Books, Books, Books...

This paragraph didn’t make it onto some of the places I auto-post so I’ll add it here.

This is the end of the catamaran trip from yesterday:

Something new – just as we got back to the Careenage, the captain/crew started playing this and most everyone danced their way into port.  What fun!

I usually try to keep a list of books I’ve read on trips.  One thing I like about coming here to Barbados is that they have a book exchange and I can often pick up British books I might not be able to get in the states. Anne Perry was one of those authors I discovered here.

When I first got here I was reading

That’s a pleasant enough book but I don’t know if I’ll finish it or not.  I just don’t really care enough about the plot or the characters.  If there’s ever a moment when I’m somehow bookless, I might finish it.

On Tuesday, August 28, I had set up an auto-delivery to my Kindle of

I love the Gamache series. I discovered these books either last year or the year before here and have read the whole series.  The characters are interesting and the plots are fascinating.  They take place in Canada, which I find interesting.

I also like a mystery series by Michael Genelin which takes place in Slovokia about a female detective named Jana Matinova, but I’m up to date on those.

At the end of the Gamache book was a note “…if you liked this book, you might like…”

So I tried

I usually read British novels from the 19th century and this was contemporary but I really enjoyed it, anyway. Loved the main characters and I hope the author, Emma Jameson, writes more in this series.

So then I read

I finished that this morning and started this

When that’s done, probably some time tomorrow afternoon, I’ll start

And that about wraps up this trip, I think…

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Winding down...

I haven’t made very many blog posts this time around because we haven’t done much except read, work, nap and a few dips into the pool.

Yesterday, we went out on a catamaran, though – the Cool Runnings III.

They picked us up at 8:15 am.  We were on time for once, but still the third of 3 couples going from The Crane.  We didn’t make any more pickups.  WooHoo!

So, we set off from the Careenage. This is an inlet into Bridgetown where several ships, boats and catamarans make berth. The “bridge” in Bridgetown is over the Careenage. There are two bridges now. The original is now a foot bridge with the newer, wider one for vehicles.

On any of these ships, they have an open bar and start off with yummy banana bread for a morning snack. After they clear the Careenage, they put up the sails and we’re off.

Tom on mobile – of course!

Our first stop of the morning was Payne’s Bay where Tom swam with the giant sea turtles.  A woman taking pictures was talking kind of snootily to someone that “In Hawaii they gave them flippers…”  I barged in and told her that they couldn’t have flippers at this stop because of the turtles but they would have them at the next.  ”So?!?”  I told her the turtles were an endangered species and didn’t like being kicked in the head with flippers.  Sheesh!

Turtle at Payne’s Bay, Barbados

The second stop was Folkstone Marine Park. All these ships stop there because it’s home to a sunken barge. This creates a home for lots of marine life. I’m not very good at recognizing fish but I always know when I see a school of sergeant major fish.

School of fish, taken from the deck of Cool Runnings III

Our last stop was a swimming stop off Alley’s beach. During this stop, we had a typical Bajan tourist lunch. The main dishes in this are flying fish, barbecue chicken, peas’n'rice, green salad, potato salad, a lo-mein sort of dish and rolls. Sometimes a sweet coleslaw, macaroni pie or beef stew is added but not today. Today’s dessert was carrot cake with cream cheese. Just like at home!

I didn’t get in the water this time but that’s ok – I just love being on the boat.

Back home and into the pool.

The next post will be the one where I list what I’ve been reading on this trip.  It will be fewer books since I’ve been working more than usual…

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Lazy Days and... Tuesdays?

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In the morning, a reporesentative from the Sunday non-catamaran came here to convince us we'd like to have a free trip with them plus they would pay for our taxi getting back here.  Tom said no, maybe we'd take them up on that offer next year.  The representative and Tom called the president of the company who was also stunned that we wouldn't be bought off for a free catamaran trip and a $30 taxi ride.

Turns out that they were supposed to pick up 9 people at the Hilton but only 4 showed up.  So they inconvenienced about 40 people for the Hilton and less than 50% of their folks even showed up.

But we moved on...

A lazy, lazy day by The Crane pools.  These pictures were taken throughout the day and into the evening.  To see the whole album and some nice sunset shots, please click here.

 

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Jammin' Cat

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What a nice - but early! - day.  The taxi picked us up at 7:30 am for the Jammin' Cats catamaran.  Along the way we picked up a couple young women from Holland, then another from Australia.

We arrived at the Careenage, paid our bill, took off our shoes and got onboard.  We found a nice little place in the shade for a while before leaving the dock.

