Written by Mia

We arrived safely in Barbados and then it might seem as if we fell off the planet. We moved from one rather exposed marina where we cleared customs (called the Shallow Draught) to an inner city marina (called the Careenage) with lots of life where we were surrounded by lots of Christmas trees and lots of boats with our friends from the rally. Thanks to Terry and Andy for help checking in and out of the country and teaching us how things work in Barbados. It was lovely to spend some time together at Pirates Cove playing in the sea and letting the island pace wash over us. I think we are getting the hang of it! We said some hard good byes, Kevin and Tina left us on the 21st and Sta Vast the next day.

We made the most of the water connection of the Careenage and washed everything in galley so that we protected it all from the salt water washing of the crossing. We also filled up with water and took down our fancy dress overall and got ready to move Itchy Foot again with just the three of us. It was special to have the lift up bridge open for us, lots of locals watching and taking video of us.

We anchored just outside the Yacht Club, where Jon signed us up for a visiting yacht membership. We used their beach and their showers and ate lunch on the beach under the May Ho trees surrounded by bright yellow banana quit birds. Teo and I made Christmas decorations for Itchy Foot, she looked so fancy!

There were pine cones from Teide and sand dollars from the Pirates Cove, so something from each end of the crossing. And we made enough for all the boats in the anchorage and we put on our Santa hats and delivered them by dinghy on Christmas day. Later we met our friends for potluck on the beach, complete with sword fish done on the Cobb bbq (ooh how I wish Santa would have brought us a Cobb!) and a Christmas ham and smashed potatoes ala Kevin and lots of yummy salads and a dessert table. A fun time was had by all, the adults chatted and had seconds and even thirds. The kids ran around and played on the beach and made a club in a tree house and had water fights and such. It was a perfect day!

Then we went to the races on Boxing Day, that was very exciting! They even moved the gate and we got to see a couple of starts right in front us. It was a lot of fun!

We have explored Barbados, a little anyway, and would like to thank the island and its people for a wonderful welcome to the Caribbean! And now it is time to go to Martinique, I wonder if I have time to learn French…