Tom and Steve at Sea

On Monday our ship anchored off the British Virgin Islands, and we transferred to Spanish Town on one of the Pride's small tenders.  We explored the highlight of Virgin Gorda - the famous "Baths" - formed by a network of unique boulders along the shoreline that create hidden caves and sea pools.

A cruise ship from Germany was visiting the island the same day and we encountered several youth who were climbing through the Baths from the opposite end.   We met as we roamed through the small, dark caves and we shared smiles and laughter over the resulting "traffic jams" that were caused as we passed each other.

Before returning to our ship, we transferred by the tenders to Prickly Pear Island where the crew of the Pride had prepared a wonderful BBQ of grilled prawns, chicken and pork together with an almost endless selection of amazing side dishes for all the guests.  And we enjoyed thrilling rides on small banana-shaped boats and also on a small donut-shaped boat, as these were pulled at high speed over the choppy waters off the beach by motor boats.  We re-boarded the Pride in the early evening and immediately fell asleep in our cabin!

Tuesday we sailed to St. Kitts, named for Christopher Columbus who discovered the island on his 2nd voyage to the New World in 1493.  100 years later, the English shortened the island's name from St. Christopher to St. Kitts.  We docked next to a much larger cruise ship, the Adventure of the Seas, sailed by Royal Caribbean and you can certainly see the difference from our Seabourn Pride :)

We walked through downtown Basseterre but then decided to tour the island by rail.  Riding in the comfort of an air-conditioned railcar we circumnavigated the island on a one-of-a-kind narrow gauge railroad built almost a century ago to facilitate the delivery of sugar cane for processing and export.

Back onboard the Pride, we enjoyed dinner with some of the many friends we made on this cruise.  They are from all over the world and we've become "family".  Tomorrow we visit Jost Van Dyke back in the British Virgin Islands.  Watch for our post in a few more days.