The Incomparable Bottom Bay

Cave Bay III

We came across this abandoned house while walking the short distance northwards between Cave Bay and Bottom Bay.

It must have been quite the palatial residence in its day. I wonder what events led to its abandonment and its present, rather dilapidated state.

Perhaps, like the house on Farley Hill, this erstwhile mansion was the victim of a movie shoot gone awry!

Cave Bay II

I thought I had seen lovely beaches in Barbados already. But Cave Bay quite took my breath away. From where we stood at the top of the cliffs enclosing it, we could hear the waves booming like a cannon as they crashed up against deep overhangs that had been eroded into the headlands.

Less well known than its companion to the north, Bottom Bay, Cave Bay was completely deserted when we visited on a Friday afternoon. Of course, the currents all along these parts of the Southeast Coast make this a dangerous beach for swimming, but I wouldn't mind bringing a tall flask of iced lemonade with me next time and just sitting here for about three hours.

Perhaps another reason that Cave Bay is less well visited than Bottom Bay is that the way down to the beach from above is via a very steep stair that has been roughly cut into the coral cliffs. There is no handrail--not for the weak of knee, and I mean that both literally and figuratively.

Cave Bay

The Approach to Cave Bay

From Shrewsbury Chapel we walked along to Harrismith Road (or Harry Smith, as on some maps) and turned right towards the coast. This is a mid- to upscale residential area, and the houses get ever more opulent as you get close to the sea.

At the end of the road, an arid, grassy plain opened up before us. We started across it, feeling very hot and exposed (rather like the old lady in Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native who has to cross Egdon Heath).

We would have been more cheerful if we had known what we were about to see ...

"We Are Almost There"

So the walk from Tropical Winds to Cave Bay and Bottom Bay took about an hour in the middle hours of a thirty-degree day.

We trudged northwest from the coast near Sam Lord's and Shark's Hole up to Highway 5 and walked northeast along that for about half an hour. Highway 5 isn't that busy with traffic, but there isn't much of a sidewalk, so it probably wasn't the world's safest pedestrian outing.

At Shrewsbury Chapel we asked a nice old lady waiting at the bus stop if she knew how far it was to Bottom Bay. She said she didn't know, but immediately after I saw this sign on a pole:

At first I thought it applied to our quest for Bottom Bay, then I realized it was a warning of the apocalypse. October 21, 2011? Obama won't even have finished serving his first term yet!

Tropical Winds Hotel

So the Sam Lord's Castle bus actually goes a little beyond Sam Lord's Castle, but we asked to be let off at the Castle and fetched up at the Tropical Winds Apartment Hotel.

It was a welcome sight to a hot and hungry tourist. But even though the hotel was very clean and attractively appointed, we seemed to be the only people there apart from the staff.

The restaurant was completely empty. If it had been anywhere in Southeast Asia (Mersing, say), this would have been a thoroughly lugubrious experience. But our waiter's cheeriness more than made up for the lonely situation, and we had a very respectable dolphin sandwich.

The waiter thought our plan of walking all the way to Bottom Bay seemed ambitious, but we assured him that we were good walkers. So we are, but as it turned out, we would have been better off staying on the bus to the very end of the route.

What of Sam Lord's Castle itself? It is closed, after a spell as a hotel in the Marriott chain.

Grantley Adams International Airport

The Sam Lord's Castle bus stops at the Grantley Adams International Airport on its way east from Oistins. So if we were purists about taking the bus (which I must confess we're not), this would be our route to and from the airport.

There are other buses that stop here (including the Speightstown-Kirtons, St Philip bus and the Fairchild Street-Yorkshire, Christ Church bus) but the Fairchild Street-Sam Lord's bus seems to be the only one with a regular schedule seven days of the week.

We usually take a cab to and from the airport. The fares don't seem to be fixed and our host P.H. said she had sometimes been charged exorbitantly, but in general we have found that a cab from the airport to St Peter's Parish costs about USD40.00 or so.

At some other point I will discuss the food options at Grantley Adams, but for now I should concentrate on our excursion to Bottom Bay, which was part of an attempt at Oistins Fish Fry Traffic Jam Avoidance.

Fairchild Street Bus Terminal, Bridgetown

Bridgetown has two bus terminals, the main one on Fairchild Street and a secondary, open-air one on Alice Street. The Fairchild Street terminal lies just across the O'Neal Bridge, which is what Bridge Street is called where it spans the Careenage.

The Fairchild Street terminal is a slightly claustrophobic building, but like the Speighstown bus terminal it is efficient and well signposted. The Sam Lord's Castle bus leaves every half hour from Gate 12.

This is the bus that goes along the southern coast where most of the tourist resorts are located, so it was packed with a fair number of tourists. At the end of the stretch, as the bus turned away from the coast just past Oistins, we were the only conspicuous non-locals left on board.

The driver was so concerned that we had missed our stop that he shouted back to make sure we knew where we were going! Just one of many instances of kindness we've met in Barbados, and a major reason we keep going back there.

