The day began with the final Splashmins breakfast, and then onward to the Adj and Vice’s rooms for staged bag packing from 07:45.
This was a much more speedy process than preparing for Gatwick, and the only niggle being packing into much smaller carry-on bags due to the size of the Inter Caribbean plane. As Baggage Master, Rick was well prepared, so we were largely done by 10am, barring some last minute stuffing and reallocating the excess space among the team (including a number of heavy trophies!). Some resorted to wearing their scopes as a “personal item”, and blazers were considerably heavier.
This left time for filling in exit and entry forms, by sharing mobile data from whoever had access, as the WiFi was still down. Matt Blythe might have a bit of a phone bill when he gets home…
We left Splashmins on time at 11:00 with our final police escort, however there was some confusion as to which airport we were going to – i.e. NOT the airport we flew from to reach Kaieteur falls (we *definitely* would not get all our bags on those planes!) Once the message was relayed to the Police, our driver Godfrey, the baggage bus, and the GDF, all vehicles safely arrived together at Cheddi Jagan Airport.
However… On arrival, we found the flight not listed on the departure board. Cue mild panic. After some hastily made phone calls, we established that this WAS the correct airport, but we had to wait until 1:30pm for check-in to open for a 4:10pm departure… this will be tight.
For future reference for anyone travelling with firearms through Guyana, check-in involved first getting ALL the rifle cases checked for serial numbers, then once that was complete, all those carrying firearms filled in a form. Only once that paperwork was complete for everyone, could check-in could begin for the whole group. One at a time, those carrying rifle cases could start first. Despite this all-or-nothing approach, the ladies on check-in were in good spirits, as were the team once we got the El Dorado duty free… and apparently Felix has nice eyes.
There was some rapid ordering of Burger King, and some much needed rehydration. There was a slight delay as we boarded, as the bags came off the aircraft, on the aircraft, off again, and on again. An empty baggage vehicle finally drove away, and we waited with trepidation on the flight as to whether there was another vehicle hidden somewhere with the rest of our excess baggage… The England Team occupied about 75% of the seating, but by the looks of it about 95% of the baggage!
We descended into Barbados as the sun was setting, with some time on the ground before our next slingshot route to Antigua. This diarist notes that we are taking off and (hopefully) landing 7 times during this tour…
On landing, it was a case of offloading rifles, inspecting cars, and loading the team. Next stop: Jolly Beach (as featured in some opening shots of the latest series in Death in Paradise…) The Captain’s family entourage was waiting for us with rum punches, after expertly holding off the restaurant from closing. Time for some much needed R&R.
D+7 – Ghost Flight