Saturday 6th February

Bridgetown, Barbados

The great thing about holidaying on cruise ships is that you can sample for just a day a whole range of places that you might like to return to subsequently for a longer stay. And because the ships sail at night it seems effortless - you just pull back your curtains each morning and, just like magic, a new town has appeared :o)

Today we've been in Bridgetown, Barbados. It was another early start to get to a catamaran that sailed northwards up the coast and get amongst the turtles. Whilst the tour details warned that turtles couldn't be guaranteed there was no need to worry - as soon as we anchored there they were, circling the catamaran and ready for breakfast.

Gill, together with most of the other people on board but without me, got into the water in snorkeling gear and saw the turtles up close - I have photographic evidence! It was a bit of a scrum in the water, with three or four dozen people in a quite small area and with turtles weaving in and out of the crowd. At one point Gill bumped her head, turned to apologise and saw that she'd collided with a turtle that carried on as if nothing had happened.

Once again, we returned to the ship for lunch, but went out again for an hour or so to look around Bridgetown. It seems a busier, more crowded place than our previous ports of call. There are four other ships here, but the scale of the town is such that you wouldn't know that 5-6,000+ visitors are thronging its streets. Yet again the locals are friendly and welcoming, asking if we've enjoyed our stay and asking us to come back one day - the cabbie who brought us back to the ship just now even gave us his business card for when we return :o)