Pop and Granny make a visit!!
Arion's West Indian Adventure
Hermione & Douglas Pattison
Sun 13 Mar 2016 18:30
The first meeting, in English Harbour was so exciting for the children. Having said a soggy goodbye to Grandma and Grandad 2 days before, suddenly they saw Granny and Pop and both raced over to greet them. Granny was laden with goodies from the UK, games, books and galley essentials which you cannot get out here. Luckily for us there is no luggage restriction on a cruise ship!
We spent a fantastic day on Galleon beach playing in the sand and sailing our dinghy ‘ladybird'. It was good to hear all of the Itchenor news and how Sammy, Gwen and Mabel (the dog and Tortoises x 2 for those who don’t know!!) are coping in our absence!!
The day ended too soon and it was time for us to say goodbye, but not for long. We set sail to St Kitts and had a VERY rocky-roily downwind leg there ( I have to say, probably the most rolly passage to date. Gunwhale to Gunwale. Although I am pretty good at getting down below ready for a passage, it looked like an explosion had happened!!) We were glad to get behind Nevis for a bit of flat water…… We arrived in the evening and knew that the ‘Marco Polo’ would be arriving early the next morning…….
0600 and we wake up to the noise of a large ship docking. Arthur and Alice were straight up on deck to wave at G and P! We actually thought that Granny might leap of the ship and swim to Arion, with her snorkel and flippers, but luckily she waited for disembarkation……!
It was a rainy day so we decided to do a taxi tour of the island which was very interesting. Granny had managed to raid the Marco Polo dining room at breakfast time so we enjoyed a gourmet picnic and various danish pastries en route!! The afternoon was spent swimming off the boat in sunshine which was very enjoyable until we realised that we were swimming in raw sewage. Honestly. It is a total miracle that nobody got ill after this….. Yuck!!!! It was then time to say goodbye again. We took the dinghy right up to the Marco Polo and as it reversed off the dock, Granny emerged on deck waving a huge pink towel so we knew when to wave!! It was very funny and the Children thought this was great. We watched the Marco Polo disappear over the horizon and the sun setting on a wonderful day!