16 Jan 2017:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA:
Circling Back

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Back in the U.S.A., and headed home to rinse the sand from our toes.

We wish guests safe travels, and  look forward to seeing them again somewhere on this wondrous, aqueous sphere.

blog-monaco-30sept2016-corey-sandler-0580

We’ll be back in May on Silver Wind for a peripatetic tour: the Mediterranean, a circle of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and then a jaunt up the west coast of Norway. We will twice sail up the River Thames and through the Tower Bridge, a feat that only a few cruise ships are able to accomplish. I hope you’ll join me here.

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

 

13 Jan 2017
Samaná, Dominican Republic:
Gimme Shelter

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our original plan had been to visit the tony resort complex of Punta Cana in the far east corner of the Dominican Republic.

Alas, the seas were not in our favor for use of the ship’s tenders and our captain decided against anchoring offshore. Instead, we called at the tourist enclave of Samaná, considerably more sheltered in its fine bay.

A bit off the tourist path is St. Peter’s Evangelical Church.

This church was brought from America in the early 19th century by freed and escaped slaves who were invited to resettle on Hispaniola by the government which was the first in the new world to throw off their slave holders.  There was also aid by American abolitionists who sought a place to resettle African slaves.

About 6,000 came to Hispaniola;  most did not stay,  but a community of descendants live in and around Samaná.

BLOG Samana DR 1Feb2016_DSC3885

BLOG Samana DR 1Feb2016_DSC3887

BLOG Samana DR 1Feb2016_DSC3894

Los Haitises National Park is on the southern side of Samaná Bay, about 15 kilometers or 10 miles from Samana. This is a protected virgin forest, accessible primarily by boat from Samaná, with little road access.

Haitis means highland or mountain range in the Taino language, although the hills aren’t that tall: about 20 to 40 meters or 100 to 130 feet.

There are many sea caverns along the coast, some with ancient pictographs and petroglyphs. The area was formed in the Miocene epoch, about 23 to 5 million years ago.

Included within the park is San Lorenzo Bay with numerous islets and mangroves.

The Cayo de los Pájaros, or Bird Key, is populated by frigate birds and pelicans. It is located near the enticingly named Boca del Infierno, or Mouth of Hell.

And the spectacular waterfall, El Limon, was used for the opening scenes of the original Jurassic Park movie.

images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

12 Jan 2017:
Road Town, Tortola:
An Independent Path

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, which sounds very impressive,

Except that none of the islands are very large or have all that many people.

Pity, since they are very nice places.

road-town-tortola-2feb2016_dsc3905

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The islands—in total—have a population of about 28,000. Of that number, about 23,000 live on Tortola, many near the capital city of Road Town, which is where we are scheduled to dock.

The principal islands are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost van Dyke.

Although the Spanish Empire claimed the islands, they never settled them: they found no gold. On nearby Virgin Gorda there is a small deposit of copper, and British entrepreneurs later imported miners and technology from Cornwall.

In subsequent years, English, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Danish powers scuffled over control of the region, but the predominant power for much of the time were pirates including Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.

In the late 16th century, the English, who had successfully displaced the Dutch, established a sugar cane plantation colony on Tortola and the surrounding islands.

Wherever there was sugar cane, there were slaves because the industry was very labor-intensive.

In the late eighteenth century, new settlers arrived: Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies after the American Revolutionary War who were given land grants by the Crown to encourage development. They brought their African-American slaves with them, outnumbering the British colonists.

English is universally spoken throughout the British Virgin Islands, along with some local dialects and creole.

British Virgin Islanders are classed as British Overseas Territories citizens, and since 2002 have had full British citizenship.

Although the territory is not part of the European Union and not directly subject to EU law, its citizens are deemed to be citizens of the EU as well. Just to make things confusing—or easier, if you prefer—the official currency of BVI is the U.S. dollar.

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

11 Jan 2017:
St. John’s, Antigua:
Modern Piracy in a Place of Old Times

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Antigua is a mix of all things Caribbean, with a splash of celebrity and a tinge of scandal. Slavery, sugar, young Lord Nelson, superstars in remote palaces, and an American import who played a version of Bernie Madoff’s game on some very undeserving islanders and is now a long-term guest of the U.S. federal prison system.

