Cricket in the Caribbean, Apr 14-18
We spent four days in the former British colony of Barbados during the Cricket World Cup; matches were also played on the West Indian islands of Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, St Vincent & the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, and in Guyana on the South American mainland. Wouldn't it have been nice to visit them all!
We stayed at the Crane Resort, one of the oldest hotels on the island.
The powdery, pink sand of Crane Beach on Barbados's southeast coast.
Gospel breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning.
The beach got its name from a crane, used for raising and lowering cargo, which used to be on the cliff where the hotel stands today.
We drove up the coast to beautiful Bottom Bay, which is partly enclosed by coral cliffs.
We continued north to the fishing village of Bathsheba on the rugged east (Atlantic) coast. This is taken from the Roundhouse, where we stopped for a cold one.
The rock formations have broken away from ancient coral reef. Soaking in the shallow inshore pools -- carved out of the coral reef a few feet away from the shore -- is a popular way to cool off for many local Bajans.
The wharf at Bridgetown, Barbados's capital. (On leaving the city we drove up the west coast where the best beaches are supposed to be situated, but didn't see any because of all the hotels and villas lining the route!)
That evening, a cocktail reception at The Crane.
Then dinner at Pisces in St Lawrence Gap.
And a rum chaser for Mike.
We had front row seats at the Kensington Oval for England v South Africa in the Super 8s stage of the World Cup. A crowd of about 25,000 made it the biggest of the tournament so far.
Vaughn and Bell exchanged words midwicket, but didn't stay around for much longer.
A dejected Mike surrounded by South African fans celebrating their team's dominance.
The cameraman seemed to like us as we were shown on TV on several occasions, looking rather resigned in contrast to the partying South Africans!
The scoreboard said it all: "South African need 70 runs to win from 40 overs".
Cricketing legend Sir Garfield Sobers outside the impressive Kensington Oval, which was rebuilt for the tournament and hosted the World Cup Final.
Back at our hotel...
...we cooled off in one of the many pools and chatted to some people we'd met at the game.
On our last night we went back to the Gap, this time to Harlequin.
One last walk along Crane Beach.
Nearby Foul Bay Beach was totally deserted, apart from me and my photographer!
This is the jeep we hired for our trip, which I had fun driving.
We passed this church many times as we traveled to and from our base in the Parish of St Philip.
Time for breakfast and one more beach, on the south coast, before heading to the airport.
