Day 7, Wednesday, May 25, Labadee, Haiti

The day started and stayed overcast and I rarely saw the sun, but
thankfully there was little or no rain, although there apparently was
heavy rain overnight. Somehow, I had the impression that Labadee was a
tender port, so I was delighted when Captain Gus indicated yesterday
that we would be docking. We pulled into the dock about 6:45 and Captain
Gus announced we could go ashore about 7:15. His words of wisdom today
with a suggestion to keep them in mind when we talk to the vendors at
the resort: "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the
cheese".

Labadee is on the North shore of Hati (by Lamy's pointer), about 85
miles from Port au Prince. It sits on the island of Hispanola, but the
private enclave has little access to the rest of the island. The village
of Labadee is about 3 miles across the bay; the resort is on former
farmland leased by RCI about 25 years ago. There are several beaches
(both open and sheltered, coasters, ziplines, water activities, and a
space where a number of local vendors exhibit their wares.

I had a tour this morning, "Labadee Historic Walking Tour". There are
very few actual historic places in the resort, but as our guide Lamy
took us around the property he spoke on the history of Hati from the
first peoples to the arrival of Columbus in 1492, the colonial times,
and up to the present. Hati shares the island of Hispanola with the
Dominican Republic, with the 2 countries devided by rivers. Mostly a
French Colony, Hati secured it's independence in 1804, making it the
second independent country in the Western hemisphere. We did visit one
spot with some history, Nelli's tower, the ruins of an ancient Bucaneer
fortress.

Lamy also shared a bit about the Hatian education system. School starts
at age 3 with 3 years of kindergarten, followed by 7 years of primary
school. Secondary school is also 7 years, but all secondary schools are
private and out of reach of most Hatians. University is 4 years for
those who are able to go. After the tour I explored the resort some more
and took a brief swim in Columbus Cove.

There are several pavilions around the resort where the ships staff
prepared a barbecue lunch to be enjoyed in the great outdoors, and I
finished off the afternoon on a deck chair on the beach finishing off
"Why Geography matters". I returned to the ship around 2:30 and spent
some time in the hot tub and at afternoon tea. We pulled away from
Labadee just before 4, and not all that remains is the long (but not
long enough) return to Baltimore.

My table in the My Fair Lady dining room is on the port side. With us
now heading North, the sun set today as we were finishing desert. After
a cloudy day, it had cleared just enough so the sunset was spectacular.

The evening entertainment was puppeteer David Morgan and Chucky. There
was also a Big Band performance by the orchestra so I stayed up a little
past it's 11PM start.

My parting shot today is ship's security. We have had to go through
quite sensitive metal detectors and have our belongs exrayed in detail
at each port. Labadee is a closed environment with everything that comes
in under RCI control. Lamy confirmed that we are not permitted to leave
the complex. There is little to no chance of contraband, but there were
still significant lines at the scanners returning to the ship. FDR once
said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". There seems to be an
ample supply of that.

Roy