In all our travels together,
we have never scheduled as ambitious a trip to Vietnam. This far flung southeast
Asian country brimming with beauty and history will be our “office” for nearly
a month starting in late April as we traverse the country from Hanoi to Ho Chi
Minh City. We will visit 7 different locations over the trip and an overnight
sail through the picturesque Ha Long Bay. We will then have a “post-trip” and
will travel to Cambodia for five days before finally returning stateside.
We will travel by
rickshaw, by bus, by boat and 3 internal flights, exposing us to all the beauty
and history Vietnam and Cambodia have to offer. We will also learn of the
darker history of the area as we’ll have the opportunity to visit the dubious “Hanoi
Hilton” POW prison and visit one of the extensive tunnel systems used by the
Viet Cong during the war. We will stroll the cosmopolitan cities of Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh and visit small villages in the country and a floating village in
Ha Long Bay. We will visit the sprawling temple of Angkor Wat and the notorious
Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge during our trip to Cambodia.
Hue rickshaws
Logistically, a trip
like this is a lot harder than planning for a summer rental at Sea Isle City.
We knew early on that such an excursion would be daunting if we did it on our
own, and so we decided on a tour company that specializes in small group
travel. With no more than 16 individuals allowed on their tours, Overseas Adventure
Travel allows us the opportunity to visit smaller destinations where a large
tour would simply not be able to go.
Meticulous in their
planning, they have sent us a day-to-day itinerary of our Vietnam and Cambodia
trips; where we will go, how we’ll get there and what we should expect to see
as well as factoring plenty of down time for us to explore our destinations.
Hanoi
WHO KNEW?
This is a very complicated
trip. O.A.T. sent us a separate travel planning guide that delves into many of
the particulars necessary about this trip. Passports need to have four empty
pages for visas, and they will send us a “visa packet” soon with instructions
on how we need to obtain our visas before we travel.
It also discusses money
matters like how to pay for things and with local currency or USD, when and who
to tip.
It also discusses
medical concerns. Although a COVID shot is all that’s required, our doctor has
recommended us getting Hepatitis A and whooping cough vaccines and to update our
tetanus coverage. O.A.T. also recommends getting a prescription for a
antibiotic medication like Z-Pak for everything else!
Ho Chi Minh City
We will not be lazing
about on this trip. The guide says we’ll be required to walk 2-3 miles
unassisted and participate in 4-6 hours of physical activities each day, over
18 days and 7 locations. O.A.T. says they reserve the right to “restrict
participation” or even send travelers home if their limitations impact the
group’s experience. Yet another good reason to hit the gym.
The guide tells us what
clothes to pack, how to pack, weight restrictions, etc. It talks about what
electrical adaptors to bring. Both countries are 220 volts. In the United
States we’re 110.
As part of our travels
will be able to have a “home-hosted visit” for a meal, and they recommend we
bring an appropriate gift to share with the family we visit.
CHAU DOC MARKET
All travel is paid for
including international and internal air travel, any coaches, an overnight trip
on a traditional junk in Ha Long Bay and a sampan boat for a cruise along the Mekong
Delta. Our international air travel will take us first to Minneapolis where we
board a plane to Seoul, South Korea and then change planes for the last leg to
Hanoi.
There is no way we
could have done this on our own! This is money well spent.
We are going on a month-long trip to Vietnam. We leave late April for a 20 day tour of Vietnam and then a 5 day mini trip to Cambodia.
Now, there are some people of a certain age who would never consider visiting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Despite decades removed, the memories of the Vietnam War are still raw for them. I have friends who served in the war, and I would listen fearfully to their stories. I knew at that time I never wanted to go.
I did have a draft
card, but fortunately the war ended for the U.S. in 1973 before I would come of
age.
