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Monday March 1st

A day off!! Another cloudless sky and hot day but this time no cricket - a day to ourselves. A little business first as the MCC wanted the score sheets from the weekend, so I managed to fax them from Hotel reception. We had hired our tour bus driver for the day and we planned to go to the beach to meet the Trinidad and Tobago ladies team. The beach we were going to was about an hour away and is called Maracas. I t was a very pretty route over the mountains and we stopped a couple of times for Photo opportunities. The beach looked beautiful when we arrived, palm trees and lots of sand and deep blue sea. The sand was too hot to walk on but the sea was very close. We put the cool box full of water under a palm tree and into the sea. It was lovely and warm but there were a few waves. We stayed in for ages, and I actually had a manager's meeting with the Trinidad and Tobago manager chest deep in the sea! There was a small 'incident' when I went in to photograph the beach from the sea with my waterproof camera. Lesley and I waded out and I was taking a shot of her when we were knocked over by the biggest wave of the day. I felt her rushing past me, under water but towards the shore. When I eventually stood up, my tankini was around my neck and ankles but I still had hold of my camera. Lesley had lost her glasses but was in one piece. Several of the team came to our rescue - the one who is nervous of water did take her shoes and socks off but directed proceedings from the water's edge. In what must be a million to one chance, one of the team found Lesley's glasses and they were not even floating! After that little episode we needed sustenance so over the road we went to Richard's Bake and Shark. This is a famous delicacy consisting of a fried bread roll thing filled with battered shark and then any sort of salad and sauces you want. Our trust liason officer had negotiated local rates so it was very cheap. After lunch there was more swimming and we all bought necklaces and bracelets from a beach trader. Back to the hotel for dinner and a couple of beers around the pool. A brilliant but tiring 'rest day'.


Tuesday March 2nd

Back to work today! We were programmed to coach today so on the coach to the National Cricket Centre where we met the T and T ladies for a day's coaching of some 50 local school children. I don't think my tum appreciated the shark sandwich of yesterday so I was struggling. I drank lots of water and ate fruit but I did not attempt the spicy West Indian lunch, which is a pity because it looked delicious. We finished coaching at 2 and then our coach driver and liason officer had managed to get us a good deal on a boat trip on a mangrove swamp. We lathered ourselves in insect repellent and boarded our boat. It was a very interesting trip and we saw fog fish, four eyed fish ( these can apparently see under water and on top of water at the same time) snakes, tree crabs and then the finale was hundreds of red ibis coming in to roost for the night. The trip was 2 hours and cost us each about £5. We were all so tired and dirty that we did not bother with a meal, we just grabbed some food from a supermarket and back to the hotel .Early night tonight as we have a one day game tomorrow.