Barbados 2003

Barbados 2003 Introduction

This trip was only the second vacation we had taken together where we were not meeting someone someplace or visiting friends and family. We figured the trip to Reno went ok so we would try again. It was the first visit for either of us to any of the islands of the Caribbean Sea.

Map of Caribbean Sea
Overall map of the Caribbean Sea


Barbados is the easternmost island in the Caribbean. It was once a British colony and is where the spirit Rum was first produced. Their primary business is Tourism with the chief export being sugar. The resident population at the time of our visit was approximately 275,000 people on the roughly 160 square miles of land. The island does not have volcanic origins as many of the Caribbean islands do; it originated when sediment layers were pushed above sea level and coral started to form on the west side of the island. Through the years, more layers of sediment and coral have been forced up creating the island.

Map of island of Barbados
Map of island of Barbados



Tuesday, 6/24/2003 – Leaving Home

We left Orlando around 6:30p to fly to Ft. Lauderdale. It was an interesting flight since Southwest has general admission seating and some of the rows faced backwards. It was a short flight and we had no problems getting our luggage. After contacting the hotel, we waited 15 minutes for the shuttle. When we checked in, we signed up for the 5a shuttle the next morning so we would have plenty of time to get to the airport and get checked in. We then had dinner at a Burger King near the hotel and went to bed around 11p.


Wednesday, 6/25/2003 – Flying to Barbados

We got up around 4:15a so we could get down to the lobby for the shuttle. When we got there, we discovered the desk had put us on the 6a shuttle, but there was room, so we took the 5a shuttle anyway. We got to the airport and found the Air Jamaica counter. They were not open yet and we were the first in line to check in. Another lady got in line behind us and about 5:45a we saw the first airline staff arrive. Then things got interesting as the fire alarms sounded and the TSA personnel herded everyone back out of the building. We stood on the curb for about 30 minutes before airport officials allowed TSA workers back in the building, followed by Airport and airline employees, and finally passengers. Of course lots of people had arrived during the alarms and it was a mad dash to get back in line at the counters. By the time they started checking people, it was 6:45a and everything was a big mess. We got checked in (10th in line), dropped our bags off for the TSA to scan and headed for our gate.

Our first flight was from Ft. Lauderdale to Montego Bay, Jamaica with a stop in Kingston. The plane was packed for the first leg and James was stuck next to a woman with a small (2 year old) boy who did not want to sit still. He climbed, kicked, cried, and threw things. Luckily, the mother and child got off the flight at Kingston. The trip to Montego Bay took 20 minutes. We disembarked, walked down the old time rolling stairs and into the terminal. Our flight to Barbados was actually on the same plane, but there was a 2 hour layover while it was cleaned and serviced. We took this time to eat at the Margaritaville at the airport.

The flight to Barbados had a stop in St. Lucia. We got in to Barbados on time (about 5p), got our luggage through customs and caught a cab to the resort which is near Holetown in St. James Parrish. We checked in and headed to our room. The resort is on the west coast of the island and our room was about 30 feet from the water.

Our room consisted of a front sitting room with no AC but lattice doors on the ocean side and louvers on the land side. The bedroom did have AC. We ordered room service and ate dinner while watching TV before going to bed about 11p.


Thursday, 6/26/2003 – Our First Day on the Island

We slept in until about 8:30a. There was no jet lag because this time of year, they are in the same time zone as Orlando. The bright morning sunshine made a picturesque view from our patio (image). After showering, we went to breakfast. At 10a there was an orientation by the guest services group at the hotel. There, they described the services included in our package and those that could be purchased separately. After the presentation, we picked up some brochures and returned to our room to plan the rest of the week. After lunch we made reservations for a couple tours we wanted to take before returning to our room to nap, read, and watch TV for the remainder of the afternoon. Before dinner, we took a walk down the beach. About 1/4 of a mile to the south was a resort that James' company had been involved in. We did not know it was so close, but he recognized the railings he had inspected right away.

