The flight was excellent; our seats in the little upstairs
bit were roomy and comfortable. We were
quite early boarding and when we got there the cockpit door was open and the 3
pilots were in there doing their checks and whatever so I wandered to the door,
camera in hand, and asked if it would be ok to take a couple of pictures, fully
expecting the answer to be NO, citing, security, health & safety and many other
reasons why not. But I was delighted to
be told YES, come back in a few minutes when the maintenance guy had
finished. Whereupon I was introduced to
the pilots, had a brief explanation of the controls and then before I could
argue, my camera was whisked out of my hand and I was told to sit! I tried to explain that I was only ever
behind the camera but it fell on deaf ears!
Great guys, it made a fantastic, unexpected start to the
holiday.
The food on the plane was delicious and the wine plentiful,
a few good movies to watch and a couple of hours sleep for me. When I finally lifted the blinds, the sight
below was just amazing.
I think we were flying near the Bahamas and presumably this
is some kind of reef but I’ve never seen water that colour before it was
absolutely glorious.
We duly landed and were met by our guide Alex who seems very
nice and knowledgeable and is very easy on the eye!
The road network seems vast, with very wide boulevards
(communist style), however there is very little traffic and what there is,
seems to be a mixture between old American style cars and Ladas and then modern
Japanese/Korean/Chinese taxis. I’ll have
to be really strict with myself otherwise I can see 1,000s of “car” photos being
taken.
Our first hotel is a huge, concrete block by the water’s edge – the Florida Straits – no beach but a wide promenade which I think goes on for several kilometres.
The room is huge, probably about the size of a 1 bedroom flat, we have
two 5’ beds pushed together, plus another one in a sort of alcove. Huge panoramic windows which look out onto
the sea, not a pretty view but it makes a change for us as we normally look out
on building sites or service areas. And
the choice for breakfast is just huge – not just rice and beans at every meal after all!