Sunday, 19th January
Anse Chastanet
I set an alarm for 7:00am, but it wasn’t required – perhaps the time difference has had an effect. This morning just a simple buffet breakfast for us. All-inclusive is all-too-tempting! But we must resist!!
A daily orientation tour of the hotel and its facilities is held every morning at 9:00am and we decided it would be a good idea to get to know the ropes. Nobody else turned up, so we were treated to a personal tour by Peter Jean-Paul, one of the duty managers. Peter is a fantastic guide. Humorous, extremely knowledgeable and engaging. I believe he gives this tour three of four times a week – but despite this is hugely enthusiastic. (I might save some of the history of the hotel for another day.)
After the orientation tour we walked along the beach and round the headland to the hotel’s other beach, Anse Mamin. The weather had been changeable up to now, but was definitely brightening at this point. We found a couple of loungers under a thatched umbrella and sat down. No sooner had we done so a member of the hotel staff was there offering us drinks – late morning so it was a couple of alcohol-free ‘juices’. Suitably refreshed, we went back to the Beach Restaurant for lunch… Gazpacho soup and prawn ‘cocktail’ for me, pumpkin soup and bread for Jo; just sparkling water at this stage as we were booked in for ‘Rum Mixology’ later in the afternoon. After lunch, more lazing around on Anse Mamin beach, reading for Jo, just lazing for me. At four we returned to the Beach Restaurant for the Rum Mixology session.
Whilst waiting for the Rum Mixology demonstration I noticed a pelican that looked as if it was going fishing. After a couple of 'runs' I decided to video it. Much to my delight I managed to capture it diving into the sea and, I think, catching something. On our earlier orientation tour Peter had told us about the pelicans. Apparently two arrived during Covid and their numbers had now swelled to 17.
Up to this point in my life I would have avoided rum like the plague, but now, having joined the Rum Mixology session, I’m a complete convert. We were shown how to mix, Mojitos, Daiquiri and Old Fashioned Rum Punch, with various rums produced on the island. If I can remember the recipes perhaps I’ll note them in an addendum… There were twelve guests and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! (There was an accompanying plate of delicious fish based snacks to mop up the alcohol…)
The climb back up the steps to our room seemed easier than it had done earlier in the day…
Before dinner Jo did some reading and I finally managed to get the laptop to connect to the WiFi. (It was something to do with DNS settings, but we will leave it at that!)
Dinner was taken at the Treetops restaurant again and again it didn't disappoint.
