Wow. The final day of this 3 week adventure. I don’t know
about Jo, but I was at a bit of a loss – our entire world had narrowed down to
this one little spec of white in a vast blue sea, a few familiar faces and days
out in tropical paradises, but now came the knowledge that it would soon be
over. Too soon.
This was, of course, tempered by the knowledge that today
we would be in Barbados – a place that so many people had told us is
spectacular, so at least we thought we would end on a high.
Something else to change the pace of events today was
that we’d only just decided on what we would do – until a couple of nights before
we didn’t know if we’d have the opportunity to do anything here as until then
there were no excursions available to book, so we’d started to assume we would
arrive, get on a coach and go straight to the airport.
Luckily not.
As it happened we finally were given a sheet of paper
with a selection of possible excursions on it, and there was only one that
stood out as what we had to do – snorkeling with Turtles.
Leaving the ship, we made our way through the customs
building and onto a waiting minibus where we met up with the Manchesters and a
handful of others we’d seen on board (including the two ladies from the
Dominican Republic, and the Costa del Geordies). When everyone was seated, the
bus sped off around a couple of streets and into a little run-down looking
shipyard where we got off and went through a gift shop and onto a beautiful
sailing catamaran.
There were 4 or 5 crew members, or wanted to make sure we
were safe and comfortable before handing out a selection of fruit juices to
anyone who wanted them as we motored out of the harbour and into the open sea
where the sail was unfurled and we were pushed along at a fair old speed even
in such very light winds. By this point I think everyone was thinking this was
a nice day out, the sun shining down as we whipped across the beautiful blue
sea – a drink in our hands and not a small amount of anticipation at getting in
the water and seeing Splinters’ mates in their natural habitat (but not the
sewers, obviously…)
Before long we’d rounded a little headland, leaving the
cruise ship well out of sight, and slowed down as we approached what looked
like a lovely little sandy beach. Before getting there however we weighed
anchor and the crew gathered us up for a little safety briefing and to let us
know what we’d be doing – namely putting on more of those lovely snorkeling
vests, a mask and pipe and then getting in to see what we could find.
At this point they did mention that there are of course
no guarantees that we’ll see anything – they are wild animals and while they
are often found at this spot, they might just not be there…
They lowered some steps at the bow of the boat and we all
clambered down in single file to start bobbing about in the lovely water. One
of the guides was already in ahead of us, lying on a large rubber ring and
dropping bits of food in to the sea around him to attract some animals… And
before long there they were – loads of little fish of different kinds, and then
1, no 2… no, 3… no 4! Loads of turtles, some bigger than others (at least one
was about the size of my torso – which after 3 weeks on the cruise ship is
pretty damn big!), were all around us – grabbing the bits of food as they sank
down, bumping into us, looking really grumpy but sticking around us for ages.
Everywhere we looked, there was another turtle –
sometimes they snuck up on us, so when I’d turn my head I was suddenly looking into
the beady eye of something that looked like it had stared down T-Rex, Megalodon and had front row
seats for the big bang (probably why they look so grumpy)
They were magnificent, and so much fun to be around. All
too long however, other boats showed up and they were attracted to other people
throwing food in – suddenly, we were old news and they were all gone. We
splashed about a bit more, still looking at fish and getting the most out of
our last days adventure, but pretty soon people began to drift back to the
boat. I and a couple of others stayed in a little longer, roaming about to see
if we could find some more turtles – which I did by swimming around some other
boats! I followed (I hope he didn’t think “chased”) one over to another group
which brought them much merriment as they’d also thought they were all gone.
Then we heard the bell ringing to bring us stragglers
back on board (although there was a little time for diving* in again a few
times)
And then we were done – everyone back on board, the sail
unfurled once more and away we went… But the fun wasn’t quite over; as the last
part of the experience was a rum party all the way back to port… Which was
actually one of the best bits.
In fact, this was one of the best days of all – just such
a shame it was the last day and had to be less than a full day what with the
little matter of making it back in time to catch our flight…
Now, one thing that had been brought up over the whole
cruise was how Jo and I hadn’t been getting much sun…. Unlike most people on
the boat, we weren’t there for sunbathing, and getting a tan isn’t something that
particularly drives us, so while we had naturally picked up some colour on our
faces and arms, in general we’d been very careful with the sun cream and were
still a lovely pasty shade of white pretty much everywhere else… But…! In
Barbados we had already packed our sunscreen and had the general attitude that
after 3 weeks in the sun we would be pretty well used to the sun so shouldn’t get
too burned if we’re out in it for a while. All day we looked at ourselves and thought “yep, still not burned...”
