Cruising to the Caribbean - PICTURES!

[siempresam]

So my husband and I just got back from our cruise vacation a few days ago. We went on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas to the Caribbean. We stopped off in Haiti, Jamaica, and the Caymans, but had to skip out on the Bahamas because of Arlene. :(

Anyway, we decided to take an excursion to Brimmer Hall Plantation in Jamaica to see how they grow bananas, pineapple, sugarcane, and coconuts, among other things. We decided to do this specific excursion because of our desire and plan to go raw (starting this Saturday together!). Most of the fruits, etc., that they grow are exported to England, I believe. Not very much is exported to the U.S.

We took some pictures, so here they are:

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Each plant grows only one pineapple and it takes about 18 months for a pineapple to grow!

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The guy on the left was explaining everything and the guy on the right was his "assistant," I guess you could say. They said that banana plants are used for a variety of purposes. Rope, hosiery, etc.

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One of our guides demonstrates climbing a coconut tree.

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Our guide holds up a cacao plant.

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He cuts it open for us to see inside.

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Still talking about the cacao plant...

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He passed the plant around for people to look at. The white pods are slimy and taste rather fruity, but when you cut them in half they are brown on the inside.

Hope you all enjoy them!

[sweetgoddess]

welcome back from your cruise!
Hope you had a great time. Gorgeous pictures-thank you SO much for sharing them with us.
So the cacao plant~this is chocolate? Did you bite into that?
Who knew it took so long for pineapple to grow-YIKES!

Warmly~

[BDraw]

WOW! Amazing pictures. Thanks! I had no idea what a cacao plant/fruit looked like. Did the brown part taste anything like chocolate?

[Sharon in Colorado]

That was just awesome. Now I know why pineapple is so expensive. And what a treat to see a real cacao plant.

[siempresam]

Glad you all liked the pictures!

I didn't taste the inside of the cacao (chocolate) pods, so I am not sure what the brown part tastes like. I can say for sure that the white part tastes absolutely nothing like what we think of as chocolate. It tasted mildly like mango, if I recall correctly.

I know what you mean about the pineapple being expensive. I am actually rather surprised that any of these fruits don't cost even more than they do because of the time that it takes to grow each. Bananas also take a long time to grow, so I guess I shouldn't complain about $0.59/lb.! I probably will still complain, but I should be glad it isn't more than that considering how long it takes to get a banana, coconut, or pineapple to my table.

[Tina]

Wow, thanks for sharing! I guess I won't smirk at the prices of pineapples or bananas anymore.

[rawpriestess]

WOW, thanks so much for taking the time to share this information.

What great pics and information.

[Rawkinlocs]

Cool! Thanks for sharing those pics and welcome back from your cruise!

[dragonfist70]

wow thx for the pics so thats what cacao really looks like cool :D

[Autumn]

Great pics and info! Thanks for sharing.