Beautiful Barbados

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Dear Blog Readers,



It had felt like a long stint since our last holiday in July, which went like a whirlwind, so we were so ready for this holiday! It was the first time using my British Airways perks too which was exciting as much as it was confusing about the terminology, process, constant checking on availability! However, tickets were booked, and flights were ‘confirmed’ to Barbados so off we went!



Off to an absolute flyer as we were given the first two seats in First Class for the outbound flight. Laura was offered champagne before she’d even sat down! The seats were massive, the service impeccable and the food was outstanding. We could even sit together for our meals like we were on a date at 30,000ft. We barely slept, mostly because we didn’t want to, and were soon woken to have a lovely afternoon tea with warm scones just before touching down in Barbados. What an experience – and the holiday hadn’t even started!



We got a taxi from the airport ($25) out to our AirBnB for the first 5 nights at Leeton-on-Sea which was just outside Oistin on the south coast. Barbados is a relatively small island, about 20 miles wide and the same from north to south so we had a good chance of seeing most of the island whilst we were here. The AirBnB was perfection – we had a lovely little apartment to ourselves with a kitchenette and balcony. It was positioned right on the beach, and we had our own little private garden with hammock, deck chairs, shower. All the beaches in Barbados are free for the public, with no exclusive rights, even for the ridiculously expensive all-inclusive resorts on the west coast!



Waking up the following day and I can comfortably think of a lot worse places to spend my birthday! We had a lovely walk around Oistin in my new trainers, and then along the white sand beaches before venturing out further to St Lawrence Gap. This is a nice little area with lots of lovely bars and restaurants – we stopped for a drink at the Cocktail Kitchen before getting a cracking meal at Castaways with the sights and sounds of the waves lapping from our dinner table.



We’d found a place near us called the Epic Surf Café which did these lovely frozen smoothie breakfast bowls which filled us up ready for our surfing lesson with Ride The Tide. Our local instructor, Zee, took us out to Freights Bay where we had one of the best surfs of our lives! The waves were perfect, we pretty much caught every one we lined up for, and it was amazing to be waiting for the sets with sea turtles bobbing their heads up to say hello every minute.



We’d managed to get little hire car for a few days which is highly recommended as you’ll be able to cover a lot of ground over a relatively short period. We decided to have a drive into the capital city, Bridgetown, and check out The Boatyard on Pepples Beach. As it was late afternoon, we weren’t able to go for the full day ticket so gave it a miss, but essentially you have the option of paying $75 and it pays for food, drink, some watersports/snorkelling and a cool looking jumping off point at the end of the pier with some inflatables. Instead, we had a drink and lovely walk along Pepples Beach which was pretty busy – both with island and cruise ship tourists.



We jumped back in the car with some popcorn in hand and drove up towards Holetown and stopped at Paynes Beach which was lovely at sunset. The hotel we’d been thinking about booking for the final 3 nights was right there so pretty much sealed the deal on booking that in the evening. Laura got to do some handstand photos for her promotion campaign for her workshop that she’s teaching in January in London too!



Although I’d downloaded the Google map of Barbados before coming out (as we can’t use mobile data), I’d forgotten to put the Location setting on. As it was now pretty dark, we had a bit of an ordeal trying to get back home! Bridgetown has quite a lot of one-way systems and we just seemed to constantly be coming off the main road and then back in a circle again. A testament to the generosity of the Bajan people, the bloke we stopped to ask how to get back on the main road to Oistin literally got on his bike and cycled ahead of us until we got to the main road!! We’d been recommended Café Sol in St Lawrence Gap from a colleague at work and it was fantastic – great Mexican tapas food right on the beach front, and Laura getting through her 89^th pina colada of the holiday!



The following day we’d decided to do a proper road trip up the East coast and started off with a short jaunt to Bath Beach which had a much more striking coastline than the South or East. It had some cool rock formations jutting out into the sea. We got to see more of this stunning coastline on the short trip up further up to Bathsheba. We had a lovely walk along the beach and found a really cool section of deep plunge tidal pools which took us straight back to reminding us of the ones we played in at Magpupungko Beach in Siargo, Philippines.



