It's nice having free loungers and a picnic on the beach at such a beautiful place! We like to plan our cruises around snorkeling, so we immediately donned our snorkel gear which we brought with us and headed into the water. Snorkeling isn't the greatest at the beach here, but we enjoy it! We did see an octopus, a small sea turtle, a baracuda, and lots of smaller fish. I did the snorkel excursion once and it was fantastic, but can't see paying that much when the facilities for free were so nice. Around noon we took a break and headed to the bar b q area. There is a shuttle that will take you to the bar b q area, but it's not a long walk. After lunch I walked along the beach a bit, then went back to the snorkel area and snorkeled some more. It was a beautiful day! Mid 80's. The water was probably about 78.

my review of Half Moon Car and photos:

http://frombeachestopeachesandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/12/12-16-half-moon-cay-day-we-had-all-our.html

This was our 2nd time to Grand Turk. It was suppose to be our 3rd time, but we missed that port a few years ago when hurricane Tomas beat us there. This time looked promising. The water here by the port was calm. Love that there are free loungers here, too. Behind them is a Margaritaville with a large pool. We ended up hanging out there the other time we were on the island. I had read that Pillory Beach was the place to go to snorkel. We had tried to go there the other time we were here, but there was a south surge and the waves were really rough. That time we took a taxi there, looked at the water, then took the taxi straight back to the port. Ended up being a $28 taxi ride to nowhere. This time we tried it again. Finally got to Pillory. As I recall, our fare was the same as last time -- $7/person @ way. This time the water looked inviting. There were facilities here and water sports rentals, but we like having our own gear. I was a bit disappointed. If this is the best snorkeling on Grand Turk, they don't have very good snorkeling. But the water was about 80 and calm, so we enjoyed it there for 3 or 4 hours. There were several taxi drivers waiting at Pillory to take passengers back to the port, so after about 3 hours of snorkeling we were on our way back to the port. As we were walking to the loungers at the port, someone tried to charge us $10 for chairs. I commented that they use to be free and he said the ones with the green umbrellas were free. He had ones in front of those that he was charging $10 for. We put our stuff on a couple free chairs, then headed into the water. I knew there were a lot of fish here since we had snorkeled here before, but I didn't realize until now that it was even better then Pillory. Now we know! If we're ever back on Grand Turk, we'll just stay by the port. Wish we had more time so we could have hung out at Margaritaville, too, but too soon it was time to get back to the ship.

My photos of Grand Turk:

http://frombeachestopeachesandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/12/12-6-16-grand-turk-11am-530pm-off-to.html

This is a new cruise port. Only open since 2015. I didn't have much success researching snorkel areas near here, so we just planned to stay in the port area. It was another early port day. The port is in a pretty area. I had hoped it would be like Grand Turk and we could swim in the ocean there, too, but the water here was very murky. They did have a large free pool and bar/restaurant area. We spent most of our time at the free pool. It went around in a circle (without being a lazy river) and had different features all around it. There are even over-the-water cabanas for rent, but I can't see it being successful without clear water! They also had a zip line and a slide. We heard the slide was really fast and jarring. The zip lines were $20 for the whole day. We saw a lot of young crew members using them. Nice to see them out having fun. Every hour or so the bar workers by the pool would come out and dance to the music, too. It was a nice touch. On our way back to the ship I took a little detour to see what was by the little man made waterfall. There was a large lizard encased in amber on display there---I'm guessing that's how this port got it's name? Back on the ship and looking to the left of the cove looks like there's a nice path to walk on all the way to a lookout. Not our favorite type of port day, but fun none the less. If we ever go back there I think I'll walk over and check out those other beaches and the lookout.

I gave this port a 5 on what it could be, not as it was on the day we were there. I was hoping to be able to take a water taxi over to the little island just off shore, Klein Bonaire, but the weather wasn't cooperating today. It was suppose to rain heavily and storm all day. So we rushed off the boat and took a short taxi ride to the nearby Eden Beach. Our fare was only $7.50/person each way. Not bad when you consider how much a HAL excursion costs. We had gone here the last time we were on Bonaire, too, and knew that there was great snorkeling and that the water taxi also ran from here. Being a resort, it also had a pool, bar, restaurant, restrooms, and lots of chairs for rent. If I remember correctly, the chair fee was only about $5 and included access to the pool. We managed to get there before the storm and were able to snorkel for about an hour. Then we sat at the outside bar for a bit and enjoyed a drink---diet Coke for Ken and a mango/passion fruit smoothie for me. I was hoping to wait out the storm, but the water had gotten pretty murky by Eden beach from the run off, so Ken wouldn't stay. But there were people back in the water by the time we left. Curses, foiled this time! The people we rode back with in the taxi actually walked to Eden Beach/Resort. Doable, but probably took them an hour or so. All the waters around Bonaire are a marine park. Lots and lots of corals and fish. Not how I had hoped our day on Bonaire would be, but at least we got to get in the water for a while. I was looking forward to this port the most. I'd love to take a land vacation here (or Curacao or Aruba). Time to start planning a land vacation!

