Day 19 - Wednesday - 4/2/25 - Grand Turk

 

As is our custom for this cruise, we had an early morning devotional time. Today was led by a very successful blind pianist, Gordon Mote. He shared testimony about his life and how God used others to help him along. After the devotional time we headed up to the Lido Market for our morning breakfast. We didn't have anything scheduled for this port so we weren't in any hurry to get off the ship. After breakfast, we headed out and walked the long pier to the Plaza area, which was developed by Carnival in around 2006 at a cost of $50 million. I don't have any memory of being here in the plaza, but I know that we've been here at least once before.

We walked through the plaza and were observing a historical sign when a hustler presented us with the option to take a narrated van tour around the island for a cost of $40 each. So we decided to do that and went and boarded the van after a short wait. Grand Turk is only about 7 miles long and 2 1/2 to 3 miles wide so it's not very big. We drove north along the West Coast of the island which is sort of protected and stopped at the bank so people could use a cash machine (the American dollar is the currency here). Nearby we made another stop at a souvenir area and observed the Carnival Vista coming into port. We continued to drive along city streets and observe wild donkeys and horses which are free to roam throughout the island. At the very north end of the island is a lighthouse has been in place since the 1800s it's now turned off. But we had about an about a 20 minute stop there. there's also the opportunity to feed a carrot to a donkey for a buck, but we passed. The wave action here was much more aggressive than on the east side of the island.

Back in the van, we headed south past a former US naval base, which is now a community college and drove by North Creek which is really an anchorage. That's very protected from storms. Back at the port, we paid the driver and then walked through the rest of the complex including through the Margaritaville complex before walking south to the US space display of a capsule and a lot of historical signage each commemorating the John Glenn and Wally Shirah space flights which ended at Grand Turk. Nearby was the beached whale statue and nearby café. We decided to have lunch there and enjoy some crack conch and coleslaw and watch the Carnival Vista unload its passengers.

After enjoying lunch and watching people, we did one last walk-through the complex before returning to the ship around 2 o'clock where we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on board. I went to the Lido Market to have some ice cream and a soda and couple from Iowa sat down and had a discussion about cruising. They had only taken cruises with Christian groups and were curious about what it was like to take a normal cruise and whether they would be uncomfortable. I shared with them that on Holland America they would certainly feel comfortable. I recommended Holland America because of its great  destinations and smaller ships. Later, I joined Angela in the Lido pool area and watched a few YouTube videos while I had a cell phone connection.  We had dinner at table 155 once again and I had braised beef, French onion soup and arugula salad along with turtle pie for dessert it was very good and the service was very fast. As the red badge holders concert was in the evening, so right after dinner we joined the queue to get a seat in the World Stage. We were not priority this night, so it was much more difficult to get a seat in our preferred area which is one row up on the elevated section.

The concert was just under two hours long and it was almost like a revival meaning in terms of the enthusiasm shared by the thousand or so guests that were present and really enjoyed this venue.

Afterwards we ended our evening watching the latest episode of The Curse of Oak Island and a Gaither video before falling asleep.