Animal Flower Cave Concession Stand

In all the times we've visited the Animal Flower Cave, we've never actually gone into the cave nor seen anyone else go in. It costs something, and there is a discouraging sign posted at the top of the stair that says something like "Enter at Your Own Risk".

Nevertheless, the concession stand at the cave is a pleasant and popular spot. You can have lunch here and ice cream, and there are washrooms in decent shape around the back.

There are several benches around the grounds that are painted blue and have a "Wet Paint" sign affixed to them. But I think the paint must be dry by now, as those signs have been there for at least three years.

Great Spot for a Picnic!

As you get close to the Animal Flower Cave (assuming you walked over from River Bay, rather than vice versa, which would actually be more sensible), there is a gallery of sorts, complete with benches, so you can put your feet up and enjoy watching the surf crash against the cliffs.

There are signs that there had once been plans to put thatch on the roof of the structure, for some welcome shade, but the wind is so strong along this coast that I don't doubt the plan was abandoned after numerous roofs blew off into the deep blue yonder.

Still, it is a great spot for a snack.

Please Pay Attention to Where You're Going

As you might imagine, there are a few signs of erosion along the coast, where the relentless ocean has scoured away for millennia at the coral cliffs. If you weren't paying attention to where you were going, you might fall through a hole like this and end up forty or so feet on the beach below.

If you did that, you'd find yourself on a beach of Bottom Bay–like beauty, but I'm not sure how you would get off it.

Surfing Lodge Ruins

One of the stranger sights along the walk from Animal Flower Cave to River Bay is this ruined hotel. At some point in the fifties or sixties, I gather, some entrepreneur thought it would be a good idea to promote the north coast as a surfers' paradise. I don't know how long the lodge was in operation, but today this ruin is all that is left of the venture.

I don't know anything about surfing, so I can't speak to the wisdom of the plan, but I've had a good look at that point on the coast, and I just don't see how, once they'd cruised in on their gnarly waves, the surfers could avoid being pureed against the rocky cliffs.

Perhaps that's why the hotel went out of business, when all its guests failed to return from their day's activities.

One thing to note about this point in the walk: there is a hobo-like person who seems to live by the walled perimeter of the surf lodge. He likes to insist you buy something from him as a kind of fee for passing through. One time we bought a wild grapefruit from him (it wasn't entirely edible, but its scent made me think I'd died and gone to citrus heaven) and this time around the GH bargained him down from five dollars to three for an entirely desiccated coconut that he claimed had juice in it.

He seems pretty harmless, and we don't begrudge him his rather marginal means of scraping by. He seems shy about who he approaches—one time I saw him start towards us jauntily, only to melt into the shadows under the trees when he saw the muscular beefcake tourist who happened to be walking in front of us. I felt rather sorry.

The Cow's Nostril

This brief video gives an idea of the wildness of the north coast. Towards the end of the video, you will see a blowhole in action. Our landlady, Barbara Anne Rodriguez (about whom more in a later post), told me that blowholes are known locally as "cow's nostrils"!

Where the Atlantic Meets the Caribbean Sea

The sea off the north coast of Barbados is as wild and crazy as it is because that is the point at which the Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea. It really is something to behold, the way the water heaves and thrashes around. Great waves, as high as buildings, crash into the cliffs, as depicted above—when you consider that the cliffs are about thirty or forty feet high, you start to get an idea of the scale of the splash I photographed here.

The Walk from River Bay to Animal Flower Cave

For the past three years now, we have taken the bus to River Bay and then walked along the plateau to the Animal Flower Cave and caught the bus back again.

The big drawback of this itinerary is that the inbound bus from the Animal Flower Cave is an unreliable creature. I see in my notebook a note that reads "Inbound bus from Animal Flower Cave is at 44 mins past the hour. Or 12 mins. Who knows?"

Last year, we stood in the hot sun for about an hour and a half waiting for it. I began to lose hope. I was about to bail and call for a taxi, but the walk back to the Animal Flower Cave concession stand to find a phone book would have been about ten minutes long—and what if a bus came during that time?

The GH counselled patience (a situation rich in irony). But sure enough, about ten minutes later, the welcome sight of a blue bus!

So, the strategy nowadays is to ask the driver to let us off at the Animal Flower Cave, have our picnic there, and then walk back to River Bay. Either way, it takes about an hour over rocky ground. I recommend sturdy shoes (at least Crocs) and good sun protection (about which, more to come!)

Picnic at River Bay

To the west side of the River Bay site, there is a stand of casuarina trees, with wonderfully gnarled trunks that throw the most interesting shadows on the sandy ground. There are several picnic benches here. It's a great place to sit and eat an egg and hummus sandwich and sip some tea while watching Bajan families enjoy their Sunday picnics at other tables!

If you're lucky, you might even see an informal cricket match in progress ...

River Bay

Along the north coast of Barbados, the sea behaves like a wild thing, heaving in several different directions at once and crashing on the coral cliffs with great thunderous booms.

But where the river of River Bay runs out to sea, there is a shallow, calm spot where you can take a dip while the Atlantic rages a few yards away.

It's a popular picnic spot. There is a public facility with washrooms and changing rooms, and the Connelltown bus arrives here at about 20 minutes past the hour, every hour.

St Lucy's Parish by the Connelltown Bus

Back in 2010, we had planned to explore the north coast of Barbados, as we had heard it was spectacular. Then the GH's face met with a rock on Gibbs Beach and our plans were derailed. In 2011, we finally got to visit St Lucy—and were blown away. It is now a staple excursion for us, just as Bathsheba is.

The Connelltown bus leaves Bridgetown on the hour every hour and travels up the West Coast road. I figured it would pass by Gibbs Beach at a little past the half-hour, and I was right. The bus came by at about 11.35. The ride took us north along the coast (calling in at the Speightstown bus terminal briefly on the way) and through an interesting-looking settlement called Six Men's Bay. There's a good-looking restaurant there called the Fish Pot which I would like to try some day when I win the lottery (Fodor's guide lists it as $$$$).

If you are going to the Animal Flower Cave (which an old gentleman at the Speightstown bus terminal once told us, sotto voce, was not worth visiting), the Connelltown bus will take you there, but you have to tell the driver that's where you want to get off, because there are no clues from the road that the Cave is even there. You get off at a bend in the road where the bus swings right, and walk down a dusty street past a couple of stalls selling postcards and seashells.

Alternatively, you can do like we do and walk to the Animal Flower Cave from the River Bay picnic ground, which looks like this ...