How I am

It is almost hard to believe I have been in Barbados only a month tomorrow.  I have met so many friendly and helpful locals, I have already found myself running into people I know, and actually noticed this happening by the second week.  The people here are so beautiful, this country has become one of my favorite in the world.  

I started in St. Philip, staying with Hermina.  She has been very helpful and welcoming with showing me around and answering many questions of mine.  As a St. Lucian, she is not Barbadian, but through living here for many years, can be easily described as a local.  While I absolutely loved living with Hermina and continue to chat with her daily, after 2 and a half weeks, it was time to find somewhere to live for the next month or so.

In doing so, a friend from the dive shop David, had a Godfather with a room for rent in the St. Lawrence Gap.  At a cost I could not turn down, I moved in last week.  Currently, I am living in the third bedroom of a three bedroom apartment in St. Lawrence Gap, which is where both David and his Godfather Alex, who is renting me the room, grew up.  While David is Bajan, having been born and raised here, and now in the midst of opening his own dive shop,  Alex, moved to Canada some 20 odd years ago and is here on holidays visiting friends and family.  With David`s sister and mother across the street, living close to many locals and childhood friends of both David and Alex, I have been introduced to many Bajans, all who have been extremely friendly and helpful.  

I feel I am healthier being here, in that I am outside for most of the day everyday and while David commented, I looked darker and darker each time he saw me at the dive shop, joking that I would soon blend with the locals, Alex later told me he thought I was part native, after hearing I was Canadian.  I can now probably be described as the darkest I have ever been.

Apart from the people, the diving here has been the best part.  The coral, marine life and visibility is incredible and noticeably healthy.  I am not sure I have dove is such a beautiful place.  While off the coast of Suva in Fiji and South West Rocks in Australia, remain among my favorite dives spots, I find each dive location here equally as exciting. There are no stingers, or anything which can kill you for that matter (with the downfall of not having any sharks...) and apart from accidentally swimming into coral, there is really not much harm in diving here at all. 

I had a bit of an issue with fly bites about a week ago.  Oddly enough, they seem to love me and not be bothered with the locals.  I worry there might be a fly famine after I leave.   After a few drinks one night I passed out without spraying myself down and woke up grateful I hadn`t died of blood loss throughout the night.  This has since been fixed with installing a fly net above my bed as it would be unfathomable to close the window on such warm nights.

Being in the position that I am, island hoping has become quite difficult.  Not only is there little more than a website indicating there are boats leaving Barbados, Barbados itself has become difficult to leave.  With new adventures and discoveries each day, I have not grown bored of this place and find it hard to believe I might.

From fishing, cycling, diving, snorkeling, swimming, music festivities (it is the middle of the crop over festival) and learning of the culture, music, food and dance, I have kept myself quite busy.  If I am not back in a month`s time, I will write another update, until then, I hope you are enjoying my blog stories.  

Thanks,

Dee