Tuesday 11th January 2011

 

The morning after we arrived in Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown, we heard the Queen Mary II calling another liner on the radio.  Dave Hudson used to be on the QMII says Steve.  I think I'll give them a call and see if he still is.  So he called them up on the radio and it turned out that he was indeed the Chief Officer, and a message would be passed to him to return our call.  Not half an hour later the radio came alive with "Scott-Free, Scott-Free, this is Queen Mary II" and Steve and Dave spent the next 10 minutes catching up on news.  Dave said he would be out in the safety boat a little later in the morning and he might pop by, and sure enough this little orange rib turned up with Dave at the wheel!  He'd pulled rank to drive it so that he could come over.  Apparently the QMII was in town for just the one day, so it was quite a coincidence, and nice to see a familiar face.

 

 

We've been into Bridgetown a couple of times for a wander around - the people are very friendly and there is no hassle at all from street vendors, except the taxi drivers but they accept a polite 'No thank you'.

 

              

 

 

Today Bob & Lin who have a home in Barbados very kindly picked us up and took us on a tour of the island.  It was good to get away from the boat and the town and to see inland.  It is a well-kept island with neat homes painted in pastel colours.  We stopped for coffee at their house, with its plunge pool and stunning view over the ocean.  We drove along the east coast which is quite wild and very different from the tourist areas of the west coast.