Sunny Northwest Weather: A Good Day To Look at Cruise Photos

To ease any pain of returning from a Caribbean cruise, we're back at home in the midst of a streak of sunny days. Of course, the lack of cloud cover results in temperatures below freezing at night and daytime highs in the mid-40s, but it's still beautiful, leaving us to look over the photos we took aboard Regatta.

Tendering ashore to look around Gustavia, St. Barts.

Tarpon milling near the fish-cleaning station awaiting a handout...

Then it's back aboard.

Our next stop was a docking at Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Watching the pilot hop on and off the ship always provides entertainment, especially when it takes place eight decks below our suite, but the seas were too smooth to make this one very dramatic.

Skywatching can reveal some amazing views.

Rank has its privileges. Dining in our suite on dishes from Toscana'a menu, from the Lasagne al Forno alla Bolognese to the Mozzarella di Bufala Caprese to the Aragosta Fra Diavolo con Tagliolini Freschi (Kathy) and the Costolette d’Agnello avvolte in Pancetta Toscana, servite su Patate all’Aglio e Rosmarino (Brian), was a treat that thoroughly spoiled us.

Our first-ever visit to La Romana, Dominican Republic, was not inspiring. As mentioned earlier, the aggressively pushy vendors in the markets set up in a town park obviously for the cruise ship passengers was annoying. Still, we enjoyed a brief walking our around the fairly run-down town with a friendly guide and a peek at Sunday baseball games, baseball being very important in the Dominican Republic.

Our final stop was at the tiny Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands, sort of at the other extreme from La Romana, in that a beautifully sterile little shopping center was set up for the cruise ships, including even an outpost of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.It's main claim to fame is the fact that John Glenn splashed down nearby and was brought ashore to the US military base after making the first orbital flight.