After a lovely lunch at Dina’s Bar (the grilled marlin was fab), we drove to St Nicholas Abbey which has historical significance on the island as one of the plantations which has been converted into an insightful museum, a rum distillery and a steam train ride around the grounds if you wish. Afterwards, we drove back via Speightstown which has a few shops and nice vibe to it. I’d recommend heading down to the beach near The Caboose food shack for a nice little pier to jump off and beach cove to relax on and take in the lovely sunset!



The following day was the last with the car, so we wanted to make the most of it. We initially stayed inland and drove to Harrison’s Cave but at a price tag of $50 each, we thought better of it and decided to go to Hunte’s Garden about 10 minutes away and much cheaper. The garden is an absolute labour of love from Anthony Hunte, who we actually ended up meeting in the tearoom overlooking his own garden. It’s super quirky, loads of amazing plants, animals and a lovely place to relax to take in the sights and sounds.



The weather had turned somewhat, with a little rain coming in, but only once we got to the very north point of the island at the Animal Flower Cave & Restaurant did we see how stormy it must be out at sea. The ferociousness of the sea as we overlooked from the cliffs there was really impressive, and the waves that came crashing through were awesome. So strong were they that the caves were actually closed, but we were able to have a lovely bite to eat at the restaurant. Admiring the crashing of the waves against the rocks, a table about 20 ft from us got absolutely drenched when one rogue wave smashed into the side of the cliff face and funnelled up towards the restaurant.



We went on a little adventure afterwards and found our way to the deserted Harrison’s Point Lighthouse. On the approach, we assumed it would be abandoned and closed off but once there we found we could actually get up to the top! A bit sketchy, but the views were fantastic! We jumped back into the car and went back to the beach at Speightstown for another dip. The peaceful cove and pier jumps weren’t exactly possible with the swell that had come in from the North so we played it safe! We drove back via St Lawrence Gap had a cracking meal at Mimosa – well worth reserving a table so you can be on the beachfront for it!



We were up outside our AirBnB at 8:30am the following morning as we waited for our coach to take us to Bridgetown and to the Tiami Catamaran Cruises base there. On a recommendation from work, we’d booked the day trip which took us and about 25 others out on a catamaran up and down the west coast. It was absolutely fantastic, and probably the highlight of the trip for me! Paid about $100 for the trip, which included snorkelling to see a shipwreck as well as tonnes of fish and sea turtles. We also were guided to some of the posh places along the west coast, where Simon Cowell and Rhianna were staying, and also an anchor point where Laura and I were able to show off our diving expertise. Somebody asked Laura if I was a professional – what a moment. Unlimited drinks at the bar, cracking staff catering to our every need, and a cracking lunch was put on for us as well. Well worth going if you get the chance!



We enjoyed the last night in Oistin, probably felt like we didn’t utilise the hammock, our own little garden and beach well enough to be honest! The following day we’d booked into the Beach View Hotel at Paynes Beach which was absolutely fabulous. It has 3 or 4 pools in the complex and a stones throw from the beach which is cracking. Unfortunately, we’d been fighting a cold throughout the holiday, but it turned into a full-blown chest infection by this point. Thankfully we didn’t have anything major planned for the next couple of days so were able to rest and try and recover as best as possible. The seawater certainly helped, and we had some lovely little snorkelling trips, as well as reaching a diving platform our near a pirate-ship looking fishing boat. There was a cool little pop-up restaurant down the road from the hotel that was literally in somebody’s driveway which did an awesome jerk chicken! We upgraded our room for the final night to a wonderful suite and ended the holiday in style managing to get business class on the way home, only to find Laura had been upgraded to First at the gate! We could definitely get used to this way of travelling….



Tink & Laura

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