What a relaxing day it turned out to be! The way it began, I wasn’t too sure how the day was going to go. Honestly, I had fretted about snorkeling today for a bit. It wasn’t the snorkeling that worried me,. I’ve snorkeled many times over the years. It was the weight I have gained over the last few years because of menopause. I hate the extra weight and it makes me extremely self-conscious. I didn’t even bring a swimsuit. Instead, I brought some exercise capris and a long-sleeve performance shirt to try to hide my bulk. I felt like I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I know I shouldn’t have let it bother me, but it did.
Things didn’t improve when we went down to the Marina Lounge to wait for our excursion. Here in Barbados we were docked but there were several other ships here as well. It was a turnover day for some of them and traffic was heavy and the pier exceedingly narrow. The port authorities were running shuttles to carry passengers back and forth because it wasn’t safe for them to walk with all of the vehicle traffic.
What this meant for us was a long wait. The cruise people wanted to keep our group together so we had to wait until there was a shuttle that would hold all of us. However, people just walking off of the ship were getting first dibs on the shuttles. That was making the people who paid good money for an excursion wait. It was a bad situation that just ticked Doug off to no end.
An hour after we were suppose to meet our bus, we finally had a shuttle to take us to the terminal. Doug was fuming the entire time. My nerves were stretched to the snapping point. I was thrilled to finally get squished like a sardine into the shuttle. All of the seats that we didn’t fill were given to the folks walking off of the ship. That seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
Once at the terminal we gathered around our bus driver and he squished us into another tiny vehicle. It was my day for being a sardine, obviously :-). During our short ride to the catamaran, I learned that Barbados has 365 churches. There is one for every day of the week.
To be honest, I really didn’t learn a great deal about Barbados today. I didn’t take a single note. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy without worrying about recording everything our guide was telling us. However, I have done some research because the teacher in me just can’t let it go :-). This is what I learned….
Barbados is in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies. It is the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. Unlike some of its volcanic neighbors, Barbados is a coral-limestone island. That is probably why compared to the other nearby islands, it is so flat. The island is 21 miles long and up to 14 miles wide. It has a population if nearly 300,000. Eleven parishes make up Barbados, most of them are named after saints which I have learned is typical of this region. The capital and largest city on the island is Bridgetown. The city contains about one-third of the country’s population and is the financial and convention center of the Caribbean region.
The Spanish were the first Europeans to “discover” the island. However, it was basically uninhabited when the British landed there in 1625. The first British settlement was established in 1627 near what is now Holetown. The settlement consisted of 80 settlers and 10 indentured servants. Some people believe that Africans were also among the first settlers. On 30 November 1966, Barbados became an independent state and member of the Commonwealth with Elizabeth II as Queen of Barbados. On 30 November 2021, Barbados transitioned to a republic within the Commonwealth.
An interesting fact that our driver touched on and that I also discovered while researching, was that George Washington supposedly visited Barbados in 1751. People believe that this was his only trip outside of the United States. There is a large yellow building that is called the George Washington House.
Here are some other interesting facts. Most people here speak English as they were an English colony. However, Bajan Dialect is what people use in their everyday life. It is used by over 90% of the population. It does not have a standardized written form. I think it must be very similar to creole or “Dialect” from Antigua.
Barbados did seem more advanced than the last few island we have been on, not that we saw a great lot of the island itself. I was surprised to learn that it is one of the 83 high income economies in the world. However, a good percentage of Barbadians live in poverty. I think that is true on all of these islands. Just driving around you can see that.
Here is an interesting story about how Bridgetown got its name. I learned about it in the daily bulletin that Oceania gives us every day. They put out a nice summary of the history and facts on whatever place you are visiting that day. Anyway, when the British arrived they found traces of a primitive bridge constructed over a swampy area which was in the center of Bridgetown. People believe this bridge was built by the Arawak people who have been indigenous to several of the islands we have visited so far. When the British discovered it, they began calling the area Indian Bridge. In 1654 the Brits built a new bridge and called the area The Town of Saint Michael. Later it was changed to Bridgetown. It has remained Bridgetown ever since. And now you know the rest of the story. But what about the Arawak people? Experts believe they were chased off of the island by the Caribs. And thus ends the daily history and culture lesson :-). The remainder of the day was NOT filled with learning and discovery, but water and sun.
