We were told about J'Ouvert which starts Carnival off properly at dawn on the Monday morning, and also told to wear old clothing as body painting was the norm - so, we set the alarm clocks, and the four of us went into town at 5.30 am to join the hundreds of dancing, drinking and laughing locals, who had probably been there all night !! We watched the Jab-Jab procession with their cattle horns, chains and suitcases, most of the guys were covered head to toe in used engine oil, and others daubed us liberally with multi coloured paints as they passed by.



Our charter guest, Chris, was covered in purple paint and seemed quite content supping Carib beer at 6 o'clock in the morning - great fun. The customs of J'Ouvert were quite an eye-opener, Captain Bob and Chris witnessed some new dance moves, although they probably couldn't get into some of the positions themselves ... the atmosphere was really electric, and the best part - it was all friendly and fun, there was no trouble or aggression - very unlike the Notting Hill Carnival in London !! Not sure about the beer for breakfast at 6am though ...