Barbados under ash: life through a volcanic eruption ash cloud

16 Apr 2021 · Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)

00:31:44

I'd planned to experience life in Barbados, spending a year on a paradise island.

If you've been seeing any of the news updates from the Caribbean recently, you'll know that my plans have hit something of a stumbling block this week.

I've been spending a lot of my time this week, glued to this page.

Over Easter, La Soufriere volcano on St Vincent erupted, sending ash thousands of feet into the sky, and literally carpeting Barbados in its wake.

As a result, the lifting of Covid restrictions has been made null and void. We still can't go out, for a new reason!

The whole point of this show is to give you an insight into life in Barbados, from the point of view of someone who's actually living here. I wouldn't really be serving you properly if I didn't give you an on-the-ground insight into what's going on here.

So this episode is a little different.

We're not tasting any delicious local treats.

We're not testing any Bajan beverages.

We're not enjoying any experiences or activities.

What we are going to do, is bring you a flavour of what it's like for someone who's relocated to this beautiful paradise island, on the Barbados Welcome Stamp, and finds themselves in the middle of a fluke natural incident.

I'll be doing this with the help of some of my friends who have kindly offered their thoughts, and footage.

During this episode, we cover:

The views of a couple of my new friends here who are also experiencing this alongside me.

My possible emergency escape contingency planning with my friend, Marie.

What the people of Barbados went through last time this happened (back in the 70s) with Vic Fernandez.

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**For the benefit of any news agencies or journalists who'd like to reach out for on the ground correspondence from the paradise island, I have limited availability for both live and recorded two ways. You can contact me via the email button (fourth button down) on my show page here!

I've added a full transcript of my report from the episode in these show notes below for your reference.

Please do not use any section of the content without prior permission from me. I'm regularly checking my emails so will be able to get back to you within minutes not hours!**

Yvonne: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this week's episode. Well, this was not the episode that I had planned to be sharing with you this week. I was meant to be out trying beach tennis at the weekend on Brian's beach, but that is going to have to wait another time because this week this happened, my thoughts are with those people in St.

[00:00:18] St Vincent, who are affected by this much more than us here in Barbados. There's a certain radius around the volcano that has been evacuated as according to the university of the West Indies, the volcano continues to erupt quite explosively and has now begun to generate what they call pyroclastic density currents.

[00:00:39] So these are really hot currents of between 200 and 700 degrees Celsius. The ground hugging flows of Ash and debris that are coming down from the volcano to the surrounding areas. So essentially impacting on everything in its path. The last eruption was in 1979 and the one before that was 1902 at this stage, it is far too soon to be telling how bad

[00:01:03] this one's going to be so, you know, we're dealing with unpredictable mother nature, 1979. I think this is worse than what it was then as for 1902. Well, that lasted for a year. So here's really hoping that it won't be as bad as that. Barbados is 120 miles to the East of St. Vincent. And the winds has been bringing the Ash cloud this way.

[00:01:26] Since Friday, we've had very per visibility and the toxic Ash has been in the air. So it's been really important to stay covered up when going outdoors. So that is wearing the mask. It's a good job we have lots of face masks at the moment due to COVID. But it's also important to keep your arms and your legs covered as well.

[00:01:49] We had a bit of an order to stay in doors and everything's shut over the weekend and the airport is still closed. Cleanup really started around Tuesday. And the good thing is that Barbados has always been very good about sharing information, doing press conferences, given advice and support, especially during COVID and now for this crisis.

[00:02:10] They're also doing that as well. So the kind of things have been telling us is to clean regularly and not to let the Ash build up. I think the worry is if the Ash builds up, it'll be a lot more difficult to clean. And also the dust is quite toxic. So having that set on various things for a long time is not good.

[00:02:31] We have been asked to limit our water usage. So there's a bit of a drought at the moment are definitely a shortage. It's a bit challenging trying to kind of clean on one hand whilst trying to conserve water on the other. We've been keeping our doors and our windows closed and especially where I am. I live in a plantation style house and where you would normally have class windows.

[00:02:54] I have wooden slats and there's quite a lot of gaps in those wooden slats which means the dust particles are coming through. So while my doors and windows are closed, I've also had to use wet tiles to cover the gaps and limit that amount of Ash coming in. There's been a bit of a lack of hot water. So we've got solar panels, I think most of the Island probably has solar panels for their hot water.

[00:03:17] But because there is no sun, those solar panels, aren't getting the sunshine that they need to provide the energy for the hot water. We have had to turn off air conditioning units in some cases. So it depends what type of an air conditioning unit you have, but I've had to refer to my fans. So the fear around the air conditioning units is about the filters getting blocked.

[00:03:40] I don't know if you're aware of some of the AC units that you have, where half of it kind of sits outside the house and the other half inside the house. So that would be pulling air from outside to inside. And that problem would not be good news. We have been asked to clean gutters as much as possible. So one of the biggest challenges that whenever the Ash has fallen, it has fallen into, you know, various different nooks and crannies and gutters are one of them.

[00:04:08] But then we also had some rain come along as well, and it basically made the Ash into a bit of a paste and it was starting to block the drains. So some people have been getting leaks inside the house and others have had the gutters break altogether. So a lot of people have been up ladders and scaffolding, trying to clear the gutters in relation to the car.

[00:04:31] What we've been trying to do is actually kind of like dust down the cars, obviously trying to conserve the water, but there's also the issue that, you know, if you kind of put the water and it turns to paste, it's going to be a bit more challenging to get off the car. So the advice has been that we need to make sure the dust is off the cars as regularly as possible because the Ash dust will act as a bit of a corrosive and will strip their paintwork, which isn't great.

[00:05:00] And then also we have to be careful with the windscreen wipers. Cause if there is dust on the windscreen, the wind screen wipers will take it across, you know, back and forth across the windscreen itself. And will likely scratch the actual windscreen the good news is the water supply. Whilst it might be high end demands with the low supply, it's actually not affected by the dust as it's a closed system.

[00:05:26] So we do still have good, healthy drink and water here. People were clearing the roads immediately. So I was really impressed by the government's response to the main roads. And I hear some of that's happened in some of the villages and so on as well. And I must say that very hard working people working in those conditions to clear the roads.

[00:05:44] Once people are also driving past and kicking up some of that dust. So, you know, that's quite a challenging job. They have so fair play to them. And then the other thing is that, supposedly the Ash is good news for the soil in the long run. So I'm sure farmers at this point in time will not be thanking the volcano for the Ash cloud that has come this way, but in time it will help as a fertilizer.

[00:06:07] So that's something that we can look forward to, but I'm sure not right though. Dealing with the cleanup is more of a challenge for farmers and then things started opening up today again. So it's still quite unpredictable. I think businesses are just playing it by ear and figuring out what is right for them.

[00:06:26] So who knows, you know, there could be an Ash cloud in this way, again, in a few hours time, we just don't know. So I think people are going to have to play it day by day and react as things change. A lot of people have been referencing the 1979 eruption. And I was just wondering what it was like back then.

[00:06:44] So a friend of mine put me in touch with Vic Fernandez. He is a prominent broadcaster here in Barbados. I was

[00:06:51] Vic: [00:06:51] away for the weekend. So I have a couple of perspectives, you know, of leaving my home. In one condition and returning to see it in another condition. At the time I lived in another very traditional Barbadian home just below Oyston's, but it was on the main road leading to Oyston's and every year we have the Oyston's fish festival takes place on the Easter weekend.

[00:07:17] Well, good Friday being good Friday. It's quite quiet. Sundays again, fairly low key, but the Monday, everything goes into high gear and it's like a carnival is music. There's people dancing in the streets, but there's traffic on hundreds, thousands of people and you live right on the main loveliest place to live for the other 364 days of the year.

[00:07:40] But so every year, my first wife and I, we would, we would just leave the Island on this occasion. We went to Trinidad to visit the in-laws and we left on the Thursday evening and returned on the Tuesday morning. So I, my perspective gives you both pre and post this, what we are experiencing now is nothing like what was experienced back then, literally a breeze pun intended, you know, in comparison to this.

[00:08:10] Were you

[00:08:11] Yvonne: [00:08:11] aware the last time round that something was going to happen?

[00:08:16]Vic: [00:08:16] We were aware, but you know, the thing about volcanoes, as you know, they're quite unpredictable, you know, the dome could, it could be coming and it could remain like that for months. So while. The activity had been heightened.

[00:08:29] I don't think they had hit red alert yet, but it went, it seemed to happen very quickly, you know, and of course I got the news where I was that, you know, we were having volcanic Ash. And again, it didn't affect all of the Island. It was mainly in the South. I believe the ocean was right across the road from us.

