I woke up and returned our car to reception so it could be collected by the car rental company.
We were all up fairly early, so after some coffee and a freshen up, we headed to Pier One in Port St Charles.
I did a bit of snorkelling, and I saw lots of fish and a sting ray. He had buried himself in the sand so you could only really see the top of him.
We just relaxed on the decking by the sea.
As we hadn’t eaten breakfast, we booked brunch for 1130am in the outdoor restaurant.
The food was amazing. I had blackened barracuda, followed by amaretto ice cream. On the table near us was an older lady. We got chatting to her, and she said she was 91 and had lived in Barbados now for 25 years. She apparently comes to the restaurant every day for lunch.
After lunch we visited the little gift shop, Whispers. Here we met Deliah, who owns the shop. She is a real character and a lovely person. We all ended up buying something.
We then laid down again in the sun.
After a while it started to get a bit cloudy, so we headed to the pool for a drink.
As we ordering our second cocktail, Deliah came to join us at the bar.
We moved over to the other side of the decking to catch the last of the afternoon sun.
As we were sunbathing, we saw some frigates flying above us.
Late afternoon we headed back to the apartment and watched the sunset from the balcony.
After some cheese on toast, it was time to head out again. We stopped at ‘Sip and Lick’ as they had two amazing singers, we thought it was music playing until we saw them. They had great voices, and their harmonies were spot on.
We had a little boogie on the sand, which was actually really hard to dance on! I also saw a sting ray in the water right close to us.
Once the singers had finished, we headed over the road to Joan’s as the steel drummer was playing again.
We met up with some of our friends from previous visits to Joan’s.
As we couldn’t see Animal Flower Cave yesterday, we headed there this morning.
From the cliff tops above the cave, you can look out to North Point. This is the most northerly part of the island and is where the Atlsntic and Caribbean oceans meet.
At some parts of the year, you can see humpback whales here, but they had left a couple of weeks ago.
The cave was discovered in 1780 by two English explorers. The 27 steps going down to the cave were built in 1912 and are really steep.
The cave is made from erosion of the coral rock. It is 6ft above the high water mark but was formed at sea level. Barbados is riding at 1 inch every 1000 years.
The walls of the cave are full of interesting formations that have been coloured green and brown by oxidation of copper and iron.
The floor of the cave is estimated to be around 400,000 to 5000,000 years old.
There are several openings in the cave where you can look out to sea and get amazing views.
The guide told us they often fish from the openings, and in 2019, they caught a huge tiger shark and had to use a whole chicken as bait.
When the seas are rough, the water comes in the openings and can even go all the way up to the top of the steps. The guide showed us a large boulder that had been pushed to the back of the cave by the force of the waves.
The cave gets its name from the sea anemones found in the pools of the cave. When the anemone opens up, it looks like a tiny flower.
The floor of the cave was obviously very uneven and wet, and one poor lady fell over a couple of times.
One of the larger pools of the cave you could go swimming in. I didn’t have my bikini with me so I went in my underwear instead.
The water was crystal clear and actually warmer than I thought it would be. It was shallow in places but did go down to around 9ft. You could swim out to the ledge and look out.
After exploring the cave, we headed back out and did a little bit of shopping in the gift shop.
We also walked around the clifftop to take in the views.
From Animal Flower Cave, we decided to head to the south of the island and visit St Lawrence Gap. This is a 1.5km stretch of bars, shops, and restaurants and has some lovely beaches.
It was lunchtime, so we stopped at Mimosas for lunch.
The food was delicious, and the girls all had a cocktail (I was driving so stated on the juice).
Outside we took some photos on the chairs as the colours were really good.
We wandered around the shops and bought a few souvenirs, and then headed to the beach.
All of the sun loungers were full as most of them belonged to the big hotels along the beachfront.
So we found a bar and had a delicious banana colada (virgin for me).
One of the most common birds we see in Barbados is the blackbird. It squawks really loudly and has yellow eyes. I think it is sometimes called the brewers blackbird.
