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Published: February 23rd 2015
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Saturday February 14th, 2015. Bridgetown, Barbados.
Bridgetown is the capital and largest city in the nation of Barbados. Formerl the town of St Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of St Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The City" but the most common reference is simply "Town". The port, which is located along the Carlisle Bay is on the south western coast of the island. This is quite a walk away from the centre of town.
We met Roy and Pati and John and Mary at 9.00 am in the reception area of the ship. We had arranged this last night as John had indicated that he would like to swim in the Caribbean sea at least once on this trip. As a result the 4 of us had said we would take them with us. We had already planned to spend the day in Holetown. Roy and Pati known the island very well and knew there was a lovely beach and shopping centre there. We made our way through the cruise terminal and ran the gauntlet of the cabbies until we were outside the cruise terminal gates where we knew we would
get a better deal. We managed to negotiate $20 US for all six of us to go to Holetown.
Holetown is the place where the first English settlers to Barbados landed in 1627 aboard the "Olive Blossom". An obelisk monument on the main road in the town centre commemorates the event - although the date on it is off by two decades! Desppite being the oldest town on the island it is a bustling place and is home to the island's oldest church.
When we arrived we went to a coffee shop and had a drink. Then we made our way around to the beach where Roy negotiated the sun lounger rental. We got one each for John and Mary and were happy to share a third between the three of us. The beach was gorgeous and there was a nice bar which was full of punters watching the England V Italy rugby match. D and Roy stripped off and went in the sea almost immediately. M and Patti went to the supermarket in the West Coast Mall to get some supplies for the return Atlantic crossing.
When they returned the boys were already on their first
beer and had all been in for a swim. Roy told us how he had helped John into the sea and then swam with him carrying his walking stick! M and Patti went to sit with Mary who indicated that she would like to at least have a paddle in the sea. Patti (who is a trained nurse) helped Mary to the waters edge. Then Mary sat on a rock, stripped down to her knickers and allowed the warm Caribbean sea to wash over her. She looked like she was in heaven. After the swim we had lunch at the beach bar. Then D and Roy went on a mission to find us a taxi back. They had a bit of trouble finding one for 6 so we returned to Bridgetown on the bus while the other 4 went in a taxi. This proved to be a really close shave for us as the bus dropped them off with only 10 minutes to spare before departure and the ship was quite a way out. Luckily we had caught a Reggae Bus and not a Municipal Bus and the terminus for the Reggae Buses is quite a lot nearer to the
Cruise Terminal. Nevertheless we still had to jog in 36 degree heat carrying our rucksacks stuffed with supplies. We just made the last shuttle bus.
In the evening the 8 of us met on the upper poop before dinner and exchanged tales of the day. Christopher and Patricia had gone into town. John and Mary said it was their best day yet. We are glad we invited them to join us.
We went to dinner and were looking forward to dining at our new table for 8 when we were ushered into "The Grill" by Sid. We tried to protest but it turns out that Roy and D had been secretly plotting a special Valentines dinner for M and Pati. It was a really good dinner and we had a lovely evening. We went to the show which was called "The Love Show". Keeping with the Valentines theme it was a compilation of well known love songs. A good day. We now have a lot of sea days before we arrive at our next stop The Azores.
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