Now our adventure begins! | Bigkitty Gallery

Created on: Sunday 2 February 2020
Posted on: Saturday 7 March 2020
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Albums: Vacations / 2020 NCL Dawn Southern Caribbean Cruise / Sail Away Day
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Brian hugging Erica

Erica hugging Brian

Embarkation Day

Zoomed in...there it is Marriott Water Street

We are docking, and you can see our hotel from before the cruise.

Entering the Tampa Port

The nights were so clear. Here's our last night!

Our towel animal menagerie

Sunset on our last day of this cruise

Adding final touches to the food before serving it to everyone

Erica talking about what we grill at home

Erica got to help Chef JJ with one of his recipes

Making a dressing for the Tuna Tartar appetizer

Starting a Tuna tartar appetizer

He worked in the atrium

Chef JJ Johnson

Sunrise looking forward Day 14

Rock and Turtle enjoying the view

Sunrise on Day 14

Day 13th - The sun is rising from behind us

Tech staff for Main Theater

Men dressing room for Main Theater

Sorted my cast member

Most of the costumes

Ladies dressing room for Main Theater

Towel going through it

Towel folding machine

Where the sheets are coming out

washy washy your laundry

Washing Machine

Making desserts

One day's worth of bread

Different color whipped cream

Talking about baking pastries

Refridgerated storage

A lot of food being prepared

Chef talking to us about what happens here daily

Galley continues

What is cooking?

Walking through the galley

Sunsetting on San Juan

A cup of garbanzada, a traditional Puerto Rican chickpea stew

Our beverage had mint and lime in it

Closer view of the table

Historical stage at the restaurant

Last stop - Princesa Cocina Cultura

The way to Paseo de la Princesa

Fuente de la Herencia de las Américas

Looking up to where the walk down started from

A view of the cruise port

Walking along the wall down

Bastión de las Palmas de San José

La Fortaleza in the back and the hanging PR flag

Inside view from the street of Catedral de San Juan Bautista

El Convento - started as a Carmelite convent in 1651

Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista

An espresso shot

Next stop - Hotel Plaza de Armas coffee bar

Info on Catalino 'Tite' Curet Alonso

Bronze statue of Catalino 'Tite' Curet Alonso

Our tour guide sharing history of the plaza

Casa Alcaldía de San Juan

Chocolate Martini at the Chocobar

Simple platter of pulled pork, rice, and beans

Second stop - Deaverdura

Nice white cockatoos hanging around

Newer balconies have the gap at the bottom

Balcony with no gap at toe area

Part of the original fort

You can see the thickness of the fort wall

Full view of La Perla

Looking out to the Atlantic Ocean at La Perla

Original brick pavers line the streets in Old San Juan

Stuffed Sweet Plantains With Corned Beef Croquettes

2 different pork dishes

Different view of Plaza de la Barandilla

Our first stop on our Food Tour - La Carreta

Part of Plaza de la Barandilla

Walking along a street in Old San Juan

Historical architecture with the modern version

Good morning San Juan

St. Maarten - Good Morning!

Just 1 great view after another

Name of our boat - Filante

Another view of Fort Barrington

Passing more rocks

Heading back to port

View from the beach

Our 2nd snorkel spot

Lunch during our Champaign Lobster Catamaran cruise

Here's the full picture

Hey there little hermit crab!

Close up view of a shell

The sand is all broken shells

Our excursion catamaran

See the Caribbean Sea

Where we are first snorkeling

Looks like a face

Nice coast line

Hawksbill Rock...our "frog"

Getting closer the the "frog"

A "frog" in the distance

It looks like a turtle opening it's jaws

Rock off of Shipstern Point

Other side of Fort Barrington

Closer view of Fort Barrington

Fort Barrington in the distance

Multi-million dollar house facing at oil rig

Oil rig off the coast

Looking back to port

Looking out from St. John

Mountains in the distance

Heading out on our excursion

Good morning Antigua

Wide view of the volcanic plug

Closer view of the steaming stuff

Very nasty smelling...Sulphur

Look how large the area is

Too hot to grow anything there

Steaming volcanic plug

Close up of West Indian Jasmin

Close up of a chenille plant

Up close with a Thunbergia vines

Belly view of Green-throated Carib

Green-throated Carib

Pool where you can swim in the Sulphur Springs mud

Bubbling spring

Red tinged water from the minerals around

Always steaming

Overlooking Soufriere and the Pitons

Bananas curve up when growing!

Neat small plant

Bird of Paradise

"For I know the plans..."

Bread and Cheese (Begonia obliqua)

"Walk in the ways..."

