Then it was back to Azura for lunch before a walk into town and then spending time in the cruise terminal.
Kingstown, St Vincent Thursday November 1st
Before breakfast I pulled out the forms for immigration in Barbados. I clearly was not awake as I filled in the wrong flight details for our flight back to Gatwick. A quick visit to Reception and I had two more sets of forms and started all over again.
Breakfast was in the Oriental with a full table. Unusually for this cruise we watched one of our table companions giving the servers a difficult time. It was then no surprise that when the breakfasts were all delivered that they were plated incorrectly. Politeness costs nothing and saves confusion too.
Off the ship
As we walk down the pier we were greeted by a steel band and ‘greeters’ dressed as the original residents of Saint Vincent (i.e. not many clothes). The cruise terminal was as busy as we remembered it from our last visit. In the middle of the shops and bars a rock band were playing very loudly.
Once through the building we turned left to catch the water taxi to the nearest beach. It was $15 each return which seemed a lot to pay for a ride to a beach.
To the beach
We were sat at the rear of the boat and after we passed Azura the boat’s engines were opened up.
Then the bow came up and everyone at the sides were getting were getting splashed.
The passengers in the front we are finding it very hard to sit without sliding down the seats as the boat’s angle in the water was so steep.
The trip lasted over 10 minutes and the $15 cost began to seem good value if only for the exciting ride!
The boat past lots of houses on the cliffs as we rounded the promontory. As we neared the beach we slowed down to thread our way through moored boats that were sheltering by Young Island. We then could see sunbeds on the small beach on the island as we passed. Once we were docked we were approached and offered to be taken on a ‘ferry’ over to the island for a further $5 return. All the ship’s Headliners on our boat opted for the ferry. At this point we did wonder what they knew that we didn’t.
The last message from the boat was that a ride back to the cruise terminal would be on the hour every hour.