Barbados

January 30^th: we dropped anchor around 10.40pm at night and it was a great relief. We don’t like arriving into new destinations at night time but nobody wanted to slow down to arrive in daylight. We all just wanted to arrive, get the anchor down, celebrate with a beer and get some sleep. This is exactly what we did.

Starlet was a little ahead of us but we basically arrived together.

January 31^st: After a great sleep we radioed the marina and after half an hour wait we were able to go into a berth. Robbie had checked the bow and stern thrusters and the stern thruster wouldn’t work. This is unusual but not a real problem as it wasn’t too windy.

The marina, well it’s not really a marina, there are 6 large super yacht concrete pontoons. There is a yacht club next door and an apartment complex set around the harbour. It’s very beautiful and nice beaches but not really boat friendly. It was also incredibly expensive for one night it cost us around $180 US dollars for one night. It was $2.40 per foot plus water, electricity and a $23 rubbish charge. After 14 days at sea we were just happy to be able to berth and set foot on land.

We had to complete the customs and immigration clearances and this took about an hour. They were really friendly and helpful. I felt sorry for them as they are on call and it was a Sunday so they had to make a special trip in, but they were already there for another boat, and then with Starlet and Southern Star I guess it’s better to do them all at once.

We all set to cleaning Southern Star. This is a huge job anyway, let alone after 2 weeks at sea. The salt was amazing. But the 4 of us soon made Southern Star glisten again. We are all in awe of how this gorgeous boat just kept going for 14 days straight and the motor never missed a beat. We had not one problem, only the stern thruster not working when we arrived but that is very minor to what could have gone wrong. Nordhavn you got it right when you chose the Lugger engines! (A lugger is a John Deere engine, which has been “marinised”)

Mark and Jennifer had checked out a restaurant for lunch but could not get in so made a booking for 6pm that night. We all walked along the beachside to the restaurant for dinner and would you believe it – they had NZ lamb shanks on the menu AND NZ Sauvignon Blanc! Heaven!! The restaurant was set right on the beach and had a very charming ambience and the service was fantastic. Again, it was expensive but we are now realising that is normal for Barbados.

February 1^st: Robbie and I got up early and decided to walk and find a local shop to get some fresh bread and fruit until we could get to a supermarket. It was a bit of a walk to Speightstown, the nearest shops. Everyone we met on the way spoke and said hello. It was lovely. My gosh the kids are the cutest thing I have ever seen. Gorgeous little things with their hair in tiny ringlets with ribbons and jewels. I think Robbie thought the Mama’s were pretty cute too!

We had to wait until 8am for the supermarkets to open and there was a couple. We just got a few things to get by with and then caught one of the local minibus taxi’s back to Port St Charles.

Peter and Heidi were up and we had breakfast and then while Robbie did an oil change we all went next door to the yacht club for a coffee and an internet fix to check emails etc. the coffees are $12 each Barbados currency or $6 US dollars. Not cheap but they were good all the same.

We departed Port St Charles for Carlisle Bay, just outside Bridgetown around mid-day and dropped our anchor just before 3pm. Wow beautiful long white sandy beaches, aqua blue clear water and of course palm trees. There were a number of yachts on anchor and one of them was Grace Richard, whom we last saw in Spain and had John aboard for a beer. He is a sole sailor, none of us understand how they can do this.

We took the duck into the careenage – like a bar entrance which is about a mile long and takes you right into the middle of town, there were a number of yachts berthed stern to and we tied up next to Archipelago, which is the yacht that had the alternator problem just after we started crossing the Atlantic.

We met up with Mark and Jennifer, Mike and Sue Mikes wife who flew in to meet him, and had a walk through town. First objective – to get internet sorted and then a beer. We didn’t get the internet sorted as in our excitement we all forgot our passports, which you need to buy a sim card – Hello how can this be we have been all around the world buying sim cards in each country and not one of us remembered our passports?? Can only be Caribbean fever already setting in!

We found a cute little local bar which was a timber shack with a couple of locals and we all had a couple of beers. The barmaids were real friendly even showing the boys the raunchy calendar which promoted condoms.

We found a place for dinner called the Bridge house a 2 storey building overlooking the careenage. The meals were OK they had a promotion going for Pola Beer so I did a deal with the guy and got 10 beers, and a T shirt for all 8 of us for $10 US dollars. Not so bad!!!

February 2^nd: Starlet went down the coast and we went back into town, we had to go to immigration and get Peter and Heidi taken off our crew list. I was not allowed to enter the immigration building as my shorts were too short!! (Mid-thigh length – no way do I wear short shorts!!)Heidi and I for some girl shopping and the boys went to check out diesel prices and to rent a car.

We met up with boys again and we made our way to Cost you less the best supermarket on the island. It’s like an American Costco and we got our grocery fix. We spent $430 US dollars and stocked up a bit, only 1 trolley though.

Once we got back on board and tidied up we had a couple of beers and Peter and Heidi cooked dinner. Pizza, but, they make the dough themselves, they make the tomato paste themselves and wow they are the best ever!