Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 9

Friday 5^th April 2013

It was “All aboard the Jolly Roger!” today as we spent our day off out at sea on a pirate ship!

After a bit of a lie-in we met for breakfast just before 9am and then were picked up at 9.30am to go into Bridgetown to the docks. We then signed in and had a few glasses of fruit punch (no rum punch allowed!) before we headed over to board the boat.

Our first stop was to snorkel around the wreck of a boat but before we even left the docks Alex was already set to drive in!

Everyone was struggling with their mask & snorkels and the strange way that the lifejackets did up between your legs (!) but we had a good swim over the wreck and saw some quite big fish.

We then had a break for an hour where we had lunch and sailed up the west coast of the island. Our second and last stop of the day was to swim with two turtles, walk the plank and throw ourselves into the sea via the rope swing! Who do you think has the best technique from the plank?

Georgie definitely got the loudest cheer of the day as the boat just seemed to rock back as she went on the rope swing which caused her to go higher than anyone else – the look on her face was priceless!!

At 2pm we started our return journey to Bridgetown but the crew made sure it wasn’t a relaxing ride back as they got us all up and dancing on the top deck – something Alex definitely loved!!

We got back to the hotel around 4pm which gave the players enough time to relax before we headed out to dinner at 6pm. Tonight we went back to St. Lawrence Gap but this time we visited a great Mexican restaurant for some burritos and a chimichanga (that’s a wrap, not a dance!).

After the meal we went to Chilli Moos for the ice cream the players had been waiting for all week . . . and here’s Georgie with her prize for winning the sets yesterday!

The next two days are going to be quite light with probably one tennis session each day so that the players are fresh and ready for their final week of competition in Guadeloupe.