|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Time flies in beautiful places! We really enjoyed the plantation hotel on the beach. For one, there was hardly anyone there! We had the beach to ourselves and the pool to ourselves. The breakfast was always amazing and the setting of the place is perfect. We went on some walks to the popular Princess Margaret beach nearby, but we preferred our little stretch. The snorkelling wasn’t anything fancy, but Kilian and I got good exercise, often going out for long swims. We did meet a few people, mostly the sea faring kind or retirees. The kids did have a dance party with the local children on Independence Day which was a lot of fun. We went to a nearby restaurant for some barbecue and good times. The entire island was bumping with music that day until late into the evening. We will miss the rum punches from the bar and the mostly friendly staff. They are still way to chill or uncaring in our opinion, especially in the morning. Other travellers find the locals to be friendly, and they are in a sense, but having experienced so many other happier island cultures we are hard to please perhaps.
We left the Grenadines on Friday after a pretty rainy and stormy day. Our fast ferry never made it out of St Vincent so we were stuck to take the hour long slow boat. The seas were not terrible, but the open water sections were enough to remind us that we are not made for the sea. The kids didn’t mind at all though and Kilian thought we were flying as the boat swayed high enough to only see the sky. We got back to Kingstown, the little grimy city before dark. The cobblestone hotel had the same room ready for us and we went to bed early, still swaying. Kingstown really did wake up Monday morning. There were plenty of stalls set up on the main roads and the market was in full swing. We started our long walk after breakfast and checked out the bustle of the town before going uphill to the oldest botanical garden in the Western Hemisphere, at least according to my guidebook. We were the only people there and after declining a guided tour, we walked uphill through the gardens. We did expect it to be a bit more lush, but it was rather sparse, with only a couple old trees remaining. The highlight was seeing the endangered and also endemic St Vincent parrot. They had a bunch here in cages and the kids were entertained for a while. It is a beautiful bird indeed and would mimic the kids screams, which was a lot of fun for them. We then walked back for lunch at a nearby restaurant. After nap it was time to pack up our stuff and walk to the ferry terminal. We arrived quite early so we got to check out the little facility and also watch other boats come in. Our ride over to one of the Grenadine islands only took half an hour since we opted for the fast ferry. We arrived in the late afternoon on beautiful Bequia. Our plantation style hotel was only a fifteen minute walk away and we were greeted by a stiff rum punch and fruit juice for the kids. The place is pretty empty so we relaxed in one of the many chill areas until dinner. The restaurant, while slow made some great stone oven pizza and the sunset views were hard to beat. Let’s see how the rest of the area is over the next few days!
It was time again to start our journey to the next island, this time the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines where we will spend some time over the next week exploring a couple places. After a quick breakfast we left for the airport and checked in. The lounge was one of the smallest yet, a tiny little room with a few couches. We didn’t have much time anyways so just had a quick drink and grabbed lots of snacks before boarding our ATR flight north. The flight time was less than half an hour and most people remained on the plane for the next hop over to Barbados. The expensive ride into Kingstown didn’t take too long, and once we arrived at our small cobblestone hotel we went for a walk around. It is Sunday so it was super quiet on the streets. Besides some homeless guys asking for money, there really weren’t many people around at all. Kingstown itself is nothing exciting, so we are only staying one night using it as our jumping off point to the Grenadines. In the afternoon we walked to subway, the only place that seemed to be open today. They informed us that they basically had no veggies left, just cucumbers, onions and olives. So they loaded on those veggies and we would have to be content with our dinner. We took a quick look at the gothic looking church nearby which was holding an evening service before heading back. Singing could be heard from various small churches also, so the town felt even quieter on our evening stroll. Our hotel has a rooftop patio which overlooks the ferry terminal and we watched a ship come in before sunset. The kids were tired and went to sleep early while we stayed up a bit chatting. We are curious to see how lively the town gets tomorrow!
It’s already been a week since we arrived and while we were starting to get bored, ultimately we had a great time here with our beach routine. The kids are so used to our routine that they start packing up beach toys after breakfast and then wait by the door. It was a quiet week but it got busier towards the weekend. A big cruise ship came in one day and with that the beach transformed into a bustling place. Loungers were placed along the dock area and plenty more locals showed up selling stuff. Only a few dozen tourists showed up and most just went for a walk up the quiet beach until they found a shaded tree to lay under. All the hustle and bustle getting ready for the big ship was a bit of a let down for the locals trying to make a few bucks. It’s hard to imagine this nice beach being packed with lots of people, but it must have been at some point. On many days we are one of a few other people even laying on the beach, it’s that empty.
