In the land of pirates

As most of you are well aware by now, Liam absolutely loves the Pirates of the Caribbean.

So imagine the excitement at actually going to visit a location that was used for making the films.

Yesterday we went on a very windy road around the coast to a place about 45 mins drive away called wallilabou which was the setting for Port Royal in the films.

Sadly, much of the film sets have been destroyed over the past few years by the weather, but you can still see where many of the well known scenes, particularly in the first half hour of the first film were shot. you can see the difference between what the sets looked like and what it looks like now.

This week is school holidays onboard so we have been out a few times with the kids to ensure they get the most out of their time. On Monday we traveled on the ferry over to the beautiful Grenadine island of Bequai which is an idylic tranqul little island with white sandy beaches and few cars. As the ship was closed Monday, many of the ships company had gone on an outing around the island, but we had been too late to sign up so went to Bequai instead. It seemed like most of the crew who weren't on the outing had the same idea. On the ferry back to the ship, there were at least 50 of us onboard!

Of course life here in Saint Vincent is not just about going out and exploring the island. We are here for a Divine purpose.

It has been exciting to see all the islanders coming to the ship - over 25ooo so far, and many books being sold. There have also been teams going out into a local orphanage and the local prison. This weekend we have sent teams off to other parts of the island and one of the Grenadine Islands.

There has also been a fantastic training programme going on this week to equip local believers to bring the good news to children more effectively. A couple from the States are onboard for every Caribbean port to train locals. They then get those who have done the training to come on to the visitor deck to put into practice what they have learned. It has been amazing to see the response with many of those spoken to making first time commitments or recommitments.

We are also busy developing our visitor deck further to maximise the opportunities to share the good news with all that come onboard. We hope to have a new design in place before next port.

Tonight, Heather joined a group of girls to play basketball against a local team of 14 - 18 year olds. This was very brave considering she hadn't played for some 20 years. I think the Logos Hope team got completely slaughtered but they were able to invite them all back for their supper and spend time sharing with them.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I am going to try and play cricket with a Logos Hope team against a local team. I don't know if I will even make the team with all the young Indian and Aussie guys onboard but it will be fun trying.

We are expecting a very busy last weekend and then we are sailing from here on Wednesday for Grenada and our next Caribbean adventure.