It is the more substantial of a two-island nation; it is the capital of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

BLOG St Johns Antigua Catamaran 25Feb2015-0472

Antigua means old or ancient in Spanish, and that was the name bestowed upon the island by Christopher Columbus in 1493. He had in mind an icon in Seville Cathedral: Santa Maria de la Antigua (Saint Mary the Ancient.)

Antigua has some of the most interesting terrain amongst Caribbean islands: hills and valleys and deep bays. It is the largest of the Leeward Islands, about 108 square miles or 281 square kilometers.

Although it has its share of tourism income, it is also unusual in its development of other industries including Internet gambling services, offshore banking, and telemarketing centers. It also has two medical schools that aim at least in part to attract American and other foreign students.

Antigua, located on the major sailing route from Europe to the West Indies, was considered Britain’s “Gateway to the Caribbean.” And it was for that reason in the late 18th century the Admiralty decided to beef up its resources on the island.

Antigua English Harbor2

Young Horatio Nelson, later to become Britain’s most celebrated naval hero, was sent in 1784 to oversee the dockyards at English Harbour and enforce The Navigation Acts which dealt with commercial shipping.

The dockyard was originally called “His Majesty’s Antigua Naval Yard.” Boats coming in for repairs sailed into the boat house, and their sails were hoisted up to the loft through a trapdoor.

Antigua English Harbor1

The dockyard was abandoned by the British Navy in 1889. A first, unsuccessful effort to restore the yards began in 1932; the work resumed in 1951 and continues.

And for tourism purposes the place was renamed as Nelson’s Dockyard.

As we sailed away, Antigua graced us with a spectacular sunset of the sort I have rarely seen.

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

10 Jan 2017:
Basseterre, St. Kitts:
The Lowlands

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The island of Saint Kitts was once a very prosperous place—at least for its landowners—with an economy built around a single product: King Sugar.

The sugar mills are gone, and like many other Caribbean islands, the current economy is now based around different royalty: King and Queen Tourist.

st-kitts-basseterre-15jan2012-p1060083

Columbus was here first, but the Spanish did not hang on, There followed various iterations of cooperation, fighting, and coexistence between English and French. The Spanish returned for a few rounds of war, but in the end the island became a British colony. Today it is independent.

st-kitts-basseterre-15jan2012-p1060086

The story of Saint Kitts is inextricably bound up with sugar and therefore slavery.

Sugar was not a native crop. It was brought to the Caribbean in 1493 by Columbus on his second voyage, an import from India and Asia by way of the Canary Islands.

The first profitable crops on Saint Kitts were tobacco and cotton, but facing stiff competition from the Colony of Virginia, the plantations switched to sugar cane in 1640. At one point there were more than 300 sugar plantations.

It was a lucrative business, but it was very labor intensive. Slave labor.

st-kitts-basseterre-15jan2012-p1060092

st-kitts-railway-02feb2012-dsc_3555

The majority of the early slaves to the New World were white. Queen Elizabeth I and then King James I of England dispatched tens of thousands of Irish as slaves to the New World in the early 1600s.

The later, larger wave of slaves came mostly from Africa.

By 1650, Saint Kitts was entirely devoted to sugar production. By 1720, there were 2,740 whites and 7,321 slaves. In the following decade, planters imported 10,000 more slaves.

By the mid 1700s, the number of whites on Saint Kitts began to decline as planters took their families and their fortunes back to England and managed their estates as absentee landlords.

The sugar industry held on until the 20th century, but topography and relatively low yields made it unprofitable, even when machines were dispatched into the fields.

Today, though, the remnants of the sugar trade are almost everywhere to be seen: in some old plantations, mills, and in the people. And a railroad built to move cane around the island now hauls tourists.

st-kitts-railway-02feb2012-dsc_3523

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

 

9 Jan 2017:
Gustavia, Saint Barts:
St-Tropez in the Caribbean

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’re back in Gustavia, the capital and principal city of Saint Barts. It’s one of our favorite places: French culture with a set of fine beaches, a small Caribbean mirror to places like Cannes or Saint-Tropez.

STBARTS (c) SANDLER-1

STBARTS (c) Sandler-6

BLOG St Barts 4Feb2016_DSC3946

We are the handsomest large yacht in the harbor, although not the only one. The port of Gustavia is filled with overt displays of great wealth tied up at the docks and prowling the streets, shops, and bistrots.