[00:08:49] You know, the volcanic Ash arrived and covered whatever part of the Island largely. Well, from my experience, it seemed to have been more the Southern part of the Island. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding. And by Saturday, Holy Saturday, so you have good Friday, which is a quiet day, anyhow and Holy Saturday, people were cleaning up.

[00:09:13] So that by the time I arrived back on Tuesday morning, there was no evidence of it until I actually got to my home. And then I saw. Oh, my God, my car, the two cars are covered in Ash. You know, the patios were covered in Ash, the windows of the house, and so on the driveway, the plants and so on. But you know, within a matter of hours between myself and a helper that I had, he and I had pretty much cleaned up all of it.

[00:09:44] You know, we spent the entire day, washing and washing and you know, of course thankfully why that house was a very traditional house store as well. It, not all of the doors and windows were shuttered tight. It was largely untouched on the inside, which is where you want to keep the dust Ash from, you know, because a lot of people in Barbados, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but we have a high incident of asthma in Barbados.

[00:10:10] I mean, it seems to me, I have my own theories and my theory is that kids. Need to get outside and run in the mud and the muck and thing a little bit. I think they're too sanitized in our, in our environment when I was going, growing up, both in Trinidad and here in my school year in Barbados, we had one kid out of 300 boys who had asthma.

[00:10:33] Wow today, you probably would find that 75% of that school are either asthmatic or borderline asthmatic. There is a serious problem and it may well be environmental could be dust, but I, I honestly believe it's because we over sanitize everything, you know, we don't want them to get into the dirt, the soil, we don't, you don't.

[00:10:52] We want to keep kids are spending too much time on, on toys and electronic stuff. And so on. You can get out of it. Yeah, burnt by the sun and, you know, come back in old grimy and dirty. And yes, so people did clean up very quickly. It seemed, this is on a whole other level of completely.

[00:11:08] Yvonne: [00:11:08] And when you returned back in 1979 and you saw your house all covered like, what was your feeling?

[00:11:14] What was your reaction?

[00:11:15] Vic: [00:11:15] I'm not sure it's polite to say, but I went, Jesus. No, you just come back from a lovely little break. You're feeling all good. You know, your energy level is up, you know, your buoyant and so on and positive and you pull into your drive and you look at, and it's like, What the hell has this happened?

[00:11:37] It was an apocalypse of some kind and landed on this property, this one property, you know, of course everybody else had had three days previously to, to do their cleanup. Uh, you know, so yeah, it was pretty, pretty intense.

[00:11:51] Yvonne: [00:11:51] What was the mood of the Island at the time? He says always a positive time in Barbados,

[00:11:56] Vic: [00:11:56] You know, and I think if it was sustained, If we had something like COVID on top of it, you know, 'cause COVID does really sucked the very energy out of everyone, you know, every time you think you're getting on top of it, there's, you know, some of the outbreak or, you know, now we seem to be on top of it.

[00:12:14] Again, we're down to yesterday for just four new cases. We obviously have managed this second wave very well. But, you know, every time you release, you begin to relax. Boom. So we didn't have anything like that. In 1979, we have a government that was very popular. They got reelected in 1981. We have a legendary leader, a transformative leader in JMG and Tom Adams and his father by the way, was the first premier of Barbados.

[00:12:44] And the only prime minister of the former Western East Federation. So before independence, many of these islands, before we became independent, we had an experiment with, um, a Federation, a political Federation, and the federal capital was in Trinidad and the prime minister of the Caribbean West Indies Federation as it was called, was the legendary national hero, uh, Sir Grantley Adams.

[00:13:10] So his son, Tom Adams, who. Was an economist and an attorney at law and the former BBC producer had returned to Barbados in 1966 and went into politics. While practicing law, and, um, won the election in 1976. And so the government was in a very agile state. There was lots of stuff happening. The economy was being transformed.

[00:13:36] The international business sector was being developed. You know, lots, lots of stuff was happening. So it was, it was a happy time. It was a good time in Barbados in 1979. Was it like. You know, we are today, we are facing the twin perils of COVID and, uh, the volcanic Ash from the superior.

[00:13:55] Yvonne: [00:13:55] And did that last at all? Or was it just the one Ash cloud and it more or less went away?

[00:14:01] Vic: [00:14:01] Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. You know, I was talking to some friends of mine in St Vincent last night. And I'm surprised at that. Well, certainly his case, how. Two or three of them, I've been speaking to how buoyant and how happy they seem to be in the midst of all of that confusion.

[00:14:16] But I was talking to him and actually he called me to say to me that I should ask the prime minister, who should they send the bills to for the lovely, um, fertilizer that they're sending our way. He reminded me that. Uh, there's a lovely little Island resort where there's several in the Grenadines, but it's a small Island.

[00:14:36] 33 acres immediately offered the mainland of St. Vincent. I actually, my daughter, my youngest daughter, and I swam across that channel on two occasions just to prove that we could do it. So it's called young Island resort. You might want to Google it at some time. It's a magnificent rustic, five-star style hotel, where you eat in open gazebos, your showers are outdoors and so on.

[00:15:00] And, um, Oh, it is magnificent and it's a private Island. So, uh, he owns this Island and he was reminding me a few days before the volcanic eruption of this current year, that back in 1979. They did not even have to empty the pool at young Ireland because they got no Ash from the volcanic eruption on that part of the Island.

[00:15:25] Well, wow. If you see the videos now of what happened this time around the entire Island has been blanketed the pool. I mean, every aspect, it will take them weeks and weeks to clean that up. Because they have to clean the entire Island and it's also a nature reserve, uh, too, as well. So they do have to protect it as well.

[00:15:46] So that's an example. That's a comparative point. Yeah. Uh, there that, uh, parts of St. Vincent and didn't even have ash fall uh, back in 1979. Now, I don't think there's a square inch of that Island that has not been pretty much blanketed by it. Uh, I believe said Lucia is also having some of it, not to the extent that we have had, but they've had some bits of it too, as well.

[00:16:09] And. It's apparently moved in some cases, some of the Ash flows have gone as far up as Montseratt, and I have a friend in Montserrat who told me yesterday that they woke up to some, they had some minimal Ash cloud even in Montserrat. And, you know, they lost more than 60% of their Island to their volcanic eruption a few years back.

[00:16:31] And they've never been able to. To repopulate that part of the island because it's just a total wipe out from another La Soufriere volcano you know,

[00:16:41] Yvonne: [00:16:41] And I suppose the challenge is, we're not too sure what's going to happen from here on if that's potentially not the end of it, from what we've seen. So, you know, you're cleaning up, what's already happened and you know, even every single day, no matter how much I clean it comes back in again.

[00:16:54] Vic: [00:16:54] So don't even go there. Then they reminded me, he reminded me last night. But the 1902 eruption lasted one year. O M G no, no, I think I'd be migrating. I'd be heading to somewhere the UK, Canada someplace. If I had to put up with this for a year, you know, because our style of living is very open. It's not like living in Manhattan or some major city, or even in London, you know, very, because of the weather, your houses are far more insulated and closed and so on.

[00:17:30] So that's a great thing. But all of our traditional Caribbean living is wide open verandas and patios. And, you know, I have a 40 foot swimming pool up there and it just looks like a 40 foot canal at the moment, you know? Uh, and I can't go into that at the moment because we still have to vacuum it again and again and again, but you're alive.

[00:17:53] Yvonne: [00:17:53] Barbados was just coming out of some restrictions and, you know, Monday we were due to be able to go to bars at 50% capacity, maybe head out on leisure, pleasure crafts and things like that. So obviously this came in over the weekend. I've worked in the travel industry as well. And so we were hoping that was going to be the bounce back of tourism with the new protocols announced.

[00:18:14] And it just feels, this is, you know, another kind of major setback. Do you get a sense of. how people are feeling about the, I suppose, kind of the future in Barbados with the lumen potential long, lasting ash cloud situation.

[00:18:28] Vic: [00:18:28] Well, you know, I'm probably not a good person to ask because I'm, I'm the eternal optimist.

[00:18:34] And I, I always believe that there is a, you know, the glass is not half empty. It's half full. And because I have to, I have to believe that because as human beings we need positive energy. We need to think positively. Otherwise we get depressed and we, you know, we begin to make all kinds of mistakes and we lose interest and so on.

[00:18:53] So it's a battle. We know it's a battle, but you know, I always can console myself with, you know, our forefathers in these islands, uh, would have gone through much more terrible, uh, conditions than we did. And therefore we shouldn't be whining and complaining. You know, we have a lot to be grateful for in terms of tourism.

[00:19:16] You know, it's been a difficult one because as you said this, I mean, who wants to come to an Island right now they're just covered in ash. You're not going to do that, but I do sense that there's an appetite for the Barbados tourism product and, and that we have a product that is, that has always been attractive.

