FRIDAY N0VEMBER 29, 2013 BARBADOS HERE WE COME!
The day started around 4am at the Vancouver Airport Fairmont when I couldn't sleep! So I was up and ready in lots of time to check in for our 8:55am flight to Miami with American Airlines via Dallas, the first flight was 4+ hours and the flight from Dallas to Miami just over 2 hours. The service with American Airlines was excellent - thanks to using points and sitting in Business Class!
We left Vancouver under grey skies, arrived in Dallas to sunshine and of course it was after 7pm and warm when we arrived in Miami. We stayed overnight at the Hotel Mia - right inside the airport at the entrance to Concourse E where we would depart on Saturday morning for the short flight to Barbados.
Terry started his holiday off by arriving in Miami without his luggage. But not to worry - it eventually arrived at midnight.
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| BARBADOS |
We started with breakfast in the 7th floor Top of the Deck Restaurant in the Hotel Mia before heading down to the lobby to check out and head over to checkin with American Airlines - much less painful and hassle than December 2012 when everything seemed to go wrong with all the checkin machines! It still was unbelievably busy and we were all very glad to finally be through security and in the departure gates where we took the skytrain to our departure gate. We purchased 1 bottle of duty free gin (a huge mistake we should definitely have purchased more!) and were soon aboard and enjoying a cold drink before taking off somewhat late due to not all the baggage being loaded.
The flight was smooth and we were soon looking down at the multi coloured blues of the Caribbean Sea and Barbados - quite a large island and lots of homes, mostly around the Coastlines, but also through the centre where there are hundreds of acres of sugar cane - the original mainstay of the island and the reason that the British brought all the slaves to Barbados - to work in the sugar cane fields.
We arrived at the Barbados Grantley Adams airport on Saturday afternoon around 230pm and all the luggage arrived - what a good start! There is a small Duty Free store in the baggage claim area where including rum and Ruby Red vodka available! Straight through customs and immigration outside into the warmth where we picked up our rental van from STOUT's car rental and were soon off to the West Coast via the 10 or so roundabouts (traffic islands) on the Tom Adams Highway. Today was a major celebration in Barbados for 47 years of Independence with their national blue yellow black bunting and flags everywhere. Barbados has had a Parliament since 1639, the oldest in the British Commonwealth and Nelson's Statue in downtown Barbados is 30 years older than Nelson's statue in Trafalgar Square London!
We had good directions from the Bora Bora and were soon at the rental villa right on the Payne's Bay Beach - well actually we missed it by one turning and then had to get turned around with Antoinette (housekeeper) and Bruno (general handyman and gardener) running into the road to ensure we turned into the right driveway!
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BORA BORA BEACH DECK - LOWER UNIT |
The Bora Bora is perfect and I mean perfect! Two bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms downstairs (both rented individually) - we will start upstairs and change to downstairs. Both have advantages - an amazing deck on top and a wonderful beach level deck and walkout downstairs. We were installed and bags unloaded in time for G&T's on the deck watching a fabulous sunset - it just doesn't get better than this!
Bruce told us that for dinner we should go to the Grill on the Coast Hwy - a 2 minute walk away! The chef there (who used to be a chef at the Sandy Lane exclusive resort just up the road) cooks meat and fish on several large grills. Between us we ordered marlin & tuna with cole slaw (about $15 US$ for a huge portion) - also available were large skewered prawns and mac cheese pie- a local favourite here.
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| PAYNE'S BAY ROADSIDE GRILL, BARBADOS |
SUNDAY DECEMBER 1, 2013 - ISLAND TIME ON THE BEACH with a STEEL BAND FOR LUNCH
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| SUNSET AT THE BORA BORA ,BARBADOS |
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| BORA BORA TOP UNIT |
We slept reasonably well but woke up a little late - Barbados is 4 hours ahead of our time clocks from the Pacific Coast. We soon were sitting on our upstairs deck sipping our coffee and enjoying the incredible views over the white sandy beach of Payne's bay and the calm turquoise waters.
