DAY 7---TRINDAD & TOBAGO

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BACKGROUND INFO

        Trinidad & Tobago is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean.  There are numerous smaller islands nearby.  It is located just 6 miles northeast off the coast of Venezuela.  We are docking at Port of Spain which is the capital city.  Trinidad & Tobago is considered to be part of the West Indies.

        T&T obtained independence from the British in 1962 and became a republic in 1976.  Unlike most Caribbean nations and territories, which rely heavily on tourism, the economy here is primarily industrial, based on large reserves of oil and gas.  The country experiences fewer hurricanes than most of the Caribbean because it is further south.        

        Trinidad is the larger island with an average length of 50 miles and width of 37 miles, making up 93% of the country's total area.  Tobago is 26 miles long and 8 miles wide at its greatest width.  The terrain of the islands is a mixture of plains and mountains.

        The population of the islands is 1.5 million with most living on Trinidad.  English is the official language.  The crime rate has a relative high crime rate and noted as a transshipment center for drug trafficking from South America to the Caribbean and North America.

        T&T is the most developed nation and one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean.  Tourism and manufacturing are also important.  Tourism is a growing sector particularly on Tobago.  Agricultural products include citrus and cocoa.

                                              It is partly cloudy and 82 degrees here today.

LAST EVENING

        A local Granada steel band entertained on the pool deck from 6:15 for an hour.  I just took this photo and headed back down to the Stars Lounge.

This is Honey.  She is very sweet, by the way.  She serves canopies in the Stars Lounge evenings.

        Ray Solaire, our Cruise Director, called us at 5:30 and asked if he could join us for dinner.  Of course we said yes and to meet us at 7:00 in Compass Rose.  Ray kept us laughing throughout the evening with his stories as a CD.  He has been a CD for 55 years and has lived on cruise ships for 37 years total time.  He is from the UK.

TODAY

        We docked at 7:00 this morning, obviously at the commercial container pier.  I took these two photos from our balcony.  Tour buses ready as the tour folks were just starting coming off the ship.

                                                 This is view looking aft from our balcony.

         I went up on deck 11 for these photos.  As you can see this is a huge container pier.

        Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas is in front of us on the pier.  She was launched in 1996 and carries 2000 passengers/765 crew.  We did 7 day Caribbean cruises on her in 2003 & 2006.

                                           This is outside the Galileo Lounge on deck 11 aft.

                         Ash trays on one side indicates this is an approved smoking place.

          Cruise terminal up by the Rhapsody.  There is a shuttle to take folks not on tours to it.

                                                        Houses on the side of the hills.

          Hard to see, but in the distance are some offshore oil drilling platforms and oil tankers.

        I have a very bad lower back pain issue.  After sitting and when I stand it feels like someone is stabbing me with a knife and I let our a yell.  This is our desk chair which I use to work on my blog posts.  I am ok in the mornings when I get our of bed but after sitting in this chair, I have lots of pain when standing up.

        So I asked housekeeping if they could bring me one of the card room chairs to try out.  They brought me this chair.  So far it is MUCH better on my back as the seat has very little padding.

        We went up to La Veranda for lunch and this was along side.  We are "bunkering" fuel today.  Bunkering is what they call this operation of refueling.  I guess this port is a good place to take on fuel since there is a lot of oil offshore.

        At lunch we ran into Marge Goddard, our good friend from California who is also a Diamond member of Regent.  She had been on a walk and had talked to some folks who are on the RCL Rhapsody ship.  The ship left San Juan and has been here for 3 days and will be here another 4 days for the celebration of Carnival (what we call Mardi Gras).  Apparently it is a very big party time in Trinidad & Tobago.  Carnival runs from February 26th to March 5th here.

        We ran into Donovan, the head sommelier, at lunch also.  He gave us an update on our wine supply.  Said we had 12 bottles of La Crema chardonnay and 12 bottles of Butter chardonnay left.  That should get us to Miami on the 21st.  Maybe they can find more in Miami for the next 14 nights.

        We were scheduled to sail again at 2:00 this afternoon.  However, we were delayed due to still 

bunkering fuel.  It will take us two more days at sea before we enter the Amazon River on Wednesday. 

   We finally departed 2 hours late.  We had two of these tug boats escorting us our of the harbor.

                   At 3:30 we attended an interdenominational church service hosted by Ray.

        My son, Jeff, sent me an email asking I post the dinner menus in Compass Rose so here is tonight's menu.  Tomorrow evening is the Seven Seas Society pre-dinner party and always on the menu that evening is miso marinated sea bass.  This is our FAVORITE Regent entree.  Unfortunately, we have been invited to dine tomorrow evening in Prime 7 with Donald, F&B Director, and Estera, the head of housekeeping.  SO, I have asked for miso sea bass for dinner tonight.  With 24 hours notice you can ask for special dishes.

        Of course the OSCARS are tonight.  Ray is hosting a Oscar music trivia session in the theater at 6pm.  At 7:30 the Oscar pre-show will be shown in the theater followed at 8:00 by The Oscars on the big screen.  It will also be shown on the suite tvs.  I have no idea what movies are nominated and really don't care.