The ruins of Sam Lord's Castle

Interesting story behind this part of Barbados history.

Samuel Hall Lord was a wealthy Barbados pirate who lived in a castle like estate that was built in 1820. Legend has it that Sam Lord would hang lanterns in the trees of the estate to look like the port of Bridgetown to lure unsuspecting ships onto the reef. He would then plunder the ships of their treasures.

The "castle" has had several different owners over the years.

Disappointing trip to Harrison's Cave, Barbados

We like to visit caves when we're traveling, and we've been to quite a few. I don't think that we are cave snobs by any means, but we have been to the magical Kartchner Caverns in Arizona, and the huge Grutas de Garcia in Mexico. And we've done the wild cave tour in both Mammoth Cave, Kentucky and in South Africa. Among others.

So perhaps it is because of these past experiences that we were quite disappointed in Harrison's Cave.

140 feet under water!

It's not every day that you get to go on a submarine.

In fact, it's taken us 55 years to get to do something like this! Not that it's an exclusive club. In fact, more than 12 million people have taken one of the Atlantis Submarine Tours that operate at select tropical locations around the world.

And we had heard that it's a really great experience, so we decided to go for it!

Another hike to Barbados wild east coast

When we departed from the Bushy Park Racetrack yesterday, it was around 11:30am. In true Kevin and Ruth fashion, we decided that we could walk the 16 kms (10 miles) in the 30C (86F) heat through sugar cane fields and muddy coastal trails to Bathsheba where we could catch the bus back to Bridgetown.

We had lots of water, and a few snacks with us... so we set off. Worse case scenario on a small island, is that you are never far away from an alternate method of travel should you decide you have had enough!

Go Karting at 50 mph at Bushy Park Racetrack, Barbados

Well yesterday was another fun day!

I love go-karts. And when you get a chance to drive a really fast one, it's a big thrill for me.

The Bushy Park Go Karts in Barbados has go-karts that get up to 80 km/h (50 mph) on the straightaways. When you're only sitting an inch off the ground, that's fast!

Second impressions

Wow, we're already more than half way through our nineteen day trip to Barbados. Only eight days to go and we'll be back in chilly Canada! We notice that November weather is in full swing across most of the great white north.

When we arrived here on October 25th, our first impressions comment was... The people are friendly. It's not as "modern" as I expected it to be, but we haven't seen very much of it yet. Eric says "it'll look really nice when it's finished". We can't figure out how the locals survive given the cost of food.

Now that we've been here for a week and a half, we'll give you our updated impressions...

A blast on the Jammin' Barbados Catamaran Snorkeling Cruise

Up early yesterday morning and it was pouring rain! But fortunately, the rain stopped by the time we were outside. We hopped on one of the small minibuses for the short ride to Bridgetown.

Jammin Catamaran Cruise Barbados leaves from the very first dock at the entrance to the south side of the river port at Bridgetown. Because we had never been there, we left ourselves lots of time to find the right dock... we didn't want to be late for the fun and games!

Finally, a relaxing beach day...

This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. You know, as opposed to our typical travel lifestyle! But we can't help ourselves... there is too much to see and do! I can't remember who it was, but somebody had mentioned that they thought we might get bored with 19 days in Barbados.

Nope.

Made it back home in the dark...

We hopped on a bus yesterday morning to go check out some more of the island. This time, we were headed to Holetown, which is the site of the first English settlement on the island that began in 1627.

It's also the location of Barbados oldest church.

Sandals Resort, Barbados

Just for something to do, we went and checked out the Sandals Resort in Barbados yesterday.

Sandals is a luxury all inclusive chain for couples only. We have personal experience with Sandals Resorts, having stayed for a week at one in Antigua back in 1993. Of course, they are also very expensive.

But, you sometimes get what you pay for, and at Sandals you get treated like royalty.