Busy Busy Week

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27th August 2011 - After breakfast we went to Harrisons Cave - which has been completely renovated since we were last here. A very good undergound tour - including about 1 mile of an electric train.

We then went to the Flower Forest - which was lovely but incredibly hot.

Back to Almond Beach Village and in the pool - followed by Sunset watch as it was a very nice day we got some good pictures of the sunset. Also as Saturday night was fine and warm - the Bajan buffet was in the courtyard. Food was again excellent - Catherine said that the lemon cake was a good as hers which is a bit of a compliment! Then back to the room for guess what - yep a couple of games of Rumikub - picked up a few Banks from the bar on the way.

28th August 2011 - breakfast at Horizons - then into the sea for a swim. We had decided to have a quieter day - so only popping out to visit the Barbados Wildlife reserve and Grenade Hall (a signal station). We are also planning ahead and have booked Segway Barbados for Thursday - which should be interesting. Never been on a Segway.

Lovely day - very sunny - but also very warm. Had a bit of lunch at the Reef Courtyard and then went out in the car... very/very hot... we had to get to the Wildlife reserve by 14:00 as thats the Monkey feeding time. Well actually its feeding time for everything as you can see in the pictures.

The reserve is good but starting to look a little tired around the edges - though that could just be the season.

We wandered in and then moved to where the keeper was tipping a shed load of food all over the tortoises - which seem to spend most of their time trying to make more tortoises! At this point Iguanas, deer and lots of monkeys appeared...

Came back to the Almond Beach Village and swam and then out to La Smaritta for dinner - which was exceptional - you would pay £100 a head for a meal of that quality elsewhere on the island. We've booked for Tuesday as well.

Then back to the room for a couple of games of Rumikub.

29th August 2011 - Went to Horizon for breakfast and then into Bridgetown shopping - found a really good place to park - run by the Barbados Police Force outside the Police Station - I said shall we bother locking it? Wandered around in central Bridgetown - it was incredibly hot unless you were in the shops - thats a really good ploy... unfortunately we cant do it at home as it's not hot enough. Popped into Woolworths as we don't have any of them anymore. Christopher got a Barbadian steel drum which plays great notes... then we drove along the coast road to the Crane Beach. It's a lovely beach and was surprisingly quiet as we parked quite a long way down the public access road - outside Prince Andrews house. We remembered to reverse down as the road is too narrow to turn around in.

The beach itself had a reasonable covering of sea weed - which was a little disappointing. They are looking into the problem as some areas of the East cost have had many feet of it. The water is lovely and the surf makes it much more Cornwall like - you just don't need a wet suit!

We hired a couple of sun loungers and had our picnic lunch - courtesy of the hotel. More food than we could possibly eat.... took some pictures and a man asked if I'd take one of his son and email it too him which I will.

Drove home via Sam Lords Castle which is a complete wreck - last time we were here in Barbados we couldn't get in as the front gate was locked. This time the whole castle has been destroyed - fire has taken away the floorboards and the roof as you can see from the pictures. Such as shame as this was one of the Hotels to stay at in Barbados.... it's just a little off the beaten track.

On the way back to the hotel we saw a magnificient rainbow but couldn't find anywhere to park to take a picture - next time. We got back showered, changed, interneted in the lobby (had a few cocktails - I'm slowly working my way through the list - a Harvey Wallbanger this time) and then eat in the Reef at 8.45 - we were the last to leave the restaurant.


30th August 2011 - Big Fishing - oh yes - see the pictures. Boy was it an early start - up at 5.30 am. in the lobby at 6.15 - taxi at 6.30 and in 25 minutes in Bridgetown boarding the 40 foot Challenge. Lovely boat - great trip - big fish - only one person who was a little sick... Eleanor.

We had 4 hours but 3 hours in the baking sun in a boat that went up and down - up and down was enough for any of us. Taxi then brought us back to the Almond Beach Village and we were in the pool before 12. Quick lunch and then a lazy afternoon around the pool.

La Smiritta for tea - they had changed the menu but the food was still good - Lamb shoulder for 5 - Must take a picture of the restaurant so people can remember it - including the frogs in the hallway.

Then 2 hands of Rumikub.

Tomorrow is submarine day!

31st August 2011 - Up early but not as early as the Fishing day - picked up some breakfast outside the reef and headed for the Atlantis submarine - supposed to arrive about 9.30 but we were well early as the kids would say.

Our trip was at 10.00 am. and we were called soon after this. They take you out on a boat called the Ocean Quest to where the submarine is moored - about 48 people go down each trip. We were the last people down so next to the captain which was great as we could see out of the front. The submarine goes down to anywhere between 50 and 150 feet - but for most of our trip was between 50 and 100 feet. Great experience - some lovely pictures - far to many to put on the Travelblog. They took us round a shipwreck and over a reef.

After this we went over the road to the Mount Gay Rum tour - which was very interesting and had a fine sampling room - though Matthew said "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted"! I bought 4 bottles - the cheapest is about £6 a litre for 43 % proof. Nice.

Then over to Carlisle Bay for a snorkelling trip out to the wreck - there are 6 ships in the bay - we went out to the first which is about 150 yds from shore in 30 to 50 feet of water. Sounds like a long way but it's not that far - took the bread and the fish were literally biting our hands - you have to see the pictures/video - it's the fish equivalent of "The Birds. At one point the water was bubbling like in Piranha! Then back to the bay - bought bamboo necklaces from "Tony" who was a harmless seller. He went from 20 BBD down to 5 (about £1.50).

Then we drove back to the Almond Beach Village - showered, changed and out for the Beach barbecue. We went later as we wanted to watch the Limbo dancer - 9 inches of bar - on fire - very impressive....

Then back to the room for the nightly Rumikub.

1st September 2011 - up not quite so early - and over to the Horizon restaurant for breakfast. We needed to be at St Lucys Parish church for 9.30 to meet the Segway guys.

Yep - Segway guys - we can do what a Chimpanzee can do! They drove us through St Lucy Parish and to an area we had been too before - Bluff cove? Unloaded the Segways and after a little bit of orientation we were away. Initially in Turtle mode which was a good idea - we wandered through the field towards the cliff. Some great photo opportunities. Then onto another area and a "playground" - where we took some video. Everyone could do it and people were getting more confident so they turned off the limiter and you could now go upto 20 miles and hour! We then headed back thinking the trip was over - but when they got back to the start they took us to enough Cove via the road.

The other people doing it with us had done it before and the lady was a little over confident - hit a pothole and she was off. Ok - apart from a few scrapes... The rest of the Segway experience was great - got upto a top speed of about 14 miles an hour - not sure I'd want to fall off at that speed though!

The guys were very chilled - chatty, laid back but safety aware. Very good experience.

We headed back to the Almond Beach Village even though we had a packed lunch - and had some food from the Reef Courtyard... then headed out to Folkestone nature reserve to see if we could get some more shots of the fish underwater... I've seen more fish than a fishmonger sees in a year. Spent a couple of hours here - it's a nice place - very secure - but there were a few waves and even though you were swimming in sometimes 20 feet of water - you would occasionally scrape knees, feet, hands on the coral. Tonight I'll get a chance to eat some of the fish at the Reef restaurant!

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