BARBADOS

Fifty percent of the cruisers we spoke to about sailing to Barbados said it wasn’t worth the effort. The island is almost 100 miles due east of the Caribbean chain and often a motoring trip dead into strong easterly trade winds. We ignored the nay-sayers and chose to put our trust in the more skilled sailors who made the passage to Barbados and found it to be quite a lovely place. 


Government House

Very cosmopolitan shopping district

                       
Our anchorage at Carlisle Bay was just off of the capital city of Bridgetown. The water was crystal clear and we could easily see that our anchor was well-bedded in the sandy bottom about 20 feet below. Although we were dog tired from our overnight journey, the beach looked irresistible, so we snorkeled ashore. Between the boat and the shore, we swam over turtles feeding, sea stars, and some strange looking winged fish crawling along the bottom.          


    
Thanksgiving Day 2012- no turkey.   


Caught a big blackfin tuna on the way- HOMEMADE sushi!

While in Barbados, we felt like we were on vacation.  It is a British island that benefits enormously from a significant amount of tourism from the USA and Europe, including many cruise ships.  It is often the first landfall vessels make when sailing across the Atlantic from European countries, but that is a very small slice of their tourism dollar pie. 

Without a doubt...

                         we'll be BACK!