The Glums

Final leg of our holiday is focused on the local airport here in Barbados as our flight is delayed at least two hours. This due to aircraft being grounded in Orlando due to adverse weather conditions. My mate Steve is there at the moment and has posted pictures showing how bad the weather is.
The plane has now landed so we should be boarding soon and I am sure they will be looking to make up some time in the flight.

The last two days have been unfortunate. Yesterday it pissed down all day, making it a very disappointing time for the wedding party who had so looked forward to their ceremony on the beach. We watched proceedings from our balcony together with an Argyle relegation and a Spurs defeat which could have put their Champions League place for next year on the line. Luckily today Man Utd and Arsenal were more Spursy than Spurs, so barring the unthinkable Spurs will qualify safely.

We popped out between showers for an average Italian last night and awoke refreshed today for our last few hours in the hotel. It's called The Accra Beach but Les Miserables would be a more suitable name. We have never stayed anywhere where the staff are so surly. Hey how, we had a few hours on the beach, a hearty lunch and now we have exhausted the airport lounge drinks trolley, so its time to board the big metal bird and head home. Time to book the next trip!

Surfin' USA

Our holidays are never dull. Last night SWMBO chum Donna and her son Connor, arrived semi-unexpectedly, on their way to visit oldest son Tristan, who we had missed last week in Dominica. Connor has just finished his first season with Rotherham RFC in the National leagues so has earned a break. So that gives us different plans for the next three days. Could be a long night in the Gap!!

This morning SWMBO goes swimming in rough seas in her sunglasses. Take them off I shout. I'll be fine she said. Two waves later they fly off. What do they say about never rescuing a dog from a river? In I go to help find them, misjudged a breaking wave big style and end up with a stinger and whiplash. Ouch!
Now confined to sun bed for rest of day. Dancing in Gap may resemble Peter Crouch robotics moves. Dad dancing at its best!!

Otherwise all good, with Shakers food shack on the menu tonight, but first a visit to the Coconut Court beach bar. Lucky I am not in the golf tournament this week.

Crispy seaweed

Barbados has had a few changes since we were here last year. They have a lady as prime minister who the locals think is making a difference although the roads have not had too many repairs so far. It seem that all the taxis and boogie buses are new or have had a make over. They are all shiney white now and don't show signs of crash damage. The journey fee has gone up from $2 bds to $3.5 though. Oh yes, and the Coconut Court beach bar has had a makeover.

Some things remain the same. We had no winners again at the races, and have visited a few favourite restaurants again. It has rained, it's sunny and blowing a bit. That has all contributed to an increasingly tricky seaweed problem on the South coast. For all their efforts to clear it in the morning it is always back the next day. By choking the oxygen it is forcing the sea life elsewhere which is a pity.

Still it remains a good place to chill for a few days and this year it will be golf free as the Sir Gary Sobers tournament has dropped Apes Hill. Three three remaining courses do not really merit the entry fee. Hey ho I have done it twice so time to look for something new.

Lazy day

Our final port of call is St Lucia. Now without being big headed, we have sailed out of Castries, done the helicopter, done the airports, the catamaran trips and the booze cruise. We have played golf, done snorkelling trips to the Pitons and seen turtles do their thing at 3am. Each adventure will be in the blog history too.

So probably best to stay on the ship and get squiffy. We tried, but I think all the booze is low alcohol, so off to bed to look forward to our week in Barbados.

We have both decided we prefer dry land holidays to cruising but we have done pretty well all of the Caribbean now, so time to search for new challenges.

Death in Paradise

A wet and wild storm treated our arrival in Guadeloupe and following similarities in Martinique I am beginning to think it's a French kind of welcome to the Roast Beef!

It did, however, make for the most disappointing day so far. We had planned to visit the film sets of the Death in Paradise television series, but an hour plus each way would not have left us much time to wander round once the rain had stopped.

The exterior of the police station is the village museum, and the interior is set up in a local church hall. The featured market and beach side accommodation are both pop-up so there would have been no guarantee they would have been there. it would have been good to have a beer in Catherine's bar though and visit The new location at the zoo. Can't see us returning so an opportunity missed really...merde il pleu.

Champagne moment

No cricket involved in this one, but more snorkelling as we are today in Dominica. As I mentioned, we had hoped to catch up with Tristan Dever who is out here helping to repair hurricane damage. That had to take priority so we took a taxi ride out to the beach. It is called Champagne Bay and again is a recommended snorkelling beach. I found it hard going again and saw a few fish, SWMBO was able to go out further and experience the bubbles which permeate the earth crust under the sea, so making it feel like you are swimming in champagne.
Our journey back allowed us to see the extent of the hurricane damage. The government building, the library and the catholic cathedral all still have all or parts of their roof missing. Many residential and commercial properties still have tarpolines as weather protection, and roads are in a sorry state.
Any international aid seems to have disappeared into the wrong pockets, and the residents are having to fund the repairs themselves. Our cruise ship is the last to visit this season so the economy will have little revenue now until October, so living will continue to be tough.
On our return to the ship, we visited the heritage museum. Here the path of the island was followed firstly with the indigenous Carib indians, then their battles with Columbus and other explorers and pirates. The Indians were wipped out in the flatter less densely vegitated islands but survived on Dominica and with the passing of the slave trade they were granted reservation rights on the East coast which they continue to utilise.
The town centre still has the slavery sales stands and execution areas and a memorial to the first running water facility on the island. This was abandoned ,however, after one particularly large scale and bloody execution as the locals thought the fountain contaminated by the blood of the victims.
Later the island became a fierce battleground when the French and English fought over it. France wanted control of the three islands, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique, whereas England wanted Dominica to provide a barrier to French domination  of the area.
Tomorrow we visit Guadeloupe to see how the French influence survives after all the conflicts.

Flying fish finger sandwich

The disappointment of the snorkelling trip was compensated somewhat by the wonderful display of the flying fish as our ship left port. Some of them could go 100 yards or more using their fins and gills like wings. For many though that was still not enough to evade the terns, Gannett and cormorants who knew where to be when the fish ran out of puff.
My cunning plan to do a bit of tethering using my mobile phone did not appear as clever as I had hoped so I think I will have a fairly large bill for telecoms when I get back.
Anyway, today is Martinique, part of the French West Indies. The town is dominated by its public park, in which stands a statue of Napoleans wife, Josephine, minus her head. This act of vandalism has not been repaired so has become a statue to the status quo instead.
Opposite the park are two outstanding buildings, the public library and the catholic church. The library is named after Victor Schoeler, who was instrumental in stopping the local French managed slave trade. His statue has a hand missing so there seems to be a trend here. The building was constructed by Mr Eiffel, of the tower fame, in Paris at the same time. It was gifted to Martinique and moved piece by piece to its current location. To tune in with the library's history, the church  has a spire which resembles the Eiffel Tower itself.
Chucked down with rain while we were here, so no beach trips. We did stay up for the midnight buffet though and joined a shared table for dinner which was all very pleasant.
Our plans to meet Tristan Dever in Dominica tomorrow have fallen through so we will see what the island has to offer and how it is coping with the rebuilding work after it was devastated by a hurricane in 2017. Tristan is here to help with the rebuilding programme.