Chenille plants along the path

"But He was pierced for..."

Thunbergia vines

Entrance to Maranatha Gardens

Cool looking plant

Fish Market Mosaic sidewalk art

Looking off the side of the pier

Pier at L'Anse la Raye

Looking out on the beach at Anse La Raye

Us over looking Marigot Bay

Marigot Bay, St. Lucia

Another 1600s building

One building left from 1600s battles

Official residence of the Governor-General

NCL Dawn in St. Lucia

Panoramic view of Castries, St. Lucia

The bay at Castries looking at the NCL Dawn

My rock with his new turtle friend at St. Lucia

Sunrise at Castries St. Lucia

Hot steam venting through the volcanic plug

Reggie Medford - The man who created our sculptures

Sharp looking stalactites

Stalagmites almost looking like a group of people hanging out together

A cluster of stalactites and a cluster of stalagmites

Spout of water flowing out

Steam running through the caves

Almost a column

Small vertical flowstone

Many new stalactites

See the drops on the stalactites?

A spring flowing through the caves

Different types of speleothems

The minerals forming a flowstone

Many stalactites still forming today

Great stalactites

Down we go on the tram

Wearing the required head gear to go into the cave

The layers of minerals on the stalagmite

2 stalagmites...the large one has be cut to show it's layers

It's all about water...

In the last 120,000 years

120,000 Years Ago

Less than 1 million years ago

The formation starts here

Barbados is not a volcanic island

How did Harrison Cave form?

What is a karst?

Welcome sign to the info center

The type of tree the "Awesome Tree" is

Entrance to Cave and land formation information

Cliff Wall Vegetation Zone Info

Vegetation wall

Plaque at Harrison Cave Visitor Center entrance

The moon ending day 7 of our cruise

One of a few harbor porpoises playing along side the ship

3 masked boobies flying near us, as the rainbow fades away

A masked booby along side the NCL Dawn

Rainy morning sea day with a masked booby

Siamese Sailing Junk with sails down

"My work here is done!"

Different types of coral

Nice coral and a rock with fish around the rock

"Did you get good pictures of all of those fish?"

Large school of sargent majors

Getting very close to the fish

"Who you looking at?"

My guide to a school of sergent majors

A fish near the coral rock

Fish swimming along the sandy bottom

Brian snorkeling

Pink glow on my guide

a school of sargent majors

Follow me...this way!

This fish followed me EVERYWHERE!

The first Sargent major fish that wasn't camera shy

Where the sandy area drops down deeper

Clear water...and a fish trying to blend in to the sandy bottom

Getting ready to snorkel

Sailing to Klein Bonaire for snorkeling

The captain of the junk

Starting our trip aboard the Siamese Sailing Junk

Looking at Arashi Bay

California Lighthouse

Heading to the California Lighthouse

Driving the Arashi Dunes

This is on the back of the chapel

Side of Alto Vista Chapel

Inside Alto Vista Chapel

Alto Vista Chapel front

Alto Vista Chapel information

Driving right along...

Heading to Alto Vista Chapel

A shack various fishermen use during their trips

Spectacular crashing waves

The small beach under Baby Bridge

Still wreaking havoc on the old broken bridge

Erosion in progress

The power of the ocean!

This is the original bridge to Andicuri Beach that collapsed in 2005

Entrance to the Natural Bridge

Looking inland...nice scenery

Long ago, the small piles of rocks were used to mark fishing spots.

Oh boy it's windy here! The dirt is flying into my eyes!

Some of the drive was on paved roads

Different cacti growing around here

Continuing to the Natural Bridge

Us on Andicuri Beach with the cliff behind us

Us on the beach

Micro view of seaweed

Left side of the beach

Lines in the sand from the waves

micro view of coral

Looking out to sea on Andicuri Beach

Steep cliffs on the side of Andicuri Beach

Driving right along

The cliff shows the erosion

Overlooking Andicuri Beach

Passing Andicuri Beach

Yellow building in the back is at the Natural Bridge

Different rock formations everywhere

Following the coast to the natural bridge

The ocean is powerful!

The ocean is eroding the land

Random shacks for traveling fishermen

Such blue waters!

Today's driver is Erica

Heading to the coast

We're in the middle of the line of UTVs

Starting our UTV Excursion

Good morning Aruba!

Rock view of Grand Cayman from the ship

Sea Day sunrise rock

Sunrise colors stretching to the clouds

Sunrise with the sun camera filter

Sunrise view out of the side window

Great orange color!

