Saturday 17
Fly in to Phillipsburg, get there right about sundown. No time for the beach. Meet up with old shipmates Claude & Nell, Judy & Palmer, split a taxi and head over to the Holland House. Good place and they upgraded us to the Junior Suite. Sweet! Not that we used it, but what the heck, it looked purty. Wandered over to the Greenhouse and had some dinner. Good food, reasonably priced, 2 for 1 Stellas. Back to the hotel, a nightcap or two, then to bed.

Sunday 18
Wake up to a beautiful tropical morning sunrise with the Poly and Legacy sitting out in the harbor. Can't ask for much more than that. Wander down for breakfast. Town is pretty much closed up for the day. Who cares, I wasn't going shopping anyway. Send bags over to the ship and went down to the Get Wet to kill some time. $3 for 2 beers, Poutaine for those working on their heartattacks. Swim a bit, then it's time to head to the ship. See old shipmates Christopher & Amy on the dock. Do the usual check in, head down to see the cabin. Number 24. Nice, bigger bed than the Mandalay, but we really need to get the portholes back! Never knew what time it was all week! Up to the bar, socializing and meeting new people before dinner, then the band came on board and the dancing began till late.

Monday 19
Get the last spot for the 12 Meter race. Was on the Canada boat as primary grinder up against Stars & Stripes. Had a good race but lost by a nose. Very, very close. A lot of fun but a warning, if you want to sit back and enjoy the race do not be the primary grinder! I worked my butt off and didn't see much! Back to the ship and it's time to up hook and sail to St. Barts. Captain Caesar beats the Legacy out of the harbor, and off we go. I must say the Poly is the superior sailing ship compared to the Mandalay. Not much roll and rode the water like a duck. As it should for a old Greenland codfisher. Brought "The Quest of the Argus" along for the trip. Was a lot of fun to show people what their rooms used to look like! In other words, salt piled to the ceilings! Fairly short sail and we anchor off the end of St. Barts for swimming from the ship. Out goes the diving board and in we go. Water felt wonderful. For the brave or the stupid, it was out to the bowsprit. Being stupid, I'm in. It's about a 35 to 45 foot drop, depending on your timing. After that, a swizzle was required, so I partake. Pajama party for dinner while we move into the harbor.

Tuesday 20
Today is Fat Tuesday, gonna be a party, it's Carnival time. Legacy comes over and joins us. Head in to town and go over to Shell Beach. Nice little spot, topless too. The wife frees the Larsen Twins. Come noon, we're getting hungry so it's back to town. La Select is packed, forget it. Everything on Front Street is reserved. And pricey! $18 for a Club Sandwich! St. Barts ain't my kind of place. Too chic. All I want is a beach with a shack that serves cheep cold beer and food. St. Barts isn't the place, but I don't blame them. Looking at the yachts in the harbor, I'd be charging those prices too! Head around the side of the harbor and find a sushi place. How often do you get to say you ate sushi because it was cheaper, eh? Excellent choice, the sushi was very good. Back to Front Street to find a bottle of wine for the wine & cheese party. All the shops have just closed up for the parade and we have done blown it. Can see the rain coming so we skipped the parade and headed back to the ship. Get caught in the launch and just get soaked. Twas a soggy parade I bet. Buy two bottles of wine on ship and have it sent over to the Legacy where the party is going to be. Get on board and go surprise Captain Fernando. We were his first wedding and it was good to see him again. Also see Ken, a former shipmate from the last cruise. One heck of a party on board builds up. Doing Jaegermeister shots with Caesar and Erica later as the wine is long gone. Back to the Poly for dinner, then the serious drinking begins. Ron, one of the passengers, comes back from town. Lucky dog got his picture taken with Jimmy Buffet at La Select! Guess I should have stayed! Come midnight, the party people raise the sails for Nevis. Look around at 2 AM and I'm suddenly the last guy up! Better go to bed…

Wednesday 21
Wake up at Nevis and there's the Mandalay! All right! There are some hurtin units on board and I'm one of them, but I do the only sure cure for a hangover. Don't sober up! Bloody Mary's will fix anything. Tours go off and I pity the people on the Mountain Bike or Quill tours. I go sit on the stern and break out the fishing gear for the morning. Brought a ice fishing rod and tacklebox. The crew was a little amazed, don't think they'd ever seen a rod that small! Or a slipbobber rig! For you fishermen out there, it worked very well and was easy to carry on the plane. Slipbobber let you set the depth anywhere you want it. Bring a bigger slipbobber as there can be a lot of current or wind and you will need to use a decent amount of weight to get the bait down. Lighted for nighttime would be smart too. Crew had some squid, later they gave out chicken or shrimp. Biggest fish I caught was a 5 to 8 pound sharksucker. One heck of a battle on a two foot ice fishing rod, let me tell you! Had him well hooked, worked him all the way around to the side of the ship to the launch ladder. Crew went down to grab him but he snapped the line after the crewman grabbed it. Using 15 lb. Spiderwire. No big deal, I had all the fun out of him anyway. What a riot. Duane comes over from the Mandalay and says hello. Was good to get a chance to see him again. After lunch, the wife and I head in and walk down the beach to Sunshines. Just beer today for me, no Killer Bees. Come back to clean up for dinner, nightcap at the bar. Bit quiet tonight, everybody blew themselves out last night. Early bedtime for all.

