Barbados and St Maarten

Jo and I decided that our shore excursion on Barbados would be to snorkel with the turtles. This turned out to be great fun as we travelled on board a large catamaran called Jammin; and that is just what we did! Great music to jam to was played throughout the trip and it was just not possible to sit still. We travelled North from the harbour for about half an hour, were fitted out with mask, snorkel and life jacket and then swam around the sea while the team fed turtles. The latter were 1 -2 feet long and quite happy to be gently touched although the kicking by some of the less able snorklers certainly made me jump on a few occasions.
We then moved onto rum punch and a beach so as to swim, laze or in my case snorkel some more. This shot has QM2 in the middle background.

We were introduced to the team one of which was called Gavin so we got on well. Gavin was a key part of the activities and had us all “dancin” by the time we got back to port.

For those curious to know where QM2 went the chart is below. We had 2 days at sea at the start of the voyage and 3 days on the way back. The sea days were along the West side of the Atlantic. While in the Caribbean we stayed largely in the calmer waters of the Caribbean sea.

Our last port of call was St Maarten. Here the lads opted for a race on some America Cup yachts. There were three yachts and we were on Canada II. The winds were light which made for some interesting racing as we sought out any light puff of breeze. We eventually came a very close second (the winner should have been penalised but…). After the race the wind picked up so we got a feel for how fast the yacht could travel.

I was on the main sheet and Martin was a Grinder. Meanwhile Steve sat at the front reading charts and chatting to our team leader – need I say more?

After all the activity we walked into town and had some lunch. I realised that on the prom just in front of our table was the potential for some more fun. We all thought we would have a go at riding a Segway as none of us had done this previously. It was great fun and our teacher (and photographer) can be seen behind us.

We would have liked to be considered as the 3 musketeers or something daring like Evil Kenievel, however when we showed the ‘photos to the girls they thought the 3 Bellies was more appropriate. We quickly got the hang of the Segways and started to lean and turn at speed. Nonetheless, most pedestrians recognised the lack of experience and common sense had them jumping out of our way.

Having had a thoroughly exhilarating time we wound our way back to the ship which was berthed amongst 6 other ships and was the busiest port of all.

On our way out we were treated to yet another wonderful sunset, and

then continued on the rear deck to enjoy the breeze and an aperitif before dinner (smart elegant on this occasion).

All too quickly we arrived back in New York and said good buy to our fellow travelers. We all vowed to get together and do this again in some other part of the world – now we have to start planning again.

We had one more night in NY before our flight to Oz and stayed at the same hotel. Our room on this occasion had a complete view over the new WTC site. The day was sunny and cold and with the Hudson River in the background this shot was both stimulating and thought provoking.