About 7p we changed into our “informally formal” wear and headed for dinner. Dinner was nice except for the annoyingly loud lizards. Julie noted several of the gentlemen were wearing their sandals with their dress pants so between dinner and the evening entertainment, James returned to the room to change footwear. The evening entertainment included a review of various Caribbean dances and musical styles. We returned to our room about 10p to read and watch TV for a while before going to bed.

View from patio of resort room
View from patio of our resort room



Friday, 6/27/2003 – Seeing Some of the Sites

We got up a little earlier on Friday so we could get ready, have breakfast, and be in the lobby at 9:30a for our first tour. The trip itself was quite an experience. The bus had 10 rows with 2 seats on either side of the aisle and a back seat for 5. However, at each of the 4 person rows, there was a jump seat that would fold down in the aisle. There were 4 people on our tour who had to use these seats. The trip was also unique because many of the roads on the island are only 1 – 1 ½ lanes wide. This means very little space between vehicles going opposite directions. The island is relatively hilly so there are blind switchbacks and corners where the drivers honk to let people know they are coming.

Our first stop on the tour was at Harrison’s Cave. It is a naturally formed limestone and coral cave with many examples of stalactites and stalagmites (image 1). The government has put in a tram way and you can take a 20 minute ride through the different caverns to see some of the natural formations (image 2). The tram stopped at several different locations where we could get out and take pictures. At one stop we took turns taking pictures of each other (images 3-4).

After the caves, our tour continued to the Flower Forest. This is a small park up in the mountains with walking paths that cross several levels of elevations displaying various types of plant life (image 5) on the island. There is a wonderful view (image 6) of the valley where the attraction is located and the east coast from a lookout on the trail. Many of the flowers had already bloomed, but there were still several nice blooms (image 7).

After the Flower Forest, the tour returned to the hotel. We arrived about 1:30p, in time to grab a bite to eat for lunch. Afterwards we returned to our room where we read, napped, and watched TV until about 3p.

We had noticed some shops across the street while we were on our tour and decided we would go have a look. This took all of 30 minutes as only one of the shops had items that interested us. We did not buy anything but saw some items we might return for later in the week. We went back to our room and James worked on the journal while Julie did some puzzles. As it got dark we heard something on the patio and realized we had a visitor (image 8).

Friday was casual night so we left our shorts on and headed to dinner about 7:30p. We ate too much and returned to our room for a while before going back around 9p for the evening entertainment. After the talent show, we returned to the room. We noticed the AC was not working and spent a miserable night trying to get some sleep.




Saturday, 6/28/2003 – In the Room

Julie had received several bug bites during the night and was pretty uncomfortable with shoes or sandals on. We spent almost all day in the front sitting (image) room reading, watching TV, and napping. They came and fixed the AC around 4:30p. We did not return for the show after dinner, but relaxed in the AC.

Our sitting room.
Our sitting room



Sunday, 6/29/2003 – Still In the Room

Sunday was much like Saturday, except there seemed to be a teen flick marathon on USA that passed most of the day and evening. After dinner we did go back to the Jazz show, but it was back to the room for movies by 10p. Teen flicks those days were extremely exhausting to watch.


Monday, 6/30/2003 – Venturing Out

We slept in a little on Monday and spent the morning much as we had the weekend. After lunch we walked to a mall we had seen on Friday. We purchased several souvenirs and gifts and started back toward the hotel. We stopped at a couple other shops along the way and picked up a few more things. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and such before heading to dinner. After dinner we read and watched TV.


Tuesday, 7/1/2003 – Seeing More of the Sites

We got up a little earlier Tuesday as we had signed up for another tour. We caught the van for the tour about 10a; there were only 3 couples on this tour so we were in a smaller vehicle. We all loaded up and headed out to visit several of the historic sites on the island.