My pictures of Bonaire:

http://frombeachestopeachesandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/12/12-9-16-bonaire-8am-530pm-i-was-hoping.html

We had tentatively made plans to go to Porto Mari with someone from Cruisecritic.com. I had gotten her room number at the meet and greet which was held before docking at Grand Turk. I think I woke her. She wasn't wanting to leave before 11. We were wanting to beat the predicted bad weather, so we headed down to the taxi station early with no real plans. I figured we would see if anyone else was wanting to go to Porto Mari at the taxi waiting area, or just go to Blue Bay again (where we went last time we were here). After waiting about 30 minutes, someone wanting to go to Blue Bay finally showed up, so we joined them. Made our fare $7.50@ one way. I wasn't really disappointed that we ended up here. It is a beautiful beach. The water was about 83 degrees. We immediately headed into the water with our snorkel gear and around the point to the right. Blue Bay isn't publicized for the snorkeling, but if you go around the points, it's really quite good! lots of different kinds of corals and fish. There's a nice bay for snorkeling to the left of Blue Bay (looking out from the beach there). Quite large and lots of fish. The weather held up pretty well, but we did get off and on rain. After about 3 hours we got out and sat at a picnic table for a bit where Ken had a Coke and I had a Bright beer (at least some of it---the part I didn't dump over!). All too soon it was time to head back to the ship. When I first saw the surf by the port in the morning, I was a bit worried. It was very rough, but when we got to the more protected beach area of Blue Bay, the water was much calmer. Since we were there until about 11pm, we got to see the lights of the city by night. Sure glad they were wrong about the weather today! A few short showers, but no lightening. Turned out to be a great day!

My pictures of Curacao

http://frombeachestopeachesandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/12/12-10-16-curacao-7am-1030pm-they-were.html

I was excited and apprehensive about Aruba. I've heard alot about it being a great vacation spot, but we've never been there. It doesn't have the reputation for snorkeling that the other ABC islands have, but I had printed off a map with a couple spots listed as snorkel areas, so we decided to check at the information center in the port shops and see what they say about snorkeling from shore. Especially since the destination guide on the ship said there was no shore snorkeling on Aruba. The guy at the info desk within the large port shopping area was very helpful. Most of them are, but he went over and above the norm. He even assured us that taking the public bus was the way to go instead of taking a taxi. I had read that the bus didn't run on Sunday. I guess you can't believe everything you read. And I liked seeing the Christmas decorations! I'm very much missing Christmas decorations this year. I thought the ship would be decorated for Christmas, but it's not. The walk to the bus station wasn't bad at all. It was only about a block down from the port. Right next to Pizza Hut. Yep, Aruba has all the comforts of home---Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Hard Rock Cafe, ... . We eventually figured out that the schedule they have up where the buses load is not accurate on weekends! We did have to wait about 30 minutes, but the fare was only $5 round trip! Nice big clean bus. We packed it full to standing room only. one of the riders said the bus pass included free admission to the Butterfly farm. We didn't get off here, but some people did. Most people got off in the resort area of town, but we rode on to the northern coast. The ride was about 30 minutes but I enjoyed seeing the sites. The information guy mentioned between Catalina and Arashi was the best place to snorkel, so we got off at Catalina. He also mentioned to walk up past 4 houses, then go in past the yellow house. But I was mesmerized by the water and easy entrance here and quickly made my way into the water right here. Catamarans are usually an indication that snorkeling is going on there. There actually happened to be 2 just past the yellow house. No problem, we could easily snorkel up to there! Almost immediately we ran into a HUGE school of tiny fish. There had to be billions of fish. The school went on for as far as I could see. Eventually I got through the school of fish and continued on towards the catamarans. There were a few snorkelers from the catamarans in the water there. Wonder if they were on a HAL excursion?! Bet they paid more then $5! Saw lots of fish. We had a couple episodes of heavy rain while we were snorkeling, but the water was warm and there was no lightening. After the Bonaire drenching, I did learn to put my towel in a plastic bag while we were snorkeling! in the section where the catamarans were there were lots of sea biscuit shells on the bottom. The bus was running every 30 minutes (the schedule had said every 60 minutes, but that might be for M-F). We only had to wait about 5 minutes. Nice views of the ocean on the way back. Back on board, I took up my spot on the empty 11th level walking track area and took pictures as we departed Aruba. This was my first time ever to Aruba and I really liked it---as well as Curacao and Bonaire. I do hope we can make it back to these islands for a land vacation!

My pictures of Aruba:

http://frombeachestopeachesandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/12/12-11-16-aruba-7am-430-i-was-excited.html

Having lived in this area for a year not long ago, we rented a car and spent 4 nights here pre-cruise. LOVE South Florida! Hope to move back there someday! Along with the beautiful beaches, wetlands full of wildlife, botanical gardens, and gorgeous sunsets, it's a great stepping off point for cruising the Caribbean. Even if you have to fly in the day of or after a cruise, the airport is only a couple miles from the port.