It was actually a short ride to the pier where we caught our catamaran. Of course first we had to sign the mandatory waiver stating that we wouldn’t hold them responsible if anything bad happened to us on the boat. Once we had signed on the dotted line, we had to strip off our shoes and then board the boat. We were fortunate that all that onboard were the people on our bus so it was a small group.
We made ourselves comfy on the forward section. There isn’t a great deal of traditional seating on small catamarans. I put on sunscreen because I knew I would burn to a crisp as it was a lovely sunny day. Captain Sam informed us that because the waters were too rough where they had originally planned to take us, we were heading to a bay that was already crowded with other boats. Joy. But it was out of everybody’s hands. Mother Nature isn’t to be argued with.
While we motored over to the bay, one of the crew handed out snorkels, masks, and vests. We hadn’t even thought to bring our own. Usually we do although mine is 40 years old. I think its time for a new mask and snorkel :-). I stripped my pants off to reveal my exercise pants. I noticed another older lady was wearing a hot pink jogging outfit to snorkel in. Suddenly I didn’t feel so self-conscious. Everybody was wearing and doing their own thing. I started to relax finally.
After we arrived and anchored in place, the guys lowered the half steps so we could get into the water. A couple of them actually went in with us which I liked. Their job, other than to keep an eye on us, was to alert us to green sea turtles and spotted sting rays. We had already seen the rays from the boat. The water was so clear that we could see all the way down to the bottom of the bay. It was beautiful. However, without any coral or much sea grass, I was dubious about how much sea life we would actually see.
Doug went into the water first. I was a few people after him. As soon as I hit the water, I spit in my mask which is the best way to prevent it from fogging up. I swished my spit around, rinsed it out, and put the mask on. As soon as I started swimming over to Doug, I felt a sudden burning sensation in my left foot. Hmmm….maybe it was just salt water getting into a tiny scratch I didn’t know I had? A few minutes later I saw a jelly fish and I had my answer. One of them had obviously nailed me. After that, I kept my eyes peeled for more of them.
Now, I’m not great guns at snorkeling but I have done it enough to be relaxed about it. I know I won’t sink. I know I won’t drown. I don’t worry about sharks. Today I don’t know what was wrong with me. After I got stung, I had a tiny panic attack. I was choking on water in my snorkel that I couldn’t seem to get out. My mask got water in it so I had water in my nose. I was starting to flail about. I got vertical in the water and tried to calm myself down. So I had gotten stung by a jelly fish. No big deal. I just had to be careful to avoid them. I put my face back in the water and started panicking again. Oy vey! I was starting to get really angry with myself. Once again I went vertical and tried to calm down my breathing. Finally, I was settled enough that I could put my face in the water and actually begin to snorkel. I still had issues but at least I was calmer. It was several minutes before I could actually begin to enjoy what I was doing.
And it WAS enjoyable. We saw several green sea turtles on the bottom eating algae. They seemed oblivious to our presence. Being in the water with the spotted rays was awesome as well. They stayed well below us near the bottom. With the water as clear as it was, I had no clue as to how deep the water was. I just know that it was much deeper than it looked. I only had a passing thought about Steve Irwin dying from being impaled in the heart by a sting ray barb. These rays were not interested in us at all. I was interested in them though. I loved watching them burrow their noses into the sand at the bottom looking for food. It was exciting swimming with them for the first time and being able to observe their behavior.
We were told to keep a respectful distance from the turtle but that was easier said than done. I tried but other people snorkeling smacked me in the face with their hands and feet trying to get to the turtle as I was trying to move back. I know your vision is limited in the masks but some of these people were just oblivious to anybody and anything. They heard “turtle” and were single-focused on seeing it. Nothing else mattered. They would smack you in the face and not even look back. Ah, the joys of snorkeling with a big group of people. But that makes it sound worse than it was. I stayed away from the clusters as much as I could. I saw plenty of turtles on my own.
