Barbados 2013

One dreary winter morning last winter an email from British Airways lured Adrian and I into booking a holiday in paradise, also known as Barbados.   It was such an amazing break we did something we've never done before and booked exactly the same holiday again this year.  There was a niggle in my mind that repeating the experience might break the spell, I needn't have worried.
A group of very lucky staff from a Manchester IT company arrived and the hotel on the same day as us.  They were being treated by their (world's best) boss to 5 days in Barbados (about 20 of them, can't imagine what they must have done to deserve it).  It was a bit wasted on at least one of them who seemed to have misunderstood where she was.  Overheard speaking to a friend in the UK, very loudly (fuelled by rum) 'the Jamaicans on the boat were great.'  I wonder if she ever found out she wasn't in Jamaica.
Anyway I'm sure it was their block booking that got us allocated a better room so we were delighted by their good fortune.
Slight concern when we arrived at Grantley Adams airport and weren't able to produce our transfer voucher.  Fortunately we were on the list so got our ride but when we got to the hotel they were not so trusting and only thanks to free WiFi did I manage to find the email with the link to the hotel voucher.  I will try to remember to print the vouchers next time I go on holiday.

No submarines or round the island tours this time but we had the most amazing experience watching a sea turtle climb up the beach and nest.
A hotel security guard had an infra red torch and I know the picture is hard to interpret but here she is covering her eggs.  I contacted the Barbados Sea Turtle Project and they are going to let me know of the progress of this nest.
Barbados is a place where getting around and nourishing yourself is either very expensive or very cheap, nothing in between.  Horrified at the quote of $30 Barbados (about £10) for a 3 mile taxi ride back to the hotel (way too hot and humid to walk) we went for the reggae bus instead at $2 each.  Apparently these buses are privately owned and they are all quite different.  All the ones we went on had the loud music and some had a conductor who hangs out the door drumming up business as you progress at flat out speed, quite unlike London Transport.  We travelled on one bus where the speedometer had been removed and replaced by a piece of paper and another had a perspex sort of honesty box instead of the outdoor conductor.  Very convenient, casual, cheap and sometimes terrifying way of getting around.
We a few couples in the hotel who had been returning year after year (one couple were there for their 20th time) and I would have found this a bit odd in the past but ItI'm all for repeating this experience again next year if we can.  I recommend this holiday to anyone with batteries in need of recharging - this really did the trick.