Santa Barbara de Samana

As we were quite unprepared and having read about the problems in Samana, one of the lesser known towns in the Dominican Republic, we decided to wing it and take our chances. We did a walking tour which turned out to be a fruitful adventure.

The “pride of Samana” is a set of two causeways out to a tiny island at the harbour mouth. Getting there was unprepossessing as the locals seemed to have carved out a new road which was left as red dirt and dust. It was longer than it looked. The walk along the causeway was interesting, it provided us with great views of down town Samana, it also took us to several ruins (which could have either been houses or resorts). We then ended up at a quiet beach (part of a rather ostentatious resort with their own elevator to the beach), and our first step onto white sand and blue seas of the Caribbean. No begging on the beaches like Mexico and very friendly locals. This was a good start to the trip.

Bridgetown – Barbados

A second British invasion! This brought about 40,000 Brits to this little gem of an island for a cricket test match, plus 3 cruise ships in port totally wiped out our chances of renting a mini-moke or scooter in Bridgetown! Our only alternative was to hire a private tour guide, Ron, to see the Island. Ron was very entertaining; he showed us the most famous resorts on the West side of the Island, including Sandy Lane where Tiger Woods was married.  He seemed somewhat disappointed that we did not want to see Cliff Richard‘s house. Although he did point out where Tom Sellick had property.  This side of the island is very developed, with more condos and resorts under construction, preventing the unwashed such as ourselves from seeing much of the famed beaches.  Yes, it sure is a money place!

We continued inland where fields of rippling sugar cane stretched as far as you can see, rising out of dark, fertile soil, allowing Barbados to maintain a sugar industry (perhaps ethanol in future). The east coast is completely different, beaches with rolling thunderous breakers and strong currents to catch the unwary surfboarder wind surfer – you certainly can see why the World Championships are held here. Unfortunately we didn’t get much beach time as the weather wasn’t cooperating.

We asked the question, is the island better off being independent – Ron felt yes, but that no political party should have too many sessions – perhaps two is one too many!  Before he dropped us off in downtown Bridgetown, Ron serenaded Amanda with a lovely strong voice – a serenade to encourage us to return to the island of Barbados

Road Town, Tortola

We have Everton McMaster (mcmasterscooters@hotmail.com) to thank for a truly memorable day in Tortola. A hot blue Suzuki scooter and tips on the best sights & eating establishments, his parting shot being, “Don’t forget to drive on the left!” We headed off, somewhat unsteadily through down town Tortola to our destinations. Little did we know what was in store for us, an incredibly scenic drive to Smugglers Cove. Aside from forgetting how to unlock the baggage compartment & leaving the kickstand down (we were rescued by the locals during these instances), the Suzuki was a dream to drive. Tortola has a very healthy economy with a strong British influence brooking no nonsense on the roads & thoroughfares. We came immediately face to face with this approach when we met up with numerous prolific speed bumps on all the roads especially around churches, schools, small villages & entrances to resorts.

The Island is quite small with an absence of conspicuous road signs, thus our journey to Smugglers Cove took many unexpected turns. However every turn gave us another stunning scene. Just when we were about to give up hope in finding it, we turned into Smugglers Cove. What a stunning discovery

Imagine a pocket bay with waves crashing on rocks at the entrance, brilliant white sand, azure blue water washing gently onto shore, Pelicans diving for fish among the coral reefs. It was hard to decide what to do first. We walked about 15 ft and had our own private piece of beach to ourselves. In all, there were a handful of people on the beach which included 4 from Seattle, 4 from Virginia, and Patricia, who barbecued scrumptious jerk chicken on the beach (as well as $3.00 rum pain killers). We all seemed to have found our own tiny slice of paradise that even a very brief Caribbean shower could not deter us from dashing into the waves. As the blue sky & heat returned, everywhere we looked it seemed like another Corona beer commercial. There went our agenda for the day, we could not peel ourselves away from the Cove – it seemed senseless! Our new found US buddies provided us with umpteen tips of what islands to visit, (e.g. Jost Van Dyke, home of the famous sailors bar) plus accommodation tips.

It’s a sailing haven with continuous breezes and sail boats everywhere you look, amazing cats & yachts. We finally tore ourselves away from Smugglers Cove with our friends reminding us that this is the best & prettiest spot in the Caribbean. Off we went, after many wrong turns, to Long Bay, Cane Bay, Brewers Beach. The trusty Suzuki was flat out going through some of the steepest hills & switchbacks we have ever experienced. Our next target was Sage Mountain National Park, which we did find after going up the wrong mountain & dogging a few aggressive watch dogs that were willing to take a chunk out of our legs or tires.

