November 17, 2024
My first view of St Lucia! Right there off my balcony!! Gros and Petit Pitons!
And even better - guess who came to visit?? My cousin Cathy and Rod - for 16 days!!
Cathy & Rod got to St Lucia yesterday and stayed at Fig Treetop resort - they had a great view of our SHIP pulling into Soufriere Bay this morning. I tendered over to meet them at Dock, and we went to the secluded Sugar Beach nestled between the Gros and Petit Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage Site & the Symbol of St Lucia! The Beach is home to the exclusive Viceroy Resort and secured heavily but also open the public and where we also ran into fellow residents Deborah, Melody & John. The six of us enjoyed the beach and had a lovely lunch at the resort followed by a water taxi ride back to the dock. Such a nice day in a gorgeous place!!
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Shopping is huge in Manila - there are sooo many malls! Probably because it is so stinky hot! The air condition draws you in, plus the malls have everything - giant Hyper supermarkets, movies, entertainment venues, sport complexes, spas & medical services, tons of restaurants and every retailer you can imagine. SH Mall of Asia is the 5th largest Mall in the World! I went here 2 different days, first with the ladies- Anna Sherrie & Sarah. Then back the next day with Terri, mainly because I was now familiar with the layout, and could move faster and get what I needed quickly.
Metro Manila is a massive urban jungle with a population of between 18 to 20 Million. Makati City, specifically the the neighborhood of Poblacion and P. Burgos Street is the heart of night life scene, this red light district is heavily concentrated with bars, pubs and go-go venues. I saw a Get your Guide VIP tour of some of the best clubs offered and Bosco and I, decided to check it out. When we arrived at the first venue, we found five other shipmates! We run into ship people everywhere! It's kinda nice, The Community is what we love about this lifestyle!
The Intramuros section of Manila, Philippines is the historic walled core, of this Capital City. Today, the surrounding stone walls are ringed by a golf course, in lieu of the moat from long ago. Below shows comparison from rendering 300 years ago, under Spanish Colonization to Today. Many of the historic buildings, churches, fort and prison remain. Kimberly and I walked it for over 4 hours, and we saw maybe a quarter of it. We sadly gave up due to the heat, humidity and our exhausted feet and missed the Corpus Christi procession to the Manila Cathedral with the Bishop, by just a half hour! If only we had known ahead of time!