finds out why Blame it on the West Indies' recent 5-0 hammering in Australia, or the fact that this year's Test matches in Barbados are being held in peak season, but for what ever reason Bermudians are not flocking to the Caribbean for cricket like they used to.

This year numbers are down considerably from a few years ago when the most popular of tours would attract up to about 5,000 locals to the various islands for cricket, sun, fun and relaxation.

"But this year if you see 1,000 people you would be lucky,'' said travel agent Pam Maybury of C Travel, who, for the last eight years with Meyer Travel, has been organising cricket holiday tours.

"This year has been very flat, basically because of the performances of the West Indies. Another thing is the time of year. It's high season down there so hotels are very expensive.'' Bermudians are finding the cost of travelling to Barbados in March for the Test a bit too expensive...especially to watch a team that has been doing more losing than winning lately.

"Sometimes it's (Barbados Test) held in mid-April but this time it's a month earlier,'' Mrs. Maybury explained.

"If you are a single person travelling it's an expensive vacation. In April it would be cheaper and I think you would get more people. For example the hotel we used last year was $US150 a night because the game was played later.

But this year it's $US300.

"For ten days that's $3,000 just for your hotel, and you still have to eat and fly. And if you're getting a car it gets expensive.'' The dates for the Test matches in Barbados -- starting on Thursday -- and Antigua, are usually very close together, affording travel-happy Bermudians the opportunity to take in both venues during their holiday. It had become such a big thing that charters were organised to capitalise on the tremendous interest.

"Normally there are at least two charters but this time there is only one charter going,'' Mrs. Maybury said.

"Also, usually there are a lot more people using a commercial airline -- American -- and depending on who's playing you would have between three thousand and five thousand people. When I was working at Meyer we would do the majority of them, but here I've probably done just a hundred.'' Mrs. Maybury will be travelling to Barbados and Antigua for the third and fourth Test matches and proud of the support she gives the team. She has also travelled to other countries to watch them.

"A lot of people are not going because of their performances but when they were winning we were all there,'' she said.

"But now that they are down, this is when they need our support. The team always plays better at home.'' After the recent performances in Australia when the West Indies lost all five Tests and fared only slightly better in the one-day matches, many locals have cooled to the possibility of spending their vacation and suffering through the agony of watching them lose to the South Africans.

"The last Test series didn't help any, and even people who had made reservations have since cancelled out because of that performance,'' said the travel agent.

Television coverage has both helped and hurt tourism in the various Caribbean Islands. It has been ten years since the first tour in the Caribbean was televised live, with Bermudians -- men, women, young, old -- taking an interest in Test cricket like never before.

Suddenly they wanted to be a part of the action and began planning their holidays to coincide with cricket in Islands like Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua and St. Vincent.

Many Bermudians were there at the Antigua Recreation Ground when Brian Lara broke Sir Garfield Sobers' world Test record against England, scoring 375 on a memorable occasion in April, 1994. Two years later the West Indies won a memorable Test match in Barbados against South Africa after fast bowlers Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose ripped apart the South African batting on the last day.

Some Bermudians, who prefer Trinidad, were in the crowd last week to see Walsh become the first bowler in Test cricket history to take 500 wickets, though the West Indies suffered a disappointing loss in a close match.

"Before people used to make an attempt to go, but now that it comes on television it's not that important,'' said Mrs. Maybury.

"They used to see Bermudians in the stands (on TV) and when they came back they talked about it so much that it whet the appetite.'' Some Bermudians now prefer to travel for the one-day matches and arrange their itinerary to take in two or three Islands, while still giving themselves free days for sightseeing.

"Barbados has the biggest crowd (of Bermudians) but more and more people are going to the one-days, too,'' she noted.

"But even with that it depends on when the one-days are being played, if they are after the Tests.'' And it's not a male thing either, with an equal number of men and women going south.

"In all honesty I find that women tend to go to the cricket,'' Mrs. Maybury revealed.

"From my own experience when I look around I don't see that many former cricketers going from Bermuda, as opposed to women. You would think it's a guy thing, that they played cricket and are going, but it's the women who go faithfully.'' Mrs. Maybury expects people will soon begin inquiring about next year's home series when India provide the opposition. She even keeps a schedule on her fridge because enquiries are not limited to office hours.

"I get so many calls at home that I have to keep the schedule at home as well,'' she revealed.

"They will start about a month after we're back, calling to see if the schedule's out, when we're leaving and if we have a price.'' Earl Riley has been travelling to the Caribbean to watch cricket since the 1970s. And even though the West Indies team are not the force they once were, Mr. Riley and his wife still go every year.

"I've been going down to the Islands for 25 years, when (Garfield) Sobers, (Rohan) Kanhai and (Alvin) Kallicharan were in their prime,'' said Mr. Riley who will see the Barbados and Antigua Test against South Africa.

Loyalty is put to the Test "I've been to Australia, England, South Africa, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbados to see them. The people who went back then were strictly cricket fans but now you get quite a mix, cricket lovers and people who go down there just for the outing.

"What we used to do was go to Trinidad for the Carnival, but because they didn't have any cricket in Trinidad during the Carnival, we would leave Trinidad and go to Barbados and catch the match there. We started going to Antigua a few years later, in the late 1970s.'' Mr. Riley is confident the team has a good crop of youngsters around whom to build another winning team.

"I think they are coming on very good now. What I noticed in the last four years was that they weren't together and that there was a bit of animosity towards certain players,'' he said while sitting at home and watching the first Test from Guyana.

"But in the last year or so they seem to be getting out of that. I've seen some improvements. The results are going to take awhile, but if they can keep their heads together I think they'll come a long way because they have quite a number of young players.'' This will be the 22nd year that Dorothy Tucker and her husband Earlston have been going down to the cricket. And they get the VIP treatment when they arrive in Barbados, with a taxi waiting for them at the airport. They even return to the same self contained guest accommodation.

"My husband says he still go even if they were playing schoolboys,'' said Mrs. Tucker.

"We go to Barbados as well as Antigua, but last year we didn't go to Antigua because our granddaughter graduated. That was the first time we didn't go there in 22 years.

"We were going a long time before all the Bermudians were going. Thelma Tucker and her husband used to go, before he died, and all the Bailey girls from Somerset. They have family in Antigua.'' Regardless how well the team is doing, the Tuckers look forward to their annual holiday to the Caribbean.

"The place we stay, we never have to send a deposit or anything, I just say `book me for next year'. We've been staying in the same place for years and have the same apartment. When we get to the airport in Barbados there is a taxi driver holding up a sign saying `Tuckers'.

"For the last six years my brother-in-law has been going with us as well, so all three of us travel together. We are very supportive of the team. I remember one year when they were not doing well and people were saying `we're not going down there' and that was one of the best games that you ever saw.'' Carlos Durham has been going to the Test matches since the 1980s when he used to tag along with some older fellas like his uncle Eugene Durham and the late Charlie Daulphin. And while he is missing this year because of work commitments in the Tourism Department, he is hoping to travel south again next year when India visit.

"Bermudians go down there and spend big bucks,'' said Mr. Durham. "I haven't been for a couple of years, but if I see some results this year I'll go next year.''