Bridgetown

The yellow bus we took into Bridgetown let us off on a narrow shopping street near the centre of the city. I'm not sure which street it was, but it may have been Milk Market or a street parallel to it. In any case, we walked down to the corner with Broad Street and turned left to head towards Trafalgar Square and Bridge Street, which crosses over the Careenage to where the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal is located.

We've only been in Bridgetown twice. It's a busy, dusty city, and not really what we like best about Barbados (after all, there's lots of city grime where we come from). We tried once to have supper there at the end of a long day and found to our surprise that everything, even the restaurants, shuts up at about five-thirty.

I'd like, however, to stop here for a Chefette roti lunch the next time we are here changing buses for Sam Lord's Castle. There is a Chefette around the corner from the Fairchild Street Terminal, which is what I'll write about next.

Oistins Traffic Jam Avoidance

So our cunning plan to get to the fish fry without meeting the Oistins traffic jam was this: We would spend the day visiting the famous Bottom Bay on the southeast coast of Barbados. Then, at about five, we'd catch a bus to Oistins, travelling in the opposite direction to everyone else!

It was an excellent plan. We just executed it in a less-than-perfect way, so if you're going to try this, please learn from our mistakes.

At about 10.30 in the morning, we left our digs in St Peter's Parish and caught a yellow bus down to the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal. From there, we caught the noon bus to Sam Lord's Castle. There, we had lunch at the Tropical Winds Apartment Hotel, then walked the rest of the way to Cave Bay and Bottom Bay.

The walk took about an hour, which wasn't great in the 30-degree heat. The GH got a big blister on his heel, though by the next evening he had rather more to worry about in the wounds and swellings department! If I did it again, I would stop for a Chefette roti lunch in Bridgetown, then head out on the bus. The bus goes beyond Sam Lord's Castle to Shrewsbury, which is where we should have got off.

Instead, we ended up making something of an epic journey, which I'll chronicle in the next few posts.

Oistins Craft Market

There is a craft market at the Oistins Fish Fry, on the promenade at the waterfront. We always visit the stall where we bought these bowls. They are, incredibly, made out of fish scales. The artist who makes them (of whom, more below) once showed us a fish scale the size of a poker chip. I'm not sure what kind of fish it came from, but I bet it was big.

He also makes lovely turned wooden bowls that are so heavy and smooth they feel like they're made of soapstone.

When we visited last, I thought I'd take a photo of all the lovely bowls at his table to post on this blog. Unfortunately, he must have thought I was planning to steal his patterns, because he started yelling at me from where he was sitting nearby. I erased the photos I'd taken--it seemed like too much work to explain to him that I was going to try to promote his work online, and he didn't look like he was in the mood for conversation.

I hope that if he ever sees this post he will realize my intentions were all good!

Oistins Bay At Sunset

Hot Legendary Fish Cakes at Oistins

These are kind of nice. Doughy, spicy, and fishy. They make a tasty appetizer before your main plate of fish.

The Oistins Fish Fry Traffic Jam

A definite downside to the Oistins Fish Fry is the traffic jam you have to endure in getting there. There are direct buses (yellow and blue) to Oistins from Speightstown along the West Coast road, but when we casually strolled out at 6 pm to the bus stop at Fitts Village (where we were staying the first time we went to the fish fry) , we had to let several buses go by as they were so packed with people there was no room for us to get on.

When we did finally get on a bus, it got bogged down in rush-hour traffic around Bridgetown, and from there it was stop-and-go all the way to Oistins! It was well past 8 pm before we arrived.

The bus goes along the South Coast, which is where most of the tourist resorts are. I can't say that the strip is much to our taste, but maybe it's best for Bajans if the rowdiest tourists are all concentrated in one small part of the island.

The second time we went to the fish fry, we left from Bathsheba. This time we thought we would dodge the traffic by going early, and presented ourselves at the bus stop outside the Sea-U Guest House at 3 pm (buses go to Bridgetown every hour from Bathsheba). Strangely, the bus never arrived, and one of our fellow would-be passengers said it might have something to do with school being let out.

So we took the 4 pm to Bridgetown and changed at the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal to the Sam Lord's Castle bus, which leaves at the top and bottom of every hour (i.e., every 30 minutes). But by then the rush hour was in full force, so we still got to the fish fry rather later than we had planned. In fact, the one-way trip took three hours!

So this year, we had a cunning plan ... stay tuned to find out what it was.

By the way, buses from Bridgetown back to Bathsheba leave every half hour between 5 and 8 pm; thereafter they leave every hour on the hour.

The Oistins Fish Fry

The Oistins Fish Fry takes place every Friday night and is well worth visiting if you are at all fond of fish! We are told that a quieter version of it occurs on Saturday nights too, but Friday night is the happening night.

Situated right next to the Oistins Fish Market, the Fish Fry is a collection of stalls and tables, rather like a Singaporean hawker centre but all--yay!--devoted to fish.

A plate of fish and side dishes (grilled vegetables, macaroni pie, rice and peas, mashed potatoes, etc.) costs about BBD 35.00. You can have your pick of grilled dolphin (mahi-mahi, not the mammal), marlin, swordfish, flying fish, and seafood kebabs. Some stalls are better than others, but we haven't yet figured out which one we like best.