Not long after we got onboard, we started motoring out of the careenage into the Caribbean for thesbille first snorkel site, the one where folks can swim with the hawksbill sea turtles. People coudn't use fins here because the turtles are endangered. Due to Tom's puncture wound, we had decided not to go in the water on this trip but it was fun to see the others swimming with the turtles.

We countinued along to a snorkel site over a scuttled French ship, the Berwin.  The Berwin is a World War I French boat scuttled in 1919 by her own crew. Her captain thought that they were being followed by a German U-Boat and decided to abandon ship first. The Berwyn sits between 7 and 10 feet below the surface depending on the tide. We could see her outline from onboard ship. Because it's so calm in the bay and because the wreck is nearly 100 years old, it is covered in marine life, such as coral, and lots of fish.

When we left the Berwin it was time to hoist the sails and head north to Payne's Beach.   In this calm bay we were close to land and it was pretty shallow so people could have fun swimming, floating on mattresses or going into shore.  This catamaran also had the luxury of drink delivery to the mattresses and swimmers!  Next time, you'll find me relaxing on a floating mattress!

After a bit, it was lunch time.  Those of us onboard got to eat while the swimmers were still climbing on board.  It was a pretty standard Bajan Tour lunch - peas'n'rice, flying fish, curry chicken, salad, macaroni pie...  I'm not complaining at all, though - I love it all :)

After lunch, a bit more swimming, then heading south again.

We disembarked about 2:30 or so and got home about 3:30.  It was a beautiful day, no rain, but I was exhausted.  I fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 8.

We got a call from the front desk - someone from the Sunday non-catamaran had called.  Tom got the number to call back on Tuesday.

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Medical Tourism

Our catamaran pickup was for 8:15 so we got up early.  The driver was actually here before 8:15 so we hustled to get to the (huge) bus.  Another family fro The Crane was already on board.  We waited a bit for someone else who never showed up.

At the first stop we picked up a bunch of guys who turned out to be part of a hockey team.  They were either still, or already, drunk and acting moronic.  Wonderful.

This bus held at least 40 people and we were nearly full when we got to the Hilton to pick up the last few people.  We waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Some of our folks got off to see what was going on.  No answers.  Tom got off and talked to the driver about why we were holding up the busload of people for so long.  The driver said it was his orders, to talk to "the boat".

Finally, after about 45 minutes, 4 people got on the bus.  No apologies from them or the driver.  We just continued to the catamaran.  Everyone except us got on the catamaran.  Tom wanted to see the manager, who was not there on Sunday (of course !).  The folks in the office said to let it go, we'd be "happy" once on board, probably referring to the open bar.

We said no, that we weren't going.  They called us a taxi (at our expense, naturally).  Tom got the name of the manager to speak with him later.

Our taxi arrived and we left.  We told the driver exactly what had happened and he drove us to the competition! The first boat, Cool Runnings, had already left for the day but a very kind man from the Jolly Roger called them for us us.  The didn't have any openings until Tuesday so the Jolly Roger man (Tom thought his name was Richard) booked us a trip for Monday on Jammin' Cats.  I was really amazed at how kind and helpful the taxi driver and Richard(?) were to us.

If you need a taxi in Barbados, Call Big Apple at 246-239-0637.  A great guy.

Meanwhile, on the trip back to The Crane, Tom mentioned that we had a bat in our apartment overnight.  He had heard it about 2 am, then again at dawn the bat was at the glass doors trying to get out.  Tom had pinned him (or her) between the slatted door and the glass door, then tried to open the glass door to let the bat out.  S/he flew away and Tom noticed that his arm was bleeding.

I saw the puncture wound and we were trying to decide what to do.  When we got back, Tom called the front desk to ask about doctors.  Naturally, it was Sunday...  He got the name of an emergency clinic that was open until midnight.  I looked up bats online and found that there had been no rabies here for at least a decade.  All the people said that there was no rabies here, too, but we wanted to be sure.

I wasn't even sure that it was a bat bite since it was just one puncture wound, not 2 (or 4) but we headed off to find the emergency clinic.  There were about 10 people ahead of us and only 1 doctor so it took a while to get in.  The nurse reiterated that there was no rabies here, took Tom's medical history.  Turns out his last tetanus shot had been just over 10 years ago.

Back to the waiting room.  Just after 5, we got to go into the small doctor's office.  I was amazed at the old-style exam table.

After a bit, the doctor came in and told us what we already knew - it was probably not a bat bite.  They dont have rabies here on Barbados but had it been Trinidad...  Tom did have an infection that was creeping up his arm so he got the tetanus shot, got the wound cleaned and dressed, prescriptions for antibiotic ointment and meds.

We took the prescriptions to the pharmacy next door, then back to the clinic for paperwork that we can try to submit to our insurance when we get home.

Crisis averted!

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