Barbados

Friday morning we woke up in Barbados but our balcony wasn't facing the port. We made sure to sit at a table where we could see the town of Bridgeport where we were docked while eating breakfast at the Horizen buffet. In Barbados the dock is set farther back than the main streets so Princess provides buses to get you from the gang way to the main terminal where you can meet tour guides, get taxi's, etc. Alicia and I had each wanted to see different things in Barbados so we weren't touring together but we both used Cameron Reid's company. We followed the signs leading us to pre arranged tours and found our guide, Rocker, holding a sign up with our name on it. I had given Cameron a list of places we wanted to see but apparently the info wasn't given to Rocker as he had no idea what we were interested in and asked us where we wanted to go. Unfortunately I hadn't brought any paper work with me as I assumed he had an itinerary already worked out for us. Fortunately I remembered a few places and we left the rest up to our guide as to best areas to see.

I loved all the colorful buildings - a blue bank!

As we drove further out onto the island and away from Bridgetown the villages all had beautiful churches.

Our first stop was an area known as the Scottish Highlands as it's supposed to look very similar to that area of the world.

Rocker pointed out things as we drove towards the town of Bathsheba

Huge Aloe Plant

Black Bottom Sheep - yes these are sheep!

We made a stop at St. John's Parish one of the most well known churches on Barbados.

Everything in here was very intricate and hand carved

Apparently Barbados had recently stopped exporting sugar cane and had switched to other crops but there was much evidence of just how prevelent it had been at one time - from the plantations to the stone windmills used for power to crush it - to the many fields where it still grew.

Finally we began to see the beautiful town of Bathsheba. Because it's on the Atlantic side of the island the under tow is too strong to swim in but there were magnificent huge rocks scattered right on the beach.

David and I were really anxious to snorkel again so our guide brought us to Folkstone Beach whch is known for a nice reef harboring many colorful fish. With the sun shining on the water it is even more turquoise and the sand is so white! We had told Rocker to come back for us in about an hour and wished we had told him much longer as I once again didn't want to stop.

We were starving and got back to the ship, changed out of our bathing suits, had a quick snack, and headed back to the terminal to do a little shopping. Barbados has these delicious rum cakes you can only get there so we got some small ones for the boys.

When we got back on board, just a little while before sail away we saw a submarine being towed into the harbor. What a strange looking sight!

Since we weren't facing the island sail away wasn't quite as exciting but I did get a picture of the Harbor Master's boat. I was so facinated with the whole procedure of docking and disembarking. Each island was the same with the Harbor Master leading us out of where ever we were docked and into the wide open ocean.

We were really wiped out from the past few days so went to dinner at 6:00 with Alicia & Chuck, and Cheryl & Kelley, and then we all turned in early ready for yet another day of touring on

St. Kitt's.