LIVING ON A PRAYER
While I spent my youth praying
that I would never have to go to Vietnam, times have changed. Although Vietnam remains a
communist country, according to the BBC it is one of the fastest growing
economies in South-East Asia. They like Americans too and their tourism. Janet has been wanting to
travel to Vietnam for a while now and with the new year she started researching
this great ambitious adventure. (When Janet does her deep dive researching, it
is difficult to be ambivalent about going to a place.) And, as I started my own research over this particular article I learned that Vietnam isn't just historical, but very beautiful.
CAN’T GO ANY FURTHER
It’s a commitment to travel
as far as Vietnam. Look at a map and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is west of Perth,
Australia. It is exactly 12 hours ahead of us. If you travel any further, you will
be getting closer to home. It’s a completely different culture too and rather
than try to wing it on our own, we (Janet) decided to go with Overseas
Adventure Travel, which specializes in small group tours.
Limited to just 16
people, our itinerary has us flying into Hanoi and traveling the length of the country
via rickshaw, bus, internal flights and traditional junk boats and ending our
trip in Ho Chi Minh City. Along the way we’ll tour the big cities like Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City, visit rural villages and orphanages, and watch a water puppet
show, an art form that dates to the 11th Century. We’ll take an
overnight junk boat cruise through Ha Long Bay, considered to be one of the
most beautiful places in world with its turquoise waters dotted by
1,600 stunning limestone outcroppings topped with vegetation. We’ll get a
chance to visit My Khe Beach in Da Nang, where the show “China Beach” was located.
We’ll have the chance to see sobering reminders of the Vietnam War at places
like the War Remnants Museum and the notorious Hanoi Hilton where POWs like the
late senator John McCain were held during the war.
Ha Long Bay
The best part about this 20-day excursion through Vietnam is that we aren't always on the go, having to get up early to go on to the next destination. Our travels won't be a slog. Instead, throughout our stay in Vietnam we'll have sufficient down time to explore on our own and perhaps linger over a cup of Cà phê chồn, cat shit coffee.
DOGS, CATS, AND DONG
Diet may be the most
difficult part of this trip. They eat weird stuff in Vietnam, and Cà phê chồn is
probably the mildest iteration of sustenance available in Vietnam. Cà phê chồn
is Vietnamese for Weasel coffee. The coffee beans are harvested from the partially
digested coffee berries eaten by the civet, a feline-like creature. The beans
are collected after the civet defecates the beans and well, this shit ain’t
cheap. It’s expensive, and at a boutique café Weasel coffee will cost about
$10.00.
To go into detail here
about some of the odd foods they eat in Vietnam may stop you from reading any
more, so here’s a quick list of strange foods in Vietnam. Explore carefully.
One hint: Though
attitudes are changing, they still eat dogs in Vietnam.
Our tour is reasonably
costly. It is roughly 294,599,983 Dong or VDN, but that includes everything, accommodations, international and internal airfares, land transfers and meals, tours and gratuities.
But, don't fret! When you see the
price 15,000 VDN for a beer, remember it's just $.60 cents. Consider this when you’re pining for a cuppa Weasel
coffee.
It's currently 0.000041 Dong to the Dollar.
don't spend it all at once
.
HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA
We are going on the
20-day small group adventure, Inside Vietnam with the Overseas Adventure Travel
company. In addition to this itinerary the company also offers a “pre-trip” and
a “post-trip”. The former is called “Hill Tribes of Vietnam: Journey into Ancient
Cultures”.
temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
We (Janet) opted for
the post-trip to Cambodia. Over five nights we’ll fly to the modern city of Siem
Reap, Cambodia to visit the notorious Killing Fields and explore the ancient
temple of Angkor Wat. We will then fly to Ho Chi Minh City for our return trip
to the United States.
Last year we traveled
well. We visited 5 countries, a couple of trips in the United States and still
managed to be homebodies for a few months. After a while though the trips can
blur from one to another, and without a review like this we will look back on
2023 and wonder “where were we?”
So, to help jog our
memory for some future conversation here is where we traveled last year.
ENGLAND (twice)
All you followers of
this sometimes-tedious blog know Janet’s grandchildren live in Nantwich,
Chesire and we try to see them at least once a year.