I'm usually somewhat conscientious about eating seafood in an ethical way, but I figure by the time I've racked up the carbon emissions to fly to Barbados, I may as well indulge. (Plus, we get around ever so virtuously by bus!) I haven't looked into it, but my impression is that Bajan fishing practices are pretty low-impact. It's all local seafood, too!

Valentine's Day in Barbados

So this is what the GH looked like on Valentine's Day, 2010.

That's okay. When I thought of all that could have happened--a concussion, an abraded cornea, lost teeth, or even a broken neck--I was happy just to have my Good Hubby by me, even if he did look a little more colourful and puffy than usual.

The main inconvenience was that, to avoid disturbing the many stitches inside his mouth, we had to switch to a diet of mushy food for the rest of our visit.

What? No more dolphin (mahi-mahi), marlin, flying fish, or swordfish steaks? It was a cause for genuine dismay.

Luckily, we had already made our annual pilgrimage to the Oistins Fish Fry, just the night before.

Turtle Nests Destroyed

Throughout the night of February 13 (the day of the Good Hubby's accident), we could hear the surf pounding the shore, even though we were about a mile inland.

The next morning, we visited Gibbs Beach again and noticed that there were smashed turtle eggs all over it.

Our host, P.H., told us that there are usually about 70 hawksbill turtle nests on Gibbs Beach alone. She was very sad to hear about the smashed eggs, as she has taken part in the hatchling release programme, where volunteers shine flashlights to guide the emerging baby turtles into the ocean.

From all I've read about sea turtles (The Voyage of the Turtle, by Carl Safina, is one of my favourite books), I can see that Gibbs Beach is a perfect beach for nesting turtles--at least, when there are not "large battering waves" pounding the shore.

From the website of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, I've learned that hawksbill nests are usually about 18 inches deep. I guess that gives us an idea of how much the beach was churned up by those high waves.

I also learned that three different species of sea turtle nest on Barbados--hawksbills, green, and leatherbacks. I think P.H. said the leatherbacks mostly nest on the East Coast.

If there are about 70 nests on Gibbs Beach and each nest contains about 150 eggs, that means come hatching season some 10,500 baby turtles make their way to sea from Gibbs Beach alone. The number that survive to breeding age is, of course, only a tiny percentage of that--but still it's an encouraging thought.

I certainly didn't see 10,500 destroyed eggs along the beach that day, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that only a handful of nests were disturbed and that this summer baby hawksbills will emerge out of the sand and take to their ocean home in great numbers!

Sandy Crest Medical Centre, Holetown

Very fortunately, our hosts P. and D.H. arrived at Gibbs Beach in their car just moments after the Good Hubby had had his accident. They drove us to the Sandy Crest Medical Centre in Holetown.

I can't say enough good things about the treatment that the GH got there. The attending physician, Dr Trudy Weeks, found that the force of the wave in dragging his chin along the bottom had opened up a deep laceration inside his mouth, essentially ripping the flesh away from his jawbone. The laceration was full of sand.

His right eye was similarly rather sandy, so the first task was to irrigate this eye and clean it out as much as possible. Miraculously, although it was already clear he would have a huge shiner, his vision was unaffected.

Also miraculously, he had all his teeth, so the main task was to sew the hole in his chin back together again, after all the sand was cleaned out (she did this by poking her finger in the hole repeatedly!) I assisted in the suturing by holding his bottom lip open so that Dr Weeks could see what she was doing. So I'm afraid I've now seen my husband's jawbone.

There was very little tissue left on the bone, so Dr Weeks had a difficult time trying to attach the other side of the laceration back to the gum. But she was very patient and also quite deft with her hands. It took about an hour for her to put all the sutures in and to close up the hole.

She then ordered x-rays as she was convinced that the GH had broken his orbital bone. Luckily this was not the case, but I was rather impressed by how modern the x-ray facilities at Sandy Crest were (my father is a retired radiologist so I have a faint interest in these things).

I was most impressed by how kind and cheerful everybody was. In many countries that are as touristed as Barbados, the prevailing attitude might be one of impatience or disdain for a tourist that had got himself into trouble this way, but both the nurse and Dr Weeks were extremely sympathetic and unrushed in attending to us.

In the reception area of Sandy Crest, there is a framed photo and letter from Tony and Cherie Blair, thanking the staff of the centre for their kind treatment. Not a big fan myself, but I think I can say we couldn't have been treated any better if we had been celebrity politicians!

High Surf on February 13, 2010

These were the conditions at Gibbs Beach on the morning of February 13. The waves were, I think, between two and three metres in height. Because Gibbs is a relatively steep beach, these waves did not break until they were right on the shore.

Unbeknown to me, as I was taking this video the Good Hubby was happily undressing and getting ready to go in. As soon as he entered the water, however, he realized he should come out again. However, this meant turning his back on the surf.

I watched in mounting horror as he got slammed down repeatedly by waves that stood maybe three feet taller than him. The last wave dragged him along the bottom by his face. He must have hit a rock on the way, because when he came out of it his cheek was swollen to the size of a grapefruit and his chin was coursing with blood.

