Today, January 26 is Australia Day. Today marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove. We wish all of you, especially our Australian friends a Happy Australia Day.
Zeb and Eider by the Sydney Opera House
We love Sydney, Australia.
St. Croix is the last port for our cruise. All the humans and ducks took a Scenic St. Croix tour. We like to be together. Leaving the port and through the tropical rain forest our first stop was this Baobab Tree.
Baobab Tree
The Baobab tree is often called “the tree of life”. Can you believe the history of this tree?
Baobab Tree Burned alive here???
Fruit from the Baobab tree falls to the ground. This feels like velvet.
Fruit of Baobab tree
We ducks did not want to sit on the ground. We don’t know these red bugs, and there were a lot of them. Friendly? Biting bugs? We don’t know. Our next stop was Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. St. Croix is an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, so this preserve is part of the National Park Service of the United States. This was the first landing site by Christopher Columbus, in 1493 in the US Territorial waters. The view from the Visitor’s Center was beautiful but it was very windy.
View from Visitor’s Center
We ducks could not sit here alone. Salt River Bay is home to some of the largest mangrove forest and sea grass beds, providing one of the most unique wildlife habitats, in the Virgin Islands. We feel safe with our humans and our friend Chip, the Doubletree Cookie.
Salt River Bay
We love to look at the water.
Salt River Bay
The next and final stop on our tour is Christiansted. The King Christian Hotel is old and well known.
King Christian Hotel in Christiansted, St Croix
We like these streets and buildings. In the early days of St. Croix, sugar cane was grown across the island. This is an old sugar mill.
Old sugar mill building
Looks like a great social place now. We shopped at the Purple Papaya gift shop. We thought you might be curious about the name, Purple Papaya.
Purple Papaya
Walking down another street, we were fascinated by all the vines growing from and around these trees.
So many vines in the trees
Our tour took us back to the cruise area.
Shopping area for cruise passengers
Our shopping area is decorated for Christmas. We watched these dancers by the gazebo.
Dancing performance
The ladies are wearing very fancy hats. Walking along the Caribbean, we had to stop by the canons.
Old canons on Caribbean coast
A few more steps and we would be on this beach.
From cruise ship you can walk to this beach
Rocky first and then soft, warm Caribbean sand. Now it is time for us to return to our ship. We always must be careful to watch the time and not miss the ship. We really liked St Croix and none of us had previously visited this island. We hope to come back soon.
Today we swim, snorkel, and shop in Sint Maarten. First we take a water taxi to Philipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten.
To the Water taxi
After transferring to another boat, we all arrive at the floating Tiki Hut.
Floating Tiki Hut
Isn’t this beautiful? That pool has water from the Caribbean and we saw tropical fish there, eating bread. Bucket’s dad is already in the water.
Bucket’s Dad
It looks fun, but again, no snorkeling mask in our size. Some humans are enjoying stand up paddle boarding.
Stand up Paddle Boarding
Oh this exciting. We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, are swimming with Bucket’s parents.
We are swimming in the Caribbean Sea
They are having a little problem keeping us together. This is so much fun. We are bouncing along on top of the waves. Back on the Tiki Hut, we ducks needed to rest and lounge in the sun.
Ducks resting
Swimming can be tiring, but it sure was fun! Look what we saw.
Fish
We could see the fish under water. We looked through Bucket’s parents snorkel mask! Bucket’s parents are on the floating platform, waiting for another snack.
Bucket’s parents
We already ate lunch here, but they are hungry again. Taking ducks swimming causes hunger. It is time to leave the floating Tiki Hut, so we take the first boat back to Philipsburg. Then another water taxi to the ship. This is our cruise passenger shopping area.
Shopping area
Beautiful tropical flowers also. These steps are very inviting.
Let’s wander
Let’s explore. We like these crafts that are for sale.
Crafts for sale
Following our moms on a shopping trip is exhausting. So, snacks and beverages anyone?
Snacks anyone?
Have a seat humans. There is just a little time before we board the ship, so hurry.
We love squirrels! Who knew there was a National Squirrel Appreciation Day? We did not. According to National Day Calendar, Squirrel Appreciation Day is observed annually on January 21. The creator of this holiday, Christy Hargrove, is a wildlife rehabilitator in North Carolina, and is affiliated with the Western North Carolina Nature Center. According to Christy, “celebration of the event itself is up to the individual, or group. Anything from putting out extra food for the squirrels to learning something new about the species.” Here in Colorado, mom and the Colorado Traveling Ducks, put bread on our patio when the ground is covered with snow. This squirrel is on his feeder in my front yard.
A squirrel on his feeder in my yard.
But I, Zeb the Duck, love watching the squirrels, and birds, come to the patio and eat bread.
