It’s a travel day and we are not diving. This is the ‘Nature Island’ so it is our plan to visit the forest and see what’s what.
Fort Shirley, Cabrits National Park
First stop Cabrits National Park. The peninsula is stategic from a military point of view and that is where the Brits built a huge fort in the 19th Century. The wisdom of the time was to deforest the entire area for the visablity it offered. The restoration for the main part of the fort is quite good. The buildings are completely reconstucted and you can walk about viewing things as it might have been. The out buildings are in ruins and a little more imagination is required.
Officer’s Quarters, Fort Shirley
We then head to Syndicate/Milton Falls. The Syndicate Nature Walk is one of the National Park high lights. On the other hand if you wish to see the Milton Falls you must cross private land and you must pay the piper to gain access. This seems to be quasi legal but it is being done. The falls are still on the tourist trail and guides take people there. The money goes to maintaining the trail and access road but either they don’t collect enough funds or trail maintaince is not high on the budget because it does not look maintained at all to me. The falls are nice but maybe I am jaded, to me they are falls and not worth the cash or the walk. The single lane asphalt road was much more of an adventure.
Milton Falls
Onward to our next destination. Salibury. We thought we should dive a few days mid island and Salisbury seemed to be the hub. East Carib Divers is one of the places we are looking for and the first one we find. We pull off the highway and into a three car parking lot. The gate to the beach is closed so we dismount and walk down a very steep incline to the water’s edge and through an enclave of buildings to see if we can find anyone so we can store our gear for tomorrow. Beatrice appears out of nowhere and shows us where the gear is kept. 8.15 tomorrow morning she says and we are on the road again.
This time in search of the Tamerind Tree Hotel. Only a couple of hundred meters down the road really but this time it is up a steep hill. Everything seems to be steep here. Our room is plain but more than adequate. There are two chairs and a table on our front deck that have million dollar view.
View from the Tamarind Tree Hotel
Only short comings of this place is the lack of eating establishments. It is Monday and we are told a good number of the places are closed on Mondays but we find exactly 3 places to eat other than our hotel restaurant. With pickings slim, we choose Carib Bay Beach Bar and share a burger with fried potatoes and salad.
Time to relax from our day topside. Tomorrow we submerge again into the Carribean.