October 5-Monday

Early morning walk was interrupted by an early morning rainstorm, so I started off wet. Dick began calling around to the various car dealers when Fred, our landlord came in and offered to rent us a car(Red Cabrolet convertible) for a few dollars less than the quotes we were getting. We noticed that bait and switch appeared to be the rule- they advertised for as low as $45 a day all inclusive but that car was never available, however for only $80-$120 we could rent a different car(same make, model and size).

We decided Fred’s deal was the best we were going to find and loaded up and set off for our next adventure. We found that two of the things we wanted to do, the Harrison’s Cave and the nature center across the street from us were both closed for renovations. But, we had heard how beautiful the eastern coast was and, with a vehicle, we were off and running. There are buses that run everywhere in Barbados and you could get around without a vehicle but, there are no printed schedules and although it is $1.50B per route, unless you are traveling from one major population center to another, it is likely that you will have to take more than one bus and may a.) have trouble finding the connection and/or b.) have to wait for the connection. Although worlds better than Puerto Rico and Jamaica, it is a factor when you are trying to get somewhere. (“ take the Brighton bus to the 2nd gas station; walk up the road to the big tree and wait about 5 minutes to a half hour and take the XX bus to XX; behind the blue building you catch the xx bus which…. you get the idea). So though not essential, a car is nice.

Since neither of us had much experience driving a left hand vehicle, we decided that we needed to stay out of Bridgetown for now and take the back roads. We shared driving and the other person was responsible for navigation, reminding the driver to drive left, alerting the driver if too close to the moat at the side of the road and negotiating round-abouts. Round-abouts are an interesting experience especially while learning to drive on the left and follow which of three or four roads out of the roundabouts that one wants to take. However, once we got the hang of them we thought they were wonderful since traffic does not stop, just slows for the connections.

We managed to get on the right road through the center of the island which is lush and green with hills and rock outcroppings surrounding pretty little villages. As we approached the Atlantic Ocean side, the geology became more rugged and just before we reached the coast, we came across and old church set on top of a hill with a spectacular view of the surrounding area and the coast. We dropped down into the town of Bathsheba, reportedly so named because the surf reminded the settlers of milk and Bathsheba was known for taking milk baths??

The east coast is a surfer’s paradise with huge breaking waves but unsuitable for swimming since the pounding surf has undertows and rip tides. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful coasts I have ever seen. All along the beach are huge coral boulders and the town of Bathsheba is set in cliffs and gullys along the shoreline. We had lunch at the New Edgewater Hotel since the traditional Atlantis Hotel was closed for renovations. The hotel’s dining room sits on a cliff above the “Soup Bowl” area of the coast, a prime surfing spot due to its huge regular breaks. We had flying fish sandwiches and fish cakes both of which were yummy.

From Bathsheba, after driving north along the coast for a while, we decided to cut across the island on some secondary roads to do some snorkeling on the westside. We passed through the central valley part of the island past fields of sugar canes and other crops. We did have to stop and ask, “Where are we?” on several occasions and people were more than willing to help. Sometimes the roads were so narrow, there was barely room for our little car and the potholes where deep enough to absorb it but the pace is leisurely and other drivers very tolerant. We were very impressed by the politeness of the Bijan(localized name for Barbadians) people. They do not drive like maniacs, stop to let cars cross the road and if you stop by the side of the road to look at a map, invariably someone will come up to help you find your way.

We ended up getting too far south (it is easy to get off on the wrong leg of the round-abouts) and had to take the coast road back up to Holetown to the Folkestone Marine Reserve on the Caribbean side of the island. The area is divided into several zones including an area right on the beach that has several shallow reefs to explore. We were not charged an admission price and snorkeled for an hour or two. The reef is not in very good shape, though there are some areas that are recovering and we saw some fans and stag horn as well as brain and other surface corals. However, the number and variety of fish were impressive. In addition to the normal parrotfish, sergeant majors, tangs etc; I saw several fish I had never seen before as well as an eel, a small water snake and several cucumbers and anemones. We snorkeled until just before sunset and began our journey home.

We headed south on the coast road, managed to navigate Bridgetown without incident and headed for Oistins east of our domicile. There is a huge fish market and on Friday nights there is a community-wide fish fry which unfortunately we missed. We stopped at the grocery store for breakfast items and asked some people where to eat, they directed us to the little cafes (“across from the KFC”-primary direction in all small towns). When we had entered the grocery, it was not raining and the roads were dry. When we came out 10 minutes later, everything was flooded though it was no longer raining.

We had a wonderful dinner of lamb stew, rice and beans, and a salad for about $8.50 USD each and headed off down the road. At some point, we got off on the wrong leg of the roundabout and ended up in Bridgetown. We went through a couple of heavy rainstorms as we made our way home but when we got there it opened up and dumped. We sat on the outside verandah and watched the carwash effect –with cascades of water coming down to the serenade by the whistling frogs. The guest house has a tin roof and when the rain storms passed on and off all night, it was like a freight train running through the house.