Barbados Part 3

Our next trip in the car was to the Pelican Craft Center were we visited a the cigar factory where local ladies hand roll and finish cigars from Cuban tobacco. Most of the ladies here have been making cigars for many years the oldest two employees being here 23 years each.

Hand finishing a cigar

The finished product

After the Cigar factory we visited some other local craft and souvenir shops and Liz found a bargain on a blouse.

Our next stop was to Tyrol Cot the home of Sir Grantly Adams the first elected leader of pre-independance Barbados in 1929 and his son Tom Adams later a prime minister of Barbados in 1976.

Tyrol Cot

Fine furnishing for its day

Nice and spacious too

One of the bedrooms

Grantley Adam's desk

The grounds of the house are the home of the heritage village where they have restored some small chattle houses and older slave houses.

Chattle House

Heritage Village of Chattle Houses

Restoration of an old slave house

The village

Back on Moosetracks we had another morning of horses swimming in the anchorage. Liz was able to get a few more shots the next day as well when we came across the horses in their trailer waiting to go for a swim.

Swimming with the trainer

Swimming in pairs

On the beach before the swim

Giving a little encouragement

All done, time to get out.

We took another walk around Bridgetown and managed to find the Synagogue which is a very nicely maintained building with a museum as well.

The Synagogue

We took our next walk to the Garrison at Savannah again to watch the changing of the guard which happens on Thursdays at noon. .It is a volunteer group of ex-servicemen who perform the ceremony once a week. It was absolutely fantastic to watch and well worth the walk up from Bridgetown.

Staging the guards

Inspecting the guard

The bugler

Changing the guard

The band

The carriage for tours of the Garrison.

We also visited the Washington House, where George Washington had stayed as a young man visited Barbados with his brother. We also toured the tunnels here under the Savannah to drain the fields and rid them of mosquitoes when the rmy was garrisoned here.

Washington House

First we watched a short video of the house and its history and then we were taken on the tour of the newly discovered tunnels in the grounds.

Descending to the tunnels

In the tunnels

Quite a long tunnel at that

Our tunnel guide

Some root encroaching in the tunnel

Back to Main house, we started logically in the out-house?

The toilet which empties to the gully beside the house

The large dining room 

Lawrence Washington's bedroom

The rear of the dining room the exit to the kitchens

The hall card table

George Washington's bedroom

The Kitchen

The rear ground of the house

Well that was a lot of sightseeing in Barbados so we had a feeling we were nearing our end in the lovely country. But there was just one last hurrah with Hendy and Ingrid as the Superbowl was due this Sunday. As Hendy arrived to pick us up we brought him out to see Moosetracks. The anchorage was pretty bouncy but he anted to see our home and get a feel for how we live. It was a short flying visit and gave Hendy a good idea of the size of our home.

We had a great Superbowl party with Hendy and Ingrid and their friends, it was a little defense as Superbowl's usually are but a great night.

We took the next day to move Moosetrakcs to Port St Charles to check out ready for departure the next day. It was with  heavy heart we left our good friends behind and headed out on our overnight passage to Martinique.

Barbados Part 2

We were very fortunate in that Hendy and Ingrid have a spare car and were extremely kind in loaning it to us for a while. This enabled us to get all around Barbados and see much of the many attractions it has. We love coastal walks and old buildings so our first trip was to Harrison's Point light house. There is also the ruins of an old windmill right near it.

The windmill

Harrison Point lighthouse

The view from the top

The next stop was Archers bay, a favorite picnic beach for locals. It's very tucked away so no surprise it was very secluded and empty when we visited.

Archers bay

The little beach tucked between coves

Our next stop was the Animal Flower Caves on the north coast.

The rugged north coast of Barbados

The big swells

After the Animal flower cave we went for a picnic at River Bay, a delightful little bay with a large picnic area beside it on the rivers estuary.

River Bay beach area

Devin in the trusty steed

Barbados black belly sheep are all over the island

Our next stop was another lovely bay on the North East shore

Cove Bay

It is also home to Segway Barbados - so we just caught them

Then we went on to Farley Hill where the Barbados national trust has a nice plantation house ruin and park.

The back of the ruin

The front facade. a once fabulous house

A nice park fr picnics as well

The next day we tarted out witha trip to the Concorde exhibit near the airport.

Concorde

Take your seats

A small cockpit

A purpose built hanger

After Concorde we went on to Foursquare Distillery. A lovely restore sugar plantation now open as a distillery and museum.

The small museum

The distillery entrance

The product

Then on to the beach walk at Hastings

Lovely beaches

A great boardwalk too

Our next trip started the day early to get to a Bahamas National Park property called Welshman's Gully. It is a gully or gorge like feature and this one is believed to have been created when a large lime stone cave collapsed and left the walls forming the feature. Gully's are fairly common on the island and are largely responsible for preserving a lot of native plants. This is why the BNT wanted to preserve it.

An gully inhabitant

The lovely pond near the top.

Good paths throughout

Some of the remaining cave features

A stalagmite and stalactite

Very fertile

Some nice flowers too

A close up of small flowers

A noni or dog dumpling - a cure all plant

Some local momkey

An abundance of monkeys as they are fed daily

Then on to Hackleton's cliff, 1,000 feet high over the east coast to explore the scenery.

The view over Bathsheba

A short walk down below the cliff

We stumbled on a Rasta commune

On to the eastern most lighthouse at Ragged Point for some more coastal views and a picnic lunch.

Ragged Point lighthouse

Culpepper Island

On to visit Sam Lords Castle, once the most famous and expensive resort on Barbados, it now lies in ruins.

One of the buildings still standing

The beach of course is still there

A lovely lady

A real shame to see

On to Crane bay to see the lovely new resort and its famous beach

The resort on the peninsula above the beach

The steps to the beach

The next trip was a couple of days later to do a little shopping around Holetown at the chattle house market and the designer stores first.

The Chattle house market

The lovely church at Holetown

Ready for window shopping

We managed to catch sight of a group o f wild monkey's on our way past Sandy Lane golf course.

We arrived at Warrens to do some more shopping for hardware as well as having roti for lunch. We also found the large supermarket for Massey and PriceSmart.

We spent the after noon with Handy and Ingrid to do some more catching up and tell them how much we appreciate the use of their car and the beauty of the island.