Before we head off down the Amazon River we stopped at three Caribbean Islands.

Our first was St Maarten which has a Dutch and French side, we took a tour covering both sides of the Island. It used to have a thriving salt industry, but nearly all the salt ponds have been filled in and built over. African slaves were brought here to work in the the cotton, tobacco and sugarcane plantations, the French abolished slavery in 1848 and the Dutch followed a few years later. The economy declined over a number of years, but in 1941 was declared a duty free port to boost tourism and once the first cruise ship arrived in the 1950s tourism is their main form of income.

There was lots of iguanas on the island and different varieties. The most famous place is Maho Beach where plans come into land very low down, warning signs about jet blast! We only saw a few small planes land but it gave you an idea of how close the larger jets would be.

Saint Lucia, we visited here back in 2011 where we had a tour of a banana plantation, which together with tourism are their main sources of income. This time we just took a small ferry to Castries main town and had a wander around.

Scarborough, Tobago our last island on which there are a number of British Forts, it seems Tobago was fought over by a number of nations 31 times before it became independent in 1962. Again their main income is tourism. It is smaller than Trinidad, but they are one country governed by the same government, President and Prime Minister. Did a tour to see a couple of the forts, Mystery Tombstone and many beaches.