We went for our first swim in the aquamarine waters - heaven! In front of our villa is a reef where lots of turtles hang out so several times during the day there are catamarans arriving for a short time to take folks snorkelling with the turtles - so lots of activities to watch although it's very quiet in the early mornings and late afternoons. We took a long walk down the beach to check out the neighbourhood.
Around noon we headed out to The St Lawrence Gap to enjoy the steel band who play every Sunday at the Southern Palms - it's fun to watch so many older folks enjoying the Sunday tradition. Barbados has a huge number of UK visitors and several of them were up and dancing to the music, ballroom style, and while we watched we enjoyed an appie plate of beef sliders, samosas, fish cakes, and green salad along with a Bank's beer - the Barbados favourite.
After a quick shop in the local interior decorating store (fabulous things tropical) we drove back to Payne's Bay stopping to pick up our Roti for dinner which we ate a short time later on our deck with an ice cold G&T in hand! We had planned to
go to the live band sunset happy hour up the coast road at Mullin's Bay Beach but the clouds moved in and we had a rain storm with lightning off in the clouds over the Caribbean Sea. We managed to stay awake until nearly 10pm before crashing (time zone is 4 hours ahead of Pacific Coast BC).
MONDAY DECEMBER 2, 2013- PAYNE BAY FISH MARKET
It's now 9am on Monday morning so our work day here is already underway (HA HA HA). There must be a cruise ship coming in today because the Blue Parrot Restaurant & Bar to the one side of us is putting out sun cots and umbrellas for rent, and the same on the other side of us although we haven't found out the name of that bar yet, although our handyman Bruce did tell us they sell a mean rum punch!
We are definitely getting our clocks on to"island time" enjoying a slow start to every morning with coffee on the deck and enjoying watching the Caribbean Sea in all its' expanse in front of us!
PAYNE'S BAY FISH MARKET, BARBADOS
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| LOVELY - FILLETING OUR MARLIN |
We unloaded all the shopping into our kitchen which is full sized with everything you could ever need including a full size fridge, 6 burner natural gas stove, microwave, toaster, blender etc. Then it was back to the hard work of enjoying the beach! The sun is very hot so lots of sun block and enjoying every moment in the water!
After a glorious sunset, Doug cooked the marlin on the BBQ and mahogany fire and we smothered the marlin in local Bajan seasoning spices that we had purchased - it was an excellent dinner under the stars of grilled marlin and green salad with copious amounts of wine, listening to the waves gently washing on to the beach - our own private beach since we didn't see another soul on the beach all evening!
TUESDAY DECEMBER 3, 2013 - TURTLES? CARLISLE BAY & THE BOATYARD
Of course we started with coffee (and cookies for some) on the beach deck - we will never tire of these views every morning - the Caribbean Sea changing progressively to a myriad colours of blue, aqua and turquoise as the sun rises! Our beach is facing West so the sun rises behind us and for an hour or so it is pleasantly cool on our beach deck, quickly becoming very hot as the sun glides over the deck.
The morning was spent sitting on the beach deck and snorkelling out to see the turtles a couple of hundred yards offshore. We waited until the catamarans with their snorkellers and swimmers had left the area but that was probably a mistake, we should go earlier with better chances of seeing the turtles we think. The water was a little cloudier with more floating sand particles than we expected, and very few corals around - mostly sandy rocks and just a few small fish - box fish, and flying fish. We know there are quite a few fish around since we periodically see schools of them jumping out of the water - obviously being chased by something bigger! Each morning we have two fishermen walk along the beach at the water's edge with a large white fishing net over his shoulder which he periodically throws into the water to try to catch these small fish - not sure whether he intends to use them for a whole fish fry or for bait. We didn't see any turtles
this morning but over a few days we have seen their heads popping up for air as they swim around and feed so we know they are in the area.
