Haiti & Jamaica

Our cruise started off with a sea day the first day.  We didn't do much except relax and eat.  If you've ever cruised before you know that that's a big part of cruising.  That was also the first formal night.  

    Day 3: Labadee, Haiti   Labadee is Royal Caribbean's private piece of Haiti.  We had an excursion scheduled for first thing that morning so we disembarked the ship and went to our designated meeting spot.  We went on a Haitian Cultural Tour and to a private stretch of beach.  We took a small boat to Paradise Cove where we had our own private beach.  We were greeted with welcome drinks and took a tour of what a Haitian village looks like.  We saw some of the local plants and learned how they use different natural remedies, etc.  We met with a fisherman who showed us how he made lobster pots/baskets and we learned how peanut butter & coffee are made on the island.  I learned that Haiti's primary export is orange peel which they send to France to make Grand Marnier.  We also saw some local artisans and got to try some casava bread before relaxing on the beach for a couple hours.  

Our boat for our excursion

Mom & I

Shirley

Small lobster pot

Making peanut butter

Making casava bread

Paradise Cove

  Day 4: Falmouth, Jamaica After Haiti we went to Falmouth, Jamaica.  Other than the cruise port there, there isn't much to see.  When we were here back in November we took a local tour.  So on this trip we decided to go to the Bamboo Beach Club.  This entailed us taking a bus ride through 3 different parishes to the beach.  The cruise port is in Trelawny and we went through St. Anne's & St. Mary's.  At this beach we got to relax on the beach and were served some traditional Jamaican food.  I don't know what it all was but it was delicious.  We had some kind of greens, curried vegetables & rice, jerk chicken & festival and a banana fritter.  There was also some entertainment there with dancers and such.  Unfortunately a storm rolled in and cut our time there a little short but not too much that it wasn't an enjoyable day.

Bamboo Beach Club

I could just sit on these pretty beaches all day!  Tomorrow I will be back with a post about our adventures in Grand Cayman & Cozumel.