Sun starting to peak out

Great Morning on a Sea Day

Early Morning first Sea Day

This is Bes...our Tour Guide/driver for the day (just not at Stingray)

It needs a bit of paint touch ups when it goes to dry dock in December

I love the "smile" the ship has

Coming back to the ship

Grand Cayman is a tender port...we are leaving the ship

The boat we used to get to Stingray City

The end of the body of the female stingray

Eyes on the top

Here comes another

Passing by Brian

Coming through!

Touching the stingray

See I can smile!

Gentle creature

Right under me!

Lots of stingrays and fish...hey free food daily, you'd hang out too!

See how they flaps their sides to move

Gently gliding along

Don't touch the barb...it will hurt you!

The par that's in the middle of the tail is the barb

Soft smooth skin

He's bringing over one to eat our squid

Hold it like an icecream cone, and keep your thumb down

Our squid to feed the stingrays

Headed out to Stingray City

Brian holding the stingray

Getting up close with a Stingray that's about 40 yrs old

A male on the right, I think a female in the middle, and unknown gender on the left

Good view of the male above the other 2 turtles

Photos to help explain previous picture

Turtle Hatchlings Experiment

Display of how an incubator is set up

Life of a Green Turtle

Life of a Kemp's Ridley Turtle

Life of a Hawksbill Turtle

Life of a Loggerhead Turtle

Loggerhead Turtle Info

Loggerhead Turtle size

Hawksbill Turtle Info

Hawksbill Turtle size

Green Turtle Facts

Size of an adult Green Turtle

Another Hatchery Statue

Hatchery Statue

They can swim under the platform we started our tour on.

Lots of turtles in the Breeding Pond!

Breeding Pond Info

A lizard in the middle of the picture that ran out in front of us.

The "beach" the females lay their eggs in. The workers move the eggs to the Hatchery.

Gentle touches, but NO kisses

Isn't she cute!

I got to touch one that's just a few years old!

Rules for touching the turtles

Slightly younger turtles...under 20 yrs old.

Smiley the Crocodile

Answers to the questions

Crocodile questions

Cayman Crocodile Exhibit

Look one turtle is in the tunnel like Erica was in Tampa!

This group of turtles are around 20 yrs old

Physiology of the turtles

Conservation of the turtles

Heritage of the turtles

Exploring the stairs

Average age of these turtles is 30 yrs old

Long tails are male, short tails are female

Swimming under a platform for workers

Turtles in the Breeding Pond

Cute sign on the bottom of the main sign

The origin of the name of this town

Those black rocks would become white-ish if put in baking soda and water.

More black spiky rocks!

Are those lava rocks?

The sign says it all!

Now our adventure begins!

Almost fully through

Our ship's purple lights look good with the bridge lights

Leaving Tampa Bay

Look how close the poles on the ship get to the bridge

Under the bridge

Cool lights on the bridge

Getting closer!

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge looks great in this light!

View to the right

View to the left

The purple lights on the bridge look perfect with the sunset

The orange rays are disappearing

Lining up between the markers

Another "oil painting" filter picture

Zoomed in to capture the orange hues

Just a relaxing view to start a relaxing vacation

Sunshine Skyway Bridge at dusk

Wonderful blending of color from day to night

That's a tight fit!

Carnival Legend going under the bridge

Brilliant orange sky!

Zoomed in view as the Carnival Legend approaches the bridge

Using the "Oil Painting" feature of the camera at sunset

All 3 modes of transportation in 1 picture

Sun setting as we get closer to the bridge

The sun is almost set

Wonderful sunset colors!

Brian enjoying the view

Off in the distance: Carnival Legend Cruise ship and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

This barge came very close to us as we passed each other in the channel

Panoramic View of Hillsborough Bay

Going through Hillsborough Bay

Brian in our Living Room

Looking back through our wing wall

View as we start leaving looking forward

Other view of the engine room from the catwalks.

One side of the engine room

It was cool being able to sit there!

Erica is taking aim...

The 5-inch 38 caliber gun

One of the 20mm caliber Oerlikon guns

View from one of the 20mm caliber Oerlikon guns

Port side towards aft

Starboard side of the ship toward aft

View from behind the wheel

Slight side view from mid-ship

Highest deck mid-ship view towards front

Mid-ship facing forward

Electrical room

Info about the ship

Standing mid-ship

Full side view of the ship

SS American Victory

Front view of the NCL Dawn

Another version of the view from the balcony

Look! Terminal 2 in Tampa from our balcony

Carnival Paradise leaving the Tampa Port

Selfie on the River Walk

Erica the Turtle!

That's one of the restaurants we went to: Jackson's Bistro Bar & Sushi

View from our balcony

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