Hindsight is a great thing. I have now discovered that the meteorological section of the Ministry of Agriculture website had posted for that day: "Moderate to rough in open water with swells 2.5-3.5 m. A small craft warning is in effect for above normal northerly swells. A High Surf Advisory is in effect for large battering waves."

My italics. No kidding!

Gibbs Beach

Of all the beaches we've visited in Barbados, Gibbs Beach is our favourite. The beachfront is taken up with staid and elegant villas, all with lovely tropical gardens--as a result, the beach has a secluded, untouristed feel.

To get to Gibbs Beach, get off the bus at the junction of Highway 1 (the West Coast Road) and the road that leads to Rock Dundo. Walk north along the west side of the road until you come to a house called "Southwinds". There is a narrow passage on the left that takes you down to the beach.

When the sun is out, the waters of Gibbs Beach have that astonishing blue colour that always looks faked in photographs. You can see why travel copywriters are so fond of the word "azure" when you come here!

Most of the time, the sea at Gibbs Beach is as calm as a swimming pool. I've spent many happy moments floating on my back here, looking up at the casuarina trees and climbing bougainvilleas that line the shore.

If you tilt your head slightly back in the water, the sky and the sea become your whole universe. You can hear the clicking of grains of sand as they're moved back and forth by the waves--and if you let your feet float downwards, you can comb the sand with your toes.

It's so idyllic that, whenever I am feeling stressed, I try to visualize floating in the sea at Gibbs Beach to calm myself down.

On this visit, however, we found out that sometimes the sea at Gibbs takes on a different complexion.

An Eventful Fourth Visit

We are now back from our fourth visit to Barbados--and a very eventful visit it was!

This time we stayed with some friends near the lovely Gibbs Beach in St Peter's Parish on the West Coast. We were about 15 minutes' walk up the hill from the beach, just off the road that leads to the hamlet of Rock Dundo in St James.

We made our usual trips to Bathsheba and the Oistins Fish Fry, and also visited the spectacular Cave Bay and Bottom Bay at the southeast end of Barbados.

The most memorable part of this visit, however, involved the Good Hubby, his face, a wave, and a rock ...

In Case You Are the Surfing Kind ...

Here's some East Coast surf. I don't know how you'd avoid those bad-looking rocks though ...

The Soup Bowl Cafe

The Soup Bowl Cafe functions as an informal bus terminus for Bathsheba. After arriving from Speightstown and Bridgetown, buses sit across from the Soup Bowl Cafe for about ten minutes before beginning their inbound journeys.

The cafe is so named for its proximity to a famous surfing cove known as the Soup Bowl. I knew this--nevertheless we headed in here one afternoon in hopes of having a nice chunky fish stew or something like it for lunch. You can't say the phrase "soup bowl cafe" to a food-minded person like me and expect me to think of gnarly waves.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem that there was any food to be had in the cafe at all. It is, however, a nice enough place to sit and sip a cold beer or a can of pop. Not that we're surfing types at all, but I believe you can rent a surfboard from here (or the place next door).

According to The New York Times, the Soup Bowl is set to become one of the world's great surfing destinations. I hope not. I like Bathsheba as it is--sleepy and somewhat underpopulated.

Dina's

This is hands down my favourite place to eat in Bathsheba. We had a couple of fantastic fish dinners here, including one featuring steaks from a swordfish that Dina casually remarked had been caught just hours before.

Dina herself is quite a delightful host. She doesn't open every night, she told us, because she is a professional dominoes player and she sometimes has important games in another parish. However, if you call ahead and let her know you're planning to visit, she'll make sure the restaurant's doors stay open.

To phone ahead: (246) 252 5453 or email adinahg[at]yahoo.com

Seaside Bar

For a small place, Bathsheba has several pretty good eating spots. The Seaside Bar isn't exactly haute cuisine (and you certainly won't encounter fawning waiters here), but it's a good place to get a picnic lunch if you're planning to hike up the coast towards Barclays Park.

The usual Bajan goodies are on offer here: flying fish, fried chicken, macaroni pie, and so on.

Our picnic lunch from here last year was so hefty that I see I made a note to myself to split one portion between us next time.

Sea-U Guesthouse

The Sea-U Guesthouse in Bathsheba is a great place to stay if you can get a room. It's actually about a five-minute walk uphill from the rest of the town, but its elevated position affords great views of the ocean and a stiff, constant breeze.

Breakfast is provided, as is dinner, if you add your name to a list before 11 am. The food is very good (though I usually require more fibre at breakfast)--one night we had an eggplant appetizer, flying fish and macaroni pie.

There are two cats on the premises. They are both very sweet and not at all shy about begging. One has a perpetual grimace on its face, as if to say, "Come on ... but why not?" From the dining area, which overlooks a thick tangle of mangroves, you can see them picking their way over vines and gnarled, adventitious roots. I'm glad our cat Eddie doesn't come with us on holiday or he would think his indoor life very ignominious.

We also had daily visits from a pair of sparrow-like birds called grassquits. The female was quite bold--she would hop her way into our room while her husband watched anxiously from the doorway.