There are also a lot of chickens roaming the streets.
From St Lawrence Gap, we headed back home,making a short stop for some salad items, bread, and petrol.
In the evening, we stayed in and made a delicious salad. It was an early night for us all.
We had hired a car for two days, so we made sure we were all up and ready for 9am. We had a slice of toast before leaving, and the birds came for the crumbs.
Mags and I were designated drivers, so we had to have a permit each to drive in Barbados, which lasts for 2 months.
Luckily, the car was automatic, and they drive on the same side of the road as in the UK.
We set off, with Mags driving, to Harrisons cave, which was about a 30 minute drive. The roads here have a lot of potholes, and some of them are quite narrow.
Inside the waiting area, they had a lovely mural and lots of rum.
Our tour guide was Ashan, he was really lovely and friendly from the start.
At the beginning of the tour, we watched a couple of videos. One was all about the island of Barbados and the other one about Harrisons cave.
Barbados was initially inhabited by Native Americans. It was discovered by the Portuguese who named it Los Barbados, but they didn’t stay as they didn’t see the potential of the island. Los Barbados is loosely translated as ‘bearded men’, and this came from the beard fig trees that were on the island.
The English came to the island in 1625 and began to colonise the islandas they saw the opportunity for agriculture. They originally had tobacco and cotton plantations. During the 1630s, sugar cane was introduced into the agriculture. The Dutch supplied the slaves and machinery for the sugar cane plantations.
Barbados became known for its production of sugar cane, but then several disasters hit. There was a locust plague in 1663, a huge fire in Bridgetown and a major hurricane in 1667, and also a drought in 1668. By 1720 Barbados was no longer a dominant force in the sugar cane industry.
Slavery was abolished in 1834 and Barbados gained full independence in 1966 and a Barbadian monarchy was established. The Barbadian monarchy was abolished in November 2021 when Barbados became a Republic within the Commonwealth.
After the videos, we went down in an elevator to the cave entrance. We were all given hard hats to wear as the tour is via a tram that goes through the cave. We were lucky and got front seats.
As we started to go in the cave, we went through the Boyce tunnel. This is a man made tunnel named after Noel Boyce, who broke ground to open the caves’ natural passage ways.
The first area we came to is known as the village, as all the stalagmites look like people gathering together.
The cave system is around 2.3km long, and the inside temperature is about 27 degrees celsius. You also get quite a lot of water drips.
The next stop was the Great Hall. This is a large cavern measuring 15m high.
We also passed via the altar.
The cave system provides naturally filtered water for the whole of the island and are situated at 210m above sea level.
The cave was mentioned in the 18th century, but it wasn’t until 1970 that Ole Soreson, a speleologist, made a survey and mapped the cave.
Although Barbados is an island, it is not made from volcanic rock. It is formed from sandstone rock and coral that has been pushed out of the sea by ancient volcanic action.
We continued on our tram tour and the next stop was Explorers entrance. This is where the first explorers entered the cave system, and you can see the steps in the distance. The pool below is up to 9ft deep in places.
We then passed an area known as ‘the flow’. This is an area where the water is continuously running down the wall rather than dripping.
There is also a place called the Chapel but we didn’t get a good picture of it. Apparently, a lot of couples propse at this point of the tour.
We stopped at the mirror pool, which was really beautiful.
You could see the water coursing along in streams along the cave floor.
We then came to an area called the waterfall, and we got out of the tram to take some photos.
The limestone rock in Barbados is very porous and fractured and contains many cracks and fisures that allow the water through. The water dissolves the rock as it flows through it and forms stream caves.
We were now coming to the end of the tour. It was a great tour, and Ashan was so energetic and made it very personal as he grew up in the area.
Following the cave tour we had a short walk around the gardens. We saw some banana trees. Once the trees have fruited they are cut down as each tree only produces one set of fruit.
We also saw a trumpet tree. These trees grow really quickly, several feet per year. The leaves can be made into a tea that is good for hypertension and diabetes and asthma.