At Sage Mountain, we of course took the long way up to the view point. Thank goodness we met Keith when we finally got to the lookout. An NCL employee stationed in Hawaii, who had lived in Tortola for many years. The view was stunning, he pointed out Peter Island, owned by the Amway founders & explained the culture of Tortola. Keith showed us the shortest route back to the parking lot, down the mountain, and back to down town, via one of the longest, steepest hills I’ve ever driven down. It was brakes all the way. He threaded us through the mazes & roundabouts & pointed us in the direction of our destination. We delivered our trusty machine back to Everton, safe & sound, making this a home run day!

Instant Appeal: the 8 primal factors that create blockbuster success. Vicki Kunkel. 2009  ISBN 9780814409466.  This book looks at the power of persuasion from a completly different point of view. Where The Power Presenter by Weissman based on decades of practise and results , Instant Appeal adds a very detailed research component to her years of practise and results.  The net is that Kunkel shows you the how and the why of things working based on Universal Human traits, while Weissman uses his North American experience.  Thus the Kunkel suggestions would seem applicable on a much wider world stage.

You will learn a lot from this book on basic communications and how much you can improve.  This is not an easy read, yet the style is conversational and flows well.  Kunkel could have used some much tighter editing to increase the white space on a page with  a focus on using bullets and so on to help the reader retain the core concepts. I noticed that the last few chapters had paid more attention to how people learn making it easier to extract and retain the core lesson. Definitely abook to buy, read and reread.

The Power Presenter. Technique, style and strategy from America’s speaking coach. Jerry Weissman. 2009. ISBN 9780470376485. A very useful book in tandem with Presentation Zen. Concise and to the point this book will open your eyes and guide you to vastly improved presentations. Whether it is for launching your IPO or an internal presentation you will find great use from this book. I really enjoyed his analysis of what you can learn from Obama’s style. Also you get the in depth look at how Reagan became the great communicator. I had not seen anyone show how Bill Clinton and Geo W.Bush both vastly improved their speaking styles. Good book for your library – buy it, read it and use it.

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A tale of Maria. Customer service in the trenches.

I have to tell you this customer service story. Norwegian Cruises has “freestyle” dining. You do not have set times or places for dinner with no set table, as a result, one could lose the chance to get acquainted with one’s waiter/server during the cruise. You eat when and where you want. Without this certainty the dining room staff could pass into a faceless pool.

Maria Fe Sanchez, Sr Waiter did something about this. We met her on the second night of our trip. Her impact was immediate, as she greeted us more fully and warmly than any other waiter on any trip. She took the time to find out where we were from, how we were enjoying the trip and what we liked personally about food etc. including possible allergies and preferences.

She made sure to immediately learn and use our full names that night and we learned her full name as well as that of her diminutive assistant Minerva. Maria and Minerva switched places getting the meal selections from the galley, making sure that we were talking often to one of them. There were no long stretches when we did not have someone chatting to us. They did this while serving 6 separate tables. Maria suggested that we may want to ask for her section the next night (a good idea as the maitre’d shifted the servers around different sections every night).

Of course the next night we asked for Maria and when she saw us her whole face lit up with delight. She remembered every little thing we had asked for. (Wine selection, green tea, sauces, horseradish, walnuts with the dessert, lots of water). Later I found that she “stocked” her station with whatever her “guests” had requested, going so far as to travel before her shift to other galleys several decks away to be sure she had the “treats” on hand before we asked.

As the trip continued, she would (with Minerva) share parts of her life and what home in the Philippines was like. Her education that lead to this this career choice which she has enjoyed for 8 years. We laughed about the similarities in family behaviours ( She is no 7 of 10 children – single – would like to get married, went to college in Manilla – hotel management ), parental pressures to get married. Internet dating and so on. She created a bond with us in sharing these aspects of the human condition.

If her station was too busy (all tables taken) , she told the hostess to seat us close to her and she would add us as an extra table. If they still placed us at a different section she would seek us out in this 500 person dining room and bring us the tea & walnuts she had set aside for us. She whole heartedly adopted us. We found out that she was the only one who still had our green tea secured away (quite often in her pocket) after all the other stations had run out.
Maria went out of her way to make our meals a bit more special and in doing so created friends among her guests. She did this with no expectations and ultimate friendliness. We will never forget her.  She made the system work for her and ourselves.

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