St. Lucia : Island Hopping: Barbados!

Saturday night:

Pastor Tom came by to pick us up and drop us at the airport. Our flight for Barbados was supposed to leave at 7:30, but of course LIAT was late. As we waited, we froze in the airport. I don’t know why, but it was freezing in there. By the time our flight actually left, we were supposed to have been in Barbados already. We arrived in Barbados a good hour late, but oh well everything is good! We made it! We stayed at Oceanspray Beach Apartments and my first impression of the hotel was that it could have been cleaner. It was not dirty enough to find a new place, but just not as clean as you’d expect a hotel to be. Oh well! Here is where we are staying for the next 4 nights. I am really impressed though by the view. The water is literally right next to the hotel. You can feel the mist from the waves crashing against the rocks. The view is spectacular! I know where we will be spending our nights!

Sunday:

This morning we woke up and headed for breakfast. The hotel serves a continental breakfast in the morning. The food was pretty good, but my favorite part was the juice and the view! If only I could wake up to this view every morning! The waves are rolling in and hitting the rocks. A perfect morning to enjoy God’s creation!

After breakfast we went to the front desk where the helpful lady showed us a map and explained how to take the bus as well as where to get it. We headed back to the room to finish getting ready and then headed out for the day.

Today we left thinking we were going to go spend the day a place called the Boatyard. We left the hotel and headed in the direction of the nearest bus. Because we take bus in St. Lucia, we knew it was cheaper and were told we should be fine as long as ask where we are going. Well we got to where we thought the bus would pick us up and waited. Not before too long did a guy come and let us know that we needed to hop the bus a short walk away. No problem. We got on the bus and were surprised at how easy it was to ride. A bus ride is 1 U.S. or 2 Barbadian. So cheap compared to a taxi and so worth it! We headed to Boatyard and realized that it was very similar to Reduit (our beach in St. Lucia) and decided to leave. We then walked towards Bridgetown and found the bus station to take a bus to Crane Beach. For 2 U.S. we traveled on a big blue bus for about 30 minutes to Crane beach and it was gorgeous! So worth the time it took to get there. The view was breathtaking! We walked along the rocks, laid out for a bit, ate some food at the beach restaurant and then headed back to wait for the bus. Our timing was incredible. We were thinking we’d have to wait for about 30 minutes before our bus would show up, but after about 10 minutes of waiting the blue bus came rolling around the corner and we quick ran across the street to get on. We got off at Oistens (closer to our hotel) and went to the ATM and gas station to get some food and juice. We walked across the street to another beach and sat down to enjoy a shandy before heading back home. On the way home we stopped at Chefette for dinner. This is basically Barbados’ version of McDonalds, but in my opinion 10x better than McDonalds! My broasted chicken sandwich was amazing and I got a second in case we don’t get food tomorrow after our day tour. We caught bus 11 to get back to our hotel and the guy on the bus again helped us to find our stop. Taking bus is pretty easy here and I’m glad we’ve decided to use this as our means of transportation. After arriving at the hotel we took it easy and then enjoyed some drinks under the stars at our hotel.

I’m very proud of us. With many questions we were able to get around all day, no problem! First impression of Barbados has been good. The people are extremely helpful and friendly and the sand is the softest sand I’ve ever felt! More to come tomorrow!

Monday:

This morning Abby and I got up at 5:45 for the sunrise. While it wasn’t the best sunrise I’ve ever seen, it was pretty spectacular watching it come up over the ocean (something we don’t get to do in St. Lucia). Because we were up so early and had to leave early for our day tour, I did not fall back asleep after that. Instead I drank some coffee, watched a show, and went to breakfast with the girls. We got picked up at 7:45 in the morning and left for Harrison’s cave. Our driver that was taking us around for the day had a little bit too much energy for so early in the morning and therefore some of the things he said sounded crazy. However as the day wore on he was filled with facts and we learned a lot about Barbados and its history.

Our first stop was the Harrison’s cave and it was really cool. The cave is pretty big and the whole tour was done by tram. Seeing the stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, pools, ect. was really cool and amazed me. Again I could see the power of God in his creation. After the cave tour we drove nearby to a Wildlife reserve where we watched green monkeys being fed. The monkeys were not caged and roam freely throughout the area, however the only time we saw any was during feeding time. The swarm of monkeys following the bananas was insane! We started to walk down the path to see if we could see any more wildlife, but about halfway through it started to rain in the forest. I was very glad that I brought my rain jacket as it helped keep me dry. We then turned around and headed back to the lookout point until we headed back onto the bus.

Next we drove a bit until we reached Bathsheba. Bathsheba is a rock formation on the coast. It was beautiful! While a short stop, it was one of my favorites to see. After about 10 minutes we left and had about an hour drive south where we went to a place called Pirates Cove for lunch. Our Bajan lunch was delicious! Barbeque chicken, macaroni pie, rice, stewed meat, corn, salad, plantains, and cooked vegetables all were on my plate and I can say all were gone by the end of the meal.

Following lunch we boarded a pontoon which took us to the turtles. This was by far my favorite part of the trip! The turtles were AMAZING! Some literally came within inches of me. We spent a good 30 minutes swimming with the turtles as the captains of the boat threw food into the water to keep them near us. I can’t even begin to describe to you how cool this experience was. It is just something you will have to experience yourself some day! The turtles were so cool we tried taking underwater pictures with Tanya’s underwater camera. Unfortunately the camera didn’t last long though and took on water. Downside the camera might be toast, positive side is that she was able to capture about 5 pictures before it died. Our friendly driver actually went to the local store and bought Tanya some rice for her camera to sit in. After the turtles, we headed back to Pirates cove where we were given chairs to relax on for the last hour of our day. With our free drink in hand, we enjoyed our chairs and the view.