Thursday 22
Wake up in St. Estatius. Was going to sail to Saba but there was a swell running, so that was canceled. A lot of canceled tours this trip due to the swell, mostly the divers and snorkelers. Divers said vis was down to 5 feet. Screwed up my fishing too! Not a bite today. Go in to a hotel with a salt water pool where the crew fed us lunch. Not much beach on St. Estatius so the pool was great. Too big of surf coming in on the black sand beach for swimming there. After lunch, walk up the slave path and check out the fort and old church. Back to the ship, and since Saba is out and we have loads of time, Caesar does a photo launch. Send my camera off with Nell in the launch and she gets some great shots of the Poly under full sail. We get all the launches back on board and head for Anguilla. Do the crab races and I hit the trifecta! Can't lose on the final race! Guess I should have bet more than a buck. Oh well, still made $5. Later that night we have the PPP party. All names withheld to protect the guilty.

Friday 23
Wake up and go up top. It's 4 in the morning! Bring back the portholes, sheesh! Or put a clock in the cabins. Not an alarm clock though! Have a smoke and a cup of java and enjoy the stars. Back to bed. Wake up later and we're just pulling in to Anguilla. Been trying all week to talk some people into getting a cab and going over to Rendezvous Bay on Michelle's recommendation, but could never get a definite "yes" out of anyone. Go with everybody else to Shoal Bay. Look around and say, "This will do". Spend the day under an umbrella drinking buckets of beer with Ron & Lisa and Frank & Nancy. Didn't suck. Only bad part was we didn't have the whole day, I could easily spend some time in Anguilla on the beaches. Back to the ship and it's last sail. Where did the time go? Captain's Dinner, then general carousing at the bar while everybody drinks up their dubloons. Another good party develops and it goes late.

Saturday 24
The early group is up and off. Say goodbye to all our old friends and the new ones. We have the La Mer timeshare so are staying on another night. The wife and Nancy spend the morning wandering Phillipsburg shopping, Frank and I head to the Get Wet. Have some lunch, swim, and just sorta do nothing. Frank & Nancy have to leave at 3 for the late flight out, so we say goodbye to them on the pier and go back to the Poly. Very quiet ship, crew's day off, pretty much just us and Lee onboard, with a few new early arrivals for the next trip. Kinda nice, gives you a chance to rest up for the flight the next day. Stay up a bit giving the newbies the lowdown, then early bedtime.

Sunday 25
Hanging out, packing, killing time before the flight. Caesar moves the ship around 10 over to the pier to take on fuel. We sit on deck looking up at four cruise ships and make mooing noises. Around noon, back to the anchorage. Say goodbye to the crew and head for the airport for our 4:30 flight, which is delayed. See the weather for the first time. 12-15" of fresh stuff in Minneapolis. The airlines are in their usual snafu state. Get in to Miami late with a one hour layover. And there's just no way you're going to clear Customs, Immigration, get your bags, recheck your bags, clear security again, and find your flight all in a hour. But the luck, she is running good. Our flight to MSP is rescheduled to 4 hours late because the pilots are stuck in Dallas. Gives us time for dinner, cuz you ain't getting nuthin on the plane these days. Note to self and others, leave at least a two to three hour layover or find a non-stop. Miami Int was a screwed up zoo. Or better yet, carry-on. The wife is a confirmed believer once again. Especially as I spent four hours pointing out the fact that you can buy shampoo and toothpaste anywhere. Finally arrive in the Twin Cities and yes, they are scrapping snow off the roads. Drive home and hit the bed at 4:30 AM. But, at least I have a porthole now…

Great trip report Lars!! I am a firm believer of carry on too.

I always try to NOT go through MIA down or back - all due to the screwed up mess that is there - even without weather...or if you have to go through MIA - like you say - always leave a 3 - 4 hour window for connections - especially coming back through Customs there.

Great report!!! Thanks!

Great report Lars!

I had a good chuckle about freeing the larsen twins


Take care!

Fun reading your report....you may have been at "get wet" when I was there, I know there was a couple I talked to for a few minutes.

How about my buddy Lee, he is the bestest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the pax who was on with you your week and then doing our week broke his shoulder and had to go home on Monday. Don't remember his name, just knew he had dark hair and glasses and was traveling alone. He hurt himself getting on/off launch.

Thought that was you. Read your report this morning.

Yep, that was us. The good looking redhead and her other half.

Dark hair and glasses, hmm. Was it the jogger guy? Then again, if he wiped out on Monday, you never saw him jogging...doh.

The jogger guy's name was Gary (don't know his last name). I saw him in St Maarten before his first week. He was going to email me when he got back, but if he was injured that could be why I haven't heard from him.