[00:19:32] And I think it will continue to be attractive. I believe that once we have the. Some semblance of herd immunity, or at least the vaccinations, uh, in place for our visitors coming in. I I've heard the prime minister in her last press briefing, outlining potential approaches of how it could work. Those have not been finalized yet.

[00:19:55] And I hope that with people like yourself, you know, guiding because we have to get the feedback from your end too, as well as to how, how it's going to work. I remain optimistic, but we have a product that's a good product. And that, uh, we, Barbadians like to say that God is a Bajan because somehow we seem to duck most of the calamities, earthquakes and floods and hurricanes.

[00:20:20] The last real hurricane we had in Barbados was in 1955. You know, so when people overseas asked me about, well, should I come through in the hurricane season? I said, why not? You know, we've been here all of our lives. Most of us have never seen one. In fact, I've seen more hurricanes out of Barbados than in Barbados.

[00:20:40] I've been in five or against in other islands just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, uh, and I've been caught in Cuba and Belize, in The Bahamas, you know, so yeah, I've been, I've been in quite a few hurricanes where, you know, like and even, in Miami, the last one of all places for God's sake, you know, in Miami.

[00:21:00] Yeah. So I, I do think, but here's, here's, here's the thing. Now we have, um, my wife has, uh, a side business, a small business that we, we run, we have our own little, um, real estate. Uh, we have some properties that we put. And veteran rentals. And a few years back, she started, uh, with some short-term rentals using doing Airbnb at the height of the Airbnb.

[00:21:27] We had five of our units, different parts of the Island on Airbnb. She has been a Superhost from pretty much from the first day she got Superhost status, but of course, Airbnb died. Just came to a halt. So we've had to. She said, well, what do I do? I said, well, let's, let's go into long-term rentals, go back to long-term rentals.

[00:21:50] So we've done that now the cottage here at our home that one, we're not going to put long-term rentals in it because we don't want anybody here on a permanent basis. Uh, so we got to keep that one. And when, when, when the market reopens, but we've had, we've had guests who have been with us before making inquiries and saying, uh, you know, when do you think we could come?

[00:22:11] So I think that's, I think that's positive. Because we made great friendships over the years with people who have used our Airbnbs in particular, the one which is right here on our compound. So whether they like to, or not, or we like to, or not, we see each other pretty much every day we do things together.

[00:22:28] We invite them to, you know, if we're going out somewhere, we invite them to join with us. It'd be going to the market, went up to Oystens we're going out for a meal, that sort of stuff. And so on to the point where, you know, we've had repeat guests that I, I really couldn't charge them because. You know, I just didn't feel I could do that.

[00:22:44] You know? So, uh, we've had to give up on that for the time being, but look, look at all the inventory we have in, in hotels, we don't have a choice, you know, we can't turn that inventory into anything else. Our economy is built on tourism and I hear, I hear political pundits and, you know, um, Armchair experts, uh, holding forth on, or, you know, we, we, we need to diversify this economy and, you know, not be dependent on tourism.

[00:23:16] And the question I always ask is, and what is that? Could you tell me what that is? Because it's, it's fine to say that we should have this great diversity, but what is this diversity? Because if it was that easy to find, I believe we would've done it already. Not so tourism in short, what I'm saying is.

[00:23:34] It's it's what we have. It's our greatest play. It's what we offer. It's our friendliness, it's our warmth, it's our culture, it's our food, you know, and, and that's not going to go away. And I think the relationship that we have particularly with, with. Areas like UK, we have a symbiotic relationship with Barbados is for long seen itself as, you know, little England and so on are our legacy with crickets and our traditions.

[00:24:01] And so on. Even as you drive around and you look at the names of places and so on, but you know, all of these Hastings and

[00:24:10] yeah, it's very British, whether you, so we are not going to change that, you know? So I'm, I'm optimistic that once. We can see some sense of normalcy. I'm a worried about COVID than I am about, about the volcanic eruption, because I know that has to end at some point in time.

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Real Bajan style fish cakes in Barbados! Yvonne gets to grips with a traditional Bajan dish recipe! She learns to make cod fish cakes during a cooking lesson at Palm Terrace restaurant!
27 Aug 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
**Trigger warning - this episode MIGHT make you feel hungry!**

Now with 100% more REAL Bajan fish cakes!

This episode is the launch of a series of food and drink themed episodes we're putting together in collaboration with the brilliant Hungry Barbados.

With all the site visits to places like Hunte's Gardens and Mount Gay, Yvonne's been feeling a bit hungry, so this episode's very Bajan food themed!

She started out by setting off on a food tour with Ezra Quintyne. As he mentions in the episode, you can contact him by emailing him.

During this episode, Yvonne experienced some excellent foodie indulgence at Pappa Jacks, and tucked into some chicken and rum punch!

Here are some useful links for you to check out, as featured in the episode:

Cuz Cutters

Mapps Rotisserie Chicken

Carlton Bar and Grill

Palm Terrace Restaurant at Fairmont Royal Pavilion

A Touch of Jazz

Useful link NOT featured in the episode:

Bajan superstar Rihanna's own cod fish cake recipe.

If you'd like to "Life in Barbados" a review on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Podchaser we're always grateful!

You can do that here:

https://life-in-barbados.com/rate-and-review

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram

Apple Podcasts listener? Great!

Make sure you're following the show so you don't miss the coming episodes!

Prefer Spotify? Ok!

Here's where you can follow the show on that platform!
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Gardens in Barbados: visiting Hunte's gardens, the "most enchanting attraction" in Barbados.
13 Aug 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
There's nothing like a walk around the gardens to get your head right...especially when the garden's on a Bajan paradise island....

Want to hear the full length conversation with Anthony Hunte?

Scroll down for the link!

Yvonne's been busy over the past few weeks.

She's faced PCR testing and quarantine dramas.. but thankfully she's also enjoyed a bit more quality time with The Crane hotel.

Thankfully, this episode should brighten your day.

It's mostly about a trip to a beautiful graden. Hunte's Gardens to be precise.

During the episode, you'll hear how Yvonne got to make a visit to the gardens, before sitting down with the man himself, Mr Anthony Hunte!

So, did she enjoy her garden visit?

Did she spot some wildlife?

Did the kittens eventually settle down?

These are all questions you will learn the answers to only by listening!

** Do you want to hear the full length chat with Anthony Hunte (it's such a cute conversation!) Of course you do! Click here, to hear it! **

If you'd like to "Life in Barbados" a review on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Podchaser we're always grateful!

You can do that here:

https://life-in-barbados.com/rate-and-review

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram

Apple Podcasts listener? Great!

Make sure you're following the show so you don't miss the coming episodes!

Prefer Spotify? Ok!

Here's where you can follow the show on that platform!
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Golf in Barbados: hitting the links and golfing in style on a paradise island
9 Jul 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Fore! We're talking all about golf in Barbados!

What's been happening this week?

Yvonne's been dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Elsa!

Click here to watch the video she took of it.

We begin with an update on the huge storm that plunged the caribbean into chaos during the past couple of weeks.

This episode features an activity that should have been a few episodes earlier, but.... ash cloud!

Yvonne takes a golf lesson at Apes Hill with the incredibly charismatic Sean Edey. No spoilers, but although she's not exactly an experienced golfer, she did a great job considering!

Have a listen to hear how she got on.

Yvonne also managed to sit down with Apes Hill's Kim Goddard to find out more about how the resort fits in with the golfing community of the Bajan island.

Here are some helpful links to things mentioned in the episode:

https://www.apeshillclub.com/golf/

https://www.royalwestmoreland.com/

https://rockleygolfclub.com/

https://barbadosgolfclub.com/

https://www.sandylane.com/barbados-golf

https://www.instagram.com/seanctedey/?hl=en -

Sean Edey - the golf pro Yvonne chatted to!

https://www.instagram.com/parabolicodyssey/?hl=en -

Sean's new business - golf holiday!

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Vegan in Barbados: Plant-based eating on a paradise island
1 Jul 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Are you Hungry Barbados? We have the vegan plant-based solutions for you right here.

What's been happening this week?

Yvonne's had a crazy weather week. Hear all about Hurricane Elsa! Also, some developments in terms of travel from the UK!

She's been enjoying some live music, with Sonny Meraki and Jon Banfield which you'll hear on the podcast episode!

This episode is the launch of a series of food and drink themed episodes we're putting together in collaboration with the brilliant Hungry Barbados.

In this episode I explain more about who Hungry Barbados are as well as talk to some people who are very much involved in the vegan and plant-based offerings here on the paradise island.

Eco Lodge

A number of episodes ago I chatted with Kyle Taylor from Eco Lifestyle and Lodge about their boutique hotel with a focus on sustainability. I was desperate to try their food, and now I have!

So, for this episode I spoke with Alisha Stoute, Executive Chef at ECO Lifestyle and Lodge!

