time stops for no man...

view from our beach chairs

we can hardly believe as we sit here staring out of our window here in rural Buckingham with rain falling from a slate grey sky that this time last week we were walking along the white sand beaches with the clear and warm blue ocean tempting us to cool off from the Caribbean sun.

the British certainly have an obsession with the weather and most of our friends and family have commented on the colour of us both, especially Maz, but it's true to say that weather certainly does have the ability to influence both ones mood and also the activities that can be undertaken, we feel so blessed to have been able to spend our last week in Barbados being able to walk from our beach front apartment into the glorious sunshine which greeted us every morning and we pray that God will bless England with some sunshine soon.

boardwalk around historic bridgetown

Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, is full of history mostly based around the sugar trade and they even have a statue of Lord Nelson, the great British naval admiral, his statue was erected in 1813 and the square, originally called Trafalgar Square, came into being long before the more famous one in London!
today the center of Bridgetown is a bustling little town full of local people going about their daily business, with a couple of streets dedicated to cater for the large volume of tourists who descend from their cruise ships to waste away their time

statue of nelson with bajan flag on church

in Barbados to shop 'duty free'. these cruise ships certainly dwarf the town when they dock on the newly constructed port and for a few hours a week the town and surrounding tourist sights become overwhelmed by these day visitors.

fortunately our little beach apartment was situated at the opposite end of town on the beautiful Carlisle Bay towards the more formal international hotels and tourist areas of St Lawrence Gap, which also cater for the thousands of visitors who make their way to this tropical paradise during the summer months, December through to April, however it seems that we were 'out of season' and the beaches were almost empty and apart from the local fitness enthusiasts who walked back and forth on the mile long beach religiously each morning and evening.

maz swimming with turtles

whilst Maz had been doing a bit of snorkeling in Grenada, and at the east of the island the week before, her dreams came true as the waters that surrounded our beach were full of shipwrecks, which have now been formally turned into a marine park, where brightly coloured fish and even Hawksbill sea turtles swam around to their hearts delight. 

storm a brewing over the ocean

there were local businesses offering to take us out to the wrecks on their party style catamarans however with Maz being such a strong swimmer she literally donned her mask and snorkel and swam out to be greeted by these stunning ocean creatures.


we did take an afternoon sunset ride on one of these catamarans, which plied us with some lovely rum punch throughout the trip, which took us up the west coast of the island to dive onto some of the multitude of coral reefs which are found along that coast, I'm (Tim) not that confident swimming in open water but I couldn't pass this opportunity by and joined Maz in the warm water to gawp at the awesome array of fish which ignored us to attend to their daily disputes over the best feeding areas on the reef. 

space to lime overlooking the beach!

during the trip we were surprised and excited to experience literally hundreds of flying fish jumping in front and round our boat, this has to be one of the strangest of natural sights in the world, these little fish jump out of the water and glide tens of meters before gracefully splashing back into the ocean, just a shame we couldn't capture this on our camera and oh yes they taste great fried too!

caribbean colours

our final week was made all the more enjoyable when we meet up with some local Bajan's who were holidaying in an apartment next to ours, Jennifer and Margaret not only hosted us for a cheese and wine evening but also joined us on the sunset cruise which was very enjoyable.

maz, jennifer and margaret liming on carlise bay

Andrew and Tracey, our initial contacts on the island also invited us round for a fish supper, cooked on Andrew's gas fired BBQ, and it was great to be welcomed into their home to meet their friends and family who certainly know how to have a fun time.

fish supper with andrew and his family

however all things must come to an end and on Thursday afternoon we made our sad way to the international airport for the long night flight back to England where we were greeted by Tim's mum and dad who had bought some cold but brightish weather with them.

brother mark's birthday celebrations

over the weekend we saw many family and friends, with birthday's to be celebrated and stories to be shared however we really can't believe that those last nine weeks are already over and we've having to adjust to being back in England, that said the journey is not over yet with many other exciting experiences awaiting us over the next few months and to be home for a while with family and friends is also very special.