Although they were nowhere as colorful as fish in Hawaii, we did see fish here as well. Mostly they were silver although I did see one with black stripes. I also saw a weird looking one that might have been a sheepshead. I swam through a small school of needle nose fish which was exciting. They are nifty to see. I’m not sure what the big schools of silver fish were that kept looping around. I swam through them several times.
We were only in the water 25 minutes or so when Captain Sam gave the order for us to come in so we could head to snorkel spot #2. I was close to the boat when my left hand started burning fiercely. It had to have been another jelly fish. I didn’t see one but something sure stung my hand. I wasn’t so worried this time because I had heard Jeb from the crew tell somebody that the jelly fish weren’t dangerous here. That had made me feel less panicky when I saw more. And really, I only saw a few of them. Anyway, I made it to the boat and up the stairs which was challenging since I still had my mask on. I couldn’t see the steps at all (and they were weird partial steps). I made it up though. I made a mental note to take the mask off next time before trying to get onto the boat.
While we were motoring to the new spot I happened to glance down at my left foot. It had a decent size reddish purple mark on the spot where it had been burning in the water. Sure enough, it hadn’t been my imagination. I HAD gotten stung by a jelly. My hand never got a mark on it but as much as it stung, it had to have gotten hit as well. It was obviously not my day for water sports so I decided to forgo snorkeling at the sunken ship. At the rate I was going, I probably would have gotten a toe bitten off by a barracuda!
Doug went in without me and I stayed on the catamaran reading. There were several people that hadn’t gone in the water at all so I had company. It was nice sitting on the boat with a good book. There was a breeze so it wasn’t too hot and the rocking of the catamaran was soothing. Too soon the others were called back on the boat for lunch. Darn! I was really enjoying my book!
Lunch was quite good which was a pleasant surprise considering we were out on a boat with no real facilities for meals. I’m sure it was pre-cooked and they just heated it up. It was very tasty. I got the chicken and a few small slices of steak. I skipped the fish. They had salad as well as a fancy Mac and cheese, potato salad, etc. Maybe it was just being out on the water but it was all delicious. Or maybe it was the rum punch. Since we were finished snorkeling, we could now indulge in the alcoholic beverage of our choice. When in the islands, drink rum punch 🙂
I was quite happy to find out that after lunch we weren’t going straight back to the pier. We were sailing along the coast for as far as we could before we had to turn around. We should have been able to go quite a bit further but we had an hour less on our excursion because we were late due to the shuttle mess getting off of the ship. Be that as it may, I was happy to see some of the island.
I expected the ship to go whipping along but we went at more of an ambling pace. That may be the law since we weren’t that far off of shore. There was no real wind so even they put the sail up, it was the motor that was propelling us along. It was nice seeing the buildings along the shore but I just enjoyed the ride and feeling the waves beneath me and the wind in my face.
All too soon we had to turn back and head to the pier. It was a nice ride while it lasted. And all of the guys onboard had been really great. Back at the pier we did some shopping. I found a dress I liked and Doug found a keychain with the flag on it. Our buying for the day was complete.
Back on the ship it felt great to wash the salt off of my skin. I had started feeling like the dried cod we saw all over Lisbon. By the time we went to dinner, I was feeling human once again. Tonight we were back in the Grand Dining Room. We ate with a lovely couple from Canada. We had a great time visiting with them. He was actually British. She was Canadian. For six years they lived in England before moving to Canada with their kids. The conversation flowed like the food. I don’t even remember what I ate. It was good but I was too busy listening to our new friends to pay much attention. I was truly sad when it was time to head to the show.
Levent the magician/comedian was back tonight with his final show. He was more about magic tonight and less about comedy although he was still quite funny. He put a camera on his hands and did some close up sleight of hand tricks. He developed that technique during COVID. That way he could still do it and people watch it while staying a healthy distance apart. It was a great idea. He also did the trick with the metal rings as well as rope and knot tricks. He got two men from the audience involved in that. It was funny and fascinating. I still can’t figure out how he did some of his tricks.
After a relaxing day today, tomorrow it’s back to taking notes and learning. We have a seven hour excursion in Grenada. I think we are going to see just about everything possible on that island. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we have a great guide and a good group to explore with. So far it has all been really great.
Tales from the Trail 