(Is it cheating to say
this is one of the “foreign countries” we visited last year?)
Well, though it is a
family sojourn whenever we visit England, we also try to piggyback from there
to some other destination in Europe; Ryan Air offers some incredibly cheap
flights to the continent.
We have also traveled
within the UK while there. We visited Edinburgh, Scotland before flying off to
Belgium. We’ve taken day trips to Liverpool, Chester, York, Lancaster and the
Lake District, where we took a leisurely boat ride on the largest lake in
England, Windermere. This year we took a day trip to the beautiful Welsh town Llangollen.
Our first trip to
England last year had us in Nantwich for the Christmas holiday. It had been a
LONG time since we had kids desperately pounding on the bedroom door to awaken
us for presents!!!
After the New Year we
took a Ryan Air flight to Budapest, Hungary for a week-long trip.
BUDAPEST
Budapest Parliament
We basically chose to visit
this beautiful city in Central Europe because it sounded like an exotic place
to visit. We hired a 1 ½ day private tour with Andrea Makkay and saw a lot of
this capital city that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
With thermal spring
bathing facilities all over the city on both sides of the Danube (the twin cities
of Buda and Pest were conjoined when the Chain Bridge opened connecting them
finally) there was an unexpected charm to Budapest.
We expected dour Soviet era
dreariness, but learned quickly the nightlife, including the Ruin Bars that are
in the Jewish Ghetto, and our favorite, the Tuktuk Bar, was lively. Budapest is a popular "Hen-do" destination.
Széchenyi Thermal Baths
We bathed at the
outdoor Széchenyi Thermal Baths and ate a lot of goulash. We attended a
performance of Der Fledermaus at the Hungarian Opera. I learned that my last name,
DUNAJ, means “from the Danube River area”. Duna is the Hungarian name for the
storied river.
After our quick start
to the year, we settled into the routine of home life for three months. We did manage
to attend a Phillies baseball game in April.
Even though Luis Arraez
of the Marlins hit for the cycle that game, we were more concerned with getting
another hot dog on “Dollar Dog Night” at Citizens Bank Park.
(Janet took a dozen
home.)
Our first date was on March 31, 2006. We consider that date as our anniversary, even though we finally married in 2018. I contacted the Phillies for a celebratory message to Janet on the scoreboard that day.
CURACAO
We traveled in May to Curacao,
part of the “ABC” islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao”, just off the coast of
South America. It was another Sandals vacation, our fifth since our honeymoon
in 2018.
Willemstad, Curacao
The scuba diving in
this part of the world is phenomenal and we managed to go out for five of our
eight days at the all-inclusive resort. We also hired a local taxi driver to
take us around the island and we saw or swam at some beautiful beaches and had
lunch in the colorful capital Willemstad.
We hired Ida, her
number is +599 9 522 4488. She is also on WhatsApp.
On the way home we stopped
in Redington Beach, Florida for a few days to attend a family wedding.
Later that month we partied
with friends in their Lewes Delaware home for the Memorial Day weekend.
PHILADELPHIA
McGillin's
In true “Vacations From
Home” fashion we entertained friends from upstate New York and explored Center
City Philadelphia. It proved to be the hottest day of the year, so our entire
excursion was planned around shady spots to get a drink. We met our friends in
Sandals Grenada. They also stayed in Curacao while we were there, and later in
the year we met up again in Barbados.
HOUSE SITTING
Sometimes you need to
pay the piper. Janet’s brother and his family have been watching our dog while
we travel. So, when they took an extended family trip in July, we watched their
house and their dogs. We were very glad to do this, even though they refused to
put in a pool just for us.
ENGLAND (summer)
We traveled again to
England during the final two weeks of the grandchildren’s summer recess. We did
the previously mentioned day trip to Llangollen, Wales and were also lucky
enough to wade through the well-attended Nantwich Food Festival.
By the way, they talk funny in Wales.
