Here is a selection from a swimming trip in the waters of Port St Charles harbour:
Louisa just had to join the turtles, like pebbles washed by tidal waters, the colours of their carapaces brightly contrasting with their natural element which reflected the skies above.
In this last picture, Jessica’s toes curl at top left.
On my ramblings around Barbados in May 2004, some of the local people, who called me ‘the white man who walks’, thought I wasn’t quite right in the head, especially as I had a tendency to set off around mid-day.
On one occasion this proved to be quite happy for the photographer in me when I was able to watch the sugar cane being harvested.
It was the approach of this loaded lorry that alerted me to what was going on.
Here was the cane to be cut before collecting;
and, further on, containers loaded beside stripped fields.
Tractors were employed to load the vehicles;
after which, were this elderly couple engaged in gleaning? I must say I felt for them labouring under the overhead sun.
They put me in mind of Jean-Francois Millet’s painting ‘The Gleaners’, which caused such a stir at the Paris Salon in 1857.
More interesting pictures.
The sugarcane fields and the gleaners were familiar sights when I was a school girl and we had moved to our home in rural Punjab. What was unique there was the Gur the farmers would make in the fields with the first lot of the harvest. Gur is the brown organic sugar they get from cooking the sugar cane juice. They would make a ‘kheer’ with it and serve passers by or anyone who came to the field themselves. Kheer is a rice pudding made with milk and sugar. The air would be filled with the heady aromas of gur and kheer!
Thank you for this excellent addition to the story, Joycee
You’re welcome!
I am glad you wandered around with your camera even if local folks wondered about you. Because of this, you caught some scenes that are seldom featured in anyone’s collection of pictures of the Caribbean. I also like the gleaning connection you made. Have you seen Agnes Varda’s Documentary “The Gleaners & I”? If not, it’s worth seeing.
Thanks very much, Laurie. I haven’t seen the documentary. I’ll look for it when I have the time.
I looked it up and have put it on my list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I
A really good movie!
You document some truly interesting experiences here.
Thank you so much, Anne
Great post, Derrick! What an interesting trip. So cool to swim with turtles. Those of us who live in comfort sometimes forget how hard the laborers work out in the hot sun all summer long. We had a photo of the Gleaners on our dining room wall when I was young.
Thanks very much, Dwight
You are welcome!
The trip looks fascinating! Loved the pictures.
Thank you very much, Mithai
I love the photos of the turtles. So beautiful! I’m glad you were able to walk and share some of your photos and insights. I had to look up Millet’s painting to see if I understood correctly what the controversy was. And now I’ll have to look for the documentary mentioned above.
I can understand their concern at you wandering around at the hottest part of the day
Indeed. Thanks very much, Sheree
Quite an adventure. Noel Coward would be proud of you. “Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun,
🙂 Thank you so much, Pat
The water is a beautiful sapphire blue in those photos! Thank you for including the sugarcane fields and workers in your post, Derrick.
Much appreciated, Lavinia
Isn’t there a West Indian newspaper called “The Gleaner” ?
So there is, John. Jamaican. Thanks a lot for this addition
These photographs are wonderful, oh, that blue, blue sea!
Thank you so much, Liz
You’re welcome, Derrick.
Lovely images Derrick.. Some Great memory shares.. 🙂
Thanks very much, Sue
Ha! I thought of Millet’s painting too, scrolling down, until I got to it.
Gorgeous swimming photos, Derrick.
Thank you so much, Dolly
My pleasure, Derrick.
What a joyous day for Turtles and Human-beans! 😀 Beautiful photos! 🙂
Good thing you did go a-walkin’…you found some great things to photograph! 🙂
Yes, I’ve often thought about the laborers, especially eons ago, who gleaned the fields without the help of modern machinery. Even with machinery it’s hot, hard, back-breaking, often unappreciated, work.
(((HUGS))) 🙂
Well said, Carolyn. Thank you very much X
The deep blue water looks wonderful and refreshing. What a great trip! And you are still “‘the white man who walks.’
I don’t manage such distances today, JoAnna. Thank you so much
That water is a gorgeous blue !
It was pretty idyllic, AnneMarie. Thank you very much
‘The White Man Who Walks’ is surely an interesting sobriquet you earned, except that it begs for further elucidation: The White Man Who Walks and Shoots…. I am tempted to think of ‘Walks, Shoots and Leaves’….
Beautiful picture of scuba diving — they must have been a challenge to shoot.
Thank you so much, Uma. I laughed out loud at ‘Walks, Shoots and Leaves’… The biggest challenge of the scuba diving sequence was that I was on a boat.
Beautiful pictures and wonderful memories.
Thank you very much, Bridget
Great sequence of photographs.
When they saw you coming down the road, at least they didn’t break out into a chorus of “mad Dogs and English Men”. 🙂 Take care & stay well.
Thanks a lot, Joseph 🙂
Great photos! Witnessing the sugar cane harvesting! Wow!
Thank you so much, Ribana. I do appreciate your regular visits
Always a pleasure!