Yesterday I managed to relax a bit but the day soon nose-dived when I decided to catch up on my blogs on facebook and upload photographs.
Last night we had dinner with friends: Fred and Judy, Larry and Shirley. Fred and Judy we knew from a previous cruise and had kept in touch. The other couple I got to know during a couple of tours that we had been on earlier on during this cruise. It seemed as if I was following them 😉. The couples didn’t know each other but it turned out to be an enjoyable evening with the four of them who we had thrown together. Humour flowed strongly and made for a good mix along with thoughts, reminiscing, etc. Sadly Larry and Shirley will be getting off when the Maasdam arrives in New York and flying home to Australia. Fred and Judy will be travelling up to Montreal with us before heading home. We hope to see them again on future cruises but will remain in touch in between. Staff serving us during the meal were no doubt delighted to do so, having a jolly bunch of customers rather than a sad faced lot!
Our last and final day of a group of sunny islands dawned as we docked in at the pier in Grand Turk. The water was crystal clear, light blue in places and dark blue in others. The island is part of a coral reef and is only 7 miles/11.25km long and 1.5 miles/just under t 2.5km wide with a 7000ft drop off the coral ledge into the Atlantic. The island is within the Bermuda triangle
I deserted Paul and headed outside onto the pier as soon has the ship had been cleared by officials. It was a fair distance to walk to the cruise terminal which looked like an airport terminal inside – shops to keep guests happy. Through the other side of the terminal was a shopping square in the middle of which a fountain stood, bubbling away. Little colourful trollies surrounded outskirts of the square, each one boasting its tour on its frontage. Guests were met near the entrance of the terminal and directed to the carpark/beaches or to whichever tour they were going on.
After signing my life away I joined a tour group sitting waiting under the cool shade of some trees. As soon as everyone had arrived and signed the consent and waivers, Romeo and Radesh (our guides for the morning) marched us through the shopping courtyards to the carpark to the waiting hummers. The small 2 seater electric vehicles were a nice shiny bright red – not easy to disappear with one! We were given a quick demonstration of how things worked including wipers, flickers, horn (a tiny beep!!) and hazard lights. The hummers were automatic with a gearbox: D (drive), P (Park) and R (Reverse), a big break pedal and the smaller accelerator pedal - simple and easy. Not quite. They were left-hand drive cars but driving on the left side of the road (as in the UK, South Africa, etc.). Not having had too much experience driving left-hand drive cars (apart from Paul’s mother’s car) I was glad we were given a bit of time to practice – going around and around the car park at least 3 or 4 times in order for everyone to get used to their vehicles before venturing onto the main road. Being open air vehicles (although there were fold-up roofs for rain), guests were advised to put sunhats and sunblock on. Insect repellent was not mentioned and before our test run started I was invaded by mozzies and other biting critters on wings. The bites were quite sore rather than the ‘quiet, unannounced’ bites that I’ve encountered with mozzies that you only feel the itch when the damage has already been done. I managed to swat a few critters, leaving bloodstains on my feet and legs. I was glad when we got going because the gentle breeze during the drive seemed to keep the insects away from me.
There were 15 guests so I ended up having a hummer to myself; Radesh brought up the rear on a quadbike and Romeo was on a quadbike at the front, with a helmet with a microphone to speak and to direct us. I heard sound in the vehicle and later discovered that there were hand-held personal radios in the open glove-boxes of each car all linked to Romeo’s microphone. It was a novel way to communicate with the guests.
Once on the main road Radesh would occasionally leave the back of the convoy to chivvy some of the slower guests along, ensure we diverted around speed humps instead of going over them, block off the road at a turn so that the hummers would stick together without getting separated from the group if a car got in between.
Our first brief stop was outside the former US air force base. Our next stop, on the one side of the road, was to see to an old salt pond dating back to the late 1600’s where salt was collected after sea water evaporated. On the other side of the road there were some old, mostly derelict buildings, and a lovely sandy beach, said to be where Christopher Columbus landed. I headed down to the sea to cool off my itchy feet and legs. The sea looked beautiful and clear.
Our next stop was at part of the ‘old down town’ area. Some shops were derelict and no longer in use, the old piers were in disrepair and the former library was a burnt out shell having been raised to the ground by a fire 2 weeks ago. We had a few minutes to pop into the 2 or 3 remaining shops to get refreshments or purchase local arts and crafts or souvenirs.
Our next stop was at a national preserve where we took a short walk along the boardwalk through the mangrove trees to see nesting birds after which we took a walk towards the beach. Under the shade of trees there was a pond which held some sea creatures. Our guides brought out baby conches for us to see – they were tiny and crawling around on our hands until we put them back in a bucket of sea water. A bigger conch was brought out for us to see – a huge snail-like creature. We could hold her if we wanted to. Out came a black spiny starfish for us to look at. Romeo found a willing guest who was prepared to have the starfish on her upper chest – looking rather like a beautiful large necklace. Next was a small spiny urchin, looking like a spikey ball. Its spines were soft but we were careful when we held it – to not get pricked or to break its spines. A bigger black spiny urchin was brought out but because its spines were poisonous we were not allowed to hold it. Romeo held it very carefully, holding it flat on the palm of his hand with the urchin’s spines facing up and outwards. He got a flat bit of coral and gently turned the spiny urchin onto its back, spines on the coral, so that we could see underneath and see its teeth. Finally a sea turtle was brought out to see us. She was very heavy to hold and struggled to get away, naturally, but when I held her she seemed to calm down a bit and relaxed as I gently spoke to her. I felt humbled just seeing these few beautiful creatures and being able to hold them.
The next stop was to see the salt pans and flamingos. The water had not yet evaporated at the part of the salt pans we were at. There was the White Gold (salt) Museum but we didn’t have time to go inside. Romeo explained about the salt production and the uses for salt. He and Radesh filled up bottles of water for us from the brine and poured it on our arms and legs – if willing. The water evaporated, leaving a nice salt layer behind. Our hands and skin felt smooth when we rubbed the salt off. Apparently there is no pollution on Grand Turn, neither on land or in the sea, making for the one of the best places to live a healthy life. Nobody there has asthma, chest conditions or lung cancer. The salt air kills of germs and fungus (they believe that lung cancer is caused by a fungus). Some people come to Grand Turk to convalesce and breathe in the fresh air filtered by salt. Generally the local people are very healthy, hardly ever getting sick, but the island does have its own hospital – with 6 beds.
Our final stop was to see a replica of Friendship 7 Mercury space capsule which splashed down off Grand Turk's shoreline on in February 1962.
Sadly our island tour was at an end and we had to had head back to the ship, out of the heat and away from the buzzing , biting insects. By this time the reaction from the bites left me with small golf-ball sized lumps. By the time I boarded the ship my left wrist and right ankle had disappeared and Paul discovered some bites on my neck which made it swell up quite nicely so I took 2 antihistamines and had a nap.
Please see my pictures on facebook via this link: Island Exploration by Hummer
Tomorrow is a sea day as the Maasdam heads towards Fort Lauderdale. A few people will be getting off the ship and heading home, the rest will be staying on until the ship reaches New York.
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