3rd Port of Call - Samana, Dominican Republic

Sailing into Port at Samana, Dominican Republic.

They took us by water taxi to shore.

Our whole trip the wind was always blowing about 10-15 knots so I bought this visor to keep my hair out of my face.  Didn't keep my hair from blowing around, though, as you can see!  Ha!

The view of our ship as we headed for shore.

The picture above is where the water taxi brought us ashore to get instructions for our excursion.  The Catamaran below came in to get all 45 of us who were signed up to go sailing, snorkeling, have lunch on the Island and swim until we had to catch a water taxi and be back on the ship by 3:30.

They motored up the shoreline about a mile to a dock and tied up.  We were going ashore to learn a little about Samana, have refreshment of fresh fruits and fruit drinks native to the country.

 The shoreline on this side was full of 3" round soap stones that when the waves came in made a 'clack, clack, clacking sound" and again when the waves went out.

 This native was trimming the follage with a machete and in the pic below you can see bananas growing upward on the tree.  

There was breadfruit and mango all over the ground.

Julie and I when we first came ashore.

This part of the Island was most jungle we were told.

When we got back on the Cat they put the sails up and we sailed for a little while.

 This was our captain and he made his own hat out of banana tree.

 This pic was taken right before we got our gear to go snorkeling.  Marc held my hand while we snorkeled  and he was able to point out starfish, conch, fish and other things in the water so I didn't miss anything.  Also the current was really strong so it helped us stay off the rocky shoreline.

 We sailed again for a while.  In the pic below, Columbus was reported to have sailed into the bay and set anchor there.

 My visor blew off into the water when we were motoring away from the village, but the captain just put the boat in reverse and one of the crew grabbed it for me!

We sailed around the tip of this island to a dock where we were dropped off.  They had a place to buy food so we ate lunch and then went down to the beach and swam for a while in the beautiful aqua colored water.

 The water taxis came to the dock on the island every 15 minutes to take people back to the ship.  We had a great day and lots of fun together.

Formal cruise pictures - for the kids to see

Enchantment of the Seas

 Our sea route from Baltimore and back.

All Saints School on Garden Street

After some shopping in Charlotte Amalie, Marc wanted to see his old elementary school.  He inquired where it was and to our surprise it was just up around the corner from the shopping district.  Marc, Joe, Mark and I all walked up to see it.  Marc went to this school while in 5th grade.  His sister Susan would have been in 4th grade here at All Saints.  It sure brought back old memories for Marc!

 Marc said the big building on the left wasn't built onto the school when he and Susan went there.

Marc was very happy to have been able to see his old school!  That was the last thing we saw before getting  back on the ship.  It had been a great day!

Some of the night life on the cruise.

 Magic Act - Husband and Wife

 The center of the ship had the Grand Prominade where there was music every night and other activities during the day.  Joe took this from several decks up.  You can see the piano at the bottom next to the stairs.

 Looking up

 On our third night we had a 70's party.  This is our cruise director dancing and singing.  He was from England and a hoot!

 This was a very funny comedian

 The troop that did the music show with singing and dancing also participated in the 70's party.

They took the tree and decorations down when we went ashore one day, but they were beautiful and we enjoyed them.