We were wrong. So very very wrong.
When we got out
of the sun, we could see that not only were we turning a lovely shade of pink,
we were also starting to feel the burn in a serious way.
Good work us!
Sadly, by the time we’d realised this we were almost on
our was home… The Manchesters had kindly offered us use of their extra days
cabin (we’d all had to relinquish our own cabins this morning so they could be
made ready for the new batch of people who were joining the ship in Barbados,
but we did have the opportunity to pay for somewhere to be based on this last
day which luckily for us, the Mancs did…), so we had somewhere to get changed
into something more suitable for 8 hours on a plane and then a night time
journey back to Brighton in the depths of winter…
Once suitably attired, we wended our way down to the quay
side, signing out of the boat one last time, and then onto a waiting coach
which took us to Grantley Adams Airport on the on the far side of the island,
ready for a surprisingly cramped and long wait until we were allowed on the
Dreamliner that would be taking us home.
While we waited, we had to pick up some cough mixture for
Jo who wasn’t feeling all the perky (she hadn’t been 100% all day, but happily
she had perked up a lot for the boat ride and turtle swim – as was pointed out
to us at the time, a salt
water spray could be an excellent cold remedy, and that’s basically what
she had…), which gave me a good chance to sing along to a little Inner Circle, much to the
two girls behind the counters’ admiration**
I also had a chance to chat with both Maurice Grumbleweed
and Rod Taylor, who were very nice and who both wished us well in our marriage.
Then we were traipsing through the oh-so-hot departures
lounge, out into the oh-so-even-hotter afternoon sun and onto an equally
roasting bus which took us all the way to our waiting plane – a brand spanking
new 787 Dreamliner.
As we’d be flying for about 8 hours, then getting off the
plane, through the airport, onto a coach, back to Brighton and then pretty much
heading straight to work, Jo and I had decided a while ago that it would be
worth upgrading to the premium seats… Thomson don’t do “First Class” per se,
but the premium seats at the front of the plane are the next best thing – and they
were pretty damn premium… The only real downside to them at all as far as I
could see was that Jo and I couldn’t sit together – unfortunately she was sat
just in front of me (which I suppose could have been a lot worse… At least we
could… sort of… talk…)
Aside from this, the only other thing I could possibly
grumble about was that the seats don’t recline that far, but I know I’m really
just picking holes in something that was otherwise great – comfy seats, my own
TV, delicious food (the dinner we had – Thai red curry chicken - was actually
lovely! Surely that’s a first for airline food?!)***
We had as much as we’d like to drink on board, and there
were plenty of things to eat should we need them – but to be honest, I mainly
slept. I did watch a couple of films, but the highlight was just being out of
it, as I knew I’d be getting little enough more before getting back to work.
Lucky I did sleep really, as the flight was a
particularly bumpy one – we rode a trail of turbulence almost the entire way
from the Caribbean to London, which mainly meant for a lot of the time people
weren’t allowed to go to the loo as the seat belt sign was on. Poor them… Lucky
for me, I was very close to it and could just sneak in as required.
I should also say – what a cool loo! I know that’s a bit
odd, but it was the most space age toilet I’ve ever used – cool automatic blue
lights, automatic flush, taps, drier & door. Fancy.
Then we were landing and before I knew it, we were out of
the airport and heading all the way home – ready to get 20 mins sleep, a shower
and change of clothes and then straight into work.
It was over.
We were done.
I’ve never been so sad to see the end of a holiday…
Beforehand I’d had the idea that after 3 weeks I’d be ready to get back to life
but no. Not one little bit. We had such an amazing time – the people we met,
the food we ate, the sight we saw, the places we swum and danced and drank and
laughed and climbed and just relaxed… I loved my honeymoon. Now I want to do it
all over again… We had our ups and downs throughout, but I’m not sure I would
change a single thing if I did it over.
I don’t know if it was so special because it was our
honeymoon, or because we were on a cruise, or where we were… Surely a mixture
of all these things, but regardless – I urge you to do a cruise. I urge you to
go to the Caribbean. I even urge you to get married to the next person you see if
it means getting a holiday like that.
Maybe we can renew our vows... Is 1 month too soon to do so...?
*falling might be more accurate. Maybe a very graceful
middle ground… Like a swan landing on a lake. A broken swan.
**or hilarity. Not sure which.
***although I slept through breakfast, which I’m told was
a massive disappointment…
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