Cruising Thru Postcards # 16

         Blog # 1604 --- Day  688 of the Current  ( Second ) Russian Invasion of Ukraine 

                                                                      GLORY TO UKRAINE      

Howdy folks, Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone receives at least one postcard in their mailbox every day of 2024. That would be awesome.  Well it's been almost 3 weeks since my last update. I have to do better in 2024. 

Some time ago , actually back on Jan 8, 2020,  I presented an update called " Cruising Thru Postcards # 12" . Now I would like to continue this theme, but now it is Cruising Thru Postcards # 16. I know your next question must be  " what happened to # 13, 14 and 15 ?  Well not everything works as we might want. The postal aspect of those cruises didn't happen as I would have wanted. I couldn't find stamps in Labadee, Haiti and none of the cards I posted in Falmouth , Jamaica ever arrived anywhere, at least to my knowledge. The same for  Ocho Rios, Jamaica. A few cards from other ports arrived but not enough for an update so I just want to forget about postcards from those cruises. I'm moving on to Cruising Thru Postcards # 16. This was a 9 Day Southern Caribbean Sunfarer Cruise to the ABC Islands and Bahamas. The ABC islands are Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao , the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. 

 We left Fort Lauderdale on Holland America's MS Rotterdam on Nov 3, 2023. We then endured two sea days before our first port of call. We arrived early at Kralendijk, Bonaire on Nov 6th. I walked to the post office and bought stamps. My intention was to visit the town , then later go back to the ship, prepare my postcards, and later go back to the post office and mail them. It worked out well, even better than that. I asked the lady at the post office to be sure to hand cancel the stamps. She said certainly but then asked if I would like to do it. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. So Bonaire worked out well.     

Teena's card to me shows some of the slave huts on Bonaire. These huts, built in 1850, housed the slaves who worked in the salt pans on the island. 

The Dutch Caribbean ( Bonaire ) Flamingo stamp was issued in 2022. 

Our next port was Willemstad, Curacao. This is my favourite port down that way. We arrived in port early on Nov 7th. We did the touristy things, crossed the Queen Emma Bridge, walked around the Handelskade and shopped a little. Later in the day we made our way to the post office. That didn't go so well. We had to take a number on entering  and then had to wait to be served. Well we waited and waited some more. Nothing seemed to be happening so I decided to leave and take my cards back to the ship. I passed them in at customer service and asked that they have the ship's agent mail them. And it worked. 

It's another Teena's card of course. Great views of a great place. 

Teena's stamp is from 2022. It's 1 of 6 in a set showcasing the Velas Latinoamerica Sailing Regatta.  

We sailed out of Willemstad in the evening of Nov 7th and headed for Oranjestad , Aruba. Be sure to check out Palm Beach or Eagle Beach if you ever find yourself  in Aruba. It was quite hot when we were there and since I knew from past experience that the Post Office was quite a hike from the port, I decided to not go there. I purchased stamps from a shop quite near the ship. The lady running the shop offered to mail my cards . She had done this for me one time before so I knew I could trust her. Again everything worked out well. When I returned  I sent her a postcard of an iceberg, something she will never see down there. 

Teena's card to me is a world map card showing where Aruba is located. 

 The Aruba stamp has 3 Dutch Princesses on it. It was issued in 2019 , in a set of 4.

We left Aruba in the evening of Nov 8 and then it was 2 sea days to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, arriving the morning of Nov 11th. 

We enjoyed the water, the beach and had a great lunch ashore. There was no Post Office at Half Moon Cay, so no option to send postcards, even though postcards were available. , We pulled away from Half Moon Cay around 4:30 pm and arrived back at Fort Lauderdale at  7 am on Nov 12th,  safe and sound. 

That's it for this time, the first update of The Blog for 2024. 

Thanks to My Lovely Teena for all 3 cards. I love cruising with you Teena , looking forward to # 17 next month . Can't wait to visit all those new and exotic ports with you.