Lesser Antilles day 18: and home

Flight was OK. The Brightline shuttle, for which we waited 45 minutes, drove right past our pick up point. We screamed loud enough he stopped, and we chased him, with a full set of luggage. He was rude. So was my time. Train was fine; we picked up the car at West Palm Beach, and then drove two hours through thunderstorms to get home shortly before midnight. Crappy end to a great trip.

Lesser Antilles Day 17: more Barbados

The rest off the party flew out, so we stayed on to do a little independent tourism. Since I've seldom been disappointed by botanic gardens, we decided to vist the Andromeda Gardens, in Bathsheba, on the Atlantic side of the island. This involved nabbing a ride on one of the private minivans, which took a circuitous and hectic route past the main racecourse to the Fairchild Street terminal, and then a number 6 bus across the island, whcih took about an hour. 

We arrived just as the gardens opened. They were indeed very pretty, although they'd been laid out to showcase a whole variety of tropical blants, and not just indigenous ones. But they had a nice guided tour on an app, and we enjoyed it. We had fish at the Zemi East Coast Cafe, which was very good, and then gulped down a rum-and-coke at the Sea View Bar, right at the bus-stop.

Lesser Antilles Day 16 Barbados

That morning there were rose-ringed parakeets calling in the trees around the hotel. 

We headed out, across the island, to a grassy region (magenta dot) in the south-center with some wetlands.

There there were lots more Rose-ringed  parakeets, a troupe of Mona monkeys, and grassland and wetland birds (Scaly-naped Pigeons, Eurasian Collared-Doves, a Common Ground Dove, Zenaida Doves, Green-throated Caribs, Common Gallinules, American Coots (White-shielded), Green Herons, Western Cattle Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, Caribbean Elaenia, Gray Kingbird, Shiny Cowbirds,  Carib Grackles, Banaquits, Bullfinches, and Black-faced grassquits.

Soras are nothing special, but I'd never seen one before, and there was one in the pond.

(Don't believe me? I don't care!)

Further down the road was a Grassland Yellow-finch.

We continued to the oldest church in Barbados, St John Parish Church, 1645.

Quite high-church

Then to Bayfield Pond, where we saw Rock Pigeons, Zenaida Doves, Common Gallinules, a Spotted Sandpiper,  Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Bananaquits and a Barbados Bullfinch.

I was grumpy (starving) and because of the completely unforseeable presence of school buses on Barbados roads at 9 a.m., almost missed breakfast back at the hotel. Oh yes, and we had to go see some green turtles on the way back. I can look out my window in Melbourne Beach, and see green turtles mating, so I wasn't impressed.  

I shouldn't get hangry; on the other hand, people shouldn't try to starve me. 

The rest of the party having left, Marjorie and I walked over to the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, an airy and impressive museam at the top of the big racecourse, on the site of an old British military prison. Pretty, historically informative, and relaxing. It was, of course, hot out, but we stayed on tree-lined sidestreets. 

Lesser Antilles, Day 15: Dominica-Bridgetown

 At the Tamarind Tree Hotel, a really very nice place, we watched lesser Antillean bullfinches, bananaquits, and a scaly breasted thrasher duel over bananas at breakfast. 

There was a brown pelican roosting on the trees of the cliff down to the sea, and magnificent frigatebirds out to sea. Ryan took us down the coat, where there were white-tailed tropic birds checking out nesting holes.

But then it was off across the island to Melville Hall, where we had a hastily swallowed sandwich and beer in the airport café, and boarded our plane to Bridgetown Barbados.

That evening Ryan took us to the Oistins Fish Market, where we ate cheap fresh fish sandwiches and chugged down Banks beer, ate icecream, and took in the local color.

Lesser Antilles, Day 14: Dominica

Dominica is a beautiful island, almost unspoiled, and with not one but two endemic parrots; early the first morning, we set off for the Island's interior, on the slopes of Morne Diablotin, to find them. It wasn't much of a hike, and might have been shorter were it not for Ryan's obsession with finding different-colored house wrens. I think he hopes to have them split into six endemic lesser Antillean species. 

Anyway, up at the parrot observation area, overlooking a deep valley, we almost immediately saw red-necked parrots, which were calling and just flying around. We heard Imperial Parrots, but they remained hidden. We also saw a couple of ruddy quail doves, a smooth-billed ani back at the base station, Antillean crested hummingbirds, lots of lesser Antillean swifts, broad-winged hawks, a purple throated carib, a lesser Antillean saltator, a pearly eyed thrasher, and black-whiskered vireos.

Back at the base station, here's a David's orchid. The species was apparently blown to Dominica by a hurricane.

And a bullfinch, pausing in its quest to kill the bullfinch in the wing-mirror.

At a location which I won't disclose (at Ryan's request), later, we saw a beautiful barn owl, roosting in the daytime.

And then back to the hotel, for some food and drink.

Lesser Antilles, Day 13: Guadeloupe, and then the interminable trip to Dominica

 Early, we were off to the highlands on the other lobe of the island, Basse Terre. 

Yes, it makes no sense. After stopping for some food, to be eaten later, we crossed the isthmus to the Maison de la Fort National Park. 

There were Bridled Quail Doves, and brown tremblers, and pearly-eyed thrashers

I got a movie

and a forest thrush

 and of course, the endemic guadeloupe woodpecker.

Also Bridled Quail-Dove, Lesser Antillean Swift, Purple-throated Carib, American Kestrel, Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, Caribbean Martin, Scaly-breasted Thrasher, Plumbeous Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Bananaquit (Lesser Antillean), Lesser Antillean Bullfinch. 

And there were leafcutter ants;

and a nice waterfall.

If only it had all ended there. but it didn't. One the way to the ferry, I stopped at the airport pharmacy to try to replace Metformin I had left in Martinique. But the line was 1.5 hours long, because this is the only drugstore open on a Sunday in Guadeloupe. So I chucked it in, and headed for the ferry, for which there was also and interminable line. We arrived at 1 pm. to get into line for ferry trip from Pointe-a-Pitre Guadeloupe to Roseau Domenica.  Evidently France wants to assure we’re all leaving. At 2:15 pm the fIt was a nice crossing, and I had fun identifying all the little Guadeloupian Islands off the coast. Then the clown show started.

At 4:00 pm we circled an empty lifeboat in the channel several times. For reasons known only to him, the captain wanted to hoist it onboard. it was suggested someone might be hunched down in the bottom of the boat, but since the captain tipped it over on the first attempt to haul it aboard, probably not. It took several passes and about an hour to capture this useless piece of inflatable rubber.

But the red-footed booby was amused.

5:00 pm we finally arrived at Rodea, to wait to disembark. And waited. They unloaded our luggage. They loaded the baggage for the passengers on the return trip. Then they let us off, only to be loaded onto buses. Then we waited some more. They allowed the return passengers to embark and the ferry departed. And we waited some more. 5:45 pm our bus departed for Roseau. The bus parked behind metal gates at the immigration facility. And we wait some more.

6:00 pm: I asked an immigration agent if we should consider ourselves prisoners or hostages. He doesn’t understand. Probably just as well. 6:10 pm we finally got off the bus, and into another line. 

6:30 pm After yelling at a couple of Froggy line-jumpers, I got my passport stamped. I went up on the quay to look for my bag, which had a r.f. tag, and was showing up nearby, but not at the quay.

7:15 pm. After it spent 2 hours sitting around in Roseau, they decided to give me my baggage. I stood in customs line. Evidently there's no 'nothing to declare' line. And the customs guy was going through the bags of every single passenger. FFS!

7:45 pm. He gives up, and waved the rest of us through. Good thing; I was loaded up with Grenada spices.

 7 hours for a short ferry trip between two adjacent islands. I've tried to explain, to anyone who'll listen, that in the unnecessary 4 hours of waiting, a typical tourist would spend maybe a couple of hundred bucks. No one was listening. Domenica is a lovely place, but the huddled masses are not beating a path to its door. It's 81st worldwide in GDP per capita. Do they actually need immigration controls?

And we weren't quite done; there was still an hour's drive north to Salisbury, to the Tamarind Tree hotel, where our Swiss/German hosts stayed up late to feed us a scrumptious fish dinner and some beer.

Lesser Antilles Day 12; Martinique, and then to Guadeloupe.

 Breakfast was fantastic. This is a nice hotel. And it was early, because we were off to the Jardin de Balata in the center of the Island. I also found my camera batteries were dead, so it was iPhone time. Still, this is a pretty fair shot of a Martinique Oriole.

And here's a somewhat pugilistic looking lesser antillean bullfinch.

Moving on further, we saw a Blue-headed Hummingbird, a Rufous-throated Solitaire, Caribbean Elaenias, Black-whiskered Vireos, Gray Tremblers, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Spectacled Thrush,Shiny Cowbirds, Carib Grackles, a Yellow Warbler, Black-faced Grassquits, and Lesser Antillean Saltators.

Then it was off to the airport, and on to Guadeloupe, where we discovered to our delight (?) that our hotel, la Maison Creole in le Gosier, was hosting a stripper contest. But it shut down early, and so did we. 