Llangollen, Wales
SEVILLE, SPAIN
Another piggyback trip
to this historic city in Andalusia. We spent a week there eating tapas and
drinking Tinto Verano (red wine and lemonade) and discovered Oloroso, an aged dry
sherry. We took a cooking class in Triana and had an apartment in the old
Jewish quarter, Santa Cruz, that overlooked the Alcazar gardens.
We went on two
one-day trips while there. We took a train and had a private tour of Cordoba
and rented a car and drove to see the dramatic cliffs of Ronda.
our view in Seville
Our tour guide in
Cordoba was Isabel Martinez Richter. She was enthusiastic and thorough and made our relatively short time in Cordoba fun and informative.
If you’d like to book her here’s her
contact information: (+34 669 645, Isabmr@gmail.com )
SARATOGA SPRINGS
Our Sandals companions
returned the favor and hosted us at their place in upstate New York for a
weekend of drinking in Saratoga Spings. Considered the drunkest city in New
York, we sipped a lot of bourbon and a lot of surprisingly great craft beers.
Our friend makes a very good, if dangerous, margarita!
Now, you may think it’s
overly extravagant that we went on a second Sandals trip in one calendar
year, but there’s a reason for it. COVID disrupted our travel plans and the
trip we had planned in 2020 did not happen. Instead of our preferred time slot
of early December, which by the way is a cheaper time to travel, we were
pushed to May.
After two years of
traveling to a Sandals resort in May, we decided to get back to the December schedule.
You get a discount whenever you book your next Sandals trip while at the
resort, so we decided to book TWO trips in 2023. Makes sense doesn’t it.
Bathsheba, Barbados
Barbados is a beautiful
island and we saw a lot of it as we booked a full day tour with Sanjay. We also
went to the Oistins Fish Fry.
Decades ago, Janet and
I had both been to Barbados. She went there with her mom, and I had taken my
kids there on a family vacation. We were looking forward to returning and
exploring more of the island and we booked a two-week trip to Barbados, staying
at both the Sandals and the near-by Dover Beach Hotel in the touristed area of
St. Lawrence Gap. We saw a lot and still we needed more time.
Here’s a list of what
we did during our stay:
OISTINS FISH FRY
We learned about the Friday
Night Oistins Fish Fry after we booked our Sandals vacation and rather than
slide around the days we decided to just come early, and so we booked a few
days at the cheaper but convenient Dover Beach Hotel, literally steps from
Sandals.
Ho-hum, another few
days in paradise.
Oistins Fish Fry
Oistins is an active fishing
town, not far from where we were staying in St. Lawrence Gap. Open daily, the
fish fry begins around 7 pm. It’s a very popular destination for visitors and
locals and the main attraction is the food. Make sure you get there before 8 pm
or expect a long wait.
You have a choice of
marlin, mahi, tuna, swordfish, red snapper, salmon, flying fish and lobster and
chicken, either grilled or fried, depending on the vendor you order from. You
are served A LOT of your choice and a meal with one beer should cost anywhere
from $15-$18 usd. We went to the vendor Uncle George’s, but another notable is Chillin
‘n Grillin. Seating is haphazard with our server moving people already seated
to put out more tables.
Although Oistins is
open every night, Fridays are especially busy. Sometimes there’s a live band,
sometimes there’s DJ music and there’s always a roving Tuk Drum band playing
for tips. There is art and crafts and jewelry for sale, there is dancing, there
are kids running around in this informal family friendly event.
Here's a short clip of a Tuk Band at Oistins:
BTW:
Don’t book a tour or hire a car service from a resort like Sandals. They charge
too much money. Just flag down a cab. There are a lot along Dover Road in St.
Lawrence Gap. Make sure you negotiate the price first. It should be USD $15 (or
BDS $30) each way for a ride, no matter how many people in the cab. We got a
van and there was six of us and it still cost just $15. Sandals wanted to
charge USD$60 per couple. On the way back we hailed a cab on the street.
BTW2: A Tuk Band is basically
a group of people playing drums and snaking through the crowds, being led by a
costumed character. On our night it was “Mother Sally”. She represents
fertility with her exaggerated behind and is a favorite with Bajans and visitors.
