Around the Horn

Day 7 : Barbados

A delay in disembarkation at Bridgetown, Barbados saw Carol and me hustling down the pier to look for our guide from Glory Tours, whom we had booked through Shoretrips.com. Andrea from Glory was waiting to lead us to a private taxi and was our island tour guide for the day. After a quiet start to the drive and a few questions to gently prod her, Andrea proceeded to tell us about her beautiful island home.

Our first stop was at the breathtaking Bathsheba, where we got out to admire the beach landscape and take probably the best seaside photos of the trip so far. Then we went on to the magnificent Harrison Caves. After a brief informative video describing the formation of Barbados and the history of the Caves, we were led to our multi-passenger vehicle and a fascinating trip through the underground wonder. The Caves are simply spectacular and I cannot do justice by describing them here. Hopefully some of the many photos I took will be worth posting when I get back.

After a great lunch of fried flying fish at a local restaurant , we went on to the Nature Reserve and our quest for the elusive Green monkeys (well, they were elusive to us.....the only ones we saw ran helter-skelter in front of the taxi on the way into the park!) We walked for an hour or so, talking to deer, large rodent-like creatures, dozens of tortoises, a couple of crocodiles and some huge iguanas. Finally we abandoned the monkey search and ended our day in Barbados by dipping our feet in the warm waters of a local beach and heading back to the pier. We split up there, Carol to find an Internet cafe and me to find a Banks beer (brewed locally) and to make a few phone calls before we set sail to Brazil. Our third Diva, Jeannine, spent a great day on the island on a 'bikes and beach' tour, cycling down to the beaches from the highest elevations.

We said good-bye to the Caribbean and set sail for South America.