Barbados 2

17^h  December 2014

So finally I have made the time to do a bit of writing. We arrived off Carlisle bay just before dawn and bimbled around waiting on the sun before making our final approach. As the sun came up we tried the Barbados signal station on the VHF and to our surprise they came back straight away and instructed us to come into the commercial port for customs clearance. We moored alongside a huge concrete wall as directed and as it had no ladders we had a bit of a scramble to get onto the dockside which was a rather undignified way to make our landfall but it was good to get my feet back on terra firma. Having read the pilot guides and been warned that the Barbados customs process was convoluted and very strict we were again pleased to find everyone friendly and helpful, the various officials were all keen to encourage us to visit different places and they all welcomed us to Barbados and wished us a pleasant stay, we walked out thoroughly impressed with the whole thing. As we came out of the customs shed a huge liner was berthing at right angles to us leaving Norma and Steve who had stayed aboard rocking and rolling on deck as they were buffeted about in the massive wash from the ships propellers and stern thrusters. Having waited for the ship to berth and my nerves to settle we dropped the yellow Q flag moved out and went around to Carlisle bay to anchor up where we managed to get the hook to hold on the third attempt. I immediately dived over the side and relaxed, we had done it.

And it is still reversing

Way too close for comfort

Carlisle Bay

Bridgetown beach

Later that afternoon we went ashore in the dinghy to investigate and managed to get swamped coming onto the beach, second undignified arrival of the day. Eventually Peter and Steve managed to push the dinghy out again and I went back to pick up Norma and Tony. This time we went up the river and tied the dinghy up in the careenage in the centre of town. I have said it before of other places we have visited but this is really a lovely place and so friendly. We walked along the beach to the Barbados Yacht club who were happy to make us honorary members for the duration of our stay and after a few beers on the beach we wandered back into town and out to the Kensington Oval Cricket ground to see if any matches were due to be played over the next week or so. No cricket but there was a jump up/karaoke night going on and the place was packed so not wishing to appear rude in we went.

On the hallowed ground.

Kensington Oval Cricket ground

Photo caption competition answers on a post card please

During the evening a lot of people came over to say hello two of which stood out Kelvin who was so drunk he was actually defying gravity by being upright and Olvin who was a much more interesting character. Olvin as it turned out had lived in the UK for many years and was a cricket coach for a league team on the island. Anyway long story short were invited to watch a match at the St Andrews lakes on Saturday, so that was a date.

By Thursday it was apparent that with five aboard and a 3 man dinghy the shuttle back and forth ashore was going to be a pain and so I made enquiries about a mooring in town. Again the pilot book stated clearly that visiting yachts would not be welcome in the careenage but a quick conversation with Godfrey a fishing boat owner and I found myself in the port control office speaking to Tonya who was more than pleased for us to come in. She organised for the swing bridge to be opened at 2 O’clock on Friday and gave us a choice of berths. When I asked how deep the inner basin was she thought about it and then with a smile said “Oh it’s pretty deep I’m sure you’ll be right” and that was it, and it was so she was right. At 1:30 we were on the waiting pontoon and everything went like clockwork, the bridge went up, Tonya was on the quayside with two electricians to hook us up and the whole town seemed to be watching me manoeuvre in, no pressure there then. It all went well apart from when we tried to hook up the electrics and we didn’t have the correct plug. No problem said the electrician and proceeded to take our plug off and use a universal connector (chock block) to connect us, he said that it was a 110v feed so he had connected two together which made me twitch a bit but what can I say 10 minutes later the electric kettle was boiling and so we are all good to go for Christmas. By the way $25US a day is the fee including water and electricity, not bad at all.

Waiting pontoon in Bridgetown Careenage

Coming through the bridge with the town at a stand still

The view from the back of the boat

 Friday night means a trip to the Oistins Bay jump up and so off the chaps trotted. Unfortunately I had been stupid and not drunk enough water and so I had an early night to cure my pounding headache while the crew kicked their heels up. By the happy giggles on their return it was a good one.

Watching a dominoes match at the Oistins bay jump up

Norma with her medicine

Saturday and we grabbed a taxi to the cricket which was about 17 miles away. Another good choice as we met Adrienne who is a taxi driver, tour guide and all round amusing chap. He agreed a very good price as long as his girl friend, wife, mistress (he used all three titles) could come along and so we dropped past her house on the way. With the car now full Adrienne launched into a potted history of Barbados which included a three question pop quiz for Tony to make sure he was paying attention. On route we passed a troop of monkeys in a small village in the hills and learnt an awful lot about life in the island plus we were kept entertained all the way. 

The cricket was one of those special days that you sometimes come along out of the blue. Everyone made us very welcome at the little club house even to the extent of insisting that we shared the lunch provided for the players by the local ladies. I must say some of the fast bowlers were truly frightening you couldn’t even see the ball it went that fast. When one batsman got hit in the head Olvins comment of, “what do you expect that bowlers an ex international the batsman is showing no respect by not wearing a helmet” rather summed it up. The trip back to Bridgetown was by bus and I have a new set of grey hairs to prove it.

The batsman or target at the crease

Olvin (with the blue hat) our cricket guide.

That view putS Middlesex to shame for sure 

    That brings us to Sunday and a trip planned by Tony to the Bushy Park race track to see the race of champions. But first we had to say goodbye to Peter who was travelling back to the UK. We have had Peter aboard since mid October and he has seen us through some tricky times; hand steering all of the way to Madeira, engine failure on the approach to Madeira itself, lift out and antifoul in Tenerife, generator failure in Cape Verde and of course the Atlantic crossing itself. He has clocked up 3844 miles with us and has been great company along the way. Peter will be missed aboard and Spectra will always have a berth for him if he fancies helping out on part of the return leg (hint, hint). Adrienne our taxi driver picked us up minus his girlfriend and gave us another quick history tour on the way to bushy park, again Tony was given a pop quiz to make sure he had been paying attention which to my surprise he passed, I thought he had been asleep in the back. Anyway it was a boiling hot day and we slowly cooked as we watched David Coulthard win the competition and also watched some pretty spectacular stunt driving displays. The trip back again was by local bus which is cheap but a bit of a white knuckle ride for sure.

David Coulthard receives the winners cup

An upside down motor cyclist, what more can I say

That night the local schools held a carol concert, Caribbean style, in independence square which has been all decked out with Christmas trees (see pictures at the top)and is right behind the boat and so we had front row seats to our own little concert while sitting on the back of the boat. And that brings me up to date, apart that is from the Mount Gay Rum distillery tour which we did today. I can’t remember too much about that and so it must have been good………………until next time.

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