Yummy Mummies

Do you remember back in a previous episode, I talked about a food delivery that I got from Yummy Mummies?

Well, I decided to catch up with Ann Marie Leach for this episode and we get into a chat about options for high quality plant based food, whether you're on a self-catering holiday or living on the island.

I also run down a number of other options for vegan friendly dishes!

On insta? Here are some helpful links to accounts of things mentioned in the episode:

Eco Life Lodge

Hungry Barbados

Yummy Mummies

Cocktail Kitchen

The Lion Share Cafe

Green Lime Cafe

Organic Earth Barbados

Raw Juice

Singita Wellness

Agapey Chocolate Factory

Coconut Baby

Sonny Meraki

If you'd like to leave me a review on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Podchaser I'm always grateful!

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Diving in Barbados: a day checking out wrecks, reefs and sea life!
18 Jun 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados has some of the best diving opportunity in the world

If you're a regular listener to Life in Barbados, you'll know that the paradise island is blessed with some quite magnificent ocean and sea life.

One of my favourite things to do is diving, so I was grateful to be able to experience what the Bajans have to offer on that front.

It was World Ocean Day last week. I took advantage of a dive to get up close and person with some Lion Fish thanks to High Tide - https://www.divehightide.com/

I also joined my friends for some diving with Barbados Blue - https://www.divebarbadosblue.com

The wonderful Kiera was really great with them, and trained them in a swimming pool first.

She was really helpful and friendly, and talked them through some of the safety aspects like 'equalising' in a really clear way.

Hear the full length chat with diving instructor Kiera.

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Barbados' Historic St Nicholas Abbey: a tour of the distillery and taking a train!
11 Jun 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
St Nicholas Abbey: Uncovering 350 years of Barbadian history

I can't lie. This episode is a definite demonstration of the perks of hosting a popular podcast that's based in paradise.

I mean, if waking up under the Bajan skies wasn't enough, this week, I'm actually visiting a rum distillery, and getting on a train.

And not just any train. The train that takes you high above Barbados on Cherry Tree Hill.

You'll also hear me touring with St Nicholas Abbey distillery owner Anna Warren and tasting rums with her son Simon.

I also get to see the sugar cane plantation.

It was a great peek into Barbados’ history and a very fun day out.

Not to mention I got to see the humble beginnings of the island during my tour of the great house.

And, no spoilers, but I might even have a Christmas Gift idea for you, thanks to a very particular piece of furniture that's mentioned towards the end of the episode.

Scroll to the bottom of these notes to see it.

I really hope you enjoy this episode, and if you do, then please do follow it and review it on your favourite app!

I'm grateful for any words you'd like to leave for me on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Podchaser!

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Here's the now famous "lazy boy"!
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Barbados Sunset Cruise: take a Bajan trip through paradise on a Catamaran
4 Jun 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
We've been on dry land in Barbados for long enough!

It's time to take to the ocean.

In this episode, Yvonne (Otherworld Travel - https://www.otherworldtravel.com) sets sail for the Bajan waters.

You know you’ve achieved full holiday status when you’re sailing into the sunset with a glass of champagne in hand.

There’s just something about being on a boat that sends you into total relaxation mode, unless you suffer from sea-sickness that is!

If you do, I'd recommend taking a few ginger tablets before you set sail.

This week, I’m crossing off one of my big bucket list activities.

After sitting on my balcony watching beautiful yachts and sailing boats cruise by every afternoon, I though it was time to book a sunset cruise for myself.

During this episode, you'll hear all about the Silver Moon Catamaran (https://silvermoonbarbados.com/) owned by Nick Park.

You'll hear me experience the wonderful delights I managed to capture during this cruise.

I saw turtles, a double rainbow which you can see via this link - (http://traffic.libsyn.com/lifeinbarbados/Double_Rainbow_video.mp4)

and I spoke to Captain Luke, who steered us on the stunning Catamaran, and I had a conversation with the vessel's owner, Nicholas Parker.

If you want to hear the full length conversation with him, you can do so here - http://traffic.libsyn.com/lifeinbarbados/Life_In_Barbados_Catamaran_Owner_bonus_audio.mp3

I really hope you enjoy this episode, and if you do, then please do follow it and review it on your favourite app!

I'm grateful for any words you'd like to leave for me on Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Podchaser!

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Make sure you're following the show so you don't miss the coming episodes! I'm going to be taking part in two tastings!

Can't wait!
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Barbados Questions Answered: Ask Me Anything - Listeners ask Yvonne about being an expat in Barbados
6 Mai 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
What's Barbados' best rum?

Do you still follow the route of the beach walk you took with the Bajan warrior?

Have you met many ex-pats since you've been on the Bajan paradise island?

These are just a few of the questions that have surfaced since we asked you, the listener to "Life in Barbados" to email us with what's on your mind.

Firstly, thank you so much for these. We love hearing from you.

I wanted to take some time to reflect on my four months already spent here, and address the burning questions my loyal listeners have after listening to my sixteen episodes!

No spoilers here, but once you've listened you might want to check out the below links which relate to the answers...

Dorleys XO

The Beach Walk episode

The Welcome Stamp

Taxi Drivers - did you catch the taxi tour episodes yet? Listen to those when you've finished this one!

Seabreeze: Wedding accomodation

Coconut Court: For wedding guests

For sushi

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Barbados in a day (part two): a taxi tour of the paradise island's East coast
30 Apr 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
It's National Heroes Day here in Barbados!

In this episode, I'll be telling you more about that, as well as giving you an update on everything that's going on over here in terms of Covid restrictions.

The drama with the ash cloud that we talked about a couple of episodes back seems to be easing (for now) thank the Lord!

In this episode, we continue the Bajan taxi tour with Tyrone, and my friend, Ann, as I take in more of this beautiful paradise island.

This time, we're covering the East coast.

During this episode, we cover:

National heroes day

The ash cloud

Bathsheba

Round House

Soup Bowl - check out the previous surfing episode for more on this! (And the bonus full length version is here)

St John's Parish Church

East Point Lighthouse

Bottom Bay

Sam Lord's Castle

Next week, we'll be doing a special Q&A episode.

Anything you want to ask me about Barbados, or this show, now is the opportunity to do so.

Click the 'email Yvonne' button (4th one down) on this link.

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Barbados in a day: a taxi tour of the paradise island
23 Apr 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados is still under Covid restrictions, but at least the volcanic ash cloud isn't preventing me from getting outside anymore.

This episode will start with an update on the cloud and how it's affecting things on the paradise island.

I decided for this episode that I would take a Bajan taxi tour, and investigate some of the parishes.

Animal flower cave

Working sugar mill

The sargassum seaweed

That bench on that rock

Tyrone, our friendly and informative Bajan taxi driver takes myself and my friend Ann, across the island.

During this episode, we cover:

Animal flower cave

The working sugar mill

Cherry Tree Hill

And, the random bench on a rock....

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Barbados under ash: life through a volcanic eruption ash cloud
16 Apr 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
I'd planned to experience life in Barbados, spending a year on a paradise island.

If you've been seeing any of the news updates from the Caribbean recently, you'll know that my plans have hit something of a stumbling block this week.

I've been spending a lot of my time this week, glued to this page.

Over Easter, La Soufriere volcano on St Vincent erupted, sending ash thousands of feet into the sky, and literally carpeting Barbados in its wake.

As a result, the lifting of Covid restrictions has been made null and void. We still can't go out, for a new reason!

The whole point of this show is to give you an insight into life in Barbados, from the point of view of someone who's actually living here. I wouldn't really be serving you properly if I didn't give you an on-the-ground insight into what's going on here.

So this episode is a little different.

We're not tasting any delicious local treats.

We're not testing any Bajan beverages.

We're not enjoying any experiences or activities.

What we are going to do, is bring you a flavour of what it's like for someone who's relocated to this beautiful paradise island, on the Barbados Welcome Stamp, and finds themselves in the middle of a fluke natural incident.

I'll be doing this with the help of some of my friends who have kindly offered their thoughts, and footage.

During this episode, we cover:

The views of a couple of my new friends here who are also experiencing this alongside me.

My possible emergency escape contingency planning with my friend, Marie.

What the people of Barbados went through last time this happened (back in the 70s) with Vic Fernandez.

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**For the benefit of any news agencies or journalists who'd like to reach out for on the ground correspondence from the paradise island, I have limited availability for both live and recorded two ways. You can contact me via the email button (fourth button down) on my show page here!

I've added a full transcript of my report from the episode in these show notes below for your reference.

Please do not use any section of the content without prior permission from me. I'm regularly checking my emails so will be able to get back to you within minutes not hours!**

Yvonne: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this week's episode. Well, this was not the episode that I had planned to be sharing with you this week. I was meant to be out trying beach tennis at the weekend on Brian's beach, but that is going to have to wait another time because this week this happened, my thoughts are with those people in St.