The long verandah with its Muskoka chairs (or Adirondack, depending on where you're from) and the common dining arrangement makes this a rather social place to stay. This is good or bad, depending on what you think of the other guests. Luckily, we liked most of the people we met and came away feeling we had made a few friends.

Our Harrowing Ordeal at Long Pond Part III

A couple of days later, we revisited the scene of the crime and saw that the sea had already broken down most of the berm that had held in the waters of Long Pond. This is a picture I took from the north end of it. You can see where it would have joined the southern end and that there was now a sandy flat where the water had breached the berm.

Perhaps when we visit again (next week!), we will see that the berm has reformed and that Long Pond has filled up again.

When we told the staff at the Sea-U Guesthouse (where we were staying) what had happened, they were astonished. The receptionist told us that she used to swim in Long Pond as a child and that the grownups had always warned her not to let her feet touch the bottom, or the mud would suck her in and drown her! She also said she'd heard stories of cars being swallowed whole and never seen again.

I'm not sure if she was saying that just to give me a thrill. It's all right to look back at a harrowing ordeal once you've survived it, had a shower, and tucked into some flying fish and macaroni pie.

I'm still sorry about it, though.

Our Harrowing Ordeal at Long Pond Part II

When we went back to Long Pond (or, more correctly, where it had been), we saw to our shock and horror that The Idiot (who was now nowhere to be seen) had succeeded in draining the entire pond into the ocean!

A huge swathe of the sea was discoloured brown by all the mud and silt that had washed out, and through a wide breach in the berm, a gushing torrent of water was running out to the ocean.

Although most of the pond had been drained--and the muddy bed of the pond was now exposed--the stream of water flowing seaward was still running so deep and fast that we didn't dare wade across it. We didn't fancy being knocked off our feet and washed into the Atlantic Ocean--not so close to dinnertime.

We saw freshwater fish being swept into the salty waters, and a crab desperately trying to scrabble against the current and hang on to the side of the breach with its pincers. It occurred to me that The Idiot had single-handedly destroyed an entire ecosystem all by himself, for no better reason than that he'd had nothing to do and too much destructive energy to do it with.

Meanwhile, our bus back to Bathsheba was passing by Barclays Park in rather less than an hour. We would have to try crossing upstream, over the now exposed muddy bottom of Long Pond.

As soon as we stepped off the sandy bank, though, we sank almost to our thighs in mud that had collected over years, possibly decades. My left Croc was swallowed up in the gooey, sucking, black silt. I had to plunge my arm in to retrieve it.

Now, I had spent a fair chunk of my childhood playing in just these conditions on the mudflats of Pasir Panjang in Singapore (now built over with container wharves), so I wasn't quite as alarmed as the Good Hubby, who seriously thought we would be sucked whole into the mud and never seen nor heard from again. Still, it was an unpleasant and unforeseen situation, and I wasn't quite sure how it would end.

I wish I had a photo to append to this post, but by this time my muddy left arm was carrying my muddy left Croc and it just didn't seem like a good idea to take out any personal electronic devices.

So we just hobbled up and down cursing for a few minutes.

Then the Good Hubby had a bright idea. He found us a couple of walking sticks, and using these to find the bottom, we hauled ourselves across at the narrowest point and made it safely to Barclays Park, where we had enough time to wash ourselves under a running tap before getting our bus.

No thanks to The Idiot.

Our Harrowing Ordeal at Long Pond Part I

At certain points along the Bathsheba coast, the ocean waves have pushed the sand up into berms like this one. These berms can be about four to five feet in height and about a hundred yards long.

One such berm that we came across, north of Barclays Park, held in a body of fresh water that was marked as Long Pond on our map. We figured it must have been a stream that had been dammed up by the berm.

It was a thriving ecosystem. Just walking casually along the top of the berm and looking in the water, we could see shoals of little fish swimming and enormous freshwater crabs lurking about the bottom.

Another species of wildlife we noticed was a tourist madly digging at the berm with his hands and feet, like some sort of demented dog. Apparently it was his bright idea to dig a channel from Long Pond out to the ocean.

Having mentally registered that he was an idiot, we went on our way. About an hour later, we despaired of ever reaching the end of the beach and turned back.

We weren't at all prepared for what we saw next ...

Barclays Park

Barclays Park (so named after the banking institution, I believe) is a pleasant picnic spot about ten minutes' drive north of Bathsheba.

The bus from Speightstown passes by on its way to Bathsheba at about 20 minutes before an even hour (i.e. 40 minutes after it has left the bus terminal).

The bus to Speightstown passes by at about 10 minutes past an even hour.

It took us about an hour and a half to walk to Barclays Park along the beach from Bathsheba. We dawdled along the way, of course.

On weekends, Barclays Park is a popular picnic spot for Barbadian families. Especially on Sundays, they always look awfully properly dressed for being on the beach. But perhaps for Barbadians, going to the beach isn't the rare occasion it is for us and so there just isn't the same enthusiasm for stepping out in hobo attire when it happens.

More likely, we are just incurable slobs.

Fortunately, this doesn't seem to discourage acts of great friendliness. Last year, just as the Speightstown bus was pulling up, a lady whose family was picnicking nearby came to ask us if we would like to ride back with her in her car.

