A week in Barbados

  Christ Church, Barbados
Friday, March 17, 2006

  This was my second trip to Barbados, I was 12 years old on my first trip with my mother.  Things have changed in Barbados.  It's much more touristy, better variety of fruits and vegetables in supermarkets and allot more restaurants.  We arrived at the airport and quickly found a taxi who was eager to take us to our hotel.  Tip - ask the taxi driver how much the fare will be from the airport to your hotel before you get into the taxi. 

 We stayed at the Bougainvillea Beach Resort in southern Barbados.  The resort was very clean, oceanfront with three pools on the property, two restaurants, a swim up pool bar and childcare services.  This was a very beautiful resort and within walking distance to the St.Lawrence Gap.  On the south side of the island there are big waves, on the western side of the island the waves are minimal, very calm and great for snorkeling.

  If you want to take a cruise, book it as soon as you arrive at the hotel as they fill up quickly.  We booked a three hour swim and snorkel with "El Tigre" catamaran sailing cruises.  If we could do it again we would have booked the five hour lunch cruise because we had so much fun.   The morning of the cruise we were picked up in a bus, this was the longest part of the trip as we had to stop at all the resorts to pickup people along the way, it took about an hour. We arrived at the catamaran and sat down to a cup of coffee and sailed to a coral reef on the west shore.   We were shown how to use the snorkel equipment provided and with a water camera in hand we jumped into the ocean.  Tip:  purchase a water camera with a flash.  We saw hundreds of small tropical fish and jellyfish.  We then cruised to another location where we swam around huge sea turtles.  It was a wonderful adventure, we were told not to touch the coral reef or the sea turtles we could however, take pictures. 

  We spent one day touring the northern and eastern sides of Barbados with my cousin who lives in the area.  We drove to one of the best rated beaches in the world, Crane beach, located on the east shore.  This is a beautiful long stretch of beach with big surfer waves.  We stopped at the Crane Resort for a drink and take in the view.  You can book a taxi to drive you around the island for the day and show you all the highlights at a reasonable rate.