Barbados
After being met by our ground handlers, St. James, they whisked us off to Paynes Bay and The Tamarind where a cool cocktail awaited us. No sooner had we checked in and entered our rooms a member of the bar staff skipped in with an ice bucket and a bottle of champagne. We sat on the balcony of our Junior Ocean View Suite and relaxed. The management at the hotel laid on a welcome party for us that evening and a wonderful time was had by all.
In the morning we visited The Colony Club which is Elegant Hotels’ beautiful colonial style hotel, awarded the AAA 4 Diamond Award for 2010, and inspected the stunning rooms before settling down for a leisurely lunch.
In the evening we headed for Oistins where the fish catches that day are grilled and the food courts and bars create a party atmosphere. I had swordfish and very nice it was too.
We returned to The Tamarind and then a small group of us proceeded to Holetown and stumbled upon Lexys Piano Bar on 2nd Street. The Piano man Michael was absolutely brilliant and we sang with gusto until 2am when it was time to return to The Tamarind in preparation for an early start.
Beautiful sunshine greeted us in the morning as we headed for Shallow Draught to board our Catamaran Cruise. We had a wonderful time sunbathing on the nets, drinking Mount Gay rum and swimming with the turtles and all returned to The Tamarind a different colour to how we left.
In the evening we took the rest of our party back to Lexys in Holetown and also sampled the street karaoke. It was an unusual set-up - it was at a cross roads at the end of 1st Street in Holetown and looked like someone had put a Karaoke machine outside their veranda and stocked their fridge full of beer. All the locals were shuffling around in the shadows on all of the corners of the crossroads and everyone was drinking and dancing as brave souls sang melancholy songs to their intended sweethearts.
In the morning we all went on Island Safari in 4 x 4 Land Rovers. Our entertaining driver and guide Johnson took us off the beaten track to various parts of the Island including one of the few places in the world where you can actually roll uphill in neutral. Not sure how that works, but it was impressive. We had lots of rum punch at various refuelling stops and returned for an afternoon at leisure and dinner at The Tamarind.
The following morning we visited another of Elegant Hotel's properties, the all inclusive Crystal Cove Hotel where we inspected the hotel before another leisurely lunch and some more sunbathing. We then proceeded back to The Tamarind for some more relaxation before heading to the premium all inclusive, all suite, Turtle Beach Resort. After a short site inspection we attended the Managers Cocktail Party before dinner at Asiagos, the onsite Zagat rated Italian restaurant.
On the way back we stopped off at a few bars in nearby St Lawrence Gap and after a few 'happy hours' returned to The Tamarind.
The next morning we headed for Silver Sands beach and the Deaction centre for some surfing lessons from the famous Bajan watersports fanatic Brian Talma and his assistant Full Moon. After some more swordfish and Banks beer we had a conch blowing competition.
That evening we assembled at The House, which is Elegant Hotel's smaller, more intimate property where we inspected the hotel before having cocktails on the deck and then a dinner hosted by the CEO of Elegant hotels at the Groups famous restaurant Daphne's and sampled its fine Italian menu popular at its London counterpart.
On our last morning we took a tour to Harrison's Cave, which is the number one tourist attraction in Barbados with its crystallised limestone cavern 160 foot underground.
We then returned to The Tamarind before catching our flights back to London. We had a brilliant time and the Bajan people are really friendly and funny. I hope to return again with my family one day.