Blogs from Bridgetown, Barbados, Central America Caribbean - page 4

Day #3 - Sep 4th. One of the things that I looked most forward to was swimming with the turtles and snorkeling over some ship wrecks. It was suggested that I go on a Catamaran instead of a regular powerboat. I took this cruise with Cool Running Catamaran Cruises. They will pick you up at your hotel around 8:30 or so and drive to Bridgetown to hop on your boat. From the start, the crew was incredibly friendly: cracking jokes, getting everybody on board a cocktail, and allowing us to take over the boat. It was not too crowded -- we sat on the back of the boat the entire time - legs dangling in the water even at higher speeds -- and just chilled. Lunch on-board was great! I imagined light sandwiches, but was surprised ... read more

Final day in Barbados. I've spent so many fraustrating days here in Barbados during my time on the Destiny. It's been nice the final few weeks to just be able to enjoy the island. Life on the ship is busy. Doing my handover with my replacement. Socializing with friends while I still can. Packing in every moment still possible with Jody. Plus there are all of these safety inspections happening this week which means extra drills and training and meetings and things. All this leaves little time for rest. But I'm determined to still get out this week for some final adventures. Jody and I walked to Boatyard, the beach club in Barbados the crew always go to. It's a nice half hour walk through Bridgetown. Lovely just to be out in the sunshine, walking and ... read more

Even though my teen count this week is the lowest it’s been since I signed onto the Destiny, I had three sign up for the tour! This week’s adventure: the Carlisle Bay Shipwreck Snorkel tour. It was stellar. I’ve done plenty of snorkel tours, but none of them even fall into the same category as this one. Absolutely awesome. What was mind-boggling to me however, was where this stellar snorkeling experience was located - only a 5 minute boatride from the ship. Most times we’re in Barbados, myself and other crew go to the Boatyard beach club. Just down the shore to the South is the hotel where I stayed after my hospital stay. Halfway between these two places and just far enough away from shore that you couldn’t swim out lies an underwater marine park! ... read more

Monday we were in St. Thomas, where Terri & I are doing our scuba dive certification course. While we started it a month ago, our studies have been on a bit of a hiatus. Between my medical disembarkation, immigration issues I had after returning to the ship, both Terri & I being on port manning duty and all sorts of other things, we haven't been able to get back out there. But Monday, we got in the open air taxi and headed across the island to Coki Beach for our first confined water dive. Except, when we got there, we learned that all dives were cancelled because of poor visibility. Over the weekend there had been strong swells that had stirred up everything in the area and left the water very choppy. Once again, diving has ... read more

With a population of about 110,000, Bridgetown is the island's largest and most vibrant city. After all, it is the capital and commercial centre of Barbados. Steeped in rich history and culture. Today Bridgetown reflects a mix of the old and the new, with historic sites and buildings sitting among modern structures like multi-storey offices, financial institutions and shopping malls. It's not often we can say we were somewhere exotic twice in a year, but having been in Barbados in April, that is the case this year. In fact, as this was our third visit we've almost done it to death. Accordingly, we decided on a cool, relaxed morning in Bridgetown finishing Christmas shopping rather than trying to do any tours - and anyway, we'd done them all before (a bit blasé we know). So we ... read more