St Barths

Passage here was great, just a minor blip with the engine and a few showers,(pleasant).  As usual wifi is poor and having just uploaded all the Barbados images for you I haven't had time to do St Barths yet. However we are sitting on the quayside besides all the superyachts (Gin Palaces) watching all the rich people in designer gear coming ashore for whatever, it being Sunday I guess it will be church!  Meanwhile we are going for a hike with Paul & Jane to some saltpans, picnic en route and swimming afterwards.  I'll do some more next time we get a connection like this.

Barbados

Andromeda Botanical Gardens Saturday.

We took the bus towards Bathsheba and got off a few stops before. What a superb gardens! They were named after the Greek Goddess because they are chained to the coral rock of the East Coast. It is the only Botanical Garden on the Island and was created by Mrs I Bannochie (1914-1988). She and her husband built their beach house and she promptly set about the garden. It has a hotchpotch of plants from all over the world. On her death she left the Gardens to the Barbados National Trust, they are now managed by Perseus Inc who do a superb job of maintaining such a vast collection .

There were two trails and we did them both, eating our picnic in a shady spot. The second trail was shorter and probably most visited being nearer the main house. I recognised a few plants which I used to keep as house plants back home before we sold up.

The last tree on the tour was Mammea Apple Mammea Americana. This had large brown fruits which drop like missiles. The native monkeys love them. We were fortunate enough to find a neawly dropped specimen and brought it back to taste Pineapple crossed with melon.

Images are in Picasa and more detail in Friends Reunited (Timeline) Well worth the visit,in a few days when I've updated it!

Jackfruit Tree. A member of the Artocarpus (Breadfruit ) Family, these stinky fruits are similar to the Durain. Commonly called the Two Man Fruit since it takes two men to carry them without damaging

Corypha umbraculifera. Talipot Palm, The largest Fan palm in the world. Native of India and Sri Lanka 'flowers' once in it's life between 25-50 years old. It then bears the largest inflorescence in the plant kingdom! (5m). It takes a year (?) to flower and seed followed by the death of the plant. This one is just coming into flower.

Etlingera elatior. Zingiberaceae South East Asia.(Syn Nicolaia elatior, Phaeomeria magnifica.