Our first stop, after driving through some residential areas of Bridgetown, was Tyrol-Cot (image 1); the home of Grantley Adams, the first Prime Minister of the island. It was well preserved and had many of the original furnishings. After a tour of the home and some remaining support buildings, the tour guide took our picture in front of the main house (image 2).

We continued through the shopping areas of Bridgetown, the capital of the island, and down past the bay. We saw several landmarks along the way (image 3). We then stopped at the turf club where they have horse racing every other Saturday. Here another couple joined us; the van also had jump seats that now were being used. The 4 couples headed east along the south coast of the island before turning inland to Sunbury Plantation (image 4); where we had another tour and lunch. We then headed back to the east coast and the Parrish Church of St. John (image 5). It was one of the original churches on the island and has been almost destroyed twice; you can see where the older pieces meet the newer ones on the outside (image 6). The church has a wonderful view of the east coast (image 7) as well as the southeast corner of the island (image 8).

The tour continued up the east coast and stopped near Bathsheba where windsurfing tournaments are held each year (image 9). The Atlantic Ocean surf is extremely rough and has eroded the base of several large rock formations (image 10). From there we headed farther north before crossing the island and returning to the hotel about 3p.

We rested a few minutes in our room before running across the street to get a few last mementos. We again spent the time before dinner reading and relaxing. We got ready and watched the sunset over the ocean one last time (image 11). After dinner we got all we could packed before going to see the evening entertainment. After the show, we returned to our room and read until we felt it was time to go to bed.




Wednesday, 7/2/2003 – Back to the Mainland

The hotel had arranged transportation to the airport so we were up, breakfasted, packed, and in the lobby by 9:30a to catch the cab. Everything was going smoothly for our 1:15p flight until we actually arrived at the airport.

Once there, we were notified that our flight to Montego Bay was delayed and would not be leaving until 7:30p. We would, of course, miss our connection and there were no other flights out of Jamaica that evening. We explained that we had other travel arrangements on Thursday morning and we had to get back to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area that day. They worked with some of the other airlines and we were able to get a flight on American to Ft. Lauderdale through San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a little better than the Air Jamaica flight as there had been a schedule change after we got our tickets and we would have been taking a shuttle from the Miami Airport to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale.

Our flight to San Juan left about 1:45p and we were the last two passengers to get tickets. It was a small twin-prop plane operated by American Eagle. When we finally got to San Juan, we had to go through immigration and customs. We got off the plane and on the bus to go to the terminal. Where the buses drop you off is the opposite end of the American gates from Immigration so we had to walk almost a mile to get through. Then we had to wait for the luggage before going through customs. While James was waiting at the conveyor, he noticed that the bags that were coming out were from a flight displayed at an adjacent belt. On a hunch, he walked around and checked and you guessed it, our bags were coming out on the other claim belt. James was one of the first people to see this so once we got our bags, there was not much wait at customs. After getting past the agent, having our bags scanned in customs, leaving our bags to be scanned again by the TSA on the US side and getting through another security screening, we got to our gate to stand and wait for them to board the plane. This started about the time the plane was supposed to leave the gate.

We got to Ft. Lauderdale around 8:30p, got our bags and called for the hotel shuttle. Once we got checked in, we headed to the Burger King to get dinner. We got back to the room to eat about 10p. We were catching the 7a shuttle the next morning so we read awhile after eating and went to bed.


Thursday, 7/3/2003 – Back Home

We got up and cleaned up in time to catch a quick bite from the continental breakfast in the lobby of the hotel before getting on the shuttle. We got to the airport plenty early and were actually the first people to check in for our flight. We went to the gate and waited until it was time for our flight. We got there early so we could be in the first group to board and were able to get seats very close to the front of the plane. After landing in Orlando, we got our bags and caught a cab to get back to the house. We had several errands to run, so it was about 7p that night before we actually got to sit and enjoy being home. It was a relaxing week, since we did almost nothing, but we were glad to be back home.