Lesser Antilles day 11: Martinique

We boarded a ferry in Castries harbor to get across the channel to Fort au France, Martinique. 

A Brown Booby welcomed us. 

We were dumped in the Parc la Savane while our guides went in search of a rental car, and so took the opportiunity to have some beer at Snack Super Maxinis, before we briefly inspected the ornate Bibliothèque Schœlcher.

Then it was off, across the island, through an interminable series of rotaries. 

Lunch included delicious blood sausage.

at the Oasis Beach restaurant. Then off to La Caravelle, where there was a Lesser Antillean Saltator.

Tried like heck to get a picture of the White-breasted thrasher that was digging through the leaf little, but this is the best I could do.

...and believe it or not, this is a female Carib Grackle.

We also saw a Broad-winged Hawk, Black-whiskered Vireos, Tropical Mockingbirds, a Spectacled Thrush, Bananaquits (Lesser Antillean), and a Lesser Antillean Bullfinch.

Then it was back to the Karibea squash hotel, for fruity drinks, all bought with Euros, and dinner, which was quite good. The view from our room, out over the bay, was lovely, but we were jacked, so we turned in.

Lesser Antilles Day 10: St Lucia Day 2

So off we went, at 6:30 a.m., across the island, to see the white breated thrasher and St Lucia oriole. 

First, the thrasher, in some dry forest on the east side of the island.

And then the oriole, up in the interior, a pretty awful shot, but enough to document the sighting.

And we did see the St Lucia parrots, from a distance, in the center of the island. We also saw a lesser antillean flycatcher...

...and here's an Antillean Crested Hummingbird. Black-whiskered Vireos, Gray Tremblers, Shiny Cowbirds, Carib Grackles, Bananaquits, Lesser Antillean Bullfinches, and a Lesser Antillean Saltator

Also....Scaly-named pigeon, (setting out) Lesser Antillean Swifts, Green-throated Carib.

Then we went to a wetland, where we saw Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaups, Pied-billed Grebes, Common Gallinules, American Coots, Greater Yellowlegs, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, a Green Heron, Western Cattle Egrets, Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, an Osprey, a Gray Kingbird, Barn Swallows, Carib Grackles,  and a Yellow Warbler.Yawn! 

Lesser Antilles Day 9; St Lucia Day 1

So here's a map. How would you get from Grenada to St Lucia? Not this way? Well, thanks to the great minds at InterCaribbean Airways, this is how we did it.

Oddly, it wasn't that painful, probably because we didn't have to endure immigration, except at Castries in St Lucia. St Lucia, notoriously, will sell you citizenship and a diplomatic passprt for $75,000, so they're not that picky. We were there in time for lunch. And beer. Petra's café, on the beachfront, had both.

Then it was off, in a van, to the central dry region of northern St Lucia. First the drive..., and then the hike (it's the little red track).

The St Lucia warbler didn't make it easy, but eventually it came out, and I got some good shots.

You can see it's related to, but not identical with, the Barbuda warbler. They're probably either relic species, or regular warblers that just give up the migration thang. Also, here's an Antillean Crested Hummingbird.

After prying Ryan away from the area with some difficulty, we drove back to our 'mini-hotel', the Tropical Paradise, in Au Tabor, Anse La Raye, which was really quite lovely, not least for the view.

Lesser Antilles Day 8: Grenada

We went to the Hartman plantation (lower track) to search for the national bird of Grenada, the Grenada Dove, which is going extinct, completely unnoticed by the government of Grenada.

And we didn't see it. Well, one of us says he saw it, and some of us claim we heard it, but all in all, pretty disappointing. We did see a Grenada flycatcher.

and a Mangrove Cuckoo

and an Eared Dove

and a Grenada tree anole.

...but the dove was a bust. Also, ground doves, yellow-bellied elaenia, and the usual shite.

So, it was off to the big pond, the Grand Etang, up on the mountain, the long upper track on the map, which we mostly drove. There we saw the non-indigeous Mona Monkey, which is beyond-all-your-personal-boundaries friendly.

And bats. Pallas's Mastiff Bat. Roosting under the eaves of the visitor center.

And a rufous bellied hummingbird.

..and I bought some killer curry powder, and nutmegs and huge slabs of cinnamon bark.

There were no birds I could see on the Grand Etang.

But we did see: Scaly-naped Pigeon, Mangrove Cuckoo, Green-throated Carib, Gray Kingbird, Cocoa Thrush, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Bananaquit, and Lesser Antillean Bullfinch.