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| PAYNE'S BAY ROTI DEN |
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| TERRY ENJOYING LAMB & POTATO ROTI |
Back at the Bora Bora it was a lazy evening on the beach deck - this is so enjoyable, we can never get enough! It can be very hard to drag yourself away at any time!
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4, 2013 - ST NICHOLAS ABBEY, CHERRY TREE HILL
Today we had decided to tour a little of Barbados, starting by heading North through
Holetown, Speightstown past the concrete plant and over to Archers' Bay to the Mt Gay Rum Factory. Then back over Cherry Tree Hill to St Nicholas Abbey before heading back to Bridgetown about 5 hours later. It was a great tour - stopping first to take a look inside The Fish Pot Restaurant in Speightstown - a beautiful restaurant all along the water with fabulous views - open for breakfast lunch and dinner - we made plans to return and sample their menu another day! As we headed around the top of the island - we followed the map very carefully but as we wandered along narrow coral roads it was almost impossible to not get lost! We walked out to the point at Archers Bay and were enthralled with the rocky coastline on the North West of the Island with the massive swells washing in from the Atlantic - smashing into the cliffs and rocks - the cliffs went straight down and there would be no way out if you fell over!
A little further along was the Animal Flower caves - famous for their stalactites and stalagmites in the caves and the tide pools - an area frequented by many tourists and with a couple of small stalls and a bar on top of the cliff with lots of seats under the casuarina trees for folks to sit in the shade and enjoy the views - and a famous Barbados Banks beer as well!
Afterwards we headed for the Mt Gay Rum factory which we found without too much trouble, but it was very quiet there and they apparently no longer do rum tours here, they are all done closer to Bridgetown. No problem, we were soon climbing to about the highest spot on the island up Cherry Tree Hill looking over the Scotland District - a beautiful view of the valley and the East Coast. Our next stop (without too many wrong turns on the very small and winding roads) was the St Nicholas Abbey - this is a beautiful old plantation surrounded by huge trees and vegetation - so cool and enjoyable. The entry fee was $18BDS each but we just wanted to go into the gift store and cafe under the trees, so the guard let us park the car and wander around outside of the house. I was so surprised when Simon (the son of the family) appeared around the corner and of course I recognised him - so after cheek kissing we were soon in the store tasting the excellent sipping rum 10 years old and buying both 10 and 15 year old rum along with several other lovely gift items.
We shared Bajan fish balls for lunch under the massive silk cotton trees with a glass of rum punch to wash them down - all the while enjoying the cooling breezes rustling through the foliage. It was so pleasant it took us quite awhile to get going again, but we did and the trip back to the Bora Bora was easy.
By the way - as you get turned around in rural Barbados - the huge buses are always racing past. The Bus stops sat "into town" or OUT OF TOWN" so you can always tell whether you are generally heading away from, or into, Bridgetown!
Back at the Bora Bora it was time for a cool swim in the Caribbean Seas - we had earned it and soon we were relaxing with a cold libation and enjoying the fabulous sunset from our very own beach deck! Tonight Darcy and Doug wanted to make curry for dinner with the chicken Doug had BBQ's on the charcoal and mahogany brazier a couple of nights ago. It was excellent! The chicken had an amazing taste from the mahogany and by 7:30 we were eating salad and chicken under the stars washed down with red and white wine.
Again we were early to bed, it seems that we seldom are still outside after 9pm! But R&R is what vacations are all about - even if we manage to get just a page or two read when we make it into bed before we crash!
THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 2013 LIQUID REPLENISHMENT
After coffee on the beach deck watching the day unfold, we started our day with a shopping trip to replenish our "liquids" at the Super Centre at the West Coast Mall about 1 1/2 miles further North on the H1B Coast highway. Inside the mall we took the opportunity to check out a few of the stores but very high prices, lots of garments over $400BDS. Although at one of the stalls I found fabulous evening bags or clutch purses for $360 BDS (about $180 USD). All prices here include 17.5% VAT.