Today, January 19, is National Popcorn Day. We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, love popcorn. With butter, of course. In the early 16th century popcorn was used in headdresses worn during Aztec ceremonies. Early Spanish explorers were fascinated by the corn that burst into what looked like a white flower. Popcorn became popular in the United States in the mid 1800s. By 1900 horse drawn popcorn wagons were going through the streets of Chicago. Of course, you cannot go to the movies without buying and eating hot buttered popcorn.
We love popcorn
We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, love eating movie popcorn with lots of butter. Yum!
Today we are in St. Kitts. And we love it. All of us are going on the same shore excursion today. Let’s go on our Mini Speedboat and Snorkeling Adventure. We are going on these mini speedboats.
Mini Speedboats and snorkeling equipment
Two humans in each boat–ducks going also. You may notice that we have a new friend. Chip, the chocolate chip cookie, from Doubletree Hotels is with us. Bucket’s parents work for Doubletree Hotel, a division of Hilton Hotels. Bucket, Chip and Bucket’s parents are ahead of us.
Bucket’s parents heading to snorkeling area.
We loved driving the mini speedboats. The snorkeling was fun also, but the humans did not take photos of us. Maybe next time. After snorkeling and driving the speedboats, we wanted lunch. We walk along the beach, and Soapy’s mom saw a man with a monkey. Now she has us, Chip, a monkey and the monkey’s doll.
Soapy’s mom with monkey, Colorado Traveling Ducks, Chip and a doll
That is a lot to hold, so the man holds the monkey now. He seems to be holding Soapy’s mom, too.
Soapy’s mom and monkey owner
We loved that cute monkey, but the moms said we could not take it home. Look, here is a place to order food.
We are getting hungry
We are really thirsty.
We were thirsty
What is this? A snowman in the tropical Caribbean.
Snowman–in the Caribbean??
We would like to eat here, looking at the beautiful water.
Let’s eat here
After lunch and a brief swim, a taxi took us back to our ship so we could get dry clothes. Now we head to the shopping area for cruise passengers.
Shopping area for cruise passengers
These wandering dancers and musicians are very colorful.
Wandering dancers and musicians
We like them. There are lots of places here to shop and eat. Sailing away on our cruise ship, we look back at beautiful St. Kitts.
Leaving St. Kitts
When mom and I return to our room, our new towel art makes us laugh.
Towel monkey in our room
We love this monkey towel. We had fun in St. Kitts and are looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.
We have three or four inches of new snow in our yard. Yesterday, Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck convinced mom to drive around town taking photos of our new snow. First we went to this lake.
Snow on frozen lake
The lake is frozen, but the ice is not deep enough to be safe for humans. There is snow on the ice and everything looks so fresh and clean. Looking to the west, the tops of the Rocky Mountains are concealed in clouds.
Mountains covered by clouds
There is new snow on the foothills. Foothills are the mountains, before they get tall enough to be the real Rocky Mountains. There was no school yesterday so the snow on this playground is still fresh and untouched.
Fresh snow on school play ground
There are thousands of Canadian Geese that spend the winter in Colorado. But in this yard, we saw this unusual pair. We normally just see the darker geese, but here is a rarer white goose.
Canadian geese
We thought they were beautiful, so mom just had to put two photos of them in here.
Canadian geese
The trees look so pretty with their new snow coats.
Snow clinging to tree
Next we drove to our city park.
Park in our town
We love to see the fresh snow and the creek flowing through the park.
A city park in our town
Some of the trees have already lost their new coats of snow. The Colorado ski areas are receiving several feet of new snow, but in town, we are happy with a few inches. We think it is pretty and we hope you like new snow also.
It is exciting! It is our day! Today, January 13 is National Rubber Ducky Day. In 1970 Jim Henson, as Ernie, sang Rubber Ducky on Sesame Street.
Ernie, Bert and Rubber Ducky from Sesame Sreet
We have been famous ever since that day. That rubber duck is cute, but we, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, think we are cuter and have better personalities. Today we celebrate us, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, and all the rubber ducks everywhere. We hope you see a rubber duck today and smile. Celebrate our day.
We step off the ship in Bridgeport, Barbados. And the sign said we were welcome here.
Colorado Traveling Ducks are in Barbados
It is so nice and warm here. We walked to the shopping area.
Shopping area for cruise passengers only
This shopping area is just for us and other cruise passengers. Bucket is leaving us to go with his parents for another shore excursion. Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck are browsing with our moms. Oh no. We ducks have seen these stores before. Inside we go. After a long time, to ducks it was long, we came out.
Maybe this bag is new traveling bag for ducks. Humans get the emeralds.
We are bringing another emerald back to Colorado. Our human moms love Colombian Emeralds, International. The emeralds here are beautiful and the humans just have to go inside to purchase at least one item. OK, shopping is done. Now two ducks and two humans get a taxi and we head for the beach.
