Airports, airports, airports…

As I have a few minutes after work at The Crane in Barbados, I want to share with you a few thoughts about Caribbean airports.
For these who plan to travel through the Caribbean – patience is the key. You may arrive in Barbados which is very nice, with beautiful airport, friendly and very quick immigration staff. You may arrive in St Lucia, which is also reasonably OK, although it takes more time to get through security, immigration and customs there.
But if you go to one of these small airports served by LIAT or Caribbean Airlines – be patient, and most important – don’t get irritated! If you do – things will go even slower (and less friendly) than before, people around you are very sensitive to your mood, so stay calm. That is the best way…

These islands are beautiful and people are friendly – but somehow it changes in airports. Especially Grenada airport has rather unpleasant, indifferent, uninterested, slow and unwelcoming staff – including airlines reps.
We visited this beautiful island many times, and love it and its people. But – not even once airport staff greeted us nicely, and we heard the same story from many other travelers. Grenada – wake up! It is the very first impression you make on your visitors!
Once you pass the gate and step outside – life is nice again, taxi drivers honest and wonderful, people good and welcoming, you can enjoy your stay. But you need to first survive these slow procedures, and you are much better off pretending you are not going nuts by the way it all is handled.

Depending on your luck it can be also a little bit like that on St Vincent, Dominica, or other small islands. So, take it easy.
One amazing exception is Martinique – but it is French territory, so it is a bit like visiting Europe – quick, efficient and nice service.
So, here are my two-pennies worth unofficial comments on our personal airport experiences.

Soon we fly to Jamaica, and in the meantime I post here some quick snapshots from Dominica – amazing, unspoiled, wonderful land. It is so beautiful and almost surreal that it brings to mind… the Avatar ! Avatar movie with its all unbelievable landscapes. Hope you enjoy.

PS.
I forgot to mention – we did some shooting in three locations presented in the Bachelor series: Cap Maison, Jalousie, and Arc En Ciel. Really nice places. Hope you will like them in our book.
Cheers, ’till the next time.
Derek

Greetings from our Caribbean tour

We are touring the Caribbean again, going through several countries – St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, Honduras… you name it…
This time our photography and interviews bring us to places designed by a prominent Caribbean architect whose amazong works will be the subject of our third Caribbean book. The title (at least the working title) is The Caribbean Architect, and we believe it will be a fantastic and unusual book. Stay tuned!

The sun is hot, weather tough for photography, as we are witnessing here the worst draught in decades. Usually lush St Lucia is covered with smoke of bush fires, and all plants are yellow, suffering badly. The woter supply on the island is limited. The dull haze always covers the horizon, making all landscape photography very difficult. Still, we are visiting some of the most amazing places worthy the extra effort in photo editing.

So, I would like to show you couple of quick photos from our current locations. The Hibiscus villa is a jewel of traditional Caribbean style, covered with fantastic gingerbread ornamentation. it is a fiesta for the eye. We just photographed it yesterday, while two days ago we did Le Sport, an amazingly elegant, health-oriented resort north of Castries in St Lucia. The photo shows the Moorish style entrance to the spa.

We all hope you will enjoy these photos, and send you greetings from the beautiful Caribbean. I will post some more news we go…

Cheers,
Derek, Margaret, Lex
creative team of Ozone Zone Books.