Never Ending Story
Bandit
David Morgan and Brenda Webb
Mon 23 Jan 2012 19:09
13:00N 61:14W
Two weeks in Barbados gave us plenty of
time to catch up on sleep, explore the beautiful island, re-provision, swim in
the 28degree waters, enjoy the local culture and even fit in a game of cricket!
Yes - there was a big tournament on at
Kensington Oval so off we went to a Caribbean 20/20 match – Windward Islands vs
the Leewards and what a great night it was.
A crowd went, mostly Australians and Kiwis but a couple of
Americans. Have you ever tried
explaining the rules of cricket to someone who has never seen the game before??? Hmmm…interesting!
We also had a great night out at Oistens –
a fantastic open air fish market on the south coast where flying fish, tuna,
wahu, red snapper and mahimahi are all dished up alongside local specialties
such as macaroni pie (delicious), creole rice and grilled breadfruit. Local dancers perform in front of an
appreciative crowd – boy can those Caribbean boys move!
Exploring the island by bus was even more
exciting (ie scary) than our Atlantic crossing.
The drivers are all Lewis Hamilton lookalikes but the similarity ends
there. Their driving is appalling but
they have such big grins on their faces it’s hard to get angry with them. You just have to hang on tight and brace for
every turn. The small yellow buses blast
out reggae music so loud you can’t think but tend to go a bit slower. So it’s a toss up – fast, furious and
frightening or slow with aching eardrums.
As well David squeezed in a visit to the Mt
Gay Rum factory, we had several beach parties with fellow cruisers making
landfall after their Atlantic crossing and snorkelled on the wrecks in Carlisle
Bay. Carlisle Bay was a great anchorage
– close to Bridgetown which was excellent (if expensive) for provisioning. Our best buy was Anchor cheese and butter and
New Zealand lamb. With no VAT on food in
Barbados (NZ take a tip) these products were cheaper than in NZ (according to
Countdown’s website).
So after about 10 days we were ready to
leave but….(story of our life and hence today’s movie title)…..a package we
were expecting from New Zealand still hadn’t arrived. Being constantly on the move makes it almost
impossible to have mail sent. On the few
times we’ve needed essential items (ie credit cards, spare parts) it has always
been a mission to a) get an address for them to be sent to and b) actually
receive them. This time it was our boat
registration papers, which you must carry with you at all times. Ours needed renewal so, at great expense, we
couriered the relevant forms to the Ship’s Registry. It took four days to get there with FedEx and
SEVEN to get back with TNT including four days sitting at Miami. We became regulars at the FedEx office (who
kindly allowed us to use their address)…..and every time we walked in to ask if
it had arrived our hearts plummeted when the friendly chap behind the counter
shook his head. It really was a Never
Ending Story that finally, ended happily on Thursday when the package finally
arrived and we upped anchor and had yet another boisterous overnight sail to
beautiful Bequia – in the Grenadines….but more about that later.