Barbados blog 2

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Day 4

A reasonable nights sleep. We are still going to sleep early and therefore waking early. But slowly adjusting a little more each day.

A slow start to the day and then a visit to the beach planned for today. Pat has a new full face snorkel to try out and I could certainly do with getting some colour back to my skin. Hopefully not bright pink!

We left the apartment at 1045 am and headed towards the sea. We went in the direction we have been a few times but went right (north) instead of left (south) at the coast.

After a short while we simply stopped on the beach, dropped our stuff and entered the water.

Pat had brought her new mask, but she felt the sea was a little more active than she preferred for snorkelling and trying out the new mask.

We sunbathed and enjoyed the scenery, watching the world go by. No kids anywhere in sight, mostly old fogeys like us.

Our drinking water ran out and we decided it was time for a beverage. We made our way further along the beach towards the marina, but found we were unable to get through to anywhere. So we headed back along the beach and up to the main road.

There was nothing but road going left that we could see, so we decided to head to the Fishermans pub for food and drink.

Along the way Pat spotted a just hatched baby turtle on the pavement, so I picked it up and put it into the sea surf. No pictures as it happened quickly and didn't wish to harm the turtle. It was heading inland originally and completely the wrong direction so hopefully a turtle makes it because of us. Research later showed it to probably be a loggerhead.

The pub was busy with a number of people. We got our drinks, then went to choose our food.

Pat had Macaroni cheese, fishcake and salad. I had baked chicken, spicy chicken, fried plantain and steamed vegetables. It was all very edible and inexpensive.

As we were fed and watered we made the decision that we weren't going to come out for food again tonight, so did a little shopping at the bakery and supermarket, to get us by the rest of the day.

Then off home for about 2 pm.

We took it easy for the rest of the day and didn't venture out again. We had some rolls for tea and cake from the bakery.

Day 5

A good nights sleep. Our plan for today was to visit Bridgetown via the local bus service.

There are three types of buses; the blue with a yellow stripe are run by the government, yellow buses are private and then little mini busses. They all charge B$2 (under £1) for each journey, whatever distance.

We left the apartment at 1030 am and headed to the bus station. There were buses all over the place and we hopped one yellow one. What I failed to mention is that the yellow ones are very individual, have names and blast out music for the entire time. It's good local music, so you can feel it in the soul. Our first bus was “Vigilante”.

The method of bus stops, getting on and off is very casual, but it all works. Along the way the air horn that attracts potential passengers got stuck on and his attempts to fix it whilst driving along was humourus, if not actually very safe.

We arrived in Bridgetown after not too long and wandered around. We purchased another mini USB cable to help us charge various things, in one of the malls. We also had some coffee.

We popped into various shops and Pat bought a nice pink baseball cap, as her other hat keeps blowing off.

Lunchtime came and we started looking for somewhere. After not finding a beachfront restaurant sort of place, we ended up in a local fast food buffet style place and had a large portion of noodles and pineapple chicken, which was gorgeous and inexpensive.

We also found a bank - RCB, which didn't charge us for a cash withdrawal so we will use them again.

It was about 2 pm and because the busses are so cheap we decided that we would visit Holetown on the return journey.

We found the drop off point and got straight on a yellow bus - champion. Traffic was heavier as the schools had just finished for the day.

There were some really quaint shops that we had seen and this was our first place we headed. There was also a cafe so we had drinks. Pat had the local beer Banks and I had a green mint milkshake.

We made our first visit to Massey, which appears to be the big supermarket and purchased a few items for our tea.

Then back on another yellow bus and off to Speightstown. Back to the apartment at 4 pm.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. We had rolls again for tea, with little blueberry muffins today.

Another earlyish night and a reasonable nights sleep.

Day 6
We were still trying to find a hire car for a few days and following some more internet research, Pat contacted another company via their website to see availability.

We had planned to explore in the direction of Speightstown port / marina today, but as we were getting ready we had a response to our request, which said no cars were available.

So change of plans to another option on the hire cars to try and find a particular office that was in Holetown.

We headed off for a bus and caught a yellow one again – Joker.

At Holetown we followed the direction looked up on Google maps and it turned out to be a house.

We left the area and headed back to the centre. Holetown has many well off tourists visiting and therefore has the style of shops to match. There is a Cartier and Louis Vuitton for example to mention a couple of names. We had a drink in the Limegrove mall and called the rental car telephone number. I got through but again there were no cars available.

We wandered around town and headed for the beach to find a restaurant for lunch. One place was really busy and we could here the football match on the television so not to our taste.

Not far away was a place called Zaccio's which looked very appealing and overlooked the beach.

Pat ordered the burger and I had the 14 inch pepperoni pizza. Pat really enjoyed her food and my pizza was a lot of food but I managed to eat it all.

The meal was B$81.30 and for the first time I paid in USD. The rate is set against the dollar at 1.98, so I handed over USD 50 and the change comes in Barbadian dollars. Fine by me.

We strolled further along Holetown to explore and then headed for Massey supermarket to stock up on a few things.

Then to the centre and await a bus. Not long and a yellow bus - Zion's train - showed up. He was in a real hurry and it was no time until we returned to Speightstown.

A short walk back to the apartment and that was us. A good morning out.

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Comments

[PAULA DEVLIN]

Hello MR & MRS Meadows
Good Evening to you Both - Sounds like you are enjoying yourselves. The Barbadian Beaches look fabulous. Isn't it wonderful to be avoiding the Cyprus Winter and wearing very little clothing? We are really loving the climate and savouring each and every day here. A big 'Hello' to you Both xx