BARBADOS – APRIL 22ND



Barbados is the easternmost member of the Caribbean and is 100 miles east of St. Lucia.  The capital city is Bridgetown, where we docked, and sits along the Caribbean Sea, while the east coast of the island faces the Atlantic Ocean.  Barbados is below the hurricane belt and, as of 2010, has a population of 285,653 people.  It has a rainy season from June through January and is dry for the rest of the year.  For me, I can sum up just about any of these ports in three words:  “hot and humid.”  English is the language spoken in Barbados and the local currency is the Barbados Dollar (BBD) although the U.S. dollar is accepted everywhere.  I believe from our last visit, camouflage clothing is strictly prohibited and is reserved for military use only.  





Bridgetown is the only city outside of continental North America to which George Washington ever traveled. 

Barbados’s cruise terminal is one of the best facilities of its type in the Caribbean and it was a 2-minute walk from our ship.  Signage along the pier boasted Barbados as the “birthplace of rum.”  The terminal housed over a dozen shops, including a small grocery, souvenir shops, kiosks, clothing stores, liquor and cigarette shop, a duty-free store selling purses, liquor and perfumes, a Christmas tree display as well as a store selling beautifully carved pieces where I bought a little wooden box. 




 







 had a leisurely fun time looking in the stores, seeing sea turtles depicted on almost all the souvenirs, experiencing sticker shock on a $3,000 bottle of Hennessey, and, of course, checking the warnings on cigarette cartons.  (Nothing as graphic as those we saw in Namibia.)  






More little shops were outside as well as “Coconuts” where we met my manicurist Sophie, our wonderful massage therapist, Agnes, who was finally going home to Poland after I don’t know how many months onboard, and John Thomas, our film buff lecturer.  
Agnes

Sophie


John
 
My Rasta Man



 From the ship, we saw a very interesting boat which was probably a tourist boat of some sort.



Happier than sea turtles in their natural habitat, we returned to the ship and enjoyed the comedy of a very funny lady that evening, Cory Kahaney.

MICHAEL’S OBSERVATIONS:  Nothing to add.


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