On our last full day, Ashleigh spotted a sea turtle surfacing near the shoreline, so Kilian and I got to snorkel with a small sea turtle. Kilian was super excited of course and we spent a good amount of time out there following it around. He is getting pretty comfortable without his swim vest as well and practices swimming in the pool often. He still prefers to dive swim rather than get his head out of the water, but we are working on it. Since he is often out of his vest, we have started to get Kalina used to the swim vest which is still slightly too big on her. She does not like it at all, even though she floats around so well in it. Overall it has been a great week here, filled with family time, beautiful sunsets and many walks around the area. We spent our last night at our favourite beach bar restaurant watching the sunset explode into the most beautiful colours before walking back along the beach to our hotel. We had a very fun first day here! The kids slept in past 6am for once and we went all out on the breakfast buffet after losing a few pounds in St. Lucia I am sure. The beach is literally in front of our room and the water is calm and clear, perfect for the kids. There isn’t much in terms of snorkelling right here, but Kilian and I went out for a long swim anyways. We stayed busy in the sand and one guy came by with a good size puffer fish to show off to us. It was a relaxing morning! In the afternoon we had a local guy park right in front of our place with his blasting speaker. We did ask him whether he could turn it down a bit, but he was clearly not fully coherent so that was the end of our peacefulness. A security guy did talk to him after we gave up and he eventually did turn it down. It didn’t matter too much since we spent the afternoon by the pool. We met two American couples who just came back from an epic sailing trip up the Grenadine island chain. We spent a good hour or longer chatting, exchanging our travel stories. It felt good to finally socialize a bit again and find like minded people. Kilian made friends with one of the ladies who was a school teacher and he basically clung to her while we chatted. She did teach him how to hold his breath under water without pinching his nose plus how to swim a good short distance under water by himself. We were all impressed and Kilian loved the attention. Time flies when having a great time so dinner was right at sunset at a place down the beach. Here is to more relaxing days ahead!
We have fallen into a bit of a beach routine since getting to St Lucia. Every morning we start the twenty minute walk down towards the beautiful beach on the edge of town. It’s all downhill, so by midday it’s a hot walk back uphill. The kids love playing in the sand and collecting smooth glass pieces. The water is never rough and there are never any people on the beach either. Kilian and I snorkelled quite a bit as well, found a bunch of lobsters and even saw two gold spotted eels. At first I thought they were water snakes, but after a quick search these eels appear to be common enough in the grass. The town itself is pretty small, very local so everyone seems friendly. We always get greeted and occasionally people want to talk for a few minutes. People do seem proud of their little island and always ask whether we like it. Our place is on the edge of town right by a supermarket which is great, but otherwise there isn’t much to do around us, at least not within walking distance. Even going for dinner involves a long walk. On one of our walks we came across a couple young kids shooting something out of a homemade bamboo canon. We weren’t sure whether anything was actually coming out of the bamboo, so we were cautious. The boys were polite enough and stopped to let us walk by, but ultimately we didn’t need to worry. I looked it up and apparently it’s a tradition the kids perform closer to Christmas time. What could go wrong with lighting up kerosene inside a bamboo pipe. Kilian is always curious and likes to stop and watch. We spent a few minutes watching some kids play soccer with a tennis ball or often observed the goats that are tied on to every tree it seems. Overall we had a good enough time, but we are looking for a more convenient place next. We are tired of self catering and also want the luxury of being on the beach front. Todays flight takes us to the island of Grenada, only 25 minutes south. The big 777 was waiting for us at the small airport again and we boarded quickly. It was an afternoon flight so the kids were up making some noise. We could tell a lot of the passengers were tired from their long haul over from London, but we were fresh and ready to see a new place! Of course they didn’t give us immigration forms again, so the on the spot chaos began as soon as we landed. We filled them out as quickly as possible and then went to queue up again. Luckily a lady let us use a priority lane so we were through much quicker. We had to pay for an expensive taxi again of course, this time for a ten minute ride but then we arrived on the famous Grand Anse Beach at our resort. We dropped our stuff after getting an ocean view upgrade and then walked down the beach to some small hole in the wall restaurant. It took a good half hour to get a burger, but that is the island pace. It’s even slower here it seems! We also had to call reception about three times to get a baby crib, which arrived about an hour later. Sometimes we still can’t get used to how slow things really move down here. It has been a trend on all the islands so far of course. However, we are glad to be here and are already excited to check out the area this week.
