Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage Sept 2010 DAY 15 & 16 ADDED PG 12 5/29/11

[TotallyAngelic]

We wandered along the min shopping areas and along the beach, stopping only to take photos, and before long we began to feel a bit peckish, so we found a restaurant on the harbour called The Greenhouse, and decided to call in for some lunch and liquid refreshment aka beer.

I was particularly thrilled as we used to visit a Greenhouse restaurant in St Thomas 20 years ago, and it turned out to be part of the same group. I was even more thrilled that the potato skins I had loved way back then were still on the menu, and still tasted exactly the same.

View from the restaurant:

After lunch we returned to the shopping area and I bought Caribbean style maxi dress which had an expandable top, an essential requirement for the last few days of a cruise. We stopped to watch some little birds who were feeding on one of the trees, and the trees themselves were quite interesting.

We also took a lovely walk along the beach and just a few more photos:

to be continued .......

 

[TotallyAngelic]

They didn't excactly seem to bother too much with health and safety when building a roof here:

All too soon it was time to return to the Disney Magic, so we headed for the pier to board a water taxi back to the dock. We ended up in a boat full of Norwegian Epic passengers, and a lot of the women appeared to have been hitting the island drinks very hard as they were all dancing very provocatively and suggestively with members of the boat crew. It was a bit uncomfortable considering there were kids on the boat and I am no way a prude. When they got off the boat they could hardly walk.

We wandered back on board and headed up to Deck 10 for a sailaway cocktail, and met up with Michael and Michele. We then witnessed the most amazing horn battle between the Magic and the Epic as we were pulling away. ( I managed to film this and I now have over 7000 hits on YouTube with my video of the Epic Horn Battle.) . It was absolutely amazing standing up on deck in the early evening watching us sailaway from the islands. Once we were underway we dashed downstairs as it was time for a highlight of our cruise …. a special show by Jodi Benson aka the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. This show was truly magical, and we felt really blessed to have been able to see such an amazing performer.

Once the show was over, we dashed back down to the cabin to get ready for Pirates in the Caribbean night. We had some photos taken with Captain Jack

and Pirate Mickey

prior to dinner. Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner was in Lumieres, and I had the banana and pineapple appetiser,

the macadamia dusted Mahi Mahi, which is one of my all-time favourite meals on the Magic

and for dessert I had coconut ice cream which was incredible. We took lots of photos of our tables mates and our neighbours in pirate costume

DIS Captain Jack and friends:

Our wonderful Head Server … Yolande:

Leslie and Raphael:

Raphael:

to be continued

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Lynne and Len:

Morag and Gus ( not so piratey )

Jodie and Mike:

and then headed up to Deck 10 to hang out with the Pirates in the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party.

The show was good fun as ever, and the fireworks were impressive. We then settled down on the loungers to watch At World's End, although we bottled out before the end as it was getting quite chilly and we were once again exhibiting our lack of any stamina and nodding off. It was time for bed. Some pirates we are!!

 

[gismo1554]

Day 10 – Day at Sea:

We awoke to another wonderful day at sea on the Magic, and headed for breakfast at Topsiders where I indulged in my one and only healthy meal of the day:

LOL good girl!

 

[gismo1554]

Day 12 – Day at Sea:

We woke up on our last Transatlantic Sea Day, and I was struck by how fast the sea days had flown by ( and how quickly the end of the cruise was approaching …. a fact I wanted my mind to stay well away from ). I think this was the one and only day I ventured to the gym, mainly out of curiosity, to see what the attraction was as DH was rushing off there every morning. It was quite good fun though, I had a ten minute fast walk on the treadmill, and a quick go on the bicycle, row machine, stair thing ( which half killed me ). Then I did a few things on the weight machine designed to improve your bust, although it will take more than a few minutes on a machine to make mine decide to relocate and point north instead of south. There was some refreshing flavoured water on offer in the gym, so I had a couple of glasses of that, and then I went back to the cabin to shower and change after all that exertion! Before long DH joined me and when we were both ready we headed off to breakfast at Topsiders.