Our grocery cart was full of liquids - soda water, diet coke, white and red wine and a few healthy greens for our salads, along with English and New Zealand cheddar cheeses - both of which are excellent here and one of the only things that are reasonably priced! We gave up buying TRISCUIT crackers when we realised they were $20BDS or $10 USD per box! The large bags of potato chips are at least $8 USD so it's good that they are too expensive to buy better for our waistlines!
Back at Bora Bora Terry and I headed into Bridgetown for a couple of hours - wandering the downtown and enjoying the hustle and bustle of all the locals shopping for Christmas and visiting with each other. Parking can be pretty tough but there is Public Parking close to town for abut $1 BDS per hour. It was hot and sticky but fun - I managed to restrain myself form buying more fabric (to add to the 1,00 + yards I must have at home)! For the first time we tried out the Chefette - the Barbados Fast Food franchise seen everywhere all over the island - Terry had a chicken roti and really enjoyed it - very hot chicken in curry sauce tucked up in a wrap and nice and hot as well as spicy. The only purchase we took home was a bag of limes - just $2.25BDS for 5 of them - they should go down well in the Gin & Tonic one night!
At Bora Bora we changed into swimsuits and coverups and then we all headed back to Carlisle Bay on the far side of downtown Bridgetown - about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the traffic which can get quite busy on the main Coast roads in and out of the capital Bridgetown. There we searched unsuccessfully for the Carlisle Bay Rum and Fish Fry - so ended up at the beach for very enjoyable swimming from the beautiful beach and turquoise waters for an hour or so. Then we did a quick change on the beach into dry clothes so that we could enjoy the fabulous sunset at the Boatyard during Happy Hour for $6 BDS 2 for 1 rum and diet cokes! That means each drink costs $1.50 USD - dangerous! We sat on the beach and wriggled our toes in the powdery soft pink sands sipping on our cool drinks and enjoyed every second of the sunset - yellow, orange, red, deep red, pinks and purples - an ever changing kaleidoscope of colours reflected on the clouds above the several boats and catamarans anchored off the beach in Carlisle Bay.
Then Stephanie brought us our dinners - coconut chicken and fries (excellent) $24BDS,
Caesar salad $24 BDS (awesome Darcy said) with coconut shrimp (huge and tasty) $46 BDS - a wonderful evening before the 30 minute drive back to Bora Bora where we sat outside on the beach deck enjoying the quiet after everyone had left the beach and gone home to their vacation places or back to the cruise ship. Thomas, our night guard, joined us for a chat and a cup of coffee under the stars on our beach deck before we trundled off to bed - another great day over already!
FRIDAY DECEMBER 6, 2013 FISH FRY AT MOON TOWN
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| UPPER DECK BORA BORA PAYNE'S BAY |
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| SUNSET PAYNE'S BAY FROM BORA BORA |
BORA BORA UPPER MASTER BEDROOM
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| BORA BORA UPPER KITCHEN |
Another day in Paradise! This was a glorious day on the beach in Payne Bay - there were 4 cruise ships in Port so lots of day tourists on the beach, swimming out to the turtles, renting the seadoos and many catamarans sailing in off shore to see the turtles. The Jolly Roger Pirate ship also came in with lots of passengers having fun walking the gangplank, jumping off the sides and swinging out on the ropes hanging down from the masts.
There are sun cot wars every day out front on the beach, as to which suncot renter can get all their suncots out on the beach, especially at the front, so our own suncots were out early along the beach in front of the Bora Bora. We lazed in the cots, we floated on our air mattresses, we swam, we enjoyed sitting on our deck right on the beach and watching all the activities. We also took a walk heading North this time as far as Sandy Lane the expensive resort further up the road. It was a very "pink" beach full of pink sun cots, pink umbrellas, pink towels and a few pink tourists! The sun is very strong here and you have to be really careful with the sunscreen and apply regularly!