After the tour our driver dropped us at Buffy’s, a small local store close to our hotel. We wanted to get juice for the night. We then walked the rest of the rest of the way to the hotel where we chilled for a bit before we went out and walked down around a path on the coast. Watching the waves and how they form and build off of each other is really cool. The power in just one wave incredible. Anyways we headed back before it got dark and the tide came in. After a long packed day we were all pretty tired. We relaxed for a bit and showered. I bought an extra Chefette sandwich the day before, so I ate that for dinner. We finished off the night with a drink under the stars and went to bed.

Tuesday:

We started off this morning chilling in the room and having breakfast. Around 10 we left for the bus and headed towards Rockley Beach. It was very relaxing. All the different shades of blue that you see in the water still amazes me! So beautiful!

We spent maybe an hour or so on the beach. I went in the water and felt like I was in a wave pool, except for there was obviously real waves and salt water. It didn’t take long before I was tired and came back to dry off on my towel. Around 12 we headed for lunch. Across the way we found some food and shops. I ate pizza before heading to shop for some souvenirs. We then took the bus back to the hotel. I am really amazed at how smooth this bus system is. In St. Lucia we just have the bus driver, but in Barbados many buses have the driver plus a person in the back who takes the money. It really seems to keep things moving. It’s also really nice for us as we don’t know where we are going so we tell them exactly where we want to go and they take care of it.

We didn’t have long at the hotel before we were picked up for our sunset boat cruise. We had a lovely time aboard El Tigre where we stopped twice to snorkel and then headed out to watch the sunset. Swimming with turtles is definitely the highlight of this trip! While aboard we were served a bunch of delicious finger foods and we were able to try the local rum and beer. I would say both of fairly similar to St. Lucias. While I loved the sunset cruise, I was a bit bummed. My favorite sarong blew off the boat and is now most likely on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I hope they have another that I can buy when I get home.

Following the cruise, we had our driver drop us at Oistens. This is an area that is known for its food and entertainment on the weekends. I’m not quite sure what we were thinking but each of us got food plate of food. I have never seen so much food in my life- well maybe that’s just my eyes saying this because I had already eaten on the boat. Anyways we got some local food, but none of us were able to finish it. I guess we’re going to have leftovers for tomorrow! We took the bus back home and enjoyed a drink under the stars before heading to bed for the night.

Wednesday:

I can’t believe our last day in Barbados is over. It has been a great vacation! This morning we all got up not feeling the greatest. I’m not sure what happened exactly, but we’re thinking it may have to do with something we ate last night. So much for leftovers today, I do not think I will be eating them! None of us slept well and all of us had this uneasy feeling in our stomachs. Despite all of that we got up, packed up our bags, and headed for breakfast. We then went back to the room to grab our things. We left our luggage in the office at the hotel, as we would not be back for checkout time, and met our surf instructor who came to pick us up. Yep that’s right. I am going to try to surf!

Upon arrival at Barry’s Surf School, we paid and then headed to the beach for our lesson. Barry, Simon, and Ben were our surf instructors. Because there was only 5 in the group, we had lots of individual help. Surprisingly our lesson on land was about 5 minutes long and before we knew it we were hitting the waves. “Knee, foot, up,” were our simple direction on how to stand on a surfboard. My first wave came and I repeated to myself “knee, foot, up.” All of a sudden I was standing. What?! I rode my first wave in all the way to shore! So exciting! Paddling out was way harder than I expected and therefore a huge workout. It was really cool though and I would recommend to anyone who has ever thought about surfing to give it a try. Your eyes may burn from the salt water and your legs might get fried after 2 hours of being in the sun, but its worth it! Yes I will admit I did get a bit sunburned. I lost track of time and about 45 minutes before our time was up, I went to reapply, but by then it was too late. Oh well! I’m glad its our last day and I won’t have to deal with a burn and wanting to be at the beach tomorrow.

After surfing, we stayed at the beach for a bit longer and relaxed on some chairs. We then went off to find food, but instead of going to a restaurant we popped into the local supermarket. Boy was this such a good decision! Bajan’s have donuts and not just any donut, sprinkled donuts! I of course had to buy one and I got Hershey’s cookies and cream milk to go along with it, all of which was reasonably priced for an island. Could I not have chosen more Bajan food? Yes, but in the moment the American food was what I wanted and I could not have been happier. We then went back to the surf school where Barry drove us back to the hotel. We enjoyed our food there. I can’t believe our time is coming to a close. We spent our last hour and half sitting in chairs and watching the waves roll in. Tanya and I were able to take quick showers in the extra bathroom before our taxi showed up to take us to the airport. Once we arrived at the airport, I got Chefette one more time before heading through security. I really am going to miss Barbados! Teacher Liz was at the airport and on the same flight back with us. We all almost missed our flight back to St. Lucia because we were in the wrong spot, but made it for the last boarding call. Back in St. Lucia, Jen picked us up and we headed home to relax a bit before bed. It does feel good to be home, but I really do miss Barbados!