OK was this find as many alcoholic looking pictures of Sarah as possible to get her back for making me write this? Completely forgot about cocktail making and our pool drinking lol!

 

[M M]

Great reports Sarah, I kind of like that your taking so long to do them as the cruise seems so long ago now but reading these today brings it all back love the pic of the Epic where it looks like it has a bumper sticker on saying water taxi lol. Weren't all the drinks free when David was doing his set on deck? Jodi Benson really was amazing wasn't she, I skipped dinner to go to her signing and meet her, she signed my cruise litho along with Ducky Williams and Captain Thord, but for some reason I STILL haven't framed it

 

[binkytell]

great update sarah, i just adore your dh tux its fab

some impressive pirate costumes there too, i have both my dds pirate outfit but wasnt sure whether to get me and dh one, after seeing all yours i dont think i want to feel left out

youve gotten me so excited for our trip in sept

 

[TotallyAngelic]

OK was this find as many alcoholic looking pictures of Sarah as possible to get her back for making me write this? Completely forgot about cocktail making and our pool drinking lol!

I think I have some from Tortola in the next installment

remember the old painkillers !!

 

[melonz]

love the pic of the Epic where it looks like it has a bumper sticker on saying water taxi

BRILLIANT

Is it me or does the Epic look like a council tower block?

I'm really enjoying your trippie Sarah. Was the weather pretty good last year? Did you manage to do loads of sunbathing? And were there any rough sea days?

 

[TotallyAngelic]

BRILLIANT

Is it me or does the Epic look like a council tower block?

I'm really enjoying your trippie Sarah. Was the weather pretty good last year? Did you manage to do loads of sunbathing? And were there any rough sea days?

Hiya Mel

The weather was absolutely lovely but I am afraid I am not a sunbather .... I do shade bathe though No rough seas at all, flat like a mill pond mostly. Lets home we can replicate that in September

 

[dolphingirl47]

BRILLIANT

Is it me or does the Epic look like a council tower block?

I'm really enjoying your trippie Sarah. Was the weather pretty good last year? Did you manage to do loads of sunbathing? And were there any rough sea days?

That was exactly my first reaction when I saw the Epic that day.

Sarah, I have been thoroughly enjoying reading your updates.

Corinna

 

[gismo1554]

I think I have some from Tortola in the next installment

remember the old painkillers !!

Oh God yes I do! mmmmmm! Yummy!

 

[Chirpee]

Wow, everyone had awesome pirate costumes

Lovely photos too, Sarah.

Only 5 months now til this year's WBTA...woohoo !!!

 

[LindaBabe]

BRILLIANT

Is it me or does the Epic look like a council tower block?

I'm really enjoying your trippie Sarah. Was the weather pretty good last year? Did you manage to do loads of sunbathing? And were there any rough sea days?

Yup, yup and YUP! Good job, Sarah! I AM Loving this preview of things to come!

 

[magic123]

Wow I have so enjoyed reading your review, thank you so much for taking the trouble to write it. I am really getting to the mood for our cruise now, and can hardy wait for september this year.... it will be so nice to meet everyone. I'm feeling we will gain so much by knowing what to expect, and you so enjoyed yourself.... great thanks
margaret

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Day 14 – Tortola

Today we were visiting Tortola, and I was really looking forward to it. I had visited Tortola once before in the heady days of my youth aboard the Royal Princess when I had spent a memorable afternoon in the Pussers Outpost with fellow crew members and a large contingent of the British Royal Navy who were there on shore leave. Of course, that was 20 years pervious, and I was interested to see if the island, and the Pussers Outpost had changed.

We had booked a snorkelling excursion for Tortola, which I was really looking forward to, as we were going to be sailing to some outlying islands on a catamaran. So our first plan of action was breakfast at Topsiders, and the obligatory photos of Tortola from the ship:

The colours of this island were once again beautiful .. pastel pink buildings and lots of greenery.
Once breakfast was finished we disappeared down to the cabin to pick up our requirements for the day, and then we headed off to meet up with our tour group. All of our wonderful tablemates were taking this trip, as were our lovely table neighbours Anne and Howard, so we know we were in for a very enjoyable morning. We met up with our tour leader just off the Magic, and we were escorted to some very cute transport vehicles.

Which took us a little way along the coast and dropped us off at a small marina.

We then boarded the catamaran and set off on our adventure. The sea was very calm as we sped away from Tortola towards some neighbouring islands.

I took lots of photos of the Disney Magic:

the scenery we passed:

the boat:

to be continued .......

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Before too long we had arrived at our first snorkelling spot, close to some sea caves.

We all got into the water and snorkelled around for a bit, some ventured further than others ….. it was a bit choppy so I stayed close to the boat, but we saw lots of fish and swam around for about 30 minutes.

Then we were back on board and headed to our beach stop. Now apparently this beach had suffered during a hurricane previously and so was not the most photogenic, but I quite liked the abandoned feel it had and thought the photographs were a bit more interesting.

We snorkelled off the beach here, which I prefer to do as it feels a lot safer, and we saw a lot more sea life as it there was a small reef with lots of coral formations etc. Of course you had to be very careful where you put your feet so as not to disrupt the coral.

Before too long it was time to return to the catamaran and head back to Tortola. On the way back we were served some fruit non-alcoholic punch and they palyed some caribbean style music, so it was very pleasant laid back on the boat chilling and listening to the music. Overall it was a very enjoyable trip.

We were dropped off back at the dock were we were taken back to the ship in the cute little bus taxis. We then got changed out of our wet stuff and headed out back into town to pay a visit to the Pussers Outpost. We walked thorough the very quiet but pleasant town, encountered a government protest which was going on, took lots of photos along the way.

Those damn Brits get everywhere .......

The Pussers Outpost was exactly as I remembered it, it was like going back in time, only that I was 20 years older, probably a bit wiser, definitely a lot fatter and a lot more wary of the rum in those painkillers … so I opted for the weakest blend, and even that was strong !!!!

We found Sarah and Dan at the bar, and they were enjoying the delights of the Painkillers, including an interesting shot glass one. After checking out the menu we decided to stay for lunch, as I was desperate for a Caribbean roti and Tony fancied the hot wings.

The food was delicious, particularly the roti, which is sort of a curried vegetable filling inside a very thin tortilla type pancake. Sorry, it's probably nothing like that but thats the best I can do to describe it.

We had another couple of Painkillers to wash down our lunch and our tablemates Gus and Morag appeared and had a couple of drinks. They were both very brave and tried the shot glass one.

The drinks in that place certainly put a smile on your face thats for sure …. I had a warm fuzzy feeling that lasted all afternoon.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

All too soon our day in Tortola was over, but hey not to worry, we had somewhere wonderful to go back to and an evening in Palo to look forward to. We wandered back to the ship. On the way we bought a fridge magnet at a little market that had set up close to the ship.

We then took a few photos with this magnificant backdrop:

Back on board and it was time for a delicious cocktail to celebrate sail away. We stayed up on deck for a while to watch us sail past lots of islands,

and I took a few photos around the ship at dusk:

but soon it was time for our dinner date at Palo so we headed down to the cabin to get ready.

Dinner at Palo was a wonderful experience …. we were served once again by Sylvester as we had requested him following our amazing brunch experience. We started out by being given a selection of antipasti type meats and things …. not exactly my thing but I nibbled on some of the delicious bread sticks and things to accompany my glass of pinot grigio. For appetiser we both had the portobello mushroom which was delicious, and then I had the risotto which again was lovely. Needless to ask what we had for dessert …. the chocolate souffle … but does anyone ever have anything else ???? It certainly lived up to it's reputation.

So after Palo … guess what we were too stuffed to the gills to go anywhere or do anything so we wobbled around the deck for a while and then went to bed.

 

[gismo1554]

Ah Sarah its getting sad now that you are almost at the end! Great update!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Ah Sarah its getting sad now that you are almost at the end! Great update!

I could have sworn I had a photo of you and Dan sitting at the bar in the Pussers Outpost ........

Nearly finished .... just 3 more days to go really. Hope to finish it before next trip in July.