[00:00:18] St Vincent, who are affected by this much more than us here in Barbados. There's a certain radius around the volcano that has been evacuated as according to the university of the West Indies, the volcano continues to erupt quite explosively and has now begun to generate what they call pyroclastic density currents.

[00:00:39] So these are really hot currents of between 200 and 700 degrees Celsius. The ground hugging flows of Ash and debris that are coming down from the volcano to the surrounding areas. So essentially impacting on everything in its path. The last eruption was in 1979 and the one before that was 1902 at this stage, it is far too soon to be telling how bad

[00:01:03] this one's going to be so, you know, we're dealing with unpredictable mother nature, 1979. I think this is worse than what it was then as for 1902. Well, that lasted for a year. So here's really hoping that it won't be as bad as that. Barbados is 120 miles to the East of St. Vincent. And the winds has been bringing the Ash cloud this way.

[00:01:26] Since Friday, we've had very per visibility and the toxic Ash has been in the air. So it's been really important to stay covered up when going outdoors. So that is wearing the mask. It's a good job we have lots of face masks at the moment due to COVID. But it's also important to keep your arms and your legs covered as well.

[00:01:49] We had a bit of an order to stay in doors and everything's shut over the weekend and the airport is still closed. Cleanup really started around Tuesday. And the good thing is that Barbados has always been very good about sharing information, doing press conferences, given advice and support, especially during COVID and now for this crisis.

[00:02:10] They're also doing that as well. So the kind of things have been telling us is to clean regularly and not to let the Ash build up. I think the worry is if the Ash builds up, it'll be a lot more difficult to clean. And also the dust is quite toxic. So having that set on various things for a long time is not good.

[00:02:31] We have been asked to limit our water usage. So there's a bit of a drought at the moment are definitely a shortage. It's a bit challenging trying to kind of clean on one hand whilst trying to conserve water on the other. We've been keeping our doors and our windows closed and especially where I am. I live in a plantation style house and where you would normally have class windows.

[00:02:54] I have wooden slats and there's quite a lot of gaps in those wooden slats which means the dust particles are coming through. So while my doors and windows are closed, I've also had to use wet tiles to cover the gaps and limit that amount of Ash coming in. There's been a bit of a lack of hot water. So we've got solar panels, I think most of the Island probably has solar panels for their hot water.

[00:03:17] But because there is no sun, those solar panels, aren't getting the sunshine that they need to provide the energy for the hot water. We have had to turn off air conditioning units in some cases. So it depends what type of an air conditioning unit you have, but I've had to refer to my fans. So the fear around the air conditioning units is about the filters getting blocked.

[00:03:40] I don't know if you're aware of some of the AC units that you have, where half of it kind of sits outside the house and the other half inside the house. So that would be pulling air from outside to inside. And that problem would not be good news. We have been asked to clean gutters as much as possible. So one of the biggest challenges that whenever the Ash has fallen, it has fallen into, you know, various different nooks and crannies and gutters are one of them.

[00:04:08] But then we also had some rain come along as well, and it basically made the Ash into a bit of a paste and it was starting to block the drains. So some people have been getting leaks inside the house and others have had the gutters break altogether. So a lot of people have been up ladders and scaffolding, trying to clear the gutters in relation to the car.

[00:04:31] What we've been trying to do is actually kind of like dust down the cars, obviously trying to conserve the water, but there's also the issue that, you know, if you kind of put the water and it turns to paste, it's going to be a bit more challenging to get off the car. So the advice has been that we need to make sure the dust is off the cars as regularly as possible because the Ash dust will act as a bit of a corrosive and will strip their paintwork, which isn't great.

[00:05:00] And then also we have to be careful with the windscreen wipers. Cause if there is dust on the windscreen, the wind screen wipers will take it across, you know, back and forth across the windscreen itself. And will likely scratch the actual windscreen the good news is the water supply. Whilst it might be high end demands with the low supply, it's actually not affected by the dust as it's a closed system.

[00:05:26] So we do still have good, healthy drink and water here. People were clearing the roads immediately. So I was really impressed by the government's response to the main roads. And I hear some of that's happened in some of the villages and so on as well. And I must say that very hard working people working in those conditions to clear the roads.

[00:05:44] Once people are also driving past and kicking up some of that dust. So, you know, that's quite a challenging job. They have so fair play to them. And then the other thing is that, supposedly the Ash is good news for the soil in the long run. So I'm sure farmers at this point in time will not be thanking the volcano for the Ash cloud that has come this way, but in time it will help as a fertilizer.

[00:06:07] So that's something that we can look forward to, but I'm sure not right though. Dealing with the cleanup is more of a challenge for farmers and then things started opening up today again. So it's still quite unpredictable. I think businesses are just playing it by ear and figuring out what is right for them.

[00:06:26] So who knows, you know, there could be an Ash cloud in this way, again, in a few hours time, we just don't know. So I think people are going to have to play it day by day and react as things change. A lot of people have been referencing the 1979 eruption. And I was just wondering what it was like back then.

[00:06:44] So a friend of mine put me in touch with Vic Fernandez. He is a prominent broadcaster here in Barbados. I was

[00:06:51] Vic: [00:06:51] away for the weekend. So I have a couple of perspectives, you know, of leaving my home. In one condition and returning to see it in another condition. At the time I lived in another very traditional Barbadian home just below Oyston's, but it was on the main road leading to Oyston's and every year we have the Oyston's fish festival takes place on the Easter weekend.

[00:07:17] Well, good Friday being good Friday. It's quite quiet. Sundays again, fairly low key, but the Monday, everything goes into high gear and it's like a carnival is music. There's people dancing in the streets, but there's traffic on hundreds, thousands of people and you live right on the main loveliest place to live for the other 364 days of the year.

[00:07:40] But so every year, my first wife and I, we would, we would just leave the Island on this occasion. We went to Trinidad to visit the in-laws and we left on the Thursday evening and returned on the Tuesday morning. So I, my perspective gives you both pre and post this, what we are experiencing now is nothing like what was experienced back then, literally a breeze pun intended, you know, in comparison to this.

[00:08:10] Were you

[00:08:11] Yvonne: [00:08:11] aware the last time round that something was going to happen?

[00:08:16]Vic: [00:08:16] We were aware, but you know, the thing about volcanoes, as you know, they're quite unpredictable, you know, the dome could, it could be coming and it could remain like that for months. So while. The activity had been heightened.

[00:08:29] I don't think they had hit red alert yet, but it went, it seemed to happen very quickly, you know, and of course I got the news where I was that, you know, we were having volcanic Ash. And again, it didn't affect all of the Island. It was mainly in the South. I believe the ocean was right across the road from us.

[00:08:49] You know, the volcanic Ash arrived and covered whatever part of the Island largely. Well, from my experience, it seemed to have been more the Southern part of the Island. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding. And by Saturday, Holy Saturday, so you have good Friday, which is a quiet day, anyhow and Holy Saturday, people were cleaning up.

[00:09:13] So that by the time I arrived back on Tuesday morning, there was no evidence of it until I actually got to my home. And then I saw. Oh, my God, my car, the two cars are covered in Ash. You know, the patios were covered in Ash, the windows of the house, and so on the driveway, the plants and so on. But you know, within a matter of hours between myself and a helper that I had, he and I had pretty much cleaned up all of it.

[00:09:44] You know, we spent the entire day, washing and washing and you know, of course thankfully why that house was a very traditional house store as well. It, not all of the doors and windows were shuttered tight. It was largely untouched on the inside, which is where you want to keep the dust Ash from, you know, because a lot of people in Barbados, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but we have a high incident of asthma in Barbados.

[00:10:10] I mean, it seems to me, I have my own theories and my theory is that kids. Need to get outside and run in the mud and the muck and thing a little bit. I think they're too sanitized in our, in our environment when I was going, growing up, both in Trinidad and here in my school year in Barbados, we had one kid out of 300 boys who had asthma.

[00:10:33] Wow today, you probably would find that 75% of that school are either asthmatic or borderline asthmatic. There is a serious problem and it may well be environmental could be dust, but I, I honestly believe it's because we over sanitize everything, you know, we don't want them to get into the dirt, the soil, we don't, you don't.

[00:10:52] We want to keep kids are spending too much time on, on toys and electronic stuff. And so on. You can get out of it. Yeah, burnt by the sun and, you know, come back in old grimy and dirty. And yes, so people did clean up very quickly. It seemed, this is on a whole other level of completely.

[00:11:08] Yvonne: [00:11:08] And when you returned back in 1979 and you saw your house all covered like, what was your feeling?

[00:11:14] What was your reaction?