It is customary to tip the band as they parade past.
A Mini-Moke
TOURING THE ISLAND
What was I thinking?
Long ago when I first
went to Barbados, I rented something called a “mini-moke”, an open-air car that
was originally designed for military use, but quickly became popular in the
Caribbean as a civilian car. It was the only time I ever drove on the left side
of the road. Thankfully Mokes don’t go very fast and somehow me and the kids
survived. I wasn’t going to do that again.
Now older and wiser we
decided to get someone to drive us around to tour the island. Barbados has
something like 900 miles of roadways and the difference between the east coast and
the Atlantic Ocean and the western Caribbean Ocean side is dramatic.
A newer Moke
We hired the highly
recommended Sanjay for a day touring the island. His schedule is packed, so
unless you're going to rent a mini-moke, even if today’s models look more like a
car than an amusement park ride, and test the limits of your nerves, plan on
booking him far in advance of your travels to Barbados.
For instance, we first
contacted Sanjay in May for a tour in December, and then we couldn’t get him until
very late in our stay in Barbados. He was very busy as the Wisden Trophy, a major
cricket tournament between England and the West Indies, had shifted to the
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados the week we wanted to hire him. Traffic
in Bridgetown was horrific. Sanjay is a big fan of cricket and wore a West
Indies team hat (The Windies) on our tour with him.
Windies logo
Beaches and Caves and
Monkeys and RUM!
There’s a lot to see in
Barbados and Sanjay offered suggestions in the back-and-forth emails with
Janet. We finally settled on seeing one beach on the east coast, one cave in
the north end of the island, a troop of monkeys in the jungle and a lot of shots
of rum.
Bathsheba
Barbados is ringed by
beautiful beaches, and all are free. The western side is calm with soft white
sand and crystal-clear water is inviting and popular with scuba divers and
snorkelers. Bathsheba best represents the power of the Atlantic Ocean side. We
stopped at this fishing village for the dramatic rock formations just offshore.
Eroded by the tides, the rocks look like they will topple with each crashing
wave. Enjoy the view, but swimming is not recommended because of the strong
undertow. Bathsheba is popular with surfers.
Bathsheba
It was our only beach
stop on the east coast of Barbados.
BTW: Another beach to
visit on the east coast is Cattlewash. North of Bathsheba this
long remote beach is literally named for the cattle that farmers used to bring
down to the beach to get washed in the tide pools. I had been here long ago
with the kids, and we were surprised by an inquisitive cow as we were admiring
the surf. The farms, and the cattle, are
gone, but the name remains.
Sadly, we did not stop.
We just drove along the beach road onto our next destination, because we wanted
to make the 11:00 am feeding of the green monkeys at The Grenada Wildlife
Reserve.
BTW2:
Carlisle Bay Thoroughbred horse racing
is popular in Barbados and held at the Garrison Savannah, the home of the
Barbados Turf Club in Bridgetown. Every morning from sunrise to around 7:00 am handlers
bring their horses to bathe them in the calm waters of Carlisle Bay, also a
popular place for snorkeling and scuba diving as there are 5 shipwrecks in the tranquil
waters of the bay.
Crane Beach is sometimes listed as
one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world! When the conditions and
the algae are right the soft sand takes on a pink-hue. It was on my Bajan “return
tour” listing, having been there long ago with the kids, but logistics had us decide
on Bathsheba.
GREEN MONKEY BUSINESS
Feeding time for the
green monkeys at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve is at 11:00 am. The Bds$30.00
per person is worth it to get close to the monkeys as they clamor for the fruits
and vegetables laid out for them. There was some roughhousing and some of the
younger monkeys were chastised by the older ones when they didn’t wait their
turn.
Signs everywhere warn
visitors that the monkeys are wild animals and to not touch them, but I watched
as a young monkey held a woman’s finger, almost lovingly, as it waited
patiently for the food to arrive.
