It's over and time to reflect on it all. A bucket full of fun and an amazing experience. A difficult location work in though as the majority of visitors are there to holiday and the locals operate on "island time". The heat can be stifling on match days when you sit there baking away and the sweat pours out of you. The travel between islands is difficult but the regular change of location kept it interesting. We were lucky in not having to go to Guyana and NZ's semi being in Jamaica as this is where I was always going to be for that match. The locals would either smile and engage you, totally ignore you or try to rip you off. The ICC needs to take a long hard look at itself and publicly admit they may have just got it wrong. The locals love their cricket but they were priced out of going therefore robbing the tournament of the atmosphere it was hoping for. Once they relaxed the rules and offered cheaper tickets, as in Grenada, it made for better atmosphere even when their team wasn't playing. So yes, I would come back, to either holiday or even cover a tour with test matches. The experienced I have gained of the West Indies would be a shame to waste....
Best Beach: Rockley Beach, Barbados.
It was the first and last beach we swam in. Very warm with enough surf to either body surf or boogie board in. A close second is Grand Anse beach in Grenada. No surf and not quite as warm but amazingly clear water.
Best Island: Grenada.
Although our departure was soured by the idiots at the airport (security and immigration) I'm not going to let them ruin my feelings about the place. A lovely harbour with cool old buildings, Grand Anse beach, Fish Fryday (see earlier blog), Chicken Corner and a lively city centre. Second place goes to Barbados, a lot different to Grenada but because of the beach and it is a bit more developed.
Best Meal: La Luna in Grenada.
Not just because we went on my birthday but it was sensational, nice service (not always easy to get) and a cool location. Second place goes to Pisces in Barbados, we went twice and both times it was excellent. The second visit was for the Reuters CWC crew farewell dinner, great night. Special mention for two other places, Chicken Corner in Grenada and the hot dogs at Antigua airport, yummmmmm
Best Accommodation: Accra Beach Hotel, Barbados.
Stayed here in our first week and faces straight on to Rockley Beach. Apart from the breakfast nazi (grumpy woman who supplied the bill ever morning) it has the best pool and beach, what more can you ask for. Second place goes to the Jolly Harbour in Antigua. Mainly because it was a two bedroom, two storey villa with a kitchen! A chance for home cooked meals, and this cannot be underestimated.....
Best Touristy Thing we did: A tie between The Pitons in St. Lucia and the Bob Marley Museum.
The Pitons, amazing volcanic cones poking straight out of the sea about 2km's apart. Quite spectacular, spent a day on a beach between them. A long and windy drive to get there but well worth it. The Bob Marley museum was fascinating and a highlight of Jamaica. Second place to the snorkeling trip to Great Bird Island at the top of Antigua. Not much time for much in this trip unfortunately.
Best Beer: Piton Beer from St. Lucia
Drank plenty so very qualified to comment. Fairly cheap, when not bought at our St. Lucia hotel, and went down a treat after those hot long days at training or a match. Second place to Banks beer of Barbados.
Best Rum: Mount Gay, Barbados
No contest here I'm afraid, and even cheaper than beer. A 750ml bottle cost approx $10! And because it is so cheap the bars use "plenty" when they pour you one, I'm sure the coke is only used for colouring!
Best Local I Met: Al, the taxi driver
As mentioned in an earlier blog, he saw me as a way to make money, which is fine as he didn't blatantly rip me off, and took me for a beer and a tour of the red light district. Unfortunately the majority of the locals saw the World Cup as a way to up the prices and rip everyone off. This caused frustration and a bit of aggro at times. Even though it isn't my own money I'm spending on taxi's etc, I still don't like being ripped off. Second place to the guy on the side of the road who made us stop to view the Pitons. He was selling jewelery but didn't force it on to us and was entertaining
Worst Airline: LIAT
This is a clear winner, just amazing how bad they can be. Everyone had a bad experience and the worst part is they don't give a shit. No apologies or even explanations when the flight they have given you a boarding pass for doesn't even exist. Travel between the islands is a major hassle. Because every flight is an international one, you have to check in at least 2 1/2 hours early, check in takes forever because even if you have a ticket, it by no way means you exist in their system and invariably the flight will be late. A 40min flight generally takes 4 hours on average. Then it is through immigration and customs again when you finally make it to your destination. I will say, however, Caribbean Airlines, which we used to fly to Jamaica and back, was a lot better and the trip there actually arrived early.
Best Stadium: Grenada National Stadium
Amazing to think it was rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan in late 2004. Good facilities and the best photo manager. The security was a joke but this actually made life for us so much easier. The media are supposed to be searched when they arrive on game day at every stadium but in Grenada the entry to the ground via car bypassed the search area so managed to avoid this, saving up to 15mins and the hassle of unpacking everything (even tho they had no idea what they were looking at in our camera bags). The crazy part was there was no search on non match days so if anyone wanted to take a bomb into the stadium, that was the day to do it and leave it anywhere you wanted......
Best Training Ground: Stanford Cricket Club, Antigua
An absolute contrast to the rest of the Caribbean. This place was built by a super rich Texan so no expense was spared. The grass was like carpet, the facilities lovely and the scope for photos was ideal. Second place goes to the Antigua Recreation Ground. This is a total contrast to Stanford, old and rickety stands but with so much character, and its where Brian Lara scored his world record tests runs, I would love to do a test match there.
Best Match (I covered): England v Sri Lanka, Antigua
A thriller, unusual for this tournament unfortunately. It came down to the last ball with 3 runs needed but Bopara was bowled. The final should have been a highlight but as we know it was a farce. But it was still very memorable, only just for the wrong reasons.
Best of the Rest:
Hobie cat sailing in St. Lucia, the banana dacquiri in St. Lucia, windmills in Antigua, Animal Flower cave in Barbados, the pool bar at the Accra, the pool at the Windjammer (not an ideal hotel to work from though), the nachos at Bubbas in Barbados, cheap shopping in Jamaica, Montserat Island with smoking volcano, Long Bay in Antigua, my birthday at Chicken Corner in Grenada.