[00:11:15] Vic: [00:11:15] I'm not sure it's polite to say, but I went, Jesus. No, you just come back from a lovely little break. You're feeling all good. You know, your energy level is up, you know, your buoyant and so on and positive and you pull into your drive and you look at, and it's like, What the hell has this happened?

[00:11:37] It was an apocalypse of some kind and landed on this property, this one property, you know, of course everybody else had had three days previously to, to do their cleanup. Uh, you know, so yeah, it was pretty, pretty intense.

[00:11:51] Yvonne: [00:11:51] What was the mood of the Island at the time? He says always a positive time in Barbados,

[00:11:56] Vic: [00:11:56] You know, and I think if it was sustained, If we had something like COVID on top of it, you know, 'cause COVID does really sucked the very energy out of everyone, you know, every time you think you're getting on top of it, there's, you know, some of the outbreak or, you know, now we seem to be on top of it.

[00:12:14] Again, we're down to yesterday for just four new cases. We obviously have managed this second wave very well. But, you know, every time you release, you begin to relax. Boom. So we didn't have anything like that. In 1979, we have a government that was very popular. They got reelected in 1981. We have a legendary leader, a transformative leader in JMG and Tom Adams and his father by the way, was the first premier of Barbados.

[00:12:44] And the only prime minister of the former Western East Federation. So before independence, many of these islands, before we became independent, we had an experiment with, um, a Federation, a political Federation, and the federal capital was in Trinidad and the prime minister of the Caribbean West Indies Federation as it was called, was the legendary national hero, uh, Sir Grantley Adams.

[00:13:10] So his son, Tom Adams, who. Was an economist and an attorney at law and the former BBC producer had returned to Barbados in 1966 and went into politics. While practicing law, and, um, won the election in 1976. And so the government was in a very agile state. There was lots of stuff happening. The economy was being transformed.

[00:13:36] The international business sector was being developed. You know, lots, lots of stuff was happening. So it was, it was a happy time. It was a good time in Barbados in 1979. Was it like. You know, we are today, we are facing the twin perils of COVID and, uh, the volcanic Ash from the superior.

[00:13:55] Yvonne: [00:13:55] And did that last at all? Or was it just the one Ash cloud and it more or less went away?

[00:14:01] Vic: [00:14:01] Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. You know, I was talking to some friends of mine in St Vincent last night. And I'm surprised at that. Well, certainly his case, how. Two or three of them, I've been speaking to how buoyant and how happy they seem to be in the midst of all of that confusion.

[00:14:16] But I was talking to him and actually he called me to say to me that I should ask the prime minister, who should they send the bills to for the lovely, um, fertilizer that they're sending our way. He reminded me that. Uh, there's a lovely little Island resort where there's several in the Grenadines, but it's a small Island.

[00:14:36] 33 acres immediately offered the mainland of St. Vincent. I actually, my daughter, my youngest daughter, and I swam across that channel on two occasions just to prove that we could do it. So it's called young Island resort. You might want to Google it at some time. It's a magnificent rustic, five-star style hotel, where you eat in open gazebos, your showers are outdoors and so on.

[00:15:00] And, um, Oh, it is magnificent and it's a private Island. So, uh, he owns this Island and he was reminding me a few days before the volcanic eruption of this current year, that back in 1979. They did not even have to empty the pool at young Ireland because they got no Ash from the volcanic eruption on that part of the Island.

[00:15:25] Well, wow. If you see the videos now of what happened this time around the entire Island has been blanketed the pool. I mean, every aspect, it will take them weeks and weeks to clean that up. Because they have to clean the entire Island and it's also a nature reserve, uh, too, as well. So they do have to protect it as well.

[00:15:46] So that's an example. That's a comparative point. Yeah. Uh, there that, uh, parts of St. Vincent and didn't even have ash fall uh, back in 1979. Now, I don't think there's a square inch of that Island that has not been pretty much blanketed by it. Uh, I believe said Lucia is also having some of it, not to the extent that we have had, but they've had some bits of it too, as well.

[00:16:09] And. It's apparently moved in some cases, some of the Ash flows have gone as far up as Montseratt, and I have a friend in Montserrat who told me yesterday that they woke up to some, they had some minimal Ash cloud even in Montserrat. And, you know, they lost more than 60% of their Island to their volcanic eruption a few years back.

[00:16:31] And they've never been able to. To repopulate that part of the island because it's just a total wipe out from another La Soufriere volcano you know,

[00:16:41] Yvonne: [00:16:41] And I suppose the challenge is, we're not too sure what's going to happen from here on if that's potentially not the end of it, from what we've seen. So, you know, you're cleaning up, what's already happened and you know, even every single day, no matter how much I clean it comes back in again.

[00:16:54] Vic: [00:16:54] So don't even go there. Then they reminded me, he reminded me last night. But the 1902 eruption lasted one year. O M G no, no, I think I'd be migrating. I'd be heading to somewhere the UK, Canada someplace. If I had to put up with this for a year, you know, because our style of living is very open. It's not like living in Manhattan or some major city, or even in London, you know, very, because of the weather, your houses are far more insulated and closed and so on.

[00:17:30] So that's a great thing. But all of our traditional Caribbean living is wide open verandas and patios. And, you know, I have a 40 foot swimming pool up there and it just looks like a 40 foot canal at the moment, you know? Uh, and I can't go into that at the moment because we still have to vacuum it again and again and again, but you're alive.

[00:17:53] Yvonne: [00:17:53] Barbados was just coming out of some restrictions and, you know, Monday we were due to be able to go to bars at 50% capacity, maybe head out on leisure, pleasure crafts and things like that. So obviously this came in over the weekend. I've worked in the travel industry as well. And so we were hoping that was going to be the bounce back of tourism with the new protocols announced.

[00:18:14] And it just feels, this is, you know, another kind of major setback. Do you get a sense of. how people are feeling about the, I suppose, kind of the future in Barbados with the lumen potential long, lasting ash cloud situation.

[00:18:28] Vic: [00:18:28] Well, you know, I'm probably not a good person to ask because I'm, I'm the eternal optimist.

[00:18:34] And I, I always believe that there is a, you know, the glass is not half empty. It's half full. And because I have to, I have to believe that because as human beings we need positive energy. We need to think positively. Otherwise we get depressed and we, you know, we begin to make all kinds of mistakes and we lose interest and so on.

[00:18:53] So it's a battle. We know it's a battle, but you know, I always can console myself with, you know, our forefathers in these islands, uh, would have gone through much more terrible, uh, conditions than we did. And therefore we shouldn't be whining and complaining. You know, we have a lot to be grateful for in terms of tourism.

[00:19:16] You know, it's been a difficult one because as you said this, I mean, who wants to come to an Island right now they're just covered in ash. You're not going to do that, but I do sense that there's an appetite for the Barbados tourism product and, and that we have a product that is, that has always been attractive.

[00:19:32] And I think it will continue to be attractive. I believe that once we have the. Some semblance of herd immunity, or at least the vaccinations, uh, in place for our visitors coming in. I I've heard the prime minister in her last press briefing, outlining potential approaches of how it could work. Those have not been finalized yet.

[00:19:55] And I hope that with people like yourself, you know, guiding because we have to get the feedback from your end too, as well as to how, how it's going to work. I remain optimistic, but we have a product that's a good product. And that, uh, we, Barbadians like to say that God is a Bajan because somehow we seem to duck most of the calamities, earthquakes and floods and hurricanes.

[00:20:20] The last real hurricane we had in Barbados was in 1955. You know, so when people overseas asked me about, well, should I come through in the hurricane season? I said, why not? You know, we've been here all of our lives. Most of us have never seen one. In fact, I've seen more hurricanes out of Barbados than in Barbados.

[00:20:40] I've been in five or against in other islands just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, uh, and I've been caught in Cuba and Belize, in The Bahamas, you know, so yeah, I've been, I've been in quite a few hurricanes where, you know, like and even, in Miami, the last one of all places for God's sake, you know, in Miami.

[00:21:00] Yeah. So I, I do think, but here's, here's, here's the thing. Now we have, um, my wife has, uh, a side business, a small business that we, we run, we have our own little, um, real estate. Uh, we have some properties that we put. And veteran rentals. And a few years back, she started, uh, with some short-term rentals using doing Airbnb at the height of the Airbnb.

[00:21:27] We had five of our units, different parts of the Island on Airbnb. She has been a Superhost from pretty much from the first day she got Superhost status, but of course, Airbnb died. Just came to a halt. So we've had to. She said, well, what do I do? I said, well, let's, let's go into long-term rentals, go back to long-term rentals.

[00:21:50] So we've done that now the cottage here at our home that one, we're not going to put long-term rentals in it because we don't want anybody here on a permanent basis. Uh, so we got to keep that one. And when, when, when the market reopens, but we've had, we've had guests who have been with us before making inquiries and saying, uh, you know, when do you think we could come?