The area above and around Harrisons cave is a protected area, and you are not allowed to build on it. The soil above the underground system is only a foot deep in some places.
We had a bit of lunch at the caves – just some veggie samosas and sweet potato chips.
After Harrisons cave, it was my turn to drive, and we headed east to Bathsheba.
Bathsheba is home to a small fishing community but is also popular for surfers and its rock formations.
We walked over to the soup bowl which is the famous beach for surfers. We watched a couple of surfers for a while.
We then walked along the coast to the famous mushroom rock. These rocks are coral rocks that have broken away from the coral reef and are then continuously undercut and eroded by the waves.
We had a little wander around the very small town.
From Bathsheba, we decided to head north to Animal Flower Cave. Unfortunately when we got there we found out it was closed on a Monday. So we decided to head to Holetown to do some supermarket shopping at Massies. The food was so expensive but we bought some bits for a salad.
When we got back to the apartment, we had a drink on the balcony as the sun went down.
Today, we had planned to spend the day at Pier One in Port St Charles.
We set off mid-morning and walked from ours to Port St Charles as it’s only a 10 minute walk.
The sand and sea looked gorgeous, just like a picture postcard.
We wandered down the pier, but unfortunately, when we got there, they said they were fully booked. A lovely lady showed us around the area, and we booked it for Wednesday instead.
We decided we would find a spot on the local beach as we had all our beach stuff with us.
I did some snorkelling around the rocks. There were quite a log of fish, dome I don’t think I’ve seen before. I was going to film them but my go-pro froze again.
I definitely saw a few varieties of parrot and angel fish as well as blue tang, sergeant major, wrasse, sand tilefish, and possibly others too.
We had a lovely time in the water and sunbathing.
There were quite a few local families on the beach and a few chickens as well.
Early afternoon, we made our way into Six Mens for some lunch, back at Joan’s Snackette. They don’t normally serve food on a Sunday, but she offered to make us some burgers. They were absolutely delicious.
On the way back to the apartment, I made a new friend.
We had showers and got ready to go out as we were heading into Holetown for a karaoke night. We had been told to get there for 6pm as it got really busy. We stood at the bus stop, and the manager from the restaurant opposite suggested we walk to another bus stop down the road as more buses went past the one. It was just a short walk, and as we waited at this second bus stop, a guy offered to give us a lift into Speightstown as we had more chance of getting a bus from there on a Sunday. The guy’s name was Ryan, and he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture.
Just as we walked up to the bus terminal in Speightstown, our bus was pulling out. We quickly jumped on it and headed into Holetown.
In Holetown, we had a wander through the town. As it was a Sunday, all the shops were shut, but it was nice to see what was around. It was also a full moon.
We walked down to the beach and sat at one of the bars, Surfside, for a drink as the sun went down.
Karen and Mags had a delicious cocktail.
There didn’t seem to be much going on, so we headed back into town for something to eat. A lot of places were booked up, but there was an Indian restaurant, Sitar, that had a table. They actually had a private room for us.
The food was very tasty. After dinner, we walked back down 2nd street, and things had started to get busier. People were on the street, milling around and drinking, and some people were singing. One of the guys from the local bars near us, Dan,was also there, and he came and said hello. He is a bit of a character and can be quite intense.
But by now we were full and tired so we got a taxi back home.
Our taxi driver, Steven, was very chatty, and he gave us all a big hug when we got out.
As we sat on the balcony, drinking a cup of tea, it poured down – we were so glad we were indoors and not stood on the street in Holetown.
We had no specific plans for today, so decided to just stay on the beach by the apartment.
After another home cooked breakfast, we literally walked over the road to the beach.
The sea was not quite as rough as it had been so you could swim in it.
We found some sun loungers and made ourselves comfortable.
For a while, nobody got in the water, but I decided to walk down the jetty and see what it was like. The current was still quite strong, but it was ok. Although sometimes you were swimming and it felt like you weren’t moving.