Late afternoon we headed over to the Chattel houses about a mile away. These are a group of small wooden buildings, all painted in different pastel colours, with front decks built like the original Barbados Chattel houses - but these are set up as exclusive stores with some beautiful clothes and souvenirs - many of the clothes being $400 to $600 Barbados BDS (divide by 2 for US$) the official exchange rate being 1.98.
We also checked out the beautiful JENNY BLANC interior design home decor store next to the Chattel Houses - oh my gosh - talk about fabulous things! Such beautiful items and so beautifully displayed - I could have bought lots of things but the prices! The napkin rings I loved were $75BDS each and were about the cheapest items she had. I especially loved the table lamps with clear glass bases full of tiny white shells, the mirror behind the lamps was about 3 feet wide by 4 feet high with the frame smothered in tiny white shells of all sorts - just $895 BDS. So I will not be shipping anything home from Jenny Blanc until I win the lottery!
The clouds were looking quite threatening and sure enough just after 4pm it started to shower but very lightly and quite briefly. Then we checked out the TIDES waterfront restaurant - beautiful - and made a reservation for Saturday at 6pm. Next to it we thought about a sunset cocktail at The Beach but they were setting up for dinner and the bar itself was set a little ways back so we passed on that and instead drove up to Mullins Beach Bar further North for sunset cocktails. Terry had "Sex with the Bartender" and I had "Mullins Beach" both quite fruity but a glorious location right on Mullins Beach - a lovely soft white sandy beach.
Our target for dinner was MOONTOWN (North Coast) where there is a Friday night fish fry, similar to the event at OISTINS (South Coast) every Friday but apparently more local and much smaller. Sure enough it was so small we drove through without realising that was it! We checked with a local lady just heading home eating her fish "I just came from there" she said eating her fish from her hands and licking her lips, "just park at the Church and you're right there!" We never did see the Church but we did find the Funeral Home and parked there!
We walked back and there was a bar with music playing and then a large Bajan walked across and asked us if we were looking for the fish fry, and then he took us across the street next to the beach where another Bajan gentleman was busy setting fire to lots of mahogany wood in 3 large braziers and getting ready to cook. We sat down and beautiful young Katrina came and took our orders ($35 BDS for full dinner) and between us we ordered marlin, tuna (the best), chicken and pork with macaroni pie, fries (excellent), string green beans and green salad. There was also a bar here so we enjoyed a libation while the fairly strong breezes kept us quite cool. A few other folks arrived during our meal but it was by no means busy. We do know that here in Barbados everything seems to start late at night, seldom before 9pm so I think we are just not in sync with the local action since almost every night we have been in bed by 9pm!
The drive back to the Bora Bora (maybe 6 or 7 miles) was quite hairy in the dark - the road is extremely narrow with no lights - the local buses are big and fast, and even two normal cars have to pass each other somewhat considerately! But we did arrive safely and enjoyed a glass of wine on the beach deck without another soul or any sounds whatsoever!
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7, 2013 THE IPAD GETS OVERHEATED!
Brighton Market and Crane Beach - Barbados
Another beautiful morning with a few clouds around and a large cruiseship on the horizon at 6am as we sit on the beach deck with our morning coffee in hand. It rained again overnight- a perfect time to keep the plants watered and everywhere looking fresh!
This morning we are heading off to the Brighton Farmers' Market in the centre of the island, St George Parish. Well we're back now! A great morning, leaving at 8am to get to the Brighton market around 8:30am - they sell all sorts of handicrafts, cards, jewellery and food: samosas, bacon and eggs, bread, quiche - you name it along with fresh fruits and vegetables. Several of the vendors were packing up to head to Lime Grove - the shopping centre right by where we stay where there is an annual Christmas Craft Fair. So after British sausage and egg on a bun with a mocha latte we headed further East to Sam Lords Castle which appears to have completely disappeared into ruins and overgrown with vegetation - too bad but his legend lives on... "on this little island lives a buccanneero, Sam Lord was his name...." So we drove back to The Crane beach hotel overlooking the beautiful Crane Beach where it is nearly always body surfing water but the colours are amazing: turquoise, azure, aquamarine, and every other blue you could imagine. The Crane shopping centre is almost deserted - this really is not where I would be wishing to stay - there are just too many beautiful beaches on the West and South of the island.