It was time to move on to the next island! In the morning we went for a long walk around the area in search of a breakfast place. We did find a very nice one and all enjoyed a very nice meal. We also had some pool time until the torrential downpour started! The same happened right before heading for lunch which kept us inside for a bit longer. Kilian took a while to go down for his nap, perhaps he was too excited for our next flight. We checked out and headed to the airport what we deemed super early. Little did we know that the traffic would be some of the worst we have ever been in. The airport is 25km from the city and we literally crawled there. It took us two hours! Fortunately the airport is small and the lounge as well. The food was not great as usual in the lounges down here, but we did have a couple drinks at least. We then boarded our short flight over to St Lucia! To get there we are flying British Airways 777 in their club world business product! This will be the first time flying with them and even though it’s only a 40 minute flight we figured it was worth a try. The cabin layout is very different from other products since the window seats are backward facing. Kilian is sitting in the window seat and I can look straight at him facing forward. There is a privacy divider but it’s pretty neat if one wants to socialize. The middle is equally great for couples traveling together. The crew is super friendly and welcomed us along with two other passengers. Once we get to St Lucia more people will likely join for the long haul back to London. The 777 has always been my favourite aircraft, mostly due to its sheer size. But after having flown so many newer ones that are so much quieter I must say the industry has come a long ways. Once up in the air, we got our fancy drinks and Kilian watched a movie while we got to relax. Flying in the Caribbean is not cheap, so island hopping can add up quickly. Luckily we found this fifth freedom route by British so we could use our points for it and save quite a bit of cash. We landed on time, but both immigration and customs took a very long time for us. We were just unlucky and were questioned for a good while. Not sure what their intentions were, but we were not happy with first impressions. Once finally out of the airport, our driver took us to Soufriere up the coast driving well below the speed limit on the curvy roads. Kalina was sleeping and Kilian managed to stay up somehow. We arrived after 10pm all ready for bed. Our place is on the edge of Soufriere right next to a supermarket. Tomorrow we will check out the city! A short hop ended up taking us more than half a day, what a travel day!
Our last morning on the hill went by uneventful. We managed to squeeze in one more swim before going back to the town near the airport. We wanted to at least see a little bit more of the local life, even though it was a Sunday. This meant almost everything was closed. We got to town for most people to leave for church so when we went for a walk to the store it was pretty quiet. The supermarket also closed early so we had just enough time to grab a few more items and then have lunch on our terrace. The place we are staying at is owned by a super friendly local. He was very helpful all day, brought us some fresh fruit drinks, and even drove us to the nearest pizza place to pick up our much desired dinner. In the afternoon we found a playground nearby and Kilian was on a roll finding coins. He ended up finding at least a dozen coins, so that kept us entertained on our long walks. His creativity is impressive! After collecting all coins he decided to hide them all and Kalina then had to find them, which she did very well! After our pizza craving was satisfied, we walked around a bit more and that was the end of our time in Tobago.
The next morning we left early for the airport. It is one of the smallest airports for sure, so we only arrived an hour before. The one thing that seems to be the trend in the Caribbean are the incredibly high taxi fares. Even though the airport is only 5kms away and takes less than 7minutes to drive to, we ended up having to dish out fifteen bucks. The same was the case in Barbados and will likely be the case for the next places. Our plane came in on time and within minutes we were boarding and in the air. The flight over to Trinidad is one of the shortest flights and after twenty minutes in the air we landed. It is only 90kms away, but taking a ferry is quite a long undertaking so flying made sense. At least this flight was a good deal as it seems to go many times a day. We arrived, finally took out some local currency and then started our adventure on a city bus. As mentioned earlier the taxis are just outrageous and since it was early in the morning we had the time to spare sitting on a city bus for less than a dollar each. The bus arrived an hour later and we then took a taxi to the courtyard. The hotel is right next to a mall with a bunch of fast food chain options. We checked in early and then relaxed during nap time. In the afternoon we went to the mall and had thanksgiving dinner at Burger King! We dodged a torrential downpour and did some shopping as well. Port of Spain seems like a sprawling city and doesn’t appear to be super attractive so far. We will explore some more tomorrow though. We managed to get two free drinks during check in so we had cocktail hour at the hotel bar while the kids played. Since we are only here for a night it does feel very in transit and we are eager to settle into a single place for a few days again. It feels like we are way off grid on top of our little hill overlooking the sea. The property is surrounded by six acres of thick forest which has been keeping us busy with multiple walks a day. There is a mango grove and the tallest bamboo forest I have ever seen, not to mention enough muddy steps to make us feel like we are living in the jungle. There is a small secluded beach nearby, but the trek down is quite the adventure in itself. With all of the rain, the trail was faint in places but we managed to find our way through the dense forest and mud. When we arrived ready to wash off the dirt, we were disappointed by the water. After all of the rain, the water was brown and full of debris and garbage. To make things a bit more eerie, there is an abandoned resort right on the beach which has slowly been taken back by