From where I am sitting on Deck 6, looking across to the starboard side of the “Vision of the Seas” I am watching the sun set in the Caribbean. What a beautiful sight! I snapped a picture, but it does not do it justice. That's not the sunset pix.
We were supposed to sail almost an hour ago, but there is quite a traffic jam in Bridgetown harbor this evening. There were six cruise ships in port today, two of them sailing vessels, each with five masts. Bonnie called one of them a Pirate ship. I hope they have a winning season!
We waited for a Celebrity ship to sail and a cargo ship to dock. The tug is alongside now and we will be heading to Grenada in a few minutes, docking there at 7 a.m. tomorrow. I will be leading the Protestant worship service at 8 o’clock and then Bonnie and I will go exploring for a while. I want to be back onboard early to prepare for my 2:30 talk on “The ABCs: Basic Paradise” – about Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.
Today we met Sarah Taylor about 9 o’clock and spent the morning and early afternoon exploring my favorite island in the West Indies (the Bajans do not like it if you say they are in the Caribbean – they are in fact in the Atlantic).
Sarah has a tour company called “Glory Tours” and writes a blog about Barbados. A very knowledgeable young lady, and justly proud of her homeland. She toodled us around when we were here in October 2010.
She told us that she sat up late last night listening to a political debate. They are to have elections every five years, but their prime minister will not fulfill his constitutional duties and call for an election – instead he is asking for a budget from each of the departments (must be related to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). I told her that’s not bad, because our president, in violation of our Constitution, has not put forth a budget in four years.
And that’s the report just in from FoxNews!
I asked her to take us to see the only intact windmill on Barbados, one of only two intact still in the West Indies. There used to be hundreds doing the work of processing sugar cane, but now they are all but gone. This one, Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill, is only used twice a year, once a day at the opening and then again at the closing of the sugar season. It was actually rebuild a few years ago after a devastating lightening strike.
From there she took us to the most beautiful part of Barbados, Bathsheba. Barbados is not a volcanic island like most of the Caribbean islands. Instead if is a coral island and in Bathsheba you can see coral formations that have been carved out by the sea throwing grains of sand against huge coral boulders.
We then went on to St. John Parish where we visited St. John Church. There is an interesting grave in the cemetery belonging to the late Ferdinando Paleolocus. Rumor had it that Mr. P. was buried backwards. Greek Orthodox folk, and he was one, are to buried with their feet pointing east and their heads pointing west, so that when Jesus returns from the east, they will be looking at him. About 200 years later, the local priest, tired of the rumor dug him up, found he had been buried properly, and reburied him – properly.
After sightseeing for several hours we went in search of a restaurant where I could sample the national dish – Flying Fish. Sarah found a great spot and she and I had a club type sandwich of delicious FF and Bonnie had a tuna salad sandwich which she pronounced as excellent.
The next time you are in Barbados, contact Sarah to be your tour guide. We had a great time.
Next blog tomorrow from Granada.
TTFN!
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