Hampton Inn Carolina

... views of cascading falls framed with tropical foliage, beautiful sunsets, turquoise waters and beautiful beaches with white sand. But most of all, cruising the Caribbean Sea and enjoying the nice weather. Each day has been a new adventure onboard the Caribbean Princess as well as on land.

Each island visited had its own identity. Aruba, for it emerald green divi-divi trees, Bonaire, for it colourful rainbows, Grenada, for ...

... American who arrived here 26 years ago on his sailboat and never went any further, although he moved to shore. He is part of the land based English speaking expat community. Amy Jo was the entertainer for the night- singing out her heart to soft rock, country and her own original songs. She is trying to make it on the big circuit but has been using Culebra as her base for the past few years. We can't blame her as it is an idyllic little island, yet easily accessible to Puerto Rico's ...

... San Juan (about a twenty minute walk from our ship) at a local restaurant that he recommended. I had an amazing chicken dish with Mofonga. Mofonga is a local dish of friend plantains mashed with garlic. It was great. Most people in Puerto Rico are SO nice. They go out of their way to help you. I've really enjoyed talking to the locals about everything from their political parties and thoughts on independence to what kind of ...

... on the tarmac to ascend the stairs of a different terminal with functional doors. Once I was successfully inside the airport, I navigated through the airport despite poor signage, preceded down the unmoving people mover to baggage claim, and stood by helplessly waiting for drivers to return to their unmanned taxis. I take solace in another Buffett song. But there's booze in the blender, And soon it will render That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.

... to visit the Rio Camuy Cave system with the assistance of Rossano and the group at Adventuras. The 250 foot repel down to the mouth of the cave was Adventure enough, but since we were down there we continued into the damp, dark underworld. The cave system removes the stereotype of caving. There were a few tight spots to squeeze through, but the majority of this adventure was walking upright or climbing ...

... recommend getting in line about 2 hours ahead of time since it tends to take awhile to shuffle through belongings in security. I should also mention that if you are late, you get dock time at the next port. Dock time is pretty self explanatory. So instead of going to Culebra, we agree on Vieques, another island off the coast of PR. Vieques used to be used by the US Navy to test bombs. And although it is not touristy, it is on the list of ...

Our annual holiday getaway with Pantea's dad was wonderfully relaxing. We spent the week in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico. Since we had been there several times before we felt no pressure to act as tourists. Instead we took advantage of the fabulous weather and scenery. Most ...

... off. We met up with everyone else and when everyone was ready a group of us headed back to the Brickhouse, and a few of them went to a club with live salsa music where they had been the night before. We spent the whole night at the Brickhouse, it was karaoke night and many a song was sung. A ton of SAS kids were at the Brickhouse this night, including the whole Westborough crew! I'm not sure what time we returned to the boat, but it was sometime past midnight. Day 3 After a ...

... watching another racehorse being trained in the water. We assumed he too was training for the big race that will occur next weekend in St. Croix. If all works out we may just get to see that race. On Friday we motor-sailed about 4 hours to the huge marina south of Fajardo, Puerto Rico called Puerto del Rey. The marina holds 1000 motor and sailboats behind a huge break wall. We met a couple from St. Croix (originally from Sausalito, California) who were preparing to launch ...

... trying to communicated with tres limited Spanish and all the Caribbean English that is confusing to even most non-Caribbean English speakers. Finally got a cabbie that understood our destination. $40USD later, we had driven through quaint towns and scattered high risers, a blend of Puerto Rico that I had not expected. What I did expect were all the beautiful churches en route and plenty silence from the cabbie who ...