I liked St Georges, yesterday

It is a gentle and colourful place, if a little quiet on our visit since, being a national holiday, most places were closed.

I went for a relaxed meander, climbing the hill to check out the Fort and down into the harbour-side of town and returned via a short tunnel to the port. A harbourside bar provided me with a drink and wi-fi
enabling me to make a video call back home.

In the last hour of our visit, which was a relatively short one, we were entertained on the top deck by a local steel drum band, who were absolutley terrific. they belted out popular tunes with a sharp resonance that had folks dancing in the aisles. The P&O cruiser, Ventura, docked alongside us, also had the benefit of the band. Since the ship is much larger than the Braemar, it enabled their passengers to look down upon us and enjoy the music too. At the end of the concert, The Ventura sounded it's horn in appreciation, and as it sailed away before us, the Braemar returned the booming horns in something resembling a parody of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Today, we arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados. We were docked alongside the Boudicca, which means we've abe to stock up with watercolour paper from their supplies at last.

At 8:15, I was down on the dockside awaiting to start a tour billed as an 'Island Safari', which turned out to be BRILLIANT!!! Without doubt one of the best, and most entertaining excursions I've ever been on in all five cruises (well, perhaps with the exception of the Dunns River Falls in April). 19 passengers from the Braemar and 7 passengers from the Boudicca were loaded into the back of 3 Nissan 4x4 safari vehicles, which had roofs, but were open-sided. Being the last to get on, I got to sit at the back, which was good because I was able to look out of the opening at the jeep following on behind us.

The trip began exciting enough as we hurtled through Bridgetown in convoy. Being open, it was just so much more fun that being stuck inside an eclosed coach. After about 20 minutes or so of road riding, we turned off into rough tracks that were muddy and pitted, and we were bounced around in the back like sacks of potatoes. At one point, our driver said "oh-oh", and skidded to an halt, "Tree in the de road", he announced, and we had to back up and seek out an alternative route. The track got rougher, and steeper in places, and everyone screeched and whooped with glee every time we splashed through water or dropped through a hole in the ground.

Soon we were back on tarmac again - but not for long. Hanging a right, we entered the forest... We were whipped by overhanging palms and branches, and the track got windier and rougher, which made it even more fun. Throughout the trip, the convoy of 3 vehicles (each one had 10 seats in the back, five on each side facing each other) kept changing positions - occasionally we would be in the lead, sometimes we were in the middle. As we bounced through the forest, we were bringing up the rear, when suddenly there was an almighty bang followed by a great hissing sound; the jeep in front had hit something and got a flat tyre.

All three jeeps ground to a halt and the drivers got out to see about changing the wheel, only to discover that between de tree of dem, there wasn't a single spare!!

So everyone climbed out, the music was turned on, Rum punch and tortillas were handed out and we had a little party in the middle of the forest while we waited for a spare to be brought out to us from
Bridgetown. We were told the spare shouldn't be more than 15 minutes, but Barbados-time meant it was 30 minutes before a 4th jeep appeared to cheers and hollers from the passengers who actually didn't care... the rum punch was kicking-in and a growing sense of bonding and comerarderie was developing.

After the forest came the beautiful coastal village of Bathsheba, where we stopped for photos and loos, before setting off on out final leg. At one point, the lady across from me, who was trying very hard not to spill her rum punch called out to Tony, our driver, that she'd lost her Ray Bans... her sunglasses had flown off her head into the road; so Tony backed up, narrowly missing crushing them under the tyres, and handed them back to her. Everyone cheered. Actually, I'm certain that they would have cheered at anything. "More rum punch!" someone called out, and there, in the middle of the road, he refilled everyone's plastic beakers.... needless to say, by the time we arrived back at the
terminal everyone was well and truly razzed, and extremely happy.

After making a short call home via the terminal internet, I bumped into some people from the ship who were going to the beach, and did I want to come? Well, despite being in desperate need of food and a long lie down, I tagged along and was glad to have done so, since I ended up having a shot at jet ski-ing, which was excellent fun, and a great way to end a day packed with adventure and excitement.

Life is never boring with you is it i have to admit we are dead jealous of your adventure in the jungle! so much so that Sy has joined the indian in hawes as a waiter to try and see if that has the same effect ! think hes in for a shock! teh hee luv us x:o

Nice one! The secret is in the Rum punches....
x Peter