I am not quite sure what duration I am going to take but am leaning to a week to 10 days and then taking another break to get my full 2 weeks later in the year. My reasoning is that I am travelling alone and it is a risk to fall into a dead resort spending a lot of money and it being quite boring apart from the 2 key activities I am going to base my trip around.
Surfing This is mostly going to happen on the south and east coasts I understand.
Scuba Diving
Basing myself in the west is going to be key to getting to the dive sites fast as the shops are here to be confirmed. But just how quite is the west ?
So How Did It Go ?
I didn't need to worry about being in a dead place for 2 weeks. In the month of September though it wasn't high season and after the school holidays it was nicely busy. They were getting ready for a busier period as the northern parts start to chill on down to the minus levels.
I have to say if something spoilt the holiday it was not the fault of Barbados. I had been working extended hours and this had given me a chronic back problem that did start to get better as I stopped sitting for long periods and started exercising again. The first week though was painful and it did affect what I was doing. The first week I spent here in the Oceans 2 Resort - you can read my review there as well. I wish I had spent a bit more time chilling by the pool and the beach instead of chasing scuba diving. The diving did not go smoothly. First two dives were good but a little short, this was ok this time round. I got a pickup from the hotel which was cool as planned.I also got some diving video shot and testing my gopro rig and light setup. BUT I have noticed it takes me a while to get back into my diving after not having dived for a good while (almost a year) and my equipment is also complaining that it isn't doing enough either. My regs are leaking (minor) on many tanks now at the first stage and they are now retired after this trip but well done to the scuba pro mark 1 ! Oh yes my go pro leaked in the bucket on the boat which was salt water not fresh - why would you use a bucket with salt water on the boat, they say to rinse masks, please make any salt water buckets clear in future dive boats ! It leaked I think because I used foil to pack out the extra space in the housing as I forgot the lcd backpack. My mask strap broke too but due to my nose being uncomfortable in this mask I shall be getting a new mask too. I don't just have a dive shop I can try on masks though. The scuba diving was also interrupted by a cold giving me a real problem to equalize my sinus spaces. It was just everything was going wrong and lack of use certainly key here.
The second week I went to zeds surfing adventures in inch marlow to try and recapture some past experience. This week was a more enjoyable one for me surfing through pain caused by a fresh rib injury. Just paddling out it popped and I was not the only one to get this injury. Surfing is hard on the body if you are doing it daily.
It was only my very last day that the pain was not getting in the way of the enjoyment so I have said that I deserve a return trip now and I must be more lucky this second time round right ?
I loved diving the stav (SS Stavronikita) it has a foot for each day of the year. Its good there is a great dive site as you may be disappointed a little by the lack of topographic interest (if your one of those divers who cant find enjoyment in the smaller fishes and marine biology)