We were so taken aback by her generosity--and flustered by the fact that the bus was fast approaching--that we declined, thanking her profusely as we hopped on board. We felt bad afterwards, as we felt we might have been rude and also that we had missed out on a chance to get to know some local people better.

Barclays Park is also where I saw my first ever mongoose. It's a nice place.

The Beach on the Bathsheba Coast

The beach on the Bathsheba Coast goes on seemingly forever. There is a tricky bit just past the Round House where you have to walk across piled up rocks for about a hundred yards, but otherwise, it all looks like this.

Last year, the Good Hubby and I walked for about five hours from the southern end near the Soup Bowl, past Barclays Park and north. We never did make it to the end of the beach, as we had to turn back and catch the bus back to Bathsheba to make it in time for supper.

The picture is one I took as we were trudging back, sunburned and weary. Note how unpopulated the beach is--long may it stay that way! In fact, all day we met only a couple of other people. Unfortunately, one of them was behaving like an idiot and caused us a great deal of inconvenience--but more on that in a later post.

Swimming on the Bathsheba Coast

Hey, by the time this post is published the Good Hubby and I will be in Barbados on our fourth visit!

In a previous post I'd mentioned that the Bathsheba coast is unsuitable for swimming. That's not entirely true.

At low tide, the ocean recedes just enough to expose a number of shallow rock pools. Some of them are wide enough for floating in. That's me in the picture, demonstrating my buoyancy.

It's a wonderful feeling to lie in a rock pool while the Atlantic Ocean pounds away on reefs less than 20 metres away.

If you're going to try this, I recommend wearing shoes. I found my Crocs were just the thing for walking over rocks to get to the pool and for protecting my feet from the sea urchins that lurk about the bottom. Crocs also float, which makes lying in the water a little easier and more comfy.

Getting To and From Bathsheba

As mentioned in an earlier post, there is a bus to Bathsheba that leaves the Speightstown Bus Terminal every two hours on the odd hours. The trip takes about 50 minutes.

There is also a bus from the Fairchild Street terminal in Bridgetown that leaves at the top of every hour (every half hour in the rush hours). The running time for this journey is 70 minutes.

The "terminus" in Bathsheba is the Soup Bowl Cafe (about which more elsewhere). The buses leave from here to go back to Bridgetown every hour and to Speightstown every two hours on the even hours.

Bathsheba

Bathsheba is the main settlement on the East Coast of Barbados. The pounding Atlantic surf on this coast makes it unsuitable for swimming, so it is not as popular with tourists.

In our view, that's a plus.

Bathsheba makes a great day trip from the West or South Coasts. You can also stay there, if you don't mind its remoteness.

Last year we stayed in Bathsheba and thoroughly enjoyed being away from the bustle and development of the West Coast. There is very little traffic in Bathsheba, and it was easy to walk from our guesthouse each night to the several restaurants that line the main drag.

There is no proper grocery store in Bathsheba (although there is a small convenience store up the hill from the Round House), but a couple of visits to the Jordans in Speightstown took care of everything.

If you worry about your hairdo, Bathsheba is not for you. My main memories of being there are pretty elemental--the sun, the wind, and the unrelenting roar of the sea.

Andromeda Botanical Gardens

Just before the bus from Speightstown descends into Bathsheba, it stops at the lovely Andromeda Botanical Gardens.

Like everything else in Barbados, the gardens are small but full of charming surprises. Here's a picture I took of a frangipani tree that happened to be in blossom--but out of leaf--at the time of my visit.

There are brochures that guide the visitor on walks through the gardens, and a cafe where you can stop for a light meal.

The bus back to Speightstown leaves Bathsheba on the even hours, so watch for it to pass by Andromeda Botanical Gardens at about five minutes past.

If you are a good walker, it's possible to make the rest of the journey to Bathsheba on foot. It's not a busy road and Bajan drivers are good at looking out for pedestrians, but remember to walk facing oncoming traffic.

Barbados Wildlife Reserve Part II

This little fellow we saw running around in the reserve. I thought it was some kind of marsupial at first, but upon reflection I realized it was an uncommonly large and charming rodent.

I think it is a mara (not native to the Caribbean). Like the capybara, the mara is a large South American rodent and a close relative of the guinea pig. It is also sometimes called a Patagonian cavy or a Pampas hare.

Anyway, I had never seen one before visiting the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. Perhaps I ought to watch Planet Earth or The Life of Mammals again to see if I can learn something about them.

Barbados Wildlife Reserve Part I

The Barbados Wildlife Reserve turned out to be smaller than I thought it would be, but as we have learned, size isn't everything.

I wasn't, for instance, prepared for the large number of tortoises clattering about underfoot. Each of them seems to have its own, somewhat opaque agenda, but at close to 2 pm they all head purposefully for the feeding area.

The green monkeys (who don't necessarily live in the reserve but are free to come and go as they please) also know that it is feeding time. Since the ground is thick with tortoises, many of the monkeys will just perch on the tortoises' shells and reach for fruit over their heads.

The reserve is also home to a strange animal whose existence I'd never suspected prior to my visit. But that is for another post.

