Greetings from Hermitage Bay!

I don't like cricket ... I LOVE IT!

We checked out of the gorgeous Jumby Bay this morning and travelled to the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in St John's. It was built for the cricket World Cup in 2007 which was won by Australia.

West Indies were playing India. India won the toss and put the Windies into bat. They scored 225 runs for 8 wickets ... thanks to a superb 92 by Andre Russell. India were - at one stage - 100 for 7 .. and still won!

It was an exciting game ... and quite positive if you are Indian!

I interviewed one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time Curtly Ambrose. He is 6ft 7" ... a giant!

The Windies crowd were crazy happy - the Party Stand was full of happy, inebriated fans ...

We are now in the tranquility of Hermitage Bay ...

 Curtly

 The Turbanator - Harbijan Singh

Indians celebrate!

Burn baby BURN!

It's been rather hot today! And this morning it was sticky as well! Ugh! I am burnt to a crisp and have lost more weight sweating!

Anyway - took the ferry over to the mainland and then drove up to St John's - the capital of Antigua & Barbuda. First up we visited Susie's Hot Sauce. This sauce is the ketchup of Antigua ... except it's fiery hot. The company is a real cottage industry run now by Rosie McMaster - the daughter of Susie who sadly passed away in 1990. Since 1960, this sauce made of peppers, garlic, vinegar and a mix of secret herbs & spices has been a staple here in the West Indies ... and it's now sold in the USA, Canada & UK.

Anyway, Rosie showed me how it's made .... the different varieties (some made of fruit) and we did a tasting that BLEW me apart! I am not good with spicy food ... and the hot sauce nearly killed me ... literally! Tim LOVED It!

Lunch at the Big Banana - awesome pizza!

Then over to the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda ... where we met with the curator Michele Henry. She was fabulous!

The Arawak Indians arrived in Barbuda in the 8th century BC ... and on Antigua 32 AD ... The islands were under British protectorate for 250 years ... and the French for 3 months and they eventually gained full independence in 1981.

The museum is set in the old Court House ... filled with stories of death, marriages, births and fabulous exhibits.

Last night here on Jumby Bay. I am so sad ... it's going to be a BEAUTIFUL sunset ... I feel it ... !

 I made this bottle

 with Rosie

 ouch ouch tooo hot!

 Big Banana

 with Keron - guide

 Shrek

 a call home

 with Michele

The Jumby Bay sunset -- nice photo Jimmy!

Hot! Hot! Hot! Sweat! Sweat! Sweat! Bite! Bite! Bite!

You know when it's hot, humid and mosquito-mad when even the locals are complaining.

We left Jumby at 0630, headed to the airport (5 minutes from the jetty on the mainland) and grabbed a 20-minute flight to Barbuda.

This island is just 161 square kilometres in area ... and has a population of around 1500 people. I met up with guide Samantha Hopkins who first took me to look at the Martello Tower. It was built in the 17th century ... and was there to protect the island from invaders.

From there we went to the Indian Cave at Two Foot Bay ... where we climbed Everest to see a couple of 18th century petroglyphs ... put there by Arawak Indians.

Then we took to the water and met with Samantha's father Foster who boated us to one of the most amazing sights I have seen. 15 - 20,000 Frigate birds in mangroves. OK - the smell of bird poo was stifling BUT the sight of thousands of birds (with chicks) was just ... brilliant!

We lunched at the Lighthouse Bay hotel which must sit on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Barbuda is just building a new fisheries centre that will enable it to sell fish to the European Union. The money comes from Japan - the largest investment ever for Barbuda. The only payback is that Barbuda will support Japan in the whaling issue ... hmmm ...

Anyway - the Frigate bird flocks - unforgettable!

Oh and I have been bitten 15 times today AND have lost at least a stone in sweat! Phewy! Steaming!

Samantha climbed in heels! I kid you not!

My BlackBerry torch app saved the day!

Samantha and her father - Foster!

This made me laugh so much! I need a bottle!

Filming day on Jumby Bay.

I first visited this island over a decade ago (Long Island) and stayed at the Jumby Bay resort. I fell in love with this place - that sits 2 kms off the coast of the mainland.

The resort - which features 40 suites - is owned by the homeowners (rich people that have homes here) - 26 of which are brand new. The resort is now run by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts ... which has an excellent pedigree.

I am staying in the Rosewood Estate Suite ... 1-bed ... 170 m2 in area ... swimming pool ... 4-poster bed ... stunning ...

