Barbados

After Dave had completed formalities we went into the bay ( six men's bay ) and anchored. We then discovered what had possibly been giving us problems trying to furl away the twin genoas, there were two brackets hanging lose that should be bolted to the furler with two substantial Allan bolts which were, gulp, missing! They should be in the lower of the two holes in the yellow casting below.

The forestay had unscrewed from the furling mechanism as we furled away the sail, luckily Dave found a length of threaded rod that we could use to effect a repair until Dave could replace with pukka parts.

We took the dinghy ashore and went on a search for a cash machine, after a friendly ( and expensive ) taxi driver gave us a lift to a garage where we managed to acquire local funds, we were then dropped off at a bar called the " Golden Anchor"

After we had worked out that Carole's Coke with ice had just cost £3.50 we decided it would be economically prudent to get the bus back to where we had left the dinghy.

If you have never caught a bus in Barbados it can come as something of a shock, they drive at breakneck speed, constantly tooting the horn and savagely breaking. If you have ever seen the night bus in the Harry Potter movies you will have a general idea! The most exiting $2 I have ever spent. There seems to be a standard fare of $2, which is a very good deal as from Port St Charles to Bridgetown it's a 45 minutes of terrifying slalom and high speed overtaking!

We returned to Port St Charles and went to the local beach bar.

They were cooking food over wood fires and it smelt delicious! We decided to eat there the following day and we continued to drink the local beer followed by rum and Coke chasers which came in kit form with a bottle of Coke, a bottle of rum and four plastic cups! We staggered back to the dinghy at about one in the morning and had a nightcap in the cockpit of Hocus Pocus as the reality of what we had achieved finally sunk in.

The following day we had decided to go into Bridgetown to get local SIM cards so we could catch up with blogs etc. In the hot Carribean sun the marina complex and coast looked stunning.

The colours were outstanding, possibly after being in a sea of blue for two weeks.

There were some very large super yachts berthed near the customs office and " Yacht Club"

We then had another white knuckle ride on a local bus into Bridgetown, at first it was standing ( read lurching ) room only until we suddenly stopped as two buses in front of us were blocking the road. There was great consternation on the bus as its headlong rush was halted, " total gridlock" Lynnes auntie Mary would have been amused to discover that we were in a place on the island called St Albans. There are some great place names on Barbados, I think Pie corner has to be my favourite.

Bridgetown was very busy it being a Saturday and extremely colourful everyone seemingly dressed up to the nines. Lynne was fascinated by the marvellous hairstyles of the women, they were marvellous.

After we had acquired SIM cards we updated Facebook, blogs etc. And generally let the world we didn't contact by sat phone where we were. I was very amused when the very helpful lady in the FLOW ( local phone ) shop took out her earring to change the SIM in my iPad, it's a good excuse to get my ears pierced I will never be short of one of those ridiculous Apple prodders for opening the SIM slot again! A top tip from Barbados that.

We had a look at the small harbour, ( no private yachts allowed ) and as the heat of the day became a little oppressive we retired to an upstairs bar that allowed a great view of the street so we could drink cold beer while people watching below.

Carole was a bit put out to discover we were back in a non smoking bars country!

We managed to find a small supermarket and purchase some essential supplies before a quite sedate  ( by Barbados standards ) ride back to Port St Charles.

The sun was within an hour of setting and the cool of the evening was just setting in as we returned to Hocus Pocus.

That's her just above the headland in the middle of the picture above.

We eat at the beach bar and had fried chicken cooked by the lovely lady above over wood fires. Washed down with a couple of bottles of Banks beer. Delicious.