On the beach at Charlotteville

[C] We have been staying in a very nice small flat with a kitchen/dining/sitting room as well as 2 bedrooms, which opens onto a narrow verandah onto the little road in front of the fishing beach. We swam there the first day we arrived, among the boats, but we have usually walked a mile to Pirate's Bay, an even nicer beach. The coral there is very good, and we have really enjoyed snorkelling, and sitting on the beach - though it is hard to keep out of the sun in the afternoon, way too hot for us! Behind is a steep tree clothed valley, with a few paths, where I have gone in the early morning to birdwatch, seeing lots of forest birds.

We have attempted to walk in the surrounding hills, but have been thwarted by heavy rain, which trapped us (under a small shelter) for over two hours on Flagstaff Hill, drenched to the skin! We spent the next day mainly reading in our nice little flat, looking at the rain falling on the sea, and watching the frigate birds cruising hopefully around above the laughing gulls and Royal terns, looking for a free lunch. The day after we got a guide to take us into the rain forest on the Main Ridge, but once again rain drenched us - we are beginning to realise that rain forests do mean just that - lots of rain! We took the bus down the Atlantic coast to Scarborough and on to Bon Accord, where we spent the first two nights of our trip - tomorrow evening we will be flying home, looking forward to seeing family and friends, but sad that our adventures are coming to an end.

[S] I am planning to 'revisit' some of the blog entries for the places we have visited and add photos and perhaps further comments.