The resort has 3 restaurants, spa, fitness centre, water sports, 30 + swimming pools (!) ... fabulous beaches ... and it's all-inclusive albeit very expensive ... but amazing quality! Much money has been spent on making this one of the premier resorts in the Caribbean.

Today, the sun came out to play! Yay!

every suite has an outdoor bath tub! bathing under the stars ... hmmmm!

You can only get to Jumby by boat ...

The General Manager & very nice chap - Andrew Hedley

My pool

My bed

Chef Juan Bochenski who showed me how to cook a local Red Snapper dish

the lovely beach!

Greetings from Antigua & Barbuda ... and more specifically the glorious island of Jumby Bay!

It was quite a short flight - around 7.5 hours from Heathrow to St John's (the capital of Antigua). It was quite painless ... almost enjoyable ...

Sadly, I lost the sunshine somewhere over the Atlantic ... and we arrived in Antigua to what can only be described as a bad monsoon!

The rain has abated now ... and I am off to bed early as tomorrow it's a big filming day! Jumby Bay ...

arrival in Antigua ...

RAIN!

MONSOOOON!

Antigua has 365 beaches ... One for every day of the year. I wonder if anyone has actually spent a year visiting a different one every day. If not, anyone care to join me on my beach quest?

Up early for flight tomorrow ... Meanwhile it's a pizza and red wine evening with my Papa!

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, lovely ... today, dull & cold! So starts another Summer of frustration with the weather here in jolly old England.

I did watch the tennis and although Nadal is awesome ... I did hope that Federer would put up a bit more of a fight. Hmmm ...

Tomorrow I start my journey to Antigua ... we are now half way through this series of Inside Luxury Travel and are ALREADY deep in planning for 2012 ... ! Phewy!

Indignant Moo! So I woke early and decided she needed her fur clipping. It took me over an hour to get to this stage. By now we were both tired and needed a rest! As you can see, I had not got to her paws yet (indignant moo!) ... I did finish the job this evening and now she looks like a Doggie-Skinhead. Thankfully she can't see what she looks like in a mirror or I would be in the doghouse ... (!)

Anyway, I learnt something about the birds & the bees today. So the bees (workers - all male) spend the whole day working like dogs (!) pollinating, looking after Queen B ... then just as their day is coming to an end and they can play golf ... along comes a Bird and eats them! I watched as this happened twice today! Most unfair ...

Welcome to the world young Henry!

Friday! Sun shining! Blue skies! Summery heat! Am I dreaming?

Next week is a different story ... it's going to be HOT in Antigua & Barbuda! HOT HOT HOT and RAINY RAINY RAINY! I can't wait ...

HAPPY WEEKEND everybody ...

The first step to fresh honey!

Maisy posing

Mittens posing

My office floor this morning! No longer ... !

I took a "personal day" ... the wonders of self-employment mean that every day is really "personal" but this was like a holiday! And I spent most of it on a golf course! Oh ... I had fun!

On the show I don't get to play as much as I would like and next week I am playing in Antigua so I thought getting a round in today would be a good idea. I am getting better ... and this is down to a certain Greg Hawthorne - one of the most famous artists in the USA. I met him on the Big Sur a few days ago and he changed my grip and it has made a HUGE difference on teeing off and fairway shots. Now for the rest of my game ...

The sun has been shining and the sky rather blue ... awesome!

Happiness ... only cigar is missing

I saw this wonderful sight on the way to the course

There's an airshow on this weekend so we were being buzzed all morning!

What is wrong with the world? Yesterday on YouTube there was a video of sweet Brian the bull who was tortured to death by some complete bast**ds in Indonesia ... "live export from Australia" (that has now been halted), then there was a photo of this total bast**d from Slovakia who killed his pet-dog by hanging it from a pole and thought "it was funny". Today, video emerges of some more bast**ds who abused patients in a private healthcare facility in England. Finally  - and staying in England - bast**d vandals beheaded 18 birds, stamped a frog to death and poisoned hundreds of fish by pouring fertiliser into a pond after breaking into a family wildlife attraction.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

move over Mr Happy Panda ... Mr Angry Munky is here (me)

Rant over ... but I have to say that this stuff really makes me angry. And I bet you that they get away with it or recieve a fine of £50 and "told" to take anger management classes. Coming to think of it, I think I now need some too .... grrrrr ....