nature. We did sit down with no soul in sight and let the kids play for a bit, while looking around somewhat admiring the isolation of this little bay. After some time we picked up the kids again and dragged them back through the forest up to our place. It took a few jumps in the pool to get us all clean again, but that is what has been keeping us busy here. Kilian can hardly get out of the pool since he discovered that he can hold his breath under water and dive around with his swim goggles. To make things even more fun, the pool has a diving board that is keeping everyone busy. The views are incredible from our place and we often just sit by the pool admiring the hill dotted landscape and many birds around us. We have seen a ton of new birds here and the kids like the many lizards. Overall there isn’t anybody here really, and it’s too far to walk into town with the kids for groceries. Our host that seems to also not be around much kindly drove us to the nearest store so we could stock up for the week. We really got to feel the loneliness the other night while having dinner outside on our terrace. Kalina was done eating and kept playing with our patio door. She didn’t seem to listen to us to stop, so I got up and closed it without thinking twice. The spring loaded deadbolt which must have come loose over time locked the door and we were stuck outside. To make matters worse, our front door was not only locked, but the key was in the lock. Of course all of our phones were inside as well. We were officially locked out, sitting on our terrace in swimsuits less than an hour from sunset and the kids bedtime. We walked to the main villa from our cabana but nobody was around. We walked up and down the property without seeing a single human. Luckily we did find a pair of scissors and I went to work on breaking back in before it got dark. There was a small mosquito net around the patio door that would let me put a hand through the blind slots, and with some awkward movement I could just reach the deadbolt at the bottom of the door. We were back in, with minimal damage done, success!
The weather has been very fast changing here as well. We get ready to go outside and as soon as we are out the door, it starts pouring rain. We do get enough sun still for time at the pool, but we have had some very strong down pours and thunder storms. Overall we are glad that we arrived after the tropical storm had come through, but for one day after it was still quite rainy. Tonight is our last night here! We were contemplating staying another night, but we are all ready to see something else. While the peacefulness of the place is calming, we are craving some bustle and a good meal. Plus we are almost out of food and beer so it’s time to get back into civilization. We had a great time traveling with Oksana, but it was time to say goodbye and start our island hopping in the Caribbean. The weather in Barbados has been quite good, even though there is constant forecast for rain. We have all enjoyed our time at the quiet beach and pool. Everyone has been very friendly and so chill. Kilian learned how to hold his breath under water and wanted to constantly practice that the last day. I even took him out for a short snorkel trip his morning which he enjoyed. After our last morning in Barbados we said goodbye to the chill island, the noisy reggae buses that keep plowing back and forth on the main road, and of course the unforgettable sunsets which have been nothing less than spectacular every night.
We didn’t have any cash left so our taxi driver stopped at an ATM so we could pay him. We arrived early at the small airport and security went by smoothly with the exception of them taking away one of our water bottles. This was the first time they actually took it away after many flights with Kalina. Usually we have been able to take it on if we say that it is for Kalina. Luckily the lounge had plenty of water. The lounge was quite cute and had some decent food. Ashleigh and I got to enjoy one last cold Banks beer here and then Kilian and I went in search of a shot glass. To our surprise while out shopping we heard a boarding announcement for our flight which wasn’t leaving for another hour and a half. When we checked back at the lounge they confirmed that we were trying to leave early due to the bad weather at the destination. So we packed up our stuff and left early to board the turbo prop plane that would take us to our next island, the island of Tobago. We were skeptic of an early departure right away, and sure enough we spent an hour sitting on the aircraft before everyone made it on just in time for our regular departure time. Kilian drank half a litre of juice at the lounge so he had a bathroom break before we even took off. The flight south to Tobago is less than 45minutes long, so we actually spend more time on the ground than in the air. During the same time, they were able to board the entire 777 British Airways flight that was heading back to London and the big jet pulled out ahead of us on the runway. Oh well, lesson learned that next time we just grab another pint at the lounge and show up for boarding time since early departures are almost never possible due to someone always showing up for gate closing time. We are looking forward to checking out different islands during our time in the Caribbean and hope that the latest weather system moves on as well. We are staying in a village again at a small guesthouse with only a few studio apartments. The host has been super friendly and is even picking us up from the airport tonight. The flight went by quickly and wasn’t as bumpy as expected. We were only one of a handful of passengers that got off the plane, the rest continued on to Trinidad. Immigration took a few minutes since we had to complete forms for the kids, but we got out quickly otherwise. Our host picked us up in a truck and then we started our journey to our hilltop apartment. Apparently the latest weather system did quite the number in the area, and roads were flash flooded for a few hours today. Luckily our path had been cleared so we got to our place in about half an hour. The rain started as soon as we got there. We didn’t do much at night since both kids were super tired so we put them to bed right away. Once down we listened to the wind and rain outside. Let’s hope for a break in the weather tomorrow! |
Archives
November 2022
|