After a few minutes of frantic activity, the monkeys all scatter again. We then explored the Grenade Hill Signal Station and the rest of the reserve that was home to tortoises and peacocks and macaws, snakes and fronts, but it was a bit anti-climactic after the monkey feeding. Most of the people who came for the feeding left soon after as well.
BTW1: Green monkeys are not
native to Barbados but were brought here from Africa by early settlers as pets
and unfortunately for the green monkey are now used to create polio vaccine. According
to the Reserve’s pamphlet one green monkey can create 2.5 million doses of the
vaccine.
ANIMAL FLOWER CAVE
On the extreme northern
point of Barbados is the popular Animal Flower Cave. Enjoy the dramatic views
of the waves crashing into the cliffs and then descend the stairs with a guide
to get a tour of the sea-cave below. It’s slippery and the “animal flowers”,
what the locals call sea anemones, are a bit underwhelming, at least for this dufus
who was more interested in preventing a slip and fall. As a nature stop though
it was quite beautiful but be sure to wear the correct foot gear and not
sandals if you decide to go. It is possible to swim in a pool at one end, but
we decided against it.
It costs USD$20.00 to for
entry and you should tip the guide who will try to steer you towards his meager
array of “collectables” after his tour.
There’s a restaurant on
the premises offering sweeping views of the sea, where it’s possible to espy
migrating whales.
If you want to save
money, I will attach a video a man recently took of his tour of the Animal
Flower Cave and you can decide for yourself.
BTW:
Harrison’s Cave Eco-Adventure
Park
The Animal Flower Cave
is not the only option for spelunking in Barbados. Harrison’s Cave is a far
larger cave system and has stalagmites and stalactites, caverns and pools and
underground streams. You tour the cave via a tram that takes about 1.5 hours and
costs USD$57.00. The “adventure pass” which costs more, gives you access to the
zipline and hiking trails and pool and a “challenge” course.
This is one of the main
tourist attractions in Barbados, but we figured trying to squeeze it in during
our tour of the island would be too much. Better to return another day.
(Besides, I hate ziplines)
Mount Gay has been distilling
rum since 1703, making it the oldest distillery in the world, and no tour of
Barbados would be complete without a visit and a sampling. Different varied
tours are available at the actual distillery which is at the northern end of
Barbados in the parish of St. Lucy. All include a tour of the distillery
grounds and rum sampling and cost anywhere from usd$70.00 to $113.00 per person
depending on the activity included. We opted for the 2:30pm “signature rum
tasting” at the Mount Gay visitor’s center. At just $25.00, the tasting
included a welcome cocktail, a movie and a guide who walked us through the
history of Mount Gay and then described the nuances of each of their rums as we
sampled 4 rums: Silver, Eclipse, Black and XO. We were all very impressed with the
XO and purchased bottles of it in the gift shop. There is a bar on the premises
and food for purchase available, but as this was nearing the end of our day
with Sanjay we decided to eat when we got back to Sandals.
To make the Mount Gay 2:30
tasting, the last one for the day, we could not linger over lunch at the Animal
Flower Cave, but we were able to leisurely drive down the west coast through
the towns of Speightstown and Holetown, and past the many white beaches along
this stretch of the island as Sanjay gleefully pointed out this expensive place
or Rhianna’s apartment, etc.
The final stretch of
our tour was to drive through our neck of the woods in the Gap along Dover Road
and we pointed out to our friends who were on the tour with us the restaurants
we ate at before we checked into Sandals Barbados.
There are plenty of
bars and restaurants along Dover Road. It’s a party area, but safe. We saw police strolling
the street and there were lots of police surveillance cameras. Many of the
restaurants have ocean side seating. We ate at three different places:
Socialites
A small colorful place on
Dover Road. Popular with locals and tourists. Outdoor seating are gaily painted
picnic tables. Surprisingly good food. We split a pulled pork sandwich with
tons of fries.