At some point in the afternoon, Faye and Mags popped back up to the apartment and came back with drinks. So we had some wine sitting by the sea. Karen went to Joan’s Snackette to get some crisps.
After all the wine, we felt a bit peckish, so we ordered some starters from the restaurant behind us, the Fish Pot, and they served us on the beach.
We then spent some time posing for photos!
It was a lovely relaxing day.
After a shower, we headed into the village and stopped at Braddy’s bar as it was Karaoke night.
We met Nicole, our cleaner, at the bar so we got chatting to her.
We had some lovely food – pork, macaroni pie and salad – there was a lot of it!
Nicole told us that buying rum and coke by the glass was an expensive way to do it, and we should buy a bottle of rum and coke and make our own. This works out a lot cheaper and you can make them to your own taste – over here, they make them really strong.
One of the stray dogs came past while we were sitting at the table, and I went to give him the melted ice water in the bowl. Apparently, that is not the thing to do, and I got told off!!
After listening to some of the singers, a lot of them were really good, we headed down the road to Joan’s Snackette. I think this is becoming our favourite place to go.
I had some lovely dances again, and a couple of the guys we met offered to take us around the coast in their boats.
This is what our apartment looks like from the outside, we are on the top floor.
We had a relaxed start to the day with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon at the apartment.
Around midday, we set off into Bridgetown. The bus stops here are very basic, and there is no set bus timetable, although the buses come by around once an hour.
We caught a Reggae bus to Brudgetown – these are bright yellow buses that play loud reggae music.
They also drive pretty quickly, and the roads have a lot of potholes, so it’s quite a bumpy ride. But they are very cheap, only $3.5 BD for any distance.
It took about an hour to get to Bridgetown. Bridgetown is the capital and largest city in Barbados.
Bridgetown has UNESCO World Heritage status. It was previously called ‘Indian Bridge’ after the primative incident bridge built by early Indians. The British removed the structure and constructed a new bridge over the Careenage river sometime after 1654 and the area became known as the town of Saint Michael and later, Bridgetown. In 1872, it was finally replaced as a swing bridge.
There were some very pretty ‘pigeon’ type birds flying around.
We wandered along the streets, through a fruit market, and popped into a few shops.
We walked down to the Careenage River, past Trafalgar Square and the Cenotaph war memorial.
There was also some interesting art in the area.
We walked over Chamberlain Bridge to the Independence Arch.
Barbados gained its independence on November 30, 1966 and this arch was constructed in 1987 in acknowledgement of such an achievement.
We wandered down the waterfront and came scross a bar at the end of the Dock, so stopped for a beer.
Faye really wanted to go to Chefette. This is like KFC but is only in Barbados. We saw one on the other side of the bridge so.popoed in fir a piece of chicken each.
After our chicken we passed the Parliament buildings. Bridgetown’s parliament has met continuously since 1639 – making it the third oldest in the world
From here we headed down to St Michael’s Cathedral. The first building was consecrated in 1665 but was destroyed in a hurricane in 1780. It was elevated to Cathedral status in 1825. The Cathedral is made from coral stone.
The cathedral also has the largest pipe organ in the Caribbean.
By now it was mid afternoon so we headed to the bus station as we wanted to get to Oistins for around 5pm. Thus time we got a Government bus. We got chatting to some of the locals and tourists in the bus queue and they were all really friendly, giving us hints and tips on what to do.
The bus took a little while to get to Oistins as it was rush hour, and also a lot of people head there on a Friday for the Friday Fish Fry, as we were doing.
Oistins is the heart of Barbados’ fishing community and was once known only for its fish market where locals would gather to buy fresh fish and seafood for dinner. The fish market is there every day, but now it is also famous for its fish fry.
We walked along the pier to feed the sea turtles.
A few of the fishermen were chucking bits of fish out into the sea to attract the turtles.
We had a little wander along the craft stalls and the beach before sitting down for some food.
It was difficult to know which place to sit at, but we chose one that looked fairly busy.
It was a really casual and good vibe.
Before the food arrived, I quickly went to watch the sunset.
