Barbados – February 20-28

Disembarking from Sea Dream I, we made a two night stop in St.Thomas. The island was still pretty thrashed from the devastating 2017 hurricanes (Irma and Maria). Few hotels had re-opened and there was still a lot of devastation. Virtually every local we spoke with told us that their homes had been destroyed. And pretty much the same story. They tried to ride out the storm in their home and the entire roof got ripped off by the wind. Steel and concrete were no match for the power of Irma. Then, two weeks later, Maria blew in – this time at night, and with an immense amount of rain causing even more severe damage. If you were lucky enough to have insurance, you could rebuild – and a lot of that was happening. If you didn’t have insurance and had good credit, the U.S. government was providing very low interest loans. If you had neither, we understood that you could get a $2,000 grant, but were pretty much out of luck beyond that. In any case, most of the people were very happy to be under the umbrella of the USA and were confident that things were going to get back to normal. But in February 2018 the tourist business remained extremely slow and the island’s economy was hurting.

One highlight for us was a dinner at a place called Mafolie (mafolie.com). High above St. Thomas, where you can’t see things up close, everything looked pretty great!

One thing we’re learning about travel is that you should figure out how your going to get to places before you book them. To get to Barbados from St. Thomas you need to take a flight to Miami first. That’s like flying from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas via San Francisco. But, its all good cuz Barbados is awesome!

We’d only been here one time before. 1993-ish on a cruise. On that trip we had about 6 hours of island time and really didn’t remember anything. That was our loss. Barbados is a remarkable island. The people are super nice, humble, family oriented, great looking, well dressed and very proud of their island.  While walking through historic Bridgetown, we saw a huge parade of Girls Scouts, Camp Fire Girls and Brownies.

Due to the island’s extremely unique geology, the water supply here is one of the world’s purest. The island is composed mainly of limestone – otherwise knows as coral rock. As the rain falls, it gets filtered through these coral sheets into creeks and aquifers.

This geology lesson is courtesy of Harrison’s Caves, one of Barbados’s biggest attractions (www.harrisonscave.com). The caves are explored by a tram that goes 160 feet deep.

Awesome stalactites and stalagmites too. More fun geology – stalactites hang from the ceiling (note the “c” in stalactite) and stalagmites come up from the ground (get it, there’s a “g”). The caverns themselves are pretty awesome and you get to see all the coral filtered water running through them.

Our Airbnb was located on the west side of the island which faces the placid blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. Most of the exclusive resorts and restaurants are located on this coast.

Weather patterns – and hurricanes – come from the east, which keeps the west mostly tranquil. The less developed east coast faces the Atlantic Ocean and can get pretty rough.

Best move in Barbados was to meet up with a cool cab driver named Michael Jackson. Yes, that is his real name. Great for marketing. It’s a name you don’t forget. We hooked up with him on our third day and he became our guide for the week. If you need a driver in Barbados, we suggest you call or send Michael an email at 1-246-850-7902 or mjacksonz1420@gmail.com

After Harrison’s Caves, he suggested going to the east side of the island to visit Bathsheba, known for its ferocious rolling waves. There’s a surf spot called the “Soup Bowl” which hosts annual international surfing competitions with the best surfers in the world. And more exciting geology – the waves carve these rocks into cool giant “mushrooms”.

Also at Bathsheba is a great restaurant called “The Round House” which sits just above the pounding surf (roundhousebarbados.com). If you visit you’ll get great food and awesome views. Taking a walk down closer to the beach we were pelted by heavy wind and warm rain.

Michael also took us to St. Nicholas Abbey, a sugar plantation, rum factory and museum which was built in 1658. Very cool example of old-school island wealth from England. (Stnicholasabbey.com) If you’re in Barbados, we recommend a trip here for a taste of culture.

Another super cool attraction is the Barbados Wildlife Reserve (barbadoswildlifereserve.com) Kind of a cross between a zoo and a park. After a small admission fee, you tour around and see monkeys, deer, turtles, peacocks and other animals walking freely.  In secure areas, you can see cool tropical birds, iguanas and gnarly snakes (which is weird because they say that there are no snakes in Barbados, so why would you bring some there?)

It is a huge understatement to say that there are tons of great beaches here. Far too many to mention. But highlights for us were Bottom Bay where Shawn found some coconuts and Mullins Beach where the bartender made me his very special whiskey cocktail.

Restaurants here are also top notch. We had four great meals. A terrific lunch at Lobster Alive (www.lobsteralive.net). On Sunday afternoon there is live jazz and huge lobsters on the beach in Bridgetown.

Lunch at the super exclusive Sandy Lane resort (www.sandylane.com ) – which was just up the street from our Airbnb – was also terrific.  Several cabbies told us – so it must be true – that Tiger Woods rented out this entire resort for his wedding. Other prominent guests include Simon Cowell and everyone’s favorite Bajan (meaning “of or from Barbados”) Rihanna.

BTW, Rihanna is a Bajan treasure. Apparently she recently played a huge concert in Barbados. When it was done, instead of leaving in a limo bristling with security, she got in a small SUV by herself and drove away. Just like a local. In any case, lunch was awesome and the resort itself is spectacular. If someone else is paying – cheapest room is $1200 per night – this is the place to stay!

We had a great dinner at CinCin (cincinbythesea.com) which was walking distance from our place. Great food and a very elegant place to see an amazing sunset.

Our favorite meal was dinner at restaurant in Holetown called The Tides (tidesbarbados.com). Recently remodeled and super elegant, it sits directly on the water and is fabulous. If you are going to Barbados, a stop here is a must.

Best day in Barbados was a five hour cruise on a 56 foot luxury catamaran called Cool Runnings IV (coolrunningsluxury.com). They limit the number of guests to 18 and the chef prepares a spectacular lunch along with snacks, appetizers and a tremendous dessert. Open bar is another nice feature 😎. The boat makes several stops to dive in the warm, pristine water – including one where you can swim with a bunch of sea turtles. The crew (picture below in the cat’s salon) are young, energetic and cool. It’s a great day. If you have only one day in Barbados, I would choose to do this!

Overall, Barbados is an amazing island. Probably our favorite in the Caribbean.

Now we are off to Bogotá, Colombia for the start of two months in South America!