Royal Clipper Trip Report -- Day 5

Day 5 -- Cabrits, Dominica
Sunny and hot

A lot of people like to get up early on a cruise and watch the sunrise. I am not one of those people  So we slept in a bit again, and made it out of our room at about 8:45, because at 9, we met up with our sister ship, the Star Flyer and sailed with her for about a half hour. That was a really fun experience, and I found myself humming the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

We outran the Flyer within about 45 minutes, which left just enough time to get to the breakfast buffet. I needed to eat something, because the one chocolate croissant that I grabbed on the way to the top deck (Sun Deck) wasn't enough to get me to lunch.

Chocolate croissant -- it was actually Nutella, rather than chocolate inside. Yummy.

Shore excursions in Cabrits didn't start until 1pm, but we weren't signed up for an excursion and we just wanted to wander on our own. So we hopped the first available tender and got to shore right around noon. Interestingly, the Star Flyer was moored at the dock, and they didn't have to tender. I tried to get them to let me aboard the Flyer to compare the two ships, but the wouldn't let me.

Anyway, we bought tickets to enter the island's national park (only $13 Eastern Caribbean Dollars) and explored the hiking trails. We found Fort Shirley, which had some really interesting history and great views of the port. There are trails that extend past the fort (probably a total of about 3 miles of trails), but we didn't have the footwear for a real hike. So we spent a couple hours at the fort and headed back to the ship.

You can see the Royal Clipper anchored in the bay and the Star Flyer at the dock.

Fort Shirley, and some of its guns.

Me, with the Royal Clipper in the background.

Kathryn with the Royal Clipper in the background:

I got a couple close-ups of the Star Flyer, even though they wouldn't let me board.

After returning to the ship, we grabbed a quick lunch from the buffet. They do a really good job with salads for the buffets. There was an excellent seafood pasta salad. I also tried the fried chicken, but it was just ok. Kathryn had lamb in gravy and liked it a lot. The desserts were just ok, although we both like the chocolate-banana trifle.

Back to the stateroom to get bathing suits on, because we really wanted to experience the Marina Deck!

The Marina Platform is at the aft of the ship and it lowers from the hull of the ship. They offer paddleboarding, kayaking, and wind-surfing directly from the platform. It's very cool. They also have floating mats that stay attached to the platform, so you can swim out to one and just lay on it to soak up the sun. So relaxing and very fun.

Here's a view of how you get from the ship onto the platform.

And here, you can see the equipment, including the floating mats that are trailing out behind the ship. We spent a lot of time on the mats. I did try the paddleboard, but I'm not very good at it. I couldn't stand up and keep my balance very long.

We stayed in the water for a couple hours, and it's such a fun, relaxing experience to be floating out in the middle of the water -- not at the beach. During our particular cruise, the sun was setting around 5:40 or so. So we got out of the water at 5:30 and headed up to the Tropical Bar for the end of the Afternoon Snack, which was chicken wings and were pretty good! Then back to the room for a desperately-needed shower before dinner.

Dinner started with a delicious mozzarella and mango appetizer. It was so light and refreshing. I really enjoyed it. Kathryn liked the tomato-basil soup very much. The sorbet was lime and rum, and was very nice. Kathryn and I had the same entree, which is unusual for us, but we both liked the sound of the veal parmesan, served over spaghetti. Unfortunately, this was very average. It had very little sauce or parmesan cheese on it. The veal itself was ok, but seemed rather dry without a bit more sauce. For dessert, Kathryn got the cheese plate, which again, was nice and light after a big meal. And I got amaretto profiteroles, which were delicious, especially when paired with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

The tomato soup and lime/rum sorbet:

The veal parm:

Dessert: Cheese plate, chocolate ice cream (I did NOT eat all of it!), and the amaretto profiteroles:

After dinner, we went to the reception desk (located in the ship's one shop) and borrowed a DVD, but after hiking and then jumping off the Marina Platform for 2 or 3 hours, we were both exhausted and out cold by 10:30.