Steve and Cathy's Blog

After three Sea days, we arrive in Barbados right on schedule at 10am. The cruise port has room for six cruise ships, and there are three there already. It’s always interesting to see other cruise ships, and these three are no exception. 

The most interesting is MS Evrima because of its small size. It’s described as a “ultra-luxury expedition ship,” and its owner is Marriott International and sails under their Ritz Carlton properties name. It was built in 2021 and carries only 298 passengers. Apparently, this is a segment of the cruise industry that is growing, and these huge hotel chains are having them built to offer their high-end customers a new product.

We have lunch at Waves because our excursion begins at 12:20 on the dock, is called Discover Barbados and will last 3 ½ hours. At the risk of sounding like tiresome, jaded tourists, we have to mention that we been to this island a couple of times before, and we are very glad to be back. The first time, we went on the Best of Barbados excursion that ended with a hilarious rum tasting. The last time, we made it a beach day. But we want to learn more about the island, so we are taking this one. It’s essentially a bus trip with a couple of stops, but it takes us to the interior of the island up in the hills and also to the Atlantic coast.

After a shuttle bus takes us off the dock to the cruise terminal, where we board the bus and meet our guide, Jamal. Very quickly, we see that he is going to provide us with a great deal of information about Barbados. We start our trip by heading north on the West (Caribbean Sea) side of the island. As we pass by the Sandy Lane resort hotel, we are told that it costs $1,000 a night to stay there. We are beginning to see why tourism is the country’s primary industry now. 

Soon we are off the main road heading into the hills and the rural areas of the island. Jamal is regaling us with information, so much so and on so many subjects that we will resort to bullet points to include much of the most interesting:

• Barbados has an area of 166 square miles, and is essentially 21 miles long by 13 miles at its widest point. The population is 284,000. It is divided into eleven parishes, all named for patron saints except for Christ Church parish. 
• Cricket is the national sport, a result of their British heritage.
• The production of rum, which is an outgrowth of the island’s centuries of having sugar cane as the primary economic driver. Mount Gay was the first distillery in the world and is still in business. Sugar is still grown here, but not in such volume as in the past.
• The lowest temperatures of the year are right around now, usually somewhere in the 70s.
• There is some oil production on Barbados, but the crude is sent to Trinidad for refining.
• Education is very important here. Children must attend school until they are 16, but most stay until they’re 18. Uniforms are required (as we have seen in so many former British possessions).
• Education is provided without cost by the government, and that includes university.
• As we move through Bridgetown, the topic of fast-food restaurants comes up. Chefette is the most popular, with 18 restaurants. KFC has 12. Burger King also has a few, but there are no McDonalds Restaurants. Barbados and Bolivia are the only countries in which this franchise failed.
• Most Caribbean islands have been a possession of several European nations sometime in their history. Barbados is an exception. The Dutch arrived here in 1536 and gave the island its name, but never really settled. When the British arrived in 1625, the place was virtually deserted. It was a British holding until independence in 1966. In that time, it was attacked three times – unsuccessfully. It is a member of the British Commonwealth today.
• As we make our way up into the hills, the countryside becomes much more rural. Recently, people have been moving out of Bridgetown into the countryside. There are a few ranches, and we pass by one with some enormous cattle. It seems that many cows have a beautiful white bird tagging along.
• The sugar that is grown on the island is of very high quality, and almost of it is produced for the rum distilleries. The amount that is exported is minimal, but it maintains the record of sugar being an export product since the 1600s. 
• In order to keep the soil healthy, there is crop rotation every four years. In the place of sugar, sweet potatoes or a type of bean are planted.
• Unlike all the rest of the Caribbean islands, Barbados is not volcanic. It is a result of two tectonic plates coming in contact with one another. That is also the reason the island is farther east than the rest of the islands.

Since leaving the main road, the travel has been on narrow, very winding roads full of switchbacks. Driver Curtis is doing an excellent and safe job. On many curves, he cannot see oncoming traffic, and sounds the bus’s horn to warn them. All the drivers we see are very cautious because of the curves and width. We are crossing over the center of the island and heading into St. Thomas Parish. The highest point on then island is in this parish, at 1,115 feet. 

We pass by a ranch which we are told has been in operation for many years. Here we see an amusing sight. It almost seems that each of the cattle has a playmate in the form of a big white bird. we saw this with several of the cows.