Farley Hill

About twenty minutes out of Speightstown, the Bathsheba bus makes a stop at Farley Hill, a small public park set atop a 300-metre escarpment. This is also the stop for the Barbados Wildlife Reserve.

The view from Farley Hill is spectacular, taking in almost all of the Scotland District (the name given to the rugged northeast coast of Barbados).

The cordoned-off, charred ruins of a 19th-century sugar baron's mansion stand in the middle of Farley Hill park. I had always thought the house must have burned down in its heyday, in a time before electric lighting, but my guidebook informs me otherwise.

Apparently, the mansion had been restored in 1956 for a lavish Hollywood movie starring Harry Belafonte. Sadly, the various movie-set embellishments turned out to be fairly inflammable, so that a few years later the house was destroyed in a fire.

The bus back to Speightstown stops by at about 20-25 minutes before an odd hour. Or if you're going on to Bathsheba, cross the road again and catch the bus at 20 minutes past an odd hour.

From Bridgetown, the Indian Ground bus that leaves from the Princess Alice bus terminal makes a stop at Farley Hill. The best departure times for a day excursion are 11.45 am and 1.45 pm from Mon-Fri; 9.45 am and 12.45 pm on Saturdays; and 10.45 am and 1.30 pm on Sundays. You'll have to check with the driver for inbound times.

Speightstown to Bathsheba

Our favourite excursion from Speightstown is to Bathsheba, a small settlement on the East Coast.

Buses to Bathsheba leave from the Speightstown Bus Terminal every two hours on the odd hours. The journey takes about 50 minutes and there are great views to be had along the way.

This is also the bus to take to visit the Barbados Wildlife Reserve or Farley Hill. The two attractions share the same bus stop and are across the road from each other.

As the bus turns south and starts travelling along the rugged East Coast, it stops at Barclays Park, which is a great place to have a picnic.

Just before descending into Bathsheba, this bus also goes by the quite lovely Andromeda Botanic Gardens.

So there are at least four sightseeing excursions that can be made using this one bus route. It's a good bus to know about.

St Peter's Parish Church in Speightstown

This is St Peter's Parish Church in Speightstown. When our friend The Curmudgeon was little, he served as an altar boy here.

St Peter's Parish Church is one of the oldest churches in Barbados, having been built in the 1630s. It was destroyed in a hurricane in the 1830s, then burned in a fire in 1980, but was lovingly rebuilt and restored after each of these events.

Our friend The Curmudgeon has yet to revisit this old haunt of his boyhood, but I always think of him when we are in Speightstown and hope we can visit together one day.

And while you're chomping down ...

This is the view from the dining area of the Fisherman's Pub in Speightstown.

The Fisherman's Pub, Speightstown

The Fisherman's Pub in Speightstown is a great place to have an affordable, authentically Bajan meal.

It's hard to miss if you head towards the beach from the bus terminal and then turn left to walk south along the shore.

Here's the drill: You join the line in the front of the restaurant. If it's a long line, you can while away the time by watching a cricket match on the wall-mounted TV.

When you get to the glass-covered counter, behind which are trays and trays of traditional Bajan dishes, you point to what you want and a server will dish it onto a plate.

It can be hard making yourself heard through the glass but in general the folks at Fisherman's Pub are more than happy to explain what each dish is.

Definitely point to the flying fish.

When your plate is ready, you bring it to the bar and someone will decide what you should pay for it.

The Speightstown Bus Terminal

The Speightstown Bus Terminal is one of three terminals operated by the Barbados Transport Board (the other two are in Bridgetown).

If you're anywhere north of Holetown on the West Coast, this will be your starting point for tours of the island.

Our favourite excursion from here is to Bathsheba, but the many tourist attractions of the northern parishes (the Animal Flower Cave, Farley Hill, and the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, to name a few) are accessible by bus from Speightstown.

Routes and schedules from Speightstown may be found at the Transport Board website.

"My Island Is Smaller Than Yours"

The first time I ever met a Barbadian, I got very excited when I realized that here, finally, was someone from an even smaller island than the one I'm from (Singapore).

I crowed, I stamped, I clapped. But, far from being insulted, my friend (let's call him The Curmudgeon) seemed quietly pleased.

I've since realized that Bajans are quite proud of their island's smallness. It is all of 430 square kilometres (or 167 square miles). Compare Singapore, at a bloated 705 sq km (272 sq mi) and getting bigger all the time, thanks to land reclamation projects.

When entering the country one time, an immigration official looked at my passport and asked me, with a twinkle in his eye, "How large is Singapore?"

"About twice the size of Barbados," I answered, stoutly.

He chuckled and shook his head with smug satisfaction.

If I were actually as clever as I tend to imagine I am, I would have added, "But only half as a nice!"

Speightstown

Speightstown (pronounced "Spikestown") is a very charming town in St Peter's Parish, at the north end of the West Coast.

It is the "second city" of Barbados after Bridgetown. Named after its founder, William Speight, Speightstown was a thriving port until the 20th century.

Nowadays, however, Speightstown has a pleasantly sleepy air to it, and the words "roaring trade" do not exactly apply.

