St.Maarten Thursday July 29th

The Island of St,Maarten or St,Martin -only 37 square miles in size is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two nations. It is owned by both France and Netherlands Antilles, thanks to a treaty signed over 350 years ago. With the Concordia Agreement (1648),the Dutch and the French agreed that residents of ether side of the island can be commercially active on ether side without any red tape or border difficulties.This contract of peaceful coexistence turns out to be the oldest active,undisputed treaty on our planet.The friendly partition of St,maarten?St,Martin remains to this day and the two separate life-styles- charming vignettes of their respective homelands- coexist in complete contrast but perfect harmony. And yes as you can tell I did not write any of that I got it from the Celebrity Today news letter that we get each night on our bed for the next days activates and ports of call. I love St,Maarten I always enjoy coming here the water is very clear and blue and the people of the island seem to be very friendly. I can't wait to come here again someday. Tomorrow os a sea day I'm looking forward to some down time we have had three port days in three days and I always try to pack in as much in my day at port as I can so I need some rest. OK I'm off to dinner in the Grand Epernay Restaurant where I'm sure I'm going to order the Veal cordon Bleu.

Wednesday July 28 St.Thomas

Christopher Columbus first sighted the Virgin Islands on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. Throughout history,St.Thomas and the other Virgin Islands were controlled at one time or another by Spain,England,France,Holland,and Denmark. During World War 1, the United States feared German activity in the Caribbean,and wanted to protect its shipping interest through the just completed Panama Canal.In 1917,the U.S. purchased its Virgin Islands from Denmark at a coast of $25 million. We was escorted into St Thomas at 7:00am by the U.S. coast guard, We then went up lookout mountain on the Sky tram where we had some great views of the bay. I then has a great flying fish sandwich while on top. After lunch I went on a two tank scuba dive out off magins Bay. It was a very nice day spent on St. Thomas.

July 27 San Juan, Puerto Rico

The island of San Juan was discovered on Columbus, second voyage to the New World in 1493. As a settlement of the Spanish empire,San Juan was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. In 1898 Spain ceded the island to the United States by signing the " Treaty of Paris. We arrived in Puerto Rico at 1:00pm. I walked around Old San Juan and the forts. Departed at 11:00pm on our way to St Thomas.

Monday July 27 Sea,Grass and Glass

This cruise is going great, I wasn't sure why a cruise ship needed real grass on it before my cruise but I must say with blue sky's and water it's nice to have some green grass to walk on while out to sea. And the glass blowing show is just awesome to watch I would have never thought. It's Monday night and we will be hitting San Juan Puerto Rico in the morning it's my 4th time there but I'm still looking forward to it.

July 25, Cruise day Sunday day 1

Hello from Ft Lauderdale, It's a great morning here at the Hilton beach resort, I arrived on time from DFW and made my way to the Hilton My room is great it's huge with 2 bath's and 2 balcony's. I will be boarding the ship later this morning and then sail away at 4:30 pm. Here's a few pic's of my room.