DAY 4---ST BARTS

 BACKGROUND INFO:

        St Barthelemy is a French speaking Caribbean island commonly known as St Barts.  It is known for its white sandy beaches and designer shops.  It is an overseas collectivity of France.  There are three other islands that make up the French West Indies:  St Martin, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.

        A volcanic island fully encircled by shallow reefs, St Barts has an area of only about 10 square miles and a population of about 10,000.

        Its capital is Gustavia, which contains the main harbor and is where we are anchored today.  Gustavia is on the west side of the island.

        The economy of the island is based on tourism and duty-free retail.  The euro is the official currency.  International investment and the wealth generated by tourism explain the high standard of living here.  Most of the food is imported from the US or France.  Tourism attracts about 200,000 visitors every year.  St Barts has about 25 hotels, most with 15 rooms or fewer.  Most places of accommodation are in the form of private villas.  There are some 400 available for rent on the island.

LAST EVENING

        As I described yesterday, at 6:00 the bell was rung over the PA and the shipwide block party started.  We met many of our neighbors, all of which were very nice folks.

        Above are photos of Captain Loris, Ray, and Nicki as they passed through all the hallways toasting all the guests.

                        At 6:30 we adjourned to the Stars lounge for a pre-dinner with Marcia.

        We went down to Compass Rose about 7:15 for dinner with Jane joining us.  We asked for the same waiter, Nino, as we had the night before.

                  We ran into Herman, whom we have known for years.  He is a head waiter.

        Trisha is also a head waiter and arranges for Rebecca's cheese plate every day.  Rebecca has an Atkins bar for lunch every day but likes some cheese to snack on in the afternoon.

        We all enjoyed this creamy corn & pablano chili soup to start with.  It is one of our favorite soups.  Of course I also had some escargot.

  I ordered this chicken Kiev but it was very dry so I had it changed to what Rebecca had ordered.

This is Rebecca's Szechuan beef stir fry with broccoli, red peppers, basil, and oyster sauce over rice.

                                After dinner we went to the theater for Linda Gentille's show.

                                         Linda is an amazing pianist and also quite funny.

                                                   We chatted with Linda after her show.

TODAY

        We arrived at our anchorage and dropped anchor shortly after 9am.  Ray just made a PA announcement at 9:50 saying the ship had been cleared by the local authorities so the tendering operation is beginning for those on early tours.

                                                          Setting up the tender gangway.

        I can't believe they are going to tender today.  Tender is bobbing around like a cork during process of getting people on it.  Does not appear to be to be a safe operation.  Besides those boarding first will be sea sick before the tender is full.  Definitely not going ashore today!!

                                                                Found an island to buy!

                                  This is as close to Gustavia as I am going to get today.

                       Below are two photos of Galileo's Lounge which is up on deck 11, aft.  

        Lunch today was again up in La Veranda.  There is a pasta station so I had some linguini bolognese made and added some pepper flakes to it.

    

        I was still hungry so back to the buffet as they were carving roasted turkey today.  On past cruises the turkey gravy has been a dark brown color.  I have brought some Heinz turkey gravy from home with me on a past cruise to show the chefs what gravy looks like.  Today, it was the perfect color!

        This afternoon I am sitting with an ice pack on my lower back.  I have been dealing with back pain for over a year.  Multiple steroid injections, PRP injection, and ablation when living in Durango.  Pain management doctor in Dallas did a dye/steroid injection to identify problem area then referred me to a back surgeon.  We are to get off this ship on April 4th and I am scheduled for back surgery on April 11th.  The pain is worse since heading out on this cruise.  I hope I can make it to April 4th.  Now when I stand after sitting it feels like someone is sticking a knife in my back and I yell.

        I sent some laundry out last night and it was just delivered back.  Fast service.  I also had Menino shine my black dress shoes.

        This evening's plan of attack is to meet Marcia at 6pm in Stars Lounge for my "medicine".  Makers Mark bourbon does help with my pain!  Then I have arranged for dinner up in Sette Mari at 7pm.  Marcia had invited Pippi, the Cruise Consultant (books cruises onboard for guests), and Luke, the IT guy, so there will be 5 of us at dinner.

        The ship's production company (4 singers/dancers and 6 dancers) will be doing their first show tonight at 9:30.  It is titled "Tuxedo" and features music from the Rat Pack.  We have seen this show a number of times on other Regent ships.  Anxious to see this cast perform it.

        We sail again at 7pm so as to be docked at Pointe-a-Pitre on the island of Guadeloupe by 7am tomorrow morning.  Distance to sail is 260 miles.