrived to fined a nice stretch of beach with small bars and a restaurant right beside a geo-caches… how convenient!. We grabbed the cache and headed to the beach for some swimming and relaxing. We had a great lunch and then headed up through the rain forest area down to the eastern side of the island.

Lunch at Cane Bat Beach

 We grabbed another cache under a huge Banyan tree on our way back to the shopping area and ship.  

 

 We loitered around the shops and then it was off to the ship to get cleaned up for sail away. We met up at the bow of the ship and enjoyed backing out of the port and the great views.

View from the bow looking back at the rainbow farewell.

We headed to the special reception for return cruisers at 1945 and enjoyed free snacks and drinks. Dinner was in the dinning room at 20:30 on deck 4 this cruise as we were rotated to a different area of the ship. This was a nice change as we had different waiters/helpers and enjoy a much different view.


Happy 75th Birthday to my dad.....wish you were here... I'd buy you a nice drink!