Sea Fans Beach Bar and
Restaurant
Located in the Infinity
on the Beach Hotel, at the corner of Dover Rd and St. Lawrence Gap, this quiet
open-air restaurant overlooks the beach. We had fresh tuna steaks for just USD$25.
BTW: The Barbadian dollar
is 2-to-1 to the US dollar. The restaurants were surprised we wanted to tip. A
lot of British travel to Barbados and tipping is not a high priority for them.
Mimosas Trattoria and Bar
Lovely place for brunch
on St. Lawrence Gap Road, not far from Divi Southwinds. Try to get seated on
the porch by the bar, but the patio still offers a great ocean view, although
it is sunnier and hotter. There’s a little playground for kids on the grounds.
Writing this entry
makes me want to return to Barbados.
As a happily married
couple Janet and I agree about everything!
Okay, that definitely is a stretch,
but we certainly believe we would be bored at a Sandals resort after a few days
if we did nothing but laze about, trying to decide whether we are to get a
chaise lounge at one of the many available pools or the beach, or what adult
libation to order at the swim up bar, or where to eat that evening. The days would begin to blur.
This is not to diminish
the resplendent beauty of a Sandals resort, or the indulgent pampering one receives
as a guest. As an all-inclusive, couples only family of resorts located
throughout the Caribbean, we certainly enjoy vacationing at a Sandals, and with
free scuba diving offered at all the Sandals resorts, the cost of a vacation there
is worth the money.
Scuba diving at Sandals is a big draw for us. We don’t own any equipment, but we are PADI Open Water
certified.
(I started my
certification process while on my honeymoon in Antigua…another trophy wife
decision).
Open Water
certification is good enough to dive to 60 feet and see all the pretty fishes! That's what we love to do at Sandals and usually the experiences are beautiful and fun.
Trophy wives are ALWAYS elite
ELITE?
On the last couple of trips
to Sandals though we ran into a new “tier” of diver called “elite”. These “advanced”
divers are automatically signed up for every dive. For us to get on a dive we need
to hike over to the dive shop and hope someone cancels or doesn’t show up and
you need to get there around 7:30 am.
In Curacao the dive shop
was ½ mile away. In Barbados, our most recent trip to a Sandals, the dive shop
is also on the extreme end of the other resort.
(There are two resorts
side-by-side in Barbados. Though as a guest of either resort one has full
access to all the pools, bars and restaurants, we were staying in the “other”
resort.) That’s a lot of walking in the morning!!
On past trips to a
Sandals resort we would mosey over to the dive shop after we settled in and sign
up for the next available dive, which usually would be the next day. We checked
in on a Monday and the dive shop personnel said our first available dive would
not be until SATURDAY!! That caused a lot of angst, and some complaining, and
made us doubt the whole Sandals experience.
Shipwreck at Carlisle Bay
You see, there are
other resorts that are as beautiful, but cheaper because diving is an add-on
cost.
We enjoy our Sandals
vacations, but we really enjoy our scuba diving. We don’t want to dive every day,
but we felt slighted that we would have to wait nearly an entire week before getting
on a dive.
Fortunately, Sandals did
see the “error” of their scheduling conflict and put us on an afternoon dive that
Wednesday.
downtime during our downtime
8 DAYS A WEEK
Too much of a good thing can become a chore. We don't want to dive every day, because again, the days would become blurry. Thankfully we still keep track of our dives in our dive books, which helps. But, because we don’t want
to dive every day during our vacation, this trip to Barbados we booked an 8-day
stay. We reasoned we could dive for a day or two and then take off a day to
explore the island or laze about quibbling over restaurant choices and then
dive some more on subsequent days. It was a good plan, a few days of diving, a few days of lounging, but because of the
snafu with the dive schedules we ended up going out for 5 days, with 4 days in a row of diving. We did take a day of exploring to break it up somewhat, (more on Barbados in a later entry), but by the end of our diving it had become a chore for me. One needs some downtime during their downtime.
Hopefully the Sandals
family will reconsider this elite status, which incidentally costs money to join, and
realize the ocean is for EVERYBODY!
