Grenada – Barbados

We slept in a little this morning since our flight wasn’t until 11AM. We got up, showered, and did the last of our packing. We went topside, and breakfast was laid out for us. There was fruit, scrambled eggs, sausage, bread, and bagels for toast and several jellies (nutmeg & guava). Half of the passengers had left at a 7:30AM departue, but the rest of us weren’t leaving until 9:30.

We chatted with the other passengers and the crew. New supplies started to be delivered for the following weeks’ sail. It was a little hectic with bags coming out and stores coming in, so Sheri thought we would walk to the supermarket near the port for some last shopping. My foot wasn’t feeling great after the previous day, but getting off the ship was good. We walked through the port, and passed the many boats and cruisers who sailed the caribbean. We got to the market and all of the checkers were wearing Santa’s hats and there was Christmas music playing. We bought some local dark honey (that Sheri had enjoyed with her tea on the boat).

We headed back to the boat, and decided to stop by a small bakery next to the port. The Merry Baker is a small bakery run by a British woman. They had a nice selection of bread, croissants, and cookies. We bought some oatmeal cookies for later.

We got back to the boat, and there was a hum of activity as more supplies kept arriving. We said our goodbyes to the crew, and signed the passenger log, commenting on our wonderful week on the cruise. The minibus arrived, our luggage was loaded, and the passengers boarded. We headed to the airport since our plane left early, while the rest were staying on Grenada a few more days. We arrived at the airport without incident, and quickly said goodbye to our shipmates.

We checked into our LIAT flight. The airline is known for being late, but our plane was supposed to be on time. We checked in and quickly passed through security. We visited Lisa’s Jewelry and found Sheri a nice necklace of Grenadite (a local semiprecious stone). Our plane finally arrived, and it was a propeller plane. We got in line. We had been told that it was open seating, so we tried to get as close to the front as possible. We boarded, and Sheri suggested we take the two aisle seats in the second row which were open. The plane slowly filled up. The stewardess asked the man seated next to me by the window to move to the exit row as she wanted another man to sit there. A tall fat man came and sat by window. He was so big I had to raise the aisle armrest in order to have room to sit. The stewardess saw this and moved me to the exit row at the front of the plane. So I was sitting backwards, facing the rest of the passengers. We took off for the 45 minute flight to Barbados, and I was quickly asleep.

I woke up, and we were landing. We landed and quickly followed the stewardess down the stairway and across the tarmac. We quickly went through customs and picked up our bags. We found an ATM, got some local money, and found a taxi to our hotel. The weather was great, and we passed beautiful beaches. We passed Oistin’s Fish Market–where fisherman bring in their catches to sell, and multiple shacks sell fresh fish and other food (the Fish Fry is supposedly super busy on a Friday night, we just missed it). We arrived at our hotel, Southern Palms Beach Hotel in St Lawrence Gap. Our room wasn’t ready, so we grabbed several rum drinks by the bar. Our room was finally free, and we dropped off our luggage. We went to the local Internet cafe to deal with some mortgage refinancing paperwork, and then went looking for lunch. Many things were closed, so we ended up at Sweet Potatoes, a local bar/restaurant. We ordered a grilled mahimahi and fries and a Caesars salad (which had been very good in the caribbean). I also had my first Banks Beer, a really good local beer (a lot better than Carib). We tried to plan our next few days in Barbados. The bartender was nice and suggested several restaurants, including going to Oistin’s Fish Market (Saturday is almost as good as Friday night).

We walked back to the hotel and decided to spend some time on the beach. The beach next to hotel was lovely–white sand and iridescent blue water. I fell asleep and awoke to the sun setting, I took some photos, and we headed back to the room. We decided to go to Oistin’s Fish Market and see how it was.

We walked out and found a taxi. Sylvester, the driver, said it was 25 Barbados dollars to get there, but when we questioned it, he lowered it to 20. He took backroads to get there, and when we asked which of the many shack restaurants was his favorite, he said he would take us there. He parked, and led us to Pat’s Place, a busy place, with picnic tables, a several cooks standing by grills which were flaring up. We paid Sylvester, and took a seat. We ordered grilled dolphin (mahi-mahi) to split and several sides (macaroni pie, cole slaw, grilled potatoes). It arrived and was DELICIOUS! The marinade on the fish great, and everything was tasty. Probably our best meal so far on our trip.

We walked around the many shacks, and even though we weren’t that hungry, we decided to order from Rosilin’s, which had a continuos line of people waiting to order. The were pan frying their fishes in large cast iron pans next to their shack. We ordered one with everything, which was two large pieces of lightly battered marlin (the only served one fish a day), salad, pasta salad, plantain, and fries. Topped with a little hot sauce and pickled onions, the fish was really good (although Pat’s Place was better).

On one end of the fish fry zone are a few tables, all with lively games of dominoes in progress. And lots of locals gathered around to watch. We stayed to watch one of the games for abfew minutes.

We were stuffed, and decided to walk part of the way back. We saw a supermarket, and decided to grab some supplies for the next few days. We grabbed some water and juice, found a taxi, and headed back to the hotel. We decided to rent a car, since we wanted to tour different places on the island (and the roads looked a lot better than Grenada, so driving on the left should be a lot easier). We finally turned in after our busy day of traveling.