Back in Bridgetown

 As the sun began to peak through the window I noticed a huge crane passing slowly by the window. We were back in Bridgetown. I got up to have a look and find it was only 6.05. Captain Afoot usually gives us a bit of a longer lie in. We even had time for pfaffing, or Ian did. As we were about to leave for the Epicurean, little Rhapsody of the Seas motored in. Her captain lets his guests have a lie in.

Rhapsody again

The way this cruise works is that half the people go home on Friday, and a New lot arrive, then same on Saturday. The Friday people had to be out of their cabins by 8am and were clogging up all the seating areas and lifts. We eventually made it for breakfast, where there was much shaking of hands and many goodbyes. After this we had to go to the live lounge with our passport and room key for immigration purposes. The queue was horrendous and Ian was getting tetchy. The wait for the lift had already sent him over the edge. In the end we were less than 10mins and done. 

Back in the suite we sun creamed up, packed our beach bag, and set off to walk to Brandon Beach. We could see it from the balcony, and google maps said it was 30min walk. We negotiated the Friday people once more and disembarked. I had copied a photo to my phone of the route so we could’nt go wrong. We went wrong! The shops at the port made me loose my sense of direction, and the taxi drivers baying for customers flummoxed me, so we ended up walking in the wrong direction. Eventually we got turned the right way, and finally arrived at Brandon’s beach. The beach chair guy is called Jerry, otherwise known as Black Irish. I had seen him recommended on face book and indeed he seemed like a nice guy. He rented us a sun bed and umbrella, and Ian rushed off for a swim. The sand looked so nice that he didn’t put his beach shoes on and there were hidden rocks beneath the surface so he immediately gashed his foot! Poor Ian. He returned for his shoes though and had a nice swim, although the waves were bigger than we are used to.

Waves 

Black Irishes umbrella

I went in for a swim next and was struggling to get back to shore. I kept looking at Ian, but he didn’t notice. Eventually a big wave tossed me in and I escaped, cooled but ruffled. So I sent Ian for one of Black Irishes beers.

Beer on Brandon’s Beach

We had a couple of hours just watching the world go by after that, before setting off on the, hopefully shorter, walk back to the ship. On the way we passed this place, lots of history happened here. 

The famous Windies cricket ground

The guy behind Ian is Sir Garfield Sobers, who famously hit six sixes in one over, and is a West Indies cricket legend.

Eventually we arrived back at the port and another photo opportunity 

Just to remind us where we were

As we entered the ship a lot of the Friday people were leaving, so we quickly changed then popped up to the buffet for some lunch, and ate it at the sunset bar with a beer and a Mai Tai. Both were mercifully quiet. Sadly it was then time to pack, we had to put our cases out for 6pm. We managed to do that while watching England beat Albania 2-0.

Tonight was the last night for the main dining room pot luck shuffle. Sadly, (or happily!) it was back to bad. We got water but I had to go round the corner in search of bread. The over waiter was even curter than usual, although the under was quite amiable, and neither had any time for us. Looking around, the other waiters had time to stand around chatting to each other, or taking time with their guests. What happened on the other side of that pillar who knows. We didn’t leave a tip. 

We had to put our last case out and there was no entertainment at all so we just went back to our room, completed the packing, and went to bed.