[00:22:11] So I think that's, I think that's positive. Because we made great friendships over the years with people who have used our Airbnbs in particular, the one which is right here on our compound. So whether they like to, or not, or we like to, or not, we see each other pretty much every day we do things together.

[00:22:28] We invite them to, you know, if we're going out somewhere, we invite them to join with us. It'd be going to the market, went up to Oystens we're going out for a meal, that sort of stuff. And so on to the point where, you know, we've had repeat guests that I, I really couldn't charge them because. You know, I just didn't feel I could do that.

[00:22:44] You know? So, uh, we've had to give up on that for the time being, but look, look at all the inventory we have in, in hotels, we don't have a choice, you know, we can't turn that inventory into anything else. Our economy is built on tourism and I hear, I hear political pundits and, you know, um, Armchair experts, uh, holding forth on, or, you know, we, we, we need to diversify this economy and, you know, not be dependent on tourism.

[00:23:16] And the question I always ask is, and what is that? Could you tell me what that is? Because it's, it's fine to say that we should have this great diversity, but what is this diversity? Because if it was that easy to find, I believe we would've done it already. Not so tourism in short, what I'm saying is.

[00:23:34] It's it's what we have. It's our greatest play. It's what we offer. It's our friendliness, it's our warmth, it's our culture, it's our food, you know, and, and that's not going to go away. And I think the relationship that we have particularly with, with. Areas like UK, we have a symbiotic relationship with Barbados is for long seen itself as, you know, little England and so on are our legacy with crickets and our traditions.

[00:24:01] And so on. Even as you drive around and you look at the names of places and so on, but you know, all of these Hastings and

[00:24:10] yeah, it's very British, whether you, so we are not going to change that, you know? So I'm, I'm optimistic that once. We can see some sense of normalcy. I'm a worried about COVID than I am about, about the volcanic eruption, because I know that has to end at some point in time.
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Rum in Barbados: where to find the best Bajan rum punch and how to make it at home if you can't be in Barbados
9 Apr 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
**Contains details of a fantastic exclusive "Life in Barbados" prize! Listen until the end to hear how to enter.

You may well need this email.

Clue - you can use Control and Print screen to screen grab on a computer. Please Google how to do it on your mobile device!**

This episode is all about where to find the best rum punch in Barbados and how you can make it at home if you can't get out here.

Imagine if it was your job to spend your days by the beach perfecting the ultimate Bajan rum punch recipe? That's not a bad 9-5 if you ask me!

Don’t believe that it’s possible?

Well, Kim and Rodger, owners of Cutters of Barbados, will tell you otherwise.

The pair ditched their big-city life and moved to the stunning Caribbean island of Barbados to slow down and enjoy life.

During that time, they’ve opened up a thriving deli and an uber cool hammock garden.

They also run mixology classes for people wanting to nail down their own rum punch recipes.

This week, I went along to try out my bartending skills at the beautiful Harrismith Beach location.

Let’s just say I took full advantage of the opportunity for a lot of taste testing and I think I’ve since managed to get my measurements down pat.

I have a fantastic rum themed prize for lucky listeners to "Life In Barbados".

You will need to listen to the end for instructions on how to do it.

By the way, if you can't carry out the instructions because you had already done so, feel free to undo the action and then redo it. You'll still be eligible!

Here's the email to send it to...

By the time you hear this, the first round of judging will have been carried out at the British Podcast Awards, in which this show is nominated.

I will update you on this show once I have news , but in the meantime please follow my social channels for more frequent updates!

You can find ALL of my links here.

During this episode, we cover:

How I spent my Easter weekend on the paradise island.

The origins of Cutters.

How to get the perfect Bajan rum punch.

My attempts at making an authentic Barbados rum punch.

Roger's breakdown of Bajan rum.

Details of my special exclusive "Life in Barbados" prize.

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Life in Barbados: Three months on a paradise island - an overview of the epic dream Bajan travel story so far
2 Apr 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
**This episode contains a special offer for regular listeners. Here's the link you'll need in order to claim it!**

I'm delighted to announce this podcast is up for a prestigious award at the British Podcast Awards. I'm proud to be nominated in the category of best documentary.

As part of the submission process, I had to provide the judges with thirty minutes of my favourite bits from this, which wasn't easy. I've enjoyed every second.

Listening back got me in the mood for revisiting some of the key moments, and I hope you'll also enjoy the opportunity to take another taste of Bajan life, with me.

In this episode, I make reference to my photos on instagram. Please do follow it if you haven't already, as you never know if you'll need a handy quick grab of photos for creating your own dream travel plan.

If you're new to the show, once you've heard this episode, you might want to go back and catch up with episodes you've missed.

You'll be able to do that here.

We cover:

My journey's start, catching the news in Belfast.

Meeting the Bajan Warrior Nicolas Deane.

Taking in a food tour of Bridgetown.

Exploring the surf with surfing champion Alan Burke.

The badass women of Barbados.

And, planning the perfect Bajan wedding.

If you're new to this show, I'd really appreciate it if you would please follow or subscribe! You can click this link to do so in your favourite app.

By the way, sometimes the team quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

There was also this one which featured the full length chat with local surfing legend, Alan Burke.

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram
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Barbados history and mystery: a Speightstown walking tour!
26 Mär 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
For this episode I decided to take in the history and mystery of Barbados. I booked myself of a walking tour of Speightstown.

I was shown around by Carlos Goodman, one of Barbados’ most knowledgeable tour guides. During the tour he pointed out a lot of the sites that will be eventually making their way on to my instagram. If you can't wait, you can check out some of the wonderful photos on his Facebook page here.

We cover:
The significance of the Dutch influence on the island. Why if you go for a visit, you might want to head to Bristol.
It's not just the streets of Speightstown I toured in this episode though.

I also took in a tour of Coral Reef and Sandpiper to get an idea for what's on offer for you and other holiday loving listeners, if you decide you'd like my help with booking a trip out here on the paradise island.

If you do want to talk to me about anything you've heard covered on this Barbados podcast, you can book it right now, here.

Useful links:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g666623-d13010370-Reviews-Historic_Speightstown_Walking_Tours-Speightstown_Saint_Peter_Parish_Barbados.html Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HSEBarbados/ More info on Speightstown: https://barbados.org/spght.htm#.YFQvWxMza3I Speightstown Archaeology Research Project: https://speightstownarchaeology.wordpress.com/
If you're new to this show, I'd really appreciate it if you would please follow or subscribe! You can click this link to do so in your favourite app.

By the way, sometimes the team quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

There was also this one which featured the full length chat with local surfing legend, Alan Burke.

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram
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Barbados ocean life: exploring what's under the surface of the Bajan sea
19 Mär 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
If you listened to the Barbados episode of my previous podcast, "The Bucket List", you probably heard my conversation with Visit Barbados' Marc McCollin.

We discussed how to get the best out of a visit to this beautiful paradise island, and that chat uncovered the reason for the incredible crystal blue sea.

I've been listening back to that episode myself, for reasons that I explain during the episode.

Hearing that mention of the unique island formation reminded me that I wanted to learn more about what lies beneath.

So this episode is all about exploring the ocean life, and covers all aspects including what lives down there, and how we can keep it down there, by applying sustainability practices.

I'm joined for a chat by marine biologist Nikola Simpson.

We cover:
Some interesting facts about the waters that surround the island of Barbados! What we can find under the sea? Interesting ways people engage with and experience some of these including the sea turtle project (linked below).
As well as exploring everything there is to know about the beautiful wet stuff in Barbados, I have updates on a brand new Netflix show that's being filmed here and a huge sound upgrade I'm making!

Thanks to West Riley Electronics for their help!

Useful links:
UNDP Accelerator Lab Barbados & Eastern Caribbean: Accelerator Lab for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean | UNDP in Barbados & the Eastern Caribbean @undp @acceleratorlabs Sargassum Outlook Bulletin Slow Fish Sustainable Seafood Guide: Resources | Slowfood (slowfoodbarbados.org) @slowfoodbarbados The Barbados Sea Turtle Project : The Barbados Sea Turtle Project (barbadosseaturtles.org) @barbadosseaturtle
If you're new to this show, I really appreciate you giving this a read, and I'd love it if you would please follow or subscribe! You can click this link to follow the show in your favourite app.

By the way, sometimes the team quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

There was also this one which featured the full length chat with local surfing legend, Alan Burke.

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram
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Barbados' (Bonus) Badass Women: Yvonne's full-length conversations with the paradise island's Bajan women that we recognised as part of our International Women's Day 2021 celebrations!
19 Mär 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados has some quite incredible and inspirational women and we decided they're so inspirational, they deserved more podcast time!

I chatted with three different women with three very different backgrounds, and I'm so delighted that I get to shine a spotlight on these 'bad ass' women of Barbados during this bonus episode.

