THE CARIBBEAN LIFE AND CRUISING!

Cliff and I just returned home from another cruise, this time on the beautiful Celebrity Millennium for a 10 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise. As many of you know, Cliff and I could spend the majority of our lives in the Caribbean and travel the world! We would easily get used to this kind of life, cruising around the world on the open seas, enjoying the beautiful beaches; the exciting ports of call; the history, culture, food and the amazing people you meet along the way!

Ummmmmmm, sorry, I just drifted away to another time period and I was transported to a beautiful, warm Caribbean realm for a brief moment! Well we are back home for now, which means a few more months of cold weather in Canada. It sometimes feel surreal that we were just in the Caribbean one week ago! Time does fly by so do remember to smell the roses and celebrate life every day!

I wanted to share with you some of the islands we visited and our journey to inspire you to live your dream life and with passion. I have added pictures of some of the wonderful people we met, who are now new friends in our lives. If you want to learn how you can cruise for free in exchange for your talents and expertise please go to Daniel's Speaker's Cruise Free.

We left the cold winter in Toronto on the 10th of February and flew into sizzling hot Puerto Rico, San Juan, for a few days before our cruise. This allowed us to relax and also confirmed that we would not miss our cruise. We then boarded the Celebrity Millennium on February 12th for our 10 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise. We set sail at 8:30 p.m. from San Juan, Puerto Rico and arrived the next morning at 8:00 a.m. at the port in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

Tortola is a gorgeous and luscious island which we had visited before and enjoyed our time at the beautiful Botannical Gardens. So this time we decided to take a tour of the island. As we traveled up into the mountains and stopped at many scenic points. Wow, the magnificent views of the Bays and beaches that stretched out from Long Bay, through Apple Bay and Cane Garden Bay (above) and on to Carrot Bay. Here is a brilliant view of our ship from the beautiful hills and Cliff who is ready for the adventure!

We also visited the capital of Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The two main towns in St. Maarten are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). We decided to stay on board at this port, thoroughly enjoy the ship and celebrate Valentine's Day. It almost felt like the cruise ship became our own private yacht! Here I am with Sandra having fun and chilling out!

Other new friends on Board were Duarte and Katija (below). We enjoyed many lovely conversations with both of these wonderful people each evening. We also shared lovely dinners with Bob and Nancy from Atlanta, Georgia; Andrea and Ron from California and a fun day's outing with Vicky and Russel from Michigan. Cruising is such a wonderful way to meet wonderful people you probably would not of met at home and become friends.

In Bridgetown, Barbados we decided to take a private tour of the island. Our brilliant tour guide Carl from CJ's tours and taxi service took us on a scenic route and shared his love and passion for his home and beautiful island. He highlighted several celebrity island homes and showed us the location where Tiger Woods was married, and we found the famous green tailed monkeys at the golf course. Here is a one of the cute little guys I gave a banana to! This was spectacular as Carl honked his horn and the monkeys flew out of the trees, 40 feet away from us and started to run in our direction. I handed the bananas back to Carl so he could show me how this was done. Remember these are wild monkeys!

Curacao is a Dutch Caribbean architectural beauty with many historical and pastel-colored buildings in downtown Willemstad. Willemstad, Curacao is a protected and historic city center of Willemstad. The beautiful colors in the market and downtown; the floating market, spices and the activity; along with the rich history provides you with a day of adventure! I also was introduced to an iguana and we took his picture!

Our last port of call was Organjestad, Aruba. Aruba is known for their beautiful beaches and the famous divi-divi trees that look like they are bowing to the breeze of the island winds. They grow under the influence of the trade winds and fit in perfectly with the gorgeous landscape. The official language of the island is Dutch, however, Papiamento, a patois derived from several other languages is what the locals speak. There is also English, Spanish and Portuguese.

We decided to spend time at one of the beaches, swim in the warm Caribbean Sea and soak up some rays! You will not want to miss this if you travel to this beautiful island.

We could of stayed on the ship sailing forever, however, it was time to come home. Enjoy the pictures and leave your comments and let us know what dreams you have and how you are going to manifest these into your life now!

Live with Passion!

SAMANA, DOMINICAN - THE JOURNEY

My family and I booked an Eastern Caribbean Cruise in December '08 and discovered the natural beauty of the Samana Island in the Domican Republic. Samana is a destination for nature lovers and adventurers. The island attracts many people, among these are eco-tourists (scuba divers, rock climbers, horseback riders and whale-watchers.) For many generations every winter, the humpback whales from the North Atlantic migrate to these protected and warm waters of the Bay of Samana. My family and I are planning to return to this island and continue to experience it's natural wonders.

This was our first visit to the port of Samana, Dominican Republic and it is definitely a gem in the Eastern Caribbean. We decided to book the ship's excursion "Waterfall Hike & Swim" and we were all excited about traveling into a hidden oasis which opened up to a beautiful cascade of water! The adventure began by boarding and traveling in an open air bus into the interior of the Samana Peninsula to reach the walking trail. Our knowledgeable and experienced guide shared his passion and love for the island, the people, the vegetation, culture and history.

I imagined that we would see many species of birds and be in a jungle atmosphere and being one with nature. After traveling throughout the countryside and experiencing the natural beauty of the island, (a school house on your left), we arrived at a ranch house. At this point, we were excited about continuing on our journey and adventure. Before the hike we exchanged our runners for rain boots (or wellies in British terms!) It was wonderful to meet so many other local, young experienced guides who helped us walk through the muddy and slippery paths before reaching the hidden and beautiful water falls. I instantly connected with my young 16 year old guide Lisa. Her husband was also a guide who offered a ride to individuals who did not want to walk along the path. I thoroughly enjoyed the time Lisa and I spent together. Not understanding each other's language we communicated verbally and non-verbally through gestures, smiles, laughing, pointing and just sharing our bond. We held hands on and off throughout the path and helped each other balance through the mud and rocks and at times we shared quiet moments. I wish I was fluent in the Spanish language as I could have communicated in more depth with Lisa to discover her passions, more about her family, friends and dreams. It was amazing to watch Lisa and her friends climbing trees for grapefruit and coconut and dropping these below. I was amazed at their agility and skill. The grapefruits were huge and juicy and not the ones we find back home in our grocery stores. The coconut juice was fresh and eating the coconut brought me to wonderful past memories of living on our sail boat in the Bahamas many years ago.

About 1/2 hour into our hike, we heard the powerful rushing of the water at the falls. The area was hidden from view by the path and then opened to a beautiful cascade of water, which fell into a clear, natural pool. I could not wait to get into the cool, fresh, mountain water and experience the thrill of being in the water surrounded by the mist. Two of the island people scaled the cliffs to dive into the water below. This was a special and spectacular event! They were immensely skilled and knew how to be extra careful to navigate themselves around the jagged rocks below. All an adventure I am grateful for and enjoyed every moment immensely.

People may talk about the poverty of the island. I choose to look at the people, who smiled and waved to us, as our bus went by. Children were laughing and playing and the island people were going about their day. I feel they also understand the simplicity of what is special in life and I truly felt connected to them.

I look forward to returning to this island and getting to know more about the island people. The joy and love I felt in my heart for them is strong and connects me to them. I am booked on a cruise in August to speak on a cruise line and one of the ports of call is Samana, so my wish comes true. My hope for you is that you create the your own opportunity to travel to this island, meet the people and experience the Waterfall Hike & Swim. Remember to give a hug and say a big hello to Lisa! I know I will when I return to the island in August 2009!






Bon Voyage! See you in Samana!
Moira