We saved Barbados for the end of our Caribbean trip as we knew although there would be stuff we could do here that we'd likely just
want to unwind. In terms of best things to see and do we knew Barbados had the least and was much more focused on beaches and nightlife. We therefore
planned the least amount of time here.
We made the mistake of renting an older soft top Jimny here, mostly because we had heard on the more rugged Eastern Coast that a 4x4 was recommended for
steep and pot-hole ridden roads. Barbados was also the hottest place we would visit at 39°C real feel. The old A/C and barely closed soft roof meant we
felt all of this heat. Had we gone further afield we would have dropped the roof down, but we were never really more than 15 minutes from our destination.
Barbados was certainly the easiest of the places we visited to find food & drink, supermarkets, banks and ATM's. All of which had proved at least partially
a challenge in Dominica and Antigua. In Barbados we found everything we'd need within a 10 minute walk of our hotel. While we hadn't struggled to much elsewhere
we often had to drive back at night, and banks and ATMs were especially problematic.
After 8 days moving around a lot seeing everything that Antigua & Dominica had to offer, taking on Helicopter flights, Jet Ski tours,
hiking up trails and visiting remote picturesque beaches we made the decision to take our time here and also celebrate a birthday. This meant we mostly stuck to
the southern coast and south eastern coast of Barbados. Traffic was also quite bad in and around this region so we limited our car use as much as we could.
The southern coast has some of the best nightlife especially at St Lawrence Gap. We were also privileged to be right next door to the Worthing Square Food
Garden. Here they serve a variety of food & drink from food trucks which made it very easy for our group of dietary requirements to eat. It is a popular place
for both tourists and locals to eat out, have a drink and hang out. We ate at the food court several times and also in St Lawarence Gap. For nightlife St Lawrence
Gap is definitely the livelier place to be.
The southern / south eastern coast of Barbados is also one of the best places in the Caribbean to see Turtles. Each morning we were able to watch them popping in
and out of the water at Worthing beach. It is too rough to swim here around the reef and rocks and this makes it ideal for spotting Turtles from the beach undisturbed
as they feed on the fish protected by the reef in the shallow waters. We also visited Carlise bay and stayed on the more southern end towards Brownes Beach away from
the busy cruise ship and sun lounger end. From here if you are a competent swimmer you can swim out 30 to 50 metres from the shore to where the boat tours take you to
see Turtles swimming in the ocean. We were also lucky to see Stingrays. The ocean currents are still strong here though and it's much easier to swim out than back in
so I'd only recommend it to highly competent swimmers.
We spent a good amount of time on Rockley beach which while still rough waters had manned life guards, swimming flags, a great place for sun loungers and the Tiki
bar for great fresh food, dozens upon dozens of cocktails and cold beer. The less competent swimmers in our group were able to enjoy the waters here.
For videos showing Turtles & Stingrays in the ocean, see below:
Barbados marked the end of our Caribbean journey. From here we were headed back to rainy cold UK.
