Someone once said ‘In the lottery of life, with a British passport you have been dealt the winning ticket.’ What they clearly hadn’t come across was the US homeland security, all their regulations and their need to assume that all non US residents are out to get them. With this in mind there should be an addition to the ‘winning ticket’ phrase, it should now read ‘a British passport with a valid, long term and certified US visa enclosed.’ The crew of Ruffian have jumped through many hoops over the past 2 weeks we are now the proud owners of the passport based winning lottery ticket.

If you enter the US on a ferry or aeroplane then entry is very easy, as you simply fill out a visa waiver form online and then catch your preferred form of transport. If you are entering on your own ship then you’ve got to get a visa and be certified in person. After going through the application process on line where we answered ‘No’ such questions as ‘Have you ever been involved in recruiting child soldiers?’ or ‘Do you intend to partake in terrorist activities on US soil?’ the first of the hoops had been jumped through. The ‘No I’m not stupid hoop’ and we then had an appointment at the US embassy.

The embassy is an amazing place and their HR department must have a nightmare recruiting people. Everywhere we have been in Barbados everyone has been happy, helpful and full of joy; we were therefore amazed that the security staff at the embassy displayed none of these traits. The skills of being sultry, officious and maniacal are rare here and so the HR department have done a great job in finding the few people who have those skills.

Once we queued through security we queued again for a number. We then queued to speak to a man who told us to queue for the cashier. We queued again and here was the first of our mistakes. Who’d have thought that the embassy would only take cash, not us, and so off we went to get some money and start the whole queuing process again. This was not so much entry to the land of milk and honey, more of an introduction to the essential skills for queuing akin to soviet Russia. Once we’d queued to pay, we queued again to be fingerprinted, where Fiona caused great upset to all and finally we queued to speak to someone where we had our ‘interview’ which lasted all of 5 seconds. We were processed and told our passports would ‘turn up’ a few days later at the DHL office. The $1M question that was left hanging however was ‘Would they?’

Whilst waiting for the passports to ‘turn up’ and after wading our way through tax returns, planning applications and tenancy agreements (it’s not all fun on Ruffian) we managed to take in some more of the delights of this island. We hiked with Kent & Liz across the Bathsheba peninsula, we swum with millions of fish on a wreck in crystal clear waters where Iain managed to get nibbled by one of the critters and we really started to get to grips with the local bus services.

We learnt a number of things about the busses, 1; Don’t get a bus on a public holiday. There is no traffic so they drive like nutters, 2; Don’t get a bus on a work day. There is heaps of traffic so they weave in and out of it like nutters 3; Don’t ask for a specific stop as they all stops have girls names and you don’t want to say ‘I want to get off on Trisha’. Imagine if Trisha was the driver’s sister, mother or wife. Remember, he’s a nutter.

With our passports being tracked on the web and having confirmation that they had ‘turned up’ and not been lost it was time for one last foray into the interior for a hike, this time with Tim & Aoife from Waimangu. We’d found out that the Barbados National Trust have organised hikes every Sunday night and this Sunday it was starting at Bulkely Plantation. With a name like ‘National Trust’ we had images of a gentle serene wander through cane and cotton fields followed by watching the sunset as we drank glasses of chilled ice tea on the veranda of the majestic plantation house. What we got was quite different.
We jumped off the bus at the plantation house and killed an hour by breaking into some coconuts which we’d spied on some tree’s. Then as locals started to turn up we got worried, the participants were all sporting lycra, hydration packs, sweatbands and some even had iPods loaded with pumping music. Tim & Aoife sported flip flops and jeans whilst Iain & Fiona at least had shorts and trainers. This was not going to be a gentle walk, this was going to be a yomp and off we yomped.

We yomped through fields of cotton and cane sugar, down into valleys and caves and scrambled up rocky cliffs. Of course, just to make things just a little more difficult this was all done in the pitch black, with nothing but other people’s torches for illumination. As we yomped however there were rewards, the fireflies lit up the woods and the sounds frogs in the trees and beasts in the fields were our constant companions and reminded us what a bonkers activity this was. After 3 hard hours and 12 miles we finally made it back to base. We then had to question as to how to get home? Up to the mark stepped another bonkers bus driver, who was so bonkers, that he didn’t even want to take a fare from us.

Our final task on Barbados were to track down and pick up our passports. This was the most painless part of the whole process and one which we thought would be full of risk. We turned up at the DHL office, the staff said ‘You’re here for passports aren’t you.’ And 2 minutes later we were bestowed with the winning tickets that have proved to be so illusive. So with winning tickets in hand it’s off to Grenada after being in Barbados for longer than we have been anywhere since the start of last march.

Au revoir, not goodbye. Good friends depart leaving us alone in Barbados.


The fishermen in Barbados are brave brave people.


Hiking companions.


We’ve arrived. Palm trees, white sandy beaches. Yeah baby.


Pointy rocks, big waves. Scary anchoring. Good job we had 10 miles of land between Ruffian and this.


The busses seem to travel at the speed of light making the whole world blurry.


Dominique ‘upgrades’ from Ruffian onto Tres Hombre.


Spot the difference. Before.


And after. According to Liz ‘I’m not going to take off too much.’


Fiona finds new food stuffs on the island. Now what to do with this big green thing.


On Barbados can be found the most picturesque bus stop ever.


Ahhh sweet Marmite, if only we could afford it. A bargain at only $23 dollars.


Hunting and gathering. Coconut is like celery. You use more energy getting to the food than the food contains.


Night time. That means time for a massive romp around a plantation with some caves thrown in for good measure.


Cinderella shall go to the ball. We finally get our visas.