Our first stop on the cruise, Barbados! We awoke to a typical Caribbean day with broken clouds in the blue sky, temperatures in the eighties and high humidity but also that beautiful tropical breeze. Barbados is one of the few islands that did not change hands over its history after the arrival of the British. Tami has ancestors on the Higginbotham side who spent a few generations in Barbados way back in the 1500’s or so, but we didn’t recognize anyone.

We had signed up for the Atlantis submarine cruise for the first thing in the morning and were not quite sure what to expect. It is a submarine that can hold up to 48 people and dives to 150 feet. We were not sure what it would be like in the sub, or how crowded, or how well we might be able to see anything. It turned out to be quite the fun adventure.
The company takes you on a small ferry boat out about a mile to where the submarine is located. We arrived before the previous group on the sub had surfaced so they told us to look for a bright blue patch in the water which is where the sub would be coming up. Sure enough, after just a couple of minutes, a small, bright blue patch appeared in the water about 100 feet away and as we watched, the patch got larger and bluer and brighter, and soon the white sub surfaced. The ferry went over and tied up with the sub and a gangplank was attached between the boats. It was fun watching the crew unscrew the hatches and let the previous group off the sub and onto the ferry. There was one woman who was very green around the gills, sweating profusely, and clearly not a natural mariner. It did make us wonder what the ride might be like.

Take ‘er up Cap’n!

The great white, uh, sub

Batten down the hatches

We transferred from the ferry to the submarine down the ladders and found that the sub consisted of a double-sided row of seats the length of the sub, with each seat facing out a porthole. The seats were quite close together but since we had far fewer than a full load, we were able to spread out and even lean across and look out the other side if we wanted. If it had been a full load, it would have been cozy but we were quite comfortable and had a great view.

Mike at his porthole

Once we were all seated, the captain of the sub said “Dive! Dive! Dive!”, then he did his best klaxon impression of “Ah OOGAH! Ah OOGAH! Ah OOGAH!” It was quite funny. We were soon descending and running just above the coral where we saw tons of fish of all sizes, colors, and shapes, some in schools, some solitary. We were amazed by the variety and the beautiful colors. We also saw all types of coral and even a sea turtle who was lounging with his (or her) tail nudged between some coral. We snapped a lot of pictures, but the colors really don’t show up well through the portholes. We will include a couple of pictures anyway. The sub also went by a sunken barge that had been there for about 45 years. Even though it was just a barge, it was very eerie to see it on the bottom with fish swimming around it. On the trip, we reached a depth of 140 feet and spent nearly an hour underwater. It was really quite impressive and fun and then on the ferry ride back to shore, we were all served a glass of rum punch. That never hurts!

Coral reef

A shipwreck!

Back in town, we headed into the streets of Bridgetown and found ourselves in a very busy city full of locals out doing what locals do. As soon as we hit the street we were bombarded with guys asking “Want taxi? Want taxi?” You learn quickly to ignore them. We walked along Swan Street which was full of street vendors and small five and dime type shops. We stood out very clearly as non-locals, so as soon as we are spotted every vendor hails us and wants to show us their goods.

Downtown Bridgetown, Barbados

Caribbean Christmas trees

But Tami was successful in finding a Barbados flag (very pretty – yay!) and we also found some local spices. There was also a “craft” center that was mostly empty but we chanced upon a shop where a woman was making hand-dyed fabric, which is one thing Tami is specifically looking for on this trip. We found two gorgeous pieces and the biggest problem is going to be if Tami can bear to cut into them!

Tami’s gorgeous fabric

We also stepped into a local department store and found both some great looking hot sauce and even better, a local cookbook with a recipe for yellow sauce, something Mike is very excited to try making.

The local currency is the Barbados dollar, which is worth about a half dollar. Most items show the price in both US dollars and Barbados dollars, and shops take US dollars as easily as Barbados. The only thing is that they usually want to give you change in Barbados dollars. So we’re bringing home a few Barbados dollar coins. They do have sailing ships on them!

Local beer at lunch

At lunch, watching the deckhand of the boat moored in front of us