We descend quickly to the other side, and find ourselves at Bathsheba beach around 1:45. We disembark the bus there for a twenty-minute visit. This beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, and the surf is tremendous, as is the scenery itself. There are several vendors there selling beautiful shirts, beach towels and the like. Jamal tells us that there is an annual surfing meet that draws contestants from many countries. We can see why. He also adds that Barbados does have a small commercial fishing fleet, but nothing compared to other islands. We believe he said that they call their craft “iceboats.”

We leave the beach and head back into the hills into the Parish of St. John. There is also a beautiful view of the Atlantic shore. 

Back on the road, someone spots a monkey on the side of the road. Jamal explains that these are called the Barbados Green Monkey, and they are considered an agricultural pest for the amount of damage they can do to a crop. They arrived on the island in the holds of slave ships from Africa in the 1600s. Many people had them as pets, but the practice is, fortunately, dying out because of the harm they do. A few more topics Jamal touches on:

• We’re heading up into the hills and are in the Parish of St. John We pass near a windmill. Jamal tells us that there were many on the island at one time, all used to power the sugar mills. 
• He also mentions that Sundays are church day in Barbados. Owing to their British heritage, the Anglican church is dominant here. Sunday lunch is a strong tradition as well. Most all businesses are also closed.
• Hurricanes rarely visit. The last one was in 1963. When they do come, they aren’t as powerful because they aren’t as developed as they are when they hit all the other Caribbean islands that are farther west.

Our next stop is St. John’s Parish Church, a lovely small church high on a hill overlooking the Atlantic. It has been an Anglican Church since 1635. The building we see is the fourth built on this spot, and the sign below on the wall of the Vestry Hall describes the circumstances of all of them. We stay for about twenty minutes, viewing the interior of the church, the adjacent church yard and the amazing scenery. What a location – apparently except when the occasional hurricane hits.

When we begin to head west to our last stop, the topography changes. It’s not exactly flat, but we can see how the island’s tectonic origins differ from that of the islands to the west and north, which are volcanic in origin. The hills are rolling and we can actually see how large sugar plantations would be developed on such a landscape.

We pass by a stand of palm trees. Jamal tells us that they are called Cabbage Palms that can grow to be 90 feet tall. They are jokingly referred to as political palms as well because, he tells us, “they can attain great heights but produce nothing.” 

One more anecdote before we arrive at the Orchid World tropical gardens. Back in the day, sugar cane was harvested by hand. Living within the sugar cane plants would be python and boa constrictors, which understandably would terrify the workers. So plantation owners imported mongooses (is there a word mongeese? Probably not) to kill the snakes. Now the island has no snakes whatsoever but plenty of mongooses.

At Orchid World, we are first treated to a rum punch, and then spend the rest of our 30-minue visit touring the gardens. Cathy’s right hip is bothering her, so she stays behind in the terrace area while Steve tours the gardens. While he does follow the guide assigned to our group, he can’t really hear the names of all the beautiful plants. He nevertheless snaps away with his camera, which has a special setting for taking photos of flowers.

Just before boarding our bus for the trip back to the ship, we spend some time in their gift shop, which has a particularly good selection of gifts, most fittingly featuring flowers.

We make our way back westward into the Parish of St. Michael and then into Bridgetown. Two more comments from our guide Jamal as we travel:

• He once again tells us that there are many folks that are moving into these “suburban” area, and we see many new houses being built. He also says that almost all houses now are built of concrete block and then faced with concrete. When the island was first inhabited, houses were built of wood. Wood is no longer used because of its expense and lack of strength to deal with severe weather.
• Three United States presidents have visited Barbados. They were George Washington, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Yes, George Washington!

We arrive back at the pier right around 5pm, and other busses arrive now as well. We are shuttled to the ship. The deadline for being back on board isn’t until 9:30, and that deadline is for a specific reason. Because of the problems taking on water in Manaus, Brazil, the ship missed its bunkering opportunity there. So Insignia will be repositioned to Beth No. 2 South for that purpose then. As soon as that refueling is completed, we will head out for our next port, Kingstown, St. Vincent, in hopes of arriving tomorrow by 10:30am. 

We retire early as usual, but Steve awakens around 11pm when the ship begins to leave the cruise port. He catches one last shot, this one of Evrima, the brand new “ultra-luxury expedition ship” as its owners describe it. It is a beautiful vessel, but a cruise on her must cost a fortune. I think we’ll be sticking with Oceania.