Please note, this episode is the full 'raw' conversations, and has only had very minimal editing.

Please excuse any audio glitches you might hear.

We have, a philanthropist, a long-listed novelist, and a passionate equestrian Olympic hopeful.

Firstly I chat with Dr Barbara Trieloff-Deane. She's very passionate about helping young Bajan women get started off with the best possible opportunities as early as possible and has her fingers on the pulse of many good causes.

Cherie S.A. Jones is waiting to hear if she's going to land a very prestigious literary award. She's also a lawyer and a mum!

Also, Monique Archer, who is a gifted equestrian and is very keen to do her bit to raise awareness of a cause that's very close to her heart.

We really hope you enjoy joining us in celebrating these truly spectacular Barbados women.

If you're new to this show, please do make sure you now subscribe! You can click this link to follow the show in your favourite app. Sometimes we quietly and secretly post bonus content just like this, that you'll only be notified about if you're subscribed.

Follow the show on Podchaser

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Barbados' Badass Women: A special episode celebrating the paradise island's Bajan women in recognition of International Women's Day 2021!
12 Mär 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados has some quite incredible and inspirational women.

I know this, because I researched them during my plans for this special episode celebrating International Women's Day earlier this week.

I wanted to find three different women with three very different backgrounds, and I'm super excited to announce that I've pulled it off for this very episode.

I'm so delighted that I get to shine a spotlight on these 'bad ass' women of Barbados during this episode.

These Bajan ladies all left me feeling really positive.

We have, a philanthropist, a long-listed novelist, and a passionate equestrian Olympic hopeful.

Firstly I chat with Dr Barbara Trieloff-Deane. She's very passionate about helping young Bajan women get started off with the best possible opportunities as early as possible and has her fingers on the pulse of many good causes.

Cherie S.A. Jones is waiting to hear if she's going to land a very prestigious literary award. She's also a lawyer and a mum!

Also, Monique Archer, who is a gifted equestrian and is very keen to do her bit to raise awareness of a cause that's very close to her heart.

If that's not enough celebrating of spectacular Barbados women for you, we also have a few special shout-outs, from some of my paradise island listeners, for the ladies that are truly inspiring them over here.

Here they are.

Cheryl Carter

Mia Mottley

Dr Drake

We really hope you enjoy joining us in celebrating these truly spectacular Barbados women.

If you're new to this show, please do make sure you now subscribe! You can click this link to follow the show in your favourite app. Sometimes we quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

There was also this one which featured the full length chat with local surfing legend, Alan Burke.

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram
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Barbados sustainability: responsible travel to the paradise island and how eco-tourism is transforming the Caribbean
5 Mär 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados is paradise.

This we already know.

But is it also eco-friendly, with consideration for sustainability? This is what we intend to find out during this episode!

During this episode, I, Yvonne Campbell, Barbados expert and travel agent, get investigative and try to discover what the options are for eco-conscious tourists.

I chat to Kyle Taylor, the owner of the Eco Lifestyle and Lodge and farm, who has has a business that produces water out of thin air!

I get the lowdown on the UN development programme, and the Blue economy, and tell you all about a very fruitful coffee morning I attended that introduced me to some fascinating locals who are involved in this very sustainability hot topic!

It's not all serious stuff though! It was my birthday last weekend. I'll share with you what it's like experiencing an anniversary away from home, on this Bajan paradise island.

Oh, and I got my first ever Barbados post! What a lovely surprise!

There's a special exclusive update from The Crane beach house, regarding testing, so I was excited to be able to bring you that news before anyone else!

We also hear from Sea Breeze hotel, about what they're doing to make sure they're considering sustainability at their resort.

Have you subscribed yet? You can click this link to follow the show in your favourite app. It's worth doing so, because sometimes we quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

There was also this one which featured the full length chat with local surfing legend, Alan Burke.

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram
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Barbados surfing: the full length chat with international surfing champion Alan Burke
27 Feb 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
If you listened to the latest full episode, you'll know it was all about surfing on the beautiful beaches of the paradise island of Barbados.

As a regular follower of subscriber, I wanted to offer this token of my gratitude - a special bonus episode.

This features the full length version of the chat I had with Alan Burke. Alan's a Bajan former national and international surfing champion, and he runs Burkie's Surf School.

Please note, this has not been tightly edited, and is the raw original conversation.

If you ARE planning on heading to Barbados to do some surfing, you should definitely listen to this episode. Alan offers some incredible tips and advice on catching the Bajan waves!

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By the way, this isn't my only podcast. If you're enjoying Life in Barbados, please check out my other travel themed podcast, "The Bucket List".

That podcast features guests talking about a wide range of experiences, and should give you plenty of inspiration for when we're all allowed to travel again soon!
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Barbados surfing: learning to surf the Caribbean swells with Bajan surfing legend Alan Burke
25 Feb 2021· Life in Barbados: A Year On A Paradise Island (Otherworld Travel)
Barbados is the place to be if you want to surf. There's no question about it. Due to its unique position in the Caribbean seas, it generates some seriously good conditions for anyone wishing to catch a wave.

But what if you're not an experienced surfer? Can you still consider going to Barbados as a viable destination for learning to surf.

This is the exact question and topic we're covering in this episode.

If your experience of 'trying to surf' has so far been limited to falling off of your board on Fistral Beach in Newquay, then you definitely want to listen to my chat with Alan Burke.

Alan's a Bajan former national and international surfing champion, and he runs Burkie's Surf School.

From Barbados surfing legend to Bajan surf beginner, as I have a quick catch up with Craig Bulow, a person I met a month ago when we was starting his lessons.

I also talk about my exciting moment appearing LIVE on television on the UK's Sky News.

Oh, and if that's not enough, this episode contains swimming horses!!! Yes, seriously!

In this episode, you'll hear:
Why you might get to see horses in the sea if you're on the right beach at the right time! My moment of national television news coverage thanks to a Sky journalist stumbling across this podcast on social media. Barbados surfing legend Alan Burke from Burkie's Surf School telling us all about learning to surf in the Bajan paradise. Craig Bulow on his experiences learning to surf in Barbados. If you want to check out the film "Box, Bowl and the Burkes" that Alan mentions, you can do that, here. Alan mentions his favourite beach. (Spoiler alert: it's Brandons Beach). This is a short video of it that I've found so you can see what it looks like.
Have you subscribed yet? You can click this link to follow the show in your favourite app. It's worth doing so, because sometimes we quietly and secretly post bonus content that you'll only find out about if you're subscribed.

Hint! There might just be another bonus episode coming your way in the next few days!

Did you manage to check out this one (all about weddings in Barbados) which we posted as a special Valentine's Day treat?

Follow the show on Podchaser

Follow the show on Instagram

Although people are loving following along with my Barbados journey, this isn't my only podcast. If you're enjoying Life in Barbados, please check out my other travel themed podcast, "The Bucket List".

That podcast features guests talking about a wide range of experiences, and should give you plenty of inspiration for when we're all allowed to travel again soon!
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Real Bajan style fish cakes in Barbados! Yvonne gets to grips with a traditional Bajan dish recipe! She learns to make cod fish cakes during a cooking lesson at Palm Terrace restaurant!

Gardens in Barbados: visiting Hunte's gardens, the "most enchanting attraction" in Barbados.

Golf in Barbados: hitting the links and golfing in style on a paradise island

Vegan in Barbados: Plant-based eating on a paradise island

Diving in Barbados: a day checking out wrecks, reefs and sea life!

Barbados' Historic St Nicholas Abbey: a tour of the distillery and taking a train!

Barbados Sunset Cruise: take a Bajan trip through paradise on a Catamaran

Barbados Questions Answered: Ask Me Anything - Listeners ask Yvonne about being an expat in Barbados

Barbados in a day (part two): a taxi tour of the paradise island's East coast

Barbados in a day: a taxi tour of the paradise island

Barbados under ash: life through a volcanic eruption ash cloud

Rum in Barbados: where to find the best Bajan rum punch and how to make it at home if you can't be in Barbados

Life in Barbados: Three months on a paradise island - an overview of the epic dream Bajan travel story so far

Barbados history and mystery: a Speightstown walking tour!

Barbados ocean life: exploring what's under the surface of the Bajan sea

Barbados' (Bonus) Badass Women: Yvonne's full-length conversations with the paradise island's Bajan women that we recognised as part of our International Women's Day 2021 celebrations!

Barbados' Badass Women: A special episode celebrating the paradise island's Bajan women in recognition of International Women's Day 2021!

Barbados sustainability: responsible travel to the paradise island and how eco-tourism is transforming the Caribbean

Barbados surfing: the full length chat with international surfing champion Alan Burke

Barbados surfing: learning to surf the Caribbean swells with Bajan surfing legend Alan Burke