Second Monday at Sea

If this is Monday, we must be in Barbados.

Actually, it is and we were.  A most enjoyable stop.  While doing research for my Barbados talk, I stumbled on a blog (http://abajantourgirlexploringbarbados.blogspot.com/), written by Sarah Taylor, a Bajan (or Barbadian if you prefer – they prefer Bajan).  I learned a lot of neat stuff from reading her blog and my talk was much better for it.  One of the links on her blog is to her own tour company called “Glory Tours.”  I looked through the offerings and booked an all day excursion with her.  Bonnie and I each gave Sarah, and her associate, Quambi, two thumbs up.

As we began our journey, Sarah apologized for pointing out to us the swankiest, ritziest place on Barbados.  Her apology was based on the fact that the golfer who traditionally wears red on Sunday and is a serial adulterer was married there.

Sarah drove us up the coast road from St. Michael Parish, where the ship was docked, into St. James Parish and Holetown (where English settlers first came ashore – so named because of a local geological formation), into St. Peter Parish and Spreightstown (pronounced Spikestown), and into St. Lucy Parish.

St. Lucy Parish is the northern most of Barbados’ 11 parishes – this division of the nation dates from the time of the British settlers.  First there were 6 parishes, and when 5 more wealthy folk showed up, they recarved the island into 11.  Only St. Thomas and St. George are landlocked.  Each parish has a parish church, and each parish used to send delegates to the House of Commons in London.

The most incredible part of St. Lucy is the ocean-battered coast, and Animal Flower Cave.  Animal Flower Cave was so named because of the sea anemones (“Don’t hurt yourself kid!”).  I looked down into the Cave, but did not go physically into it.  The island is made of coral, and here on the rugged northern coast, the coral is very sharp, hand-holds going into the cave do not exist, the steps are steep and often slippery, so I chose to do a few photographs and leave the exploration for another time. 


Bonnie stayed back on the prepared walkway and did not venture out onto the coral.  It would have been incredibly difficult for her to have trekked across that stretch of land.

From there we went to The Flower Forest, an area filled with plants and trees from all over the world.  The Forest is the creation of a man who tried his hand at being a plantation owner, raising and selling sugar cane, but gave it up after a struggle of several years and came up with a new idea.  The Forest, as is a lot of the tropical areas of Barbados is infected with African snails.  We saw dozens of them on our 30 minute walk.  They eat the leaves of the plants, killing the plants.  The Bajan government has put a bounty on them.  They pay 75 cents a pound for the snails, and when received, they are thrown into an incinerator.  To step on them only makes the problem worse, because they carry the eggs in their shells.  Crushing the shells kills one snail, but releases dozens more.

Sarah had to return to the office to catch up on some other work, and so she traded places with Quambi, also a native Bajan.  Quambi said his name means, “African man who was born on Friday,” and then he added, but “I was born on Wednesday.”

We stopped for lunch at the Sand Dunes Bar and Grill in St. Joseph Parish.  I regret not trying the flying fish – the national fish of Barbados – opting instead for grilled chicken.

We did a photo stop in Bathsheba, named for King David’s partner in adultery.  Bathsheba, according to legend, bathed in milk, and the waves which continually roll up on the shore in that area are white and foamy, like milk.  Unlike the other islands in the Caribbean and this part of the Atlantic Ocean, Barbados is not a volcanic island.  Instead it is made of coral.  The huge “boulders” lying on the beach at Bathsheba are pieces of coral that the sea has carved out.

Another part of the tour was a drive-by of Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill, the only wind mill on the island that is still in working order, and harkening back to earlier days when there were more than 100 wind mills crushing sugar cane to release the liquid which is made into molasses (to make rum) and sugar crystal (to be used as a sweetener).



Our next to the last stop was at St. Nicholas Abby, one of only three examples of Jacobean architecture in the Western Hemisphere (built during the time of James I of England, 1603-1625 – King James of the King James Version of the Bible).  A second Jacobean mansion is Drax Hall, also on Barbados, and the third is near Newport News, Virginia.

Barbados has many colorful stories from its past, and events which took place at St. Nicholas Abby certainly reaches for the top of the list.  The Abby was built by Colonel Benjamin Berringer.  His neighbor, friend, and business partner was John Yeamans.  All was well until John began to cast his eye upon Benjamin’s wife, Sarah.  The story has a tragic ending for Berringer.  Depending on which version you prefer, he was either killed in a duel with Yeamans, or poisoned by his Mrs, whereupon Yeamans married the widow Berringer.  A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Yeamans left Barbados for South Carolina where he became governor in 1672.  Two years later John Yeamans died – by poisoning – and his grieving widow disappeared.

A brief visit to Earthworks, a local company producing beautiful pottery.  After a tour and an explanation of their craft, Quambi took us back to the dock, and shortly thereafter, we sailed for St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

The only frustration of the day was when Bonnie went to pick up the plate she had made in ceramics class.  Someone did not want their plate fired, and put out a note, which got mistakenly attached to Bonnie’s.  They will fire it today, and she should be able to pick it up tomorrow.

So, as we say here in the Atlantic Ocean, TTFN!