The former wealth of Speightstown is still apparent in some of the grand stone buildings that stand along Queen Street. One of these, Arlington House, has been turned into a museum that's well worth visiting for insights into Barbadian life, both past and present.

Virtually all buses running north along the main West Coast road will end up in Speightstown. From the Speightstown bus terminal (about which more elsewhere), you can also catch buses to other parts of the island, notably Bathsheba on the wild, Atlantic East Coast.

There are nice places to eat here (watch for a future post about the Fisherman's Pub), a well-stocked supermarket (Jordans), and several banks, including a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada.

West Coast Barbados Beaches

Here I must pause to rhapsodize a little about the beaches in Barbados. The West Coast of the island faces the Caribbean Sea, which for the most part is as shown here. Calm and gentle, warm and clean.

The most amazing thing about Barbados beaches is not just how beautiful they are but how free of litter. Where I come from in Southeast Asia, people treat the sea like a rubbish dump. You can't go to a beach without tripping over discarded water bottles, plastic bags, styrofoam clamshells, and other things too gross to mention.

In Barbados, however, you can walk for miles on the beach without seeing so much as a candy wrapper. I think I once saw a page of newsprint floating in the sea off Fitts Village in Paynes Bay, but that was it.

I sort of imagine that the Barbadian government employs an army of trash collectors to comb the beaches every night when all the tourists are sleeping.

The West Coast from Bridgetown to Speightstown

Many visitors to Barbados stay on the West Coast. It's not surprising, since most of it looks like this.

There are buses running up and down the stretch between Bridgetown and Speightstown all the time. It's rare to have to wait even five minutes for one.

Both Speightstown and Holetown are good for shopping and dining, as well as banking and communications.

If you're staying on the West Coast, getting around by bus is surely the easiest and cheapest option.

Barbados Bus Stop Appreciation Part II

Away from the more populated parts of Barbados, the bus stops look like this.

Those pointing towards Bridgetown say "To City", while those pointing away say "Out of City".

It couldn't be simpler or more reassuring.

These stops are obviously fairly spare, but Barbados is an unpretentious place and no one will bat an eyelid if you find a nice spot of shade nearby and squat in it.

At some of these stops, an unofficial seat has been fashioned from a log or a tree root.

We've had some of our most interesting conversations with Bajans at such stops. Last year we met a man who was a lifeguard on a public beach on the West Coast. He said he had pulled more tourists from the water than he could count. He was very polite about it, but we gathered that most of these people had been plastered when they threw themselves into the water.

It's sad when tourists are not as dignified as the country they're visiting.

Barbados Bus Stop Appreciation Part I

You can tell a lot about a country from its bus stops. After all, waiting at bus stops is a big part of travelling by bus. If the government of a country really cares about its people, this will be manifested in bus stop design and construction.

This bus stop (located in St Peter's Parish) quite warmed my heart when I first saw it. You know you're in a nice country when the bus stops look like this.

There's shelter from the elements, a place to sit down, even a receptacle for trash. And it's set back from the road so you're not too close to the traffic going by. The design and materials are simple, yet elegant.

It makes me want to hug whoever was responsible.

The Yellow Bus is Fun but a Tad Frenetic

These yellow buses are privately run and they buzz around the island in an exuberant, hair-raising manner.

Like the blue government buses, it costs only BBD 1.50 per ride. The advantage of taking a yellow bus is that you can get change when paying your fare. In fact, you can pay in US dollars, but you will get your change in Barbados currency.

It's a good way to get a lot of small change, fast.

Another advantage of taking the yellow bus is that you don't have to schlep yourself all the way to the nearest bus stop. Just flag 'em down from wherever you are standing; they will screech to a halt nearby.

You'll be sharing the bus with lots of people. There will also be loud music playing; sometimes the entire busload of passengers will sing along too. And when yellow bus drivers sound their horns, it's often the first bar of La Cucaracha that blares out as the bus skids around the corner.

So the yellow bus is fun but a tad frenetic. Definitely a great way to travel with the locals, but if you're feeling tired after a day of sightseeing, it may be worth waiting a few minutes at the bus stop for the blue bus. Calmness and efficiency are part of Bajan culture too!

Getting Around Barbados

We think the best way to get around in Barbados is by bus (surprise surprise). There is a flat fare of BBD 1.50, which is the equivalent of USD 0.75. That's about 46p, if you're from the UK.

You can take the government bus (pictured here) or a private yellow bus (about which, more later). Either way, the fare is the same.

If you take a government bus, you must pay the exact fare. You wait at designated bus stops and the ride is on the whole very peaceful and sedate.

A detailed timetable of the various routes may be had at the website of the Barbados Transport Board.

The Weather in Barbados in February

This is what the weather is like in February where we live.

So, my Good Hubby and I like to take holidays to Barbados every year to escape it. So far, we have gone three times. It's one of our favourite places in the world.

The weather in Barbados in February is delightful. Warm, dry, and breezy. It does rain, but in short spells. We have never had to stay in because of the rain.

Better a balmy 27 degrees above than a barmy 27 degrees below, is what we think.