The food was really delicious. I had mahi-mahi with some salads and potato.
As we were eating, the place started to fill up, and they were keen for you to move on, so we took our drinks with us and wandered over to the stage area.
There were random people dancing and performing on the stage, which was quite entertaining.
We headed back down to the other end of the beach to the bar, and there was actually a much nicer vibe here, and the music was really good.
There were some really good dancers here and they did a bit of street performing.
After a while, though, it just became a local outside dance area. Couples were up dancing, and it was lovely to watch as they looked so graceful.
A gentleman did ask Faye and I to dance. He was a very cool dude and taught us the steps.
We stayed out dancing and chatting until around 11pm – everything finishes earlier here. We got a taxi home and had a little nightcap before heading to bed.
I was up early, so I wrote my blog and had a coffee on the balcony.
After a while, Mags joined me and then we had a couple of little birds join us too. The birds fly in and out of the apartment fairly regularly.
I made us some plantain chips for breakfast. As I was making them in the kitchen one of the birds flew in and started pecking at the loaf of bread on the side, through the wrapper.
Following our leisurely start to the day, we wandered along the road and down to the public beach just by the bridge.
I did a bit of snorkelling near the rocks and saw some colourful fish.
For lunch, we went back to Joan’s Snackette.
We had very flavoursome chicken and rice and a tiny bit of salad, along with the local beer.
I couldn’t eat all of mine, so I made a new furry friend who ended up with the leftovers.
After lunch, we went back to the apartment and chilled for a little while. We started to plan what to do for the next few days as we have to book tickets for some of the places we want to go.
We then had a shower and slowly got ready for the evening.
Everything in Barbados starts early in the evenings. We got the bus into Speightstown around 5pm.
We wandered down to the pier and took some photos as the light was really good.
Speightstown is the second largest city in Barbados and is also known as Little Bristol due to the strong British presence in the area. Since 1630, it has been an important port for trade.
As the sun was starting to set, we decided to have a cocktail at the Little Bristol bar and watch it go down.
It was another lovely sunset.
After a couple of cocktails and a loo stop, we popped next door to Just Chilling for some food.
I had a salmon burger, which was delicious, and we also had a couple more rum cocktails.
We also saw Venus and Jupiter. They are the very tiny but bright dots in the sky to the left of the pier in the photo below.
By around 10:30pm, we were ready to go home, so we got a taxi back to the apartment.
I was awake early so sat out on the balcony with a gorgeous view to the beach.
After a lovely coffee on the balcony we wandered down to the private beach for the hotel and apartments complex.
We got chatting to some of the other guests on the beach and they were saying not to go into the sea as the current was really strong.
I really wanted to go for a swim in the sea so we decided to go for a stroll towards Speightstown and see what was on the way.
We walked for a few minutes and passed some shacks and houses. The houses are called Chattels. They are small wooden movable houses. The term goes back to the days when the home owners would buy houses that could be moved from one plantation or property to another. The wooden house would just sit on blocks. The landlord generally owned the land, but once slavery was abolished, the homeowner could move the property and work for another landlord.
We passed the Marina at Port Ferdinand.
And on the other side of the bridge you could see the Pier One restaurant at Port St Charles.
The water here looked much calmer and as we wandered along we saw a public footpath to the beach, so we went down and found a lovely spot in the sun.
We swam and sunbathed for a while.
After a bit, we were a little peckish, so we decided to go and find somewhere for lunch.
We walked back along the road to a shack called ‘Sip and Lick’ where we stopped to try the local beer – Banks Beer.
The shack was right on the beach and it was just so relaxing.
After a beer, we literally walked over the road to Joan’s Snackette for lunch. We decided to go for the local special, which was a ‘Roti’. This is a flatbread filled with spicy meat or fish and potatoes – it was delicious.
The little shacks don’t look like anything special bit everyone is really friendly and chatty – other tourists, as well as the locals.
After lunch, we headed back to the apartment, buying some fruit on the way.
We decided to go and relax by the pool where I think we all had a little sleep.
After a refreshing shower we had a gin on the balcony before heading into Speightstown.
We made a stop at Braddy’s Bar to have a beer and watch the sunset.
The sunset was lovely again.
Once the sun went down, around 6-630pm, we decided to walk into Speightstown. A bus did go past and asked if we wanted a lift, but we stupidly said no!
It took us about half an hour to walk into town. We stopped at the Fisherman’s Pub for some dinner. I had grilled marlin with plantain and vegetables.
After dinner, we literally walked next door to Little Bristol Beach Bar where they had some live music and Mags made a new friend.
Everything here in Barbados starts early and finishes quite early. Once the band stopped we jumped in a taxi and went back to Joan’s Snackette as we had been told it was a good place to go on a Wednesday night. And it didn’t dissapoint. We had a great time chatting and dancing with the locals. One of the guys, Douglas, was an amazing dancer.
The music was amazing too – it was backing tracks and a steel drummer, Rodney, who gave us all a wicked lesson on how to play them.
We walked home and went to bed. A great first day.
It was an early start, and Ticket (Christian) kindly picked me up at 630am. and drove me to the airport.
I was the last of our group to arrive, even though I probably lived the closest. So Karen, Margaret and Faye were all chatting together, waiting fir me. We dropped off our bags, did a bit of duty free shopping (gin and vodka) and headed to the lounge.
We ate breakfast here and had a few glasses of wine and soda and g&ts. You had to pay extra for prosecco, which was a bit disappointing.
After a relaxing start to the holiday we boarded the plane and ended up with 3 seats between 2 of us as the flight wasn’t that busy. I mentioned it was Karen and Margaret’s 60th birthdays so the steward kindly gave us a glass of champagne each.
I watched a couple of films and tried to sleep for a bit. Although the flight was around 9 hours long it didn’t feel like it.
I took some photos coming into Barbados. It looks quite green and the water looked beautiful.
Karen had arranged with our accommodation for us to be picked up at the airport.
We had a lovely and chatty taxi driver, Elizabeth, who gave us lots of hints and tips on the way. The traffic was really awful so we ended up going down the back roads which were much more interesting. We passed Rhianna’s house.
As we got to our apartment, which is amazing, the sun was setting so we took dome photos from our balcony.
After a quick Rum.punch we geaded to the Fush Pot restaurant which is literally over the road from us. We sat and had a cocktail on the beach and then headed into the restaurant.
The food was delicious. I just had a starter as it was quite late and I wasn’t that hungry.
It was a very relaxing end to the day. When we got back to ours, we just unpacked and went to bed.
We didn’t get up too early as we were out late the night before. We had managed to extend checkout for one of the rooms so left all our bags there as we headed out for breakfast.
We met Mark and Jim at a lovely Cuban restaurant and I filled up on black beans, rice, with avocado and eggs.
After breakfast we revisted Miami Ink as we wanted to have a look inside.
From here we headed down to the Art Deco Centre. On the way we passed a lovely art deco house that is owned by Versace.
There are some really nice buildings down Ocean Drive. Thos is down to a lady called Barbara Baer Captiman. In 1979, under her leadership, the Miami Beach Architectural District became the first urban 20th century historic district to gain registration on the National Register of Historic Places. Barbara was known to stand in front of bulldozers to protect the art deco buildings and over 800 art deco buildings remain as a testament to her defiance. The drab run-down hotels on Ocean Drive were revitalised and painted in pastel colours.
Once we got back to the hotel we quickly got changed, said goodbye to Mark and Jim and took an Uber to the airport.
Once we had checked in and done a bit of dropping, we relaxed with a drink as our flight was delayed.
There was a guy sitting near us who was taking his little dog on a flight.
We landed in Lisbon around one and a quarter hours later than we should have. This meant I had to run to the gate to get my connecting flight from Lisbon to Gatwick. I made it but unfortunately my bag didn’t.
Fun, Fitness and Fabulousness in your Fifties 