Beautiful Barbados

Monday, August 30

This is actually Tuesday now and I didn't write a thing yesterday. It was another of those sloth days, just being, thinking, reading, napping. No serious naps like at home but short ones here and there.

We had requested someone come in to fix two of the doors that were sticking due to all the moisture in the air. A very nice Portuguese man named Faroe from Guyana came to do that and Tom spent lots of time talking to him while he worked. Tom actually happened to have a phrasebook of lots of languages, one of them Portuguese, and the man was very thankful when Tom gave that to him.

There are a lot of workers here from Guyana. In past years we used to see the construction crews a lot more and Tom would talk to them about the building plans and so on. The wages here are so much better that many workers will come here for a year or two and send money home to family. Faroe had been able to bring his family here for a month and they were enjoying their time until the youngest had to go back to school next week

Sometime in the afternoon we decided to go have lunch by the pool so we put our suits on and walked over just to find out that something had happened to the stove and they only had drinks and cold stuff.

We went in the pool, read a bit then decided to go to the Manager's Welcome Party we missed last Monday. I went to take a shower and could hear Tom's cellphone ringing in the safe. Apparently, Tom had set his alarm on his phone. When he went to open the safe, it wouldn't open so he called the front desk.

I got my shower in before the safe-fixing person arrived. Apparently, it had lost power sometime – maybe when the stove stopped working at the pool? - and it “forgot” our combination.

We got to the party about halfway through and talked to some folks. There weren't many staff people that we could see there but a nice woman named Margarita came over and introduced herself. She was the new head of housekeeping, just here 3 weeks and she was anxious to hear from people how things were going. Although she is a Bajan, she has lived in Canada, Florida and Indianapolis. After being in all the snow of Canada and Indianapolis, she wanted to come home. Who can blame her?

Margarita had also worked at Sandy Lane but gave most diplomatic answers when I asked which she liked best.

Sandy Lane is a huge resort on the West Coast of Barbados which focuses mainly on golf and luxury living. I remember when they were being built, wondering what it would be because the area was so large. One of their claims to fame is that Tiger Woods was married there. This year I saw that they were still featuring his wedding pictures in their ads. I asked Tom if they shouldn't remove these ads since the marriage was in such trouble. Tom said that they weren't divorced yet and still might get back together. That night the divorce was announced.

Guess next year Sandy Lane will have different pictures in their ads.

Then we talked at great length to Paul's wife and that was nice. I wish I could remember her name. One of the other guests came over to introduce himself and asked where she was from. She said that she lived here and the man asked if she worked here. Embarrassment all around when she said that she and her husband owned the whole kit and caboodle.

We stopped by the pool overlooking the sea on the way back and thought that maybe could go to L'Azure for dinner but we weren't wearing “evening attire”. I pointed out that it was evening and we were dressed but we decided that probably wasn't what they meant.

We should have done shopping today, but we lazed around too much, so we were out of a lot of stuff. For our exotic dinner we had canned soup and peanut butter sandwiches. Yum! Shopping trip tomorrow for sure.

I don't think we even took any pictures today – amazing!

We usually go out on one of the Tiami family of catamarans - Tiami, Excellence (1, 2 and 3) or the Irish Mist.  This company also owns the Jolly Roger Pirate Ship and the Harbor Master.  We have a selection of hats and T-shirts from these ships and we brought a TIami shirt and an Excellence hat with us for this year's trip.

We've always had good experiences with them and decided to try something different this year - Cool Runnings.  The picked us up at 8:15 am, a bit of a problem for me because I didn't wake up until 8:05 but we made it albeit a little late. I wore one of my Tiami shirts and even the taxi driver commented that the crew wouldn't like that!

And they didn't although they did so jokingly. We tried to buy a Cool Runnings shirt and couldn't.  I paid for the trip with a credit card and they couldn't give me a shirt - that was on the ship only.  On the ship they took cash only and we only had enough for the tips.  So, maybe next year.  The guys even offered a burial at sea for my shirt LOL

So, we set off from the Careenage.  This is an inlet into Bridgetown where several ships, boats and catamarans make berth.  The "bridge" in Bridgetown is over the Careenage.  There are two bridges now.  The original is now a foot bridge with the newer, wider one for vehicles.

On any of these ships, they have an open bar and start off with yummy banana bread for a morning snack.  After they clear the Careenage, they put up the sails and we're off.

Our first stop of the morning was Payne's Bay where we swam with the giant sea turtles.  The second stop was Folkstone Marine Park.  All these ships stop there because it's home to a sunken barge.  This creates a home for lots of marine life.  I'm not very good at recognizing fish but I always know when I see a school of sergeant major fish.

Our last stop was a swimming stop off Sandy Lane beach.  Sandy Lane is famous for having Tiger Woods get married there - it's a very popular gold course here.  During this stop, we had a typical Bajan tourist lunch.  The main dishes in this are fish (usually flying fish, today kingfish), barbecue chicken, peas'n'rice, green salad, potato salad, plantains and rolls.  Sometimes a sweet coleslaw or beef stew is added but not today.  Today's dessert was carrot cake with cream cheese.  Just like at home!

We were heading back to port and the crew had lowered the sail when the captain took us out a little to sea.  There was a storm out there somewhere and the breeze felt wonderful.  We had some great waves, too.  The sails went back up and we had about 30 extra minutes at sea.  Cool!

All too soon we were back at the Careenage and back to the shuttle.  One person was missing and we had to wait for him.  He'd gone off looking for cigarettes.  Grrrrr.

There were fewer people going back on the shuttle so we all had more chance to talk.  The cigarette guy had been on a Virgin flight out of England when the engine caught on fire and they had a 12 hour layover in Gatwick while waiting for another plane.

Another is a Brit who lives here now working for Cable and Wireless.  A nice young Indian man and his Brazilian wife were also there - they live in London now but have traveled all over.  He had some interesting stories to tell!

Finally, back here and a little nap (no surprise there!) for me.  Then, into our little pool.