The Gorgeous Southern Caribbean

This particular cruise had more sea days than ports of call (a change from all of my previous cruises) but who can complain when you're doing nothing but soaking up those beautiful warm rays of sun at land or at sea.

 Curacao was one of the islands that I was ambivalent about returning to since my last two beach trips there resulted in sprained and bruised toes from the rocky/coral beaches. Wow am I ever glad I didn't stay on the ship this time

because I have
 discovered what is inarguably my now-favorite beach spot in all of the Caribbean:  Cabana Beach.  A short taxi ride from the port (find other people, strangers even, for a cab split and it works out to about $4/person) brings you to a dusty parking lot filled with construction vehicles.  Do not be dissuaded!  Through the entrance you will find a little slice of heaven, also known as Cabana Beach.  There is an outdoor restaurant serving good food, reasonably priced; well toned servers flit here and there bringing food and beverage to tables, couches and beach beds.  Yes I said beach beds.... here you can rent a traditional lounge chair for $3, padded lounge chair $6, double or king size beach beds for $10-$25.  In the sun, under swaying palms or under airy canopies... you decide! And if you don't want to lay out, there are ample seating areas again in sun or shade, with deep pit group couches, ottomans, etc.  And free wi-fi is available!!!  What more could you want?? Oh, that's right...what about the rocky/coral shoreline?  Well, it's apparently not here!  Here you will find long stretches of soft sand and crystalline turquoise waters.  I'm not kidding -- it's a little slice of heaven and my first task when I get done publishing this blog is to do an internet search on what I think was a hotel at the end of the beach.  I definitely have to come back and stay here for more than 5 or 6 hours!


On Aruba we visited DePalm Island again.  It was nice, as it was last time, but one thing to mention is that they close the main restaurant at 3pm which is not something we were aware of when we arrived at 2pm.  This normally would not be an issue but for $89 entry fee you should be able to take advantage of ALL the island has to offer.  We ended up hanging out at the beach, doing some swimming, Mike had a couple of the Balashi beers and I had a couple chicken tenders.  We didn't get $198 worth so the value is definitely not there.

On St. Maarten/St. Martin we taxied over to the French side to spend the day at Orient Beach.  I went topless until my usually-unexposed skin started to burn.  Mike enjoyed the serenity of a beach chair aloe massage.  Umbrella rental with 2 lounge chairs was $20.  Beach was very clean and water was lovely.

Coki Beach on St. Thomas was very commercialized with hut after hut selling food, drinks, water sport rentals, etc.  It was also very crowded and probably the dirtiest of any beach we had seen.  The only upside to the litterbugs was the plethora of sea glass to be found and I was able to add brown, green and white pieces to my growing collection.