29) On the town

Our last night on the town, paid for by the kindness and very large charge account of businessman Bob, was a smashing way to conclude the vacation.

Bob managed to find the musicians who had played at the Jazz festival the previous night and secured them at our table.

Several dozen rum punches later, we found ourselves at a piano bar singing at the top of our lungs with a retired Broadway pianist and in the company of Cilla Black an apparently famous Brit. We 'twisted' the night away much to the amusement of 'Lexy' the bar owner, and without a doubt we made known that Canadians are not a shy bunch, but most likely tone deaf.

28) Hanging Around

27) Oistin's Market

26) At the beach

25) Old Year's Night

We spent Old Year's Night (December 31st) with the McGill swim team at an outdoor bar with tiki torches that sat at the edge of the beach. At midnight, the fireworks from the Hilton down the bay illuminated the sky. As rum is cheaper than water, the crowd was less than enthused by the fireworks, and many of the young swimmers entered the new year in the fetal position lying under the picnic tables.

Oddly, one of the highlights of New Year were the colourful cast of taxi drivers who shuttled us from St Lawrence Gap to various parties and then home. The final leg of our journey was with Andrew, who took almost three hours to get us home, stopping to show us his favourite street in Bridgetown, a sit down inside his favourite bar, a taste of local nibbles, then a 5am sight seeing tour of various landmarks by moonlight - including the pyramid monument to a Cuban plane crash in the 1970s. Fidel Castro has visited on the anniversary of the crash for the past three decades. The monument marks the spot where local fisherman set sail to help with resuce operations after the crash.

24) HOLETOWN, BARBADOS

Bellair's marine research station is located on the edge of Holetown on the western coast of Barbados. Situated along a strip of affluent resorts and hotels (in the same neighbourhood where Tiger Wood's most famously wed his Swedish bride), the Bellair's property is a sprawling array of squat buildings with rusty tin shingles. Between the two dormitory style housing blocks, there is a ornathology outdoor observation pen, where a few doctoral students are studying the local bird population. There is also a wet laboratory for other ocean-dwelling creatures.

The picture is a view from the end point of the Bellair's lot that overlooks the Caribbean sea.