DAY 20 March 31

It is lovely to be back, even though quite a lot of the island has been badly damaged by the last hurricane. You can actually see corridors of woodland where the hurricane rushed through and took about half off all the trees. I should think it would have been very scary to have been here.

This morning we visited the J N Darling Wildlife Refuge. Last time we did it on bikes but as I had not been well yesterday we resorted to the car. It is still a fantastic place, a four mile drive through wetlands and lots of birds. They have built a huge number of osprey nests on the top of poles, a goodly number of which had chicks on the nests. We came across an osprey who had caught a massive fish which it was tearing apart. You had the feeling that it’s talon had caught in the fish and it could not get free. It made for a good photo, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAMERA! We had not intended to go there this morning so I had left it behind. I had to resort to the iPhone but it was not bad. There was a nest just before it so it could well have been the other parent.

We will definitely go back there again before we leave, at least once - with my camera.

We did a bit of window shopping after the refuge centre. Lovely shops and will probably return.

The afternoon was spent by the pool - in the shade as it is very very hot.

We ate this evening at the Mud Bugs, where they get these names from I will never know. We were there before 5 pm and if was completely packed by 5.30. Lovely seafood and very good live music. Back home via the lighthouse at the end of the island. We would have parked and gone for a walk if it was feasible to pay for parking. They always do it on the phone and it is also impossible for English visitors to make it work. Wonder if Ringlo would have worked.

We shall go for a walk along the beach when the sun has gone down and the heat dissipated just a bit!