We made purchases at building behind us.
Beverages are sold here and we purchased several diet Cokes. So cool and refreshing. We love this beach.
Beautiful beach in Barbados
The humans take turns walking along the beach, one of their favorite activities. Here is Soapy’s mom strolling on the sand.
Soapy’s mom walking on beach
There were a few other humans here, but there was another visitor to our beach.
We are not alone here. Crab in Barbados
Actually, this is his beach and we are the visitors. This curious crab has the tallest eyes we ducks have ever seen. Our moms have been to Barbados before, so they just wanted some lazy, quiet beach time today. Bucket and his parents took the Jolly Roger Pirate Party Cruise and Snorkel trip. They are on a pirate ship for about 4 hours. One stop is here in a beautiful protected area.
Great area for fun on pirate ship
They swim in the Caribbean.
Bucket’s mom snorkeling
Bucket’s dad will walk the plank.
Bucket’s dad. Soon to be landing in Caribbean Sea
Bucket’s dad jumping off pirate ship
The water is so warm and swimming is perfect. Back on the Jolly Roger Pirate Ship, the captain heads around the island of Barbados. Soon there is another stop for snorkeling.
Caribbean water is so blue
Bucket’s dad is in the beautiful, blue water. The humans have GoPro cameras, so they can show us what they see underwater.
What you can see snorkeling in Barbados
Wow! A sunken ship wreck. Bucket was there, but snorkeling equipment did not come in his size. After swimming and snorkeling, they have a great lunch on the deck of the pirate ship. After lunch there is dancing, laughing and visiting with other pirate ship passengers. Bucket said this was a great trip. But he wants snorkeling equipment in his size. Sorry Bucket, but that is probably not going to happen. We ducks and humans all meet for dinner to share our adventures. Cruises are fun.
We do not stop at any port today. This is our at sea day, so let’s explore our cruise ship. When we got on this ship, every human and traveling duck attended the safety drill.
We went to the safety drill
Nobody thinks we will ever have a problem, but if something happens, we now know where to go for a life boat. But, today will be fun on Carnival’s Fascination cruise ship. Ducks like water, so we went to the water slides first.
Water slides
Near the swimming pool we watch ice carving. This piece of ice was brought here.
Beginning block of ice
Then he began carving.
Quickly sculpting
In about 10 minutes this Indian head, complete with carved feather head dress was finished.
Finished ice sculpture
This carver just used chisels. It was really hard to get a photo with so many people here. And the ice is melting fast. It really did look great; much better than mom’s photo. In some areas we have seen ice carvers begin with chain saws, but not here. These spiral stairways look interesting.
Let’s go up the spiral staircase
Mom said we can go up later, but let’s see what is being served for lunch on the deck.
Lunch served on deck. Let’s try some of everything.
We took some of everything. We wanted to try it all and then next time maybe only take our favorites. This one of our favorite places to eat outside.
Favorite outside dining area
This area is sheltered, so not too windy, but we love to watch the water. About deciding on our favorite foods, that didn’t work. We love it all. Everything is our favorite. Because we eat so much on the ship, the humans never take the elevators. We climb several flights of stairs every day. They think it helps. We did climb those curved stairs and we found the ping pong table.
Ping pong
Again a protected area so the wind isn’t strong here. Near the ping pong table we looked down at the pool area.
From ping pong area looking at main pool
Earlier there was a fund raiser with music on the small stage. Money was raised for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. There were many activities on the ship today. Also many people lounging, swimming in the pool, visiting, and just enjoying watching the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Dinner in the dining room is always so nice. After a delicious dinner, we had these desserts.
Great desserts tonight
Three humans had melted chocolate cake with ice cream. Mom preferred the raspberry dessert. We ducks prefer all of them. The waiters saw us posing for a photo, liked us, and wanted a photo with ducks and waiters.
Waiters liked Colorado Traveling Ducks
Everybody is so friendly here. After dinner an announcement was made. Our ship would be stopping in the Caribbean to give aid to a ship in distress. Of course, we ducks wanted to see what was happening. This sailboat had problems.
Sailboat in distress
Our ship, The Fascination, sent a small crew with supplies to the sailboat. None of the humans on the sailboat wanted to come to our ship, they just needed supplies and did not want to leave their sailboat. We were glad to help and the captain told us we would be a little late arriving at our port the next morning. That is OK. We could have been the ship in distress and we would want someone to stop for us. In the center of the ship is the atrium.
Atrium
We ducks love the openness and all the lights here. Cruising is definitely something we like. This was our only Day at Sea and we enjoyed exploring our ship. Next stop is Barbados.
Colorado Traveling Ducks 