Friday 1 January 2010

Caribbean escape and Bathsheba surf......

Im just back from a break out in the Caribean, and it seems ive missed alot of fun!! Whilst i have been enjoying the 30 degree sunshine, you guys have had some of the biggest ammounts of snow for a while! This with the sustained cold temperatures looks like lots of people have been having lots of fun!!

Anyway, over in the Caribbean, i visited the stunning, Baths of Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, where i hoped to get a few hours of bouldering in on the massive granite boulders. On arrival it became clear that this wouldnt be the case, well not unless the holiday makers didnt mind me landing on them, the baths where teaming with people!! Most of the huge boulders where scatteded around on top of each other, so bouldering alone, with no pad was out of the question, as the landings would have been pretty nasty. The more popular boulders which people tend to visit, have perfect landings on soft white pristine sand, hence a great spot for people to grab a spot of shade in the blistering sun. I spent the day exploring and wandering around the strewn boulders, caves and grotto's which are truely stunning, its difficult to believe how big some of the boulders are, some could easily handle full on routes!




After watching Sperm whales in Dominica, visiting the cricket grounds of Antigua and snorkeling in St lucia, i arrived in Barbados. Here i heard there was some good surf to be had, and found out that, 'The Soup Bowl' or Bathsheba was the place to be. An hours drive took us down to one of the most amazing places beech locations i have seen. Away from the usual tourist traps was beautiful Bathsheba, a rugged costal line where surfers rode the waves, and the locals hung out drinking and relaxing!
An interesting chat with some local guys revield an oppertunity to hire a board and get in on some of the action. The surf was massive, well for me anyway,  full on barrels and everything! Im not the best of surfers by a long shot, but do enjoy giving it a go, hence i was pretty apprehensive about what was to come. I generally stayed with the smaller waves, but did latch a couple of larger ones to the end of the day!




And heres how its done properly:



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