Caribbean 2023

Trip List Calendar

2023-02-07 : Prep


2023-02-08 : Fly to Toronto
See Polarsteps for location and photos during trip. Photos will be added here after the trip.
It’s been very spring-like here lately, including the sad, sagging, rotting old snow. This morning we woke up to a fresh winter wonderland. How beautiful.


2023-02-09 : Fly to Barbados


2023-02-10 : Barbados: Bridgetown, St Lawrence Gap
This morning we walked into Bridgetown from our Airbnb, which is in Hastings (a suburb). We were able to walk almost all the way on beach until we reached a small section owned by private resorts (boo). We were looking for a store to buy a Flow (or Digicel) SIM card but ended up finding one at a random store instead. Brent had a nice chat with the clerk, encouraging her to travel.

To get back ‘home’ we took a bus, and, alas, I lost my bifocal sunglasses on the bus.

Now the plan is to have a coffee date with Sheila, have an afternoon nap, then head out to Oistens for some night life (or, in my case, evening life)
This evening we walked down to St Lawrence Gap for dinner (at Castaway’s), including the Richard Haynes Boardwalk. It was very nice, and the meal was excellent, but very expensive. Barbados is more expensive than it used to be.


2023-02-11 : Barbados - Cliffs of Awe
Today it was raining through the morning so we hung out at our AirBnB. Then, we took a bus almost all the way to Sam Lord’s Castle (there was a little rain when we were waiting for the bus). It was really rural that far east of the airport and the going was really slow because of road construction so we bailed on the bus a little early.

We walked out to the Cliffs of Awe. I told Brent that I wanted to be awed by the cliffs. He told me he was sure I’d be odd no matter where I was. Thanks Hunny!

After the cliffs, we took a bus back toward the airport and found our next AirBnB in Gemswick, which, as it turns out, is near Rock Hall Sports Bar where Brent and I walked for a beer many years ago.

Then, off to Pug’s where… you guessed it… another beer. Then, a bus back to the boardwalk where we had dinner at the Backyaad restaurant, which is reggae-themed.


2023-02-12 : Fly to St. Vincent
We took our first collectivo ride of this trip today - to the airport. Interestingly, the collectivo goes around the back side of the airport first. We hadn’t seen what was back there before and it was interesting. Little houses, a field full of sheep, random cows.

We got to the airport super early. There was wayyyy less traffic than yesterday. I really love the pre-security part of this airport - it’s open-air, modern and spacious. The waiting area after security… is none of those things.
Departure Gate 9 was a complete non-hellscape compared to last time. Last time, there were several planes’ worth of people waiting here for delayed flights, on a sweltering day, with broken AC. This is not bad at all! Yay!
The flight to St Vincent was fast and uneventful, in spite of the strong winds today. One of the building caretakers of where we’re staying picked us up at the airport, took us to a grocery store, and then to our Airbnb. Our host upgraded us to his new building, which is a lot further up into the hills than where we we’re supposed to be, so it will be a 4km walk down to the main road (or back up again), which is fine. I love St Vincent. It’s just so darned beautiful. Where we’re staying is close to ‘Mesopotamia Valley’, which comes by its name honestly. Maybe we’ll walk up there tomorrow.
We walked from our place up to Belmont Lookout, which looks down on Mesopotamia Valley. It’s not very far from our new AirBnB. Just before we got to the top it started raining. We decided to keep going, and a lady who runs a dry goods shop invites us in to wait out the rain. We went in but we weren’t in for five minutes when the rain let up so we kept going… and there was the lookout, about 50’ from the store. We had a quick look and then came back down.


2023-02-13 : St. Vincent - Fort Charlotte
Today we walked down the hill from our place at Belmont, took a collectivo into Kingstown, then walked up to Fort Charlotte.

On our way down in the morning, we saw a taxi go by and it was our friend, Deborah!! I’m so happy we found her! I had messaged her a couple weeks before our trip but not heard back. She’s going to come get us tomorrow and take us down to the ferry to go to Bequia.

On our way up to Fort Charlotte, Brent got to chatting with a work crew who were digging a hole so they cajoled him into helping with some digging. And a good time was had by all.

Fort Charlotte is unique in that, instead of the cannons facing out to sea, they face inland. The British built it to protect against the indigenous, the French, and slaves.

We walked back to Kingstown for lunch at Veejays before catching a collectivo back to Arnos Vale and walking back up to our Airbnb. Altogether about 13km, including climbing a couple of crazy hills. It’s a volcanic island, after all - it’s all crazy hills.


2023-02-14 : Ferry to Bequia
Today we took the ferry over to Bequia. We’re staying in Lower Bay for the first time. We’re in a guest house with a very small room and shared bathroom, kitchen, etc. Sort of like a hostel. But there’s a big deck and some goats. We love goats.

Once we’re settled in we’ll head over to La Pompe to visit Brent’s sister, Sue, who has lived on the island for about 40 years.
We walked from Lower Bay to La Pompe via the beach and the bar to have snacks with Susan and her neighbor, John. Brent and Susan discussed some ideas for the rest of our time on Bequia. A very nice evening. Then we walked back to Lower Bay.


2023-02-15 : Bequia - Port Elizabeth and Susan's
We had coffee on our deck and breakfast at Keegan’s, then we walked from Lower Bay along the path to Princess Elizabeth beach, then along the Belmont Walkway to Port Elizabeth. There’s a cruise ship in the Harbour right now so the island is like an anthill of tourists. Brent stopped in at the dive shop and signed up for a dive tomorrow. We took a collectivo back to Susan’s for a picnic lunch.
After we got back from Susan’s, we went down to the beach at Lower Bay. Brent snorkeled and I waded. Brent found some Jumbie Beads and I took some photos of the colorful water taxi named ‘Peaches’.


2023-02-16 : Bequia - Brent goes Scuba Diving
This morning Brent is going off to do some scuba diving. We had breakfast together, then he went off for his dive and I walked the beach.

I’ve been thinking about removing my one long lock of hair (my ‘swoop’) before we go on our long cycle tour, but since we got to the Caribbean it has been just a sweaty, greasy, limp, flopping-in-the-wind annoyance, so I decided to take it off now. Thankfully, Brent brought some scissors along.


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