We then drove back across the island to the Lime Grove and spent a good couple of hours enjoying looking at everything for sale, but for me especially the custom hand made jewellery by Azizah & Ras Sipho Onifa empress_azizah@hotmail.com shop 11 Pelican Village Bridgetown St Michael Barbados (246) 424-0817 Cell (246) 267-1100.
One local artist Vary Vanita had beautiful colourful pieces - from large canvasses to prints on aprons, purses and mousepads. We also ran into Simon again with his St Nicholas Abbey goods for sale - he recognised me immediately and lots more kisses again - he is such a sweetie, and his wife Camilla was there helping him. He is very good with PR for St Nicholas Abbey in spite of his difficulties with speech due to the car accident he was in several years ago. We then relaxed in the shade (it's 29C today feels like 41C due to humidity) and enjoyed a wonderful latte at Relish Epicurea sitting outside in a breezeway $8BDS. Given that this is the mall with Burberry, Cartier, Michael Kors, Luis Vuitton, Breitling, Longchamps, Bulgari, - I was really impressed that the coffee was only $4 USD ($8BDS).
On the way back to Bora Bora we picked up a bottle of Barbados Mount Gay rum 750ml for $9USD - why did we bother to bring in Duty Free rum? Mind you, we will tell you that to buy anything that is not rum - like gin and vodka - the prices are very high - the Bombay Sapphire is $123 BDS (about $62 USD). So we were back at the Bora Bora around 130pm and ready for a cold drink and the beach. It was so hot today on our beach deck that we sat under the umbrella in the shade! For the first time ever I suddenly got this yellow triangle on my IPad with an exclamation mark in the middle saying Warning: the IPAD is too hot and needs to cool down before it can be used!!! Me too!!! I put it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool it down (did I really do that? Yes!!) and the yellow triangle disappeared just before I thought to take a photo of it! The beach was very quiet this afternoon - very few tourists around although we did see 1 large white cruise ship arriving on the horizon this morning.
Just before 6pm we all showered and changed into our fancy duds ready for a wonderful evening at The Tides just 1 1/2 miles up the Coast road. We all looked very smart! The Tides was set up so well, blue sparkling Christmas trees right at the waters edge of the restaurant, twinkling white lights everywhere and each table with crisp white linens and sparkling crystal glasses. All the wait staff in black and white, formal presentation but very friendly staff. It was an amazing dinner - we were there for almost 3 hours. An extensive wine list (we had Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc) and a varied menu. Terry and I shared a seafood tower - 2 crayfish, 2 Alaska King Crab legs, 6oz smoked salmon, 6 mussels 6 scallops and 6 large prawns - just an amazing dish - all in a large bowl sitting on ice cubes. Then for our main course (which we didn't need) it was roasted spicy scallops with mango and fruit salsa and rice , and I had Thai curried shrimp served in a coconut shell with rice on the side. An amazing dinner and evening! No, there wasn't any room for dessert!
Back on our beach deck we relaxed and chatted with Bruce the gardener for 30 minutes before heading off to bed.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8, 2013 - BARBADOS MARATHON
Back on our beach deck by 6am with a coffee in hand, clear blue skies with a few
Bruce came strolling by at 7am and reminded us that we had missed the turn around point of the Barbados Marathon earlier that morning - a big event here each year. The turnaround is just down the Coast Highway and as expected, it was won by a Kenyan! Bruce was laughing saying that the Kenyan runs 900 miles practically without breaking a sweat and Barbados is only 166 square miles and a coastline of 97km so the Kenyan could barely get started!
It was an easy enjoyable morning, reading and relaxing on the beach deck- several folks wandering up and down the beach but only 1 catamaran this morning bringing tourists to swim with the turtles.
