St Barths:
We spent several hours on this lovely 8 square miles island. Imagine living in just 8 sq. miles. It is truly like a paradise but so small. There are 14 beaches on this very hilly island. Each beach is just a lovely as the next. French is the language of choice. It is a tax-free island but making a living is very hard unless you are a native. There are 2 gas stations and lots of “smart cars”. Children must leave the island to get an education after grammar school. How hard must it be to send your 12 or 13-year-old child to another place during the school year? There is neither unemployment nor major industry of any great import. Agriculture and tourist services are the main jobs. They are 53 % men and 47% female on this island. The major religions are Catholic, Protestant, and Jehovah Witness.

This, our second, visit to this little paradise was spent just walking around and enjoying the vistas. Some folks on the ship were upset that we are only on this island for 7 hours but I think they will be satisfied when they see just how small the island is, plus being Sunday not much will be available and even if it is the prices here are for the rich and double so with the dollar versus euro exchange rate. 1 euro = 1.40 us
We started to walk to the lighthouse, but Barbara gave up about half way there and returned to Main St. Check the photos in web shots for some lovely lighthouse vistas and to see the fake cannons. Jack was the only soul strong enough to brave the hill, so he had the place to himself. He said he went to put his foot on the cannon to steady himself to take a photo and the cannon surface gave. It was made of fiberglass over wood, but sure looks real.

Back onboard after lunch we had a very nice worship service. There is a retired pastor on the ship and they gave him 10 minutes notice to make a sermon. Short and strong was the result. We are having a meeting in the next day or 2 to prepare our Christmas service. I intend to go to see if we can come up with a choir. After worship we had an Enrichment Class to prepare us for Barbados, which covered history, culture etc, but that will come to you later after we have been there, tomorrow. Let me just say that it was lead by the Consulate Representative of Barbados who is traveling with us, and a professor who has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his work in compiling “Bajan” history and promoting Barbados. It was by far the most entertaining class yet. We are under way and going to pass by Montserrat, an active volcano tonight around 7 and will have view of it from the lounge at the top of the ship. We hope to make it up there for that too but must find time to eat, very important on a cruise, and be to our next class “The Ebb and Flow of Brazil’s Business Trends at 8PM. Classes are late because of the land trips today. So you see we have full days to do or to not do many things available.