BLOG St Barts 4Feb2016_DSC3948

STBARTS (c) SANDLER-2

BLOG Gustavia St Barts 21Feb2015-0377

Saint Barts is very French…in a Swedish kind of way.

Its European history began, as much of this region did, with Christopher Columbus. On his second voyage, he sailed past—he did not land—an island he named Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles.

In 1648, the French were on the prowl in the Caribbean and they claimed the island. They renamed the place with a Gallic version: Saint Barthélemy.

For much of the next century, the principal industry of Saint Barts was piracy. French privateers (or buccaneers, as they were known) would set sail from the island’s natural harbor to prey on Spanish galleons.

In 1784, as France began to totter toward Revolution, the French crown gave Saint Barts to Sweden in exchange for the right to engage in trade with the developing port of Gothenburg in the Baltic.

The Swedes wanted a foothold in the Americas as a place to sell iron ore and products. They renamed the village at the harbor Gustavia after King Gustav III and they founded the Swedish West India Company. That brought Swedish governors and Swedish merchants and Swedish slave traders to the Caribbean. That’s right: Swedish slavery.

In 1878 Sweden sold Saint Barts back to the French.

Which bring us to today: tourists, pirates, oligarchs, and . . . us.

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

8 Jan 2017:
San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Together and Apart

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

From our ship, the city of San Juan is at our feet.

But Puerto Rico, the Rich Port, is so much more than just that handsome Old Spanish city.

Puerto Rico is one of the gems of the Caribbean, a green and mountainous island with handsome beaches and a tropical rainforest, a now-cosmopolitan capital city with one of the most impressive fortresses of the new world, several other significant cities each with its own allure, and a vibrant culture of music, literature, and food.

BLOG San Juan Puerto Rico 20Feb2015-0367

BLOG San Juan Puerto Rico 20Feb2015-0366

Puerto Ricans sometimes call the island Borinquen, a version of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, which means “Land of the Valiant Lord”.

And if you want to venture into the realm of hyperbole and tourism, the island is also popularly known in Spanish as la isla del encanto, meaning “the island of enchantment.”

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. The island is about 110 miles or 180 kilometers in length, and at its widest 40 miles or 65 kilometers in breadth.

The most dominant structure in San Juan is Morro Castle, El Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This citadel was begun in 1539 on orders of King Charles V of Spain.

BLOG San Juan Puerto Rico 20Feb2015-0353

The first part of its name comes, Felipe, comes from King Philip II of Spain. The second half, el Morro, means the “nose”, or in this context, ‘the promontory.’

The fort was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the colonial port city of San Juan from seaborne enemies.

Flagpoles on El Morro today customarily fly the United States flag, the Puerto Rican flag and las Aspas de Borgoña, the Cross of Burgundy Flag, a standard which was widely used by Spanish armies around the world from 1506 to 1785.

The residents are American citizens, following federal laws and paying federal income tax.

And although Puerto Ricans can vote in Presidential primaries of American political parties, they do not have the right to vote for candidates in the presidential election itself.

They do not have full representation in the U.S. Congress: they elect a delegate who can participate in committees but does not have a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. All of this is very much on the minds of Puerto Ricans today as they face serious economic issues without the full ability to deal with them by themselves.

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

5 Jan 2017:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA:
Out to Sea

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard for Silver Spirit‘s first full cruise of 2017, with hopes for a happy, healthy, and peaceable new year.

I’ll be posting photos and stories here throughout the cruise. Here’s our plan:

map-v5701

The first two days will be at sea, as we head southeast from Florida.

Our initial port of call will be San Juan, Puerto Rico. From there to the tres chic port of Gustavia on the island of Saint Barts.

So that means Cuban-influenced American Florida to Spanish-American Puerto Rico and then Swedish-French Saint Barts.

But wait, there’s more. On to English-French Saint Kitt’s, then English Antigua and Tortola. We’ll then move north to the Dominican Republic, the Spanish-speaking country shared with the French-speaking nation of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola.

The final stop on this sojourn will be Grand Turk in the semi-independent nation of Turks and Caicos, a British dependency that uses (and very much reveres) the U.S. Dollar.

Welcome aboard.

SAGUENAY 5372 SANDLER-8613

Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Hudson Book Cover

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM