island tour number three

Steph and I spent the whole week deciding what we wanted to do with our limited days together. Since I worked during the day, we really only had two full days to work with. We went back and forth between a few options (including Harrison's Cave, surfing lessons, and a Mount Gay rum tour) but finally settled on an island tour. Once we landed on that, we needed to decide which tour company to use, which tour to choose, how much to spend ... Finally, we chose Sun Tours Picture Perfect Tour. We weren't totally sold on the coach bus tour, but this tour covered a lot of the island for a decent price (and it included lunch and rum punch, very important).

Saturday morning, while we are watching for the bus to pull up, a gentleman knocks on our door. How did we miss the big yellow bus drive by? Turns out, we were the only ones to sign up for the tour that day so we had our own private driver. Score!

I won't bore you with too many details but our tour stops included: Cherry Tree Hill, Chalky Mount Pottery, Morgan Lewis Windmill, Bathsheba, Bath Beach, St John's Parish Church, Ragged Point Lighthouse and Bottom Bay. Now, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The potter at Chalky Mount did a little demonstration for us. All of the clay is from the east coast of Barbados. As much as I would have loved to buy some of his work, I think my baggage is already going to tip the scales.

We had a lovely little picnic (the picnic basket definitely made it!) We had fish and cheese cutters, bananas, coconut bread (to die for), and lots of rum punch!

I may or may not be a cat whisperer (or a crazy cat lady, but I like the first option better). These guys were begging from all the people having beach side picnics.

Clothing malfunctions all day long. You would think that by island tour number three I would know how windy the coast is and wear a shirt that doesn't have a mind of its own. At least I remembered to do my hair up so I didn't end up with dread-locks.

Please excuse the poorly painted naked lady graffitti.

I must say, Bottom Bay is defintely the most beautiful beach in Barbados.

We bought a coconut off of some guys on the beach. They hacked it open for us and we went to frolic in the ocean. The coconut water would have been way better if it was cold, but unfortunately, there was no room for ice ... 

And then this happened. 

Before we left, we had the coconut guys crack open our nut so we could eat the flesh. Much better than the water.

Our day didn't end here, but our tour did. We went on a little adventure on our own after getting dropped off in the middle of no where. That post is soon to come (well maybe not that soon because I'm leaving the country for a couple days, oh the suspense!)

island tour number two

Last week I made up a list of things to do/places to eat while my dad was visiting. I really wanted to be able to show him the whole island. Unfortunately, without a vehicle that's not such an easy task.  I tried to convince him to rent a car but he wasn't having it (he thinks we will get into an accident and never be able to leave Barbados, but is that a bad thing?) So I called up a taxi driver that had driven me to and from the airport a few times to see if he would be up for an island tour. Luckily for us, he was!

Arlington picked us up Saturday morning and we headed up the west coast. Our first stop was at the Animal Flower Caves at the North point of the island. This cave was discovered in 1780 by one of the seaward entrances and stairs weren't built to go down from the cliff until 1912. This place is definitely high on my list (if not the highest) of the coolest things in Barbados that I've seen so far.

 As always, the cliffs were breathtaking. But I was more interested with what was underneath. After a bit of a trek down seriously steap stairs you come into this huge cave with openings to the sea. The formations down here are incredible and definitely tell a story. We were lucky it was fairly calm because it can be a pretty dangerous place if the waves are large enough.

While I was off exploring one side of the cave, Dad found another sea opening that could only be accessed by swimming through a small pool. I ditched my camera and joined him on the other side!

Next stop was Cherry Tree Hill. The pictures speak for themselves. It was an amazing view down the East coast of the island.

Sidenotes: my hair was so nappy at this point because it was so windy up there. Also, I need to teach my family how to use my camera because it's quite the production every time I want to be in a picture!

We then cruised down the East coast to check out one of the most popular "postcard views." There's no swimming on this side of the island for the most part due to the wicked current. But there is a popular surf spot on this coast, called the Soup Bowl.

I love all the random rocks (although it seems insignificant to call them rocks, because they really are huge) that have been eroded away by the waves. This one above was all alone.

And this is the view you will see on many post cards looking North up the East coast. I believe this was at Edge Cliff looking up at Bathsheba.

Our last stop before lunch was at St John's Church, which was built in the 1830s. I'm happy we visited during the day because the tombs freaked me out. Honestly, it was pretty creepy, but it was a beautiful old building.

We stopped for lunch at the Souse Factory for Pudding and Souse (it rhymes with house not moose, Dad seemed to have some issues with that....). If you ever come to Barbados pudding and souse is a Saturday staple. Now I just need to find a place that makes it closer to my house!

The day was long. We covered pretty much the whole island in five hours and we were beat. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool!