AI tends to make me feel tied to the property to get my monies worth and I always get bored, especially if the price was high like this was for us. And there was a great difference in price. For the two of us, 11 full days (with flights) AI was $6250 CAD. If we chose SC, I found a place I liked for $3000 CAD for both of us. It had a complete kitchen and was also right on the beach. Grocery store was in walking distance and lots of good restaurants in that area (Worthing beach) too...
Personally, I love to explore the local food culture if possible. I wanted to do SC, but I also didn't want to be bogged down with all the research of it. But, I did it anyway - unfortunately after I booked... I flipped back and forth and forth and back on the decision. Research told me Barbados is expensive! Expect to pay over $20 CAD for an appetizer like soup or Caesar salad at high end place... I was using my calculator on my computer which does a currency conversion with the daily rate. 😲
Anyway, in the end, I sat my son down (he lets me do all the planning) and showed/explained both sides of our options. He said he wanted to try AI again as we hadn't done that for 10 years together and he wanted to see if he liked it now. He said he didn't mind if we left the resort every day and did something so we didn't feel stuck there. We chose Sugar Bay Barbados. Below pic is from their website.
The reviews of staff there won me over. We couldn't afford ocean view, so Signature Room, Garden View it was. I booked in March and the travel/cancellation insurance was another $350 CAD for both of us total.
Pic also provided by Sugar Bay
After I had done ALL the research, reading the TripAdvisor forum daily, by June, I knew I wished I booked the West Coast or closer to it for our first time - for calmer ocean water and fewer chances of sargassum (like rogue seaweed, in a nutshell). Trip was totally non-refundable and no changes allowed - Expedia, so there was no sense stressing about it, but I did anyway because it's my nature...never mind everything I read about humidity in September...I HATE humidity!!! I also was concerned about bugs that bite, as they seem to love me even though their love is unrequited...
I got some Barbados dollars (BBD) from a foreign exchange place by my office. $400 CAD got me $585 BBD. I also had a new Visa credit card that had no foreign exchange fee and no annual fee. I had about $300 or more of USD so brought that as well. Figured I'd tip with it since they take that currency there interchangeably with their own. At this time of writing two Barbados dollars equals one American dollar. One Canadian dollar equals $1.52 BBD. Well now, that was a longer preamble than I intended though it just skims all the thoughts in my head prior to this trip...Tropical Storm Dorian passed by and I followed it through as it turned to a CAT5 Hurricane - heartbreaking for the Bahamas 😢. With that and all my other worries, I don't remember ever being as anxiety ridden as I was before a vacation like I was for this one... on the bright side, writing it out here seemed to lessen my stress somewhat...we loaded up with "OFF - Deep Woods" and sunscreen and prepared to depart...
Friday, September 6, 2019:
We both worked today. We had a red-eye out of Vancouver that left at 11:15pm that evening. First stop Toronto. I really don't like flying through other Canadian cities, especially coming home as they make you go through customs at your first point of entry back in Canada. They also make you get your luggage and go through screening/security again. It is not fun and my flight timelines were close. I only had an hour and fifteen minutes to do this on my return but WestJet insisted that was enough time to make my flight, so we would see...
I'm not going to lie, this was a tough day for me. Up at 5am and going until flight left. I can't sleep on red-eyes and this was no different...so 4 hours of sitting in the dark.
Saturday, Sept. 7th:
Flight to Barbados left Toronto at 8:30am. I managed to doze, so maybe got 2 hours sleep with the 5 and half hour flight time. As we exited, it was HOT & humid, as expected. I felt like I was melting. I found a "red cap" fellow when going in and remembered the travel forum suggesting them, which was a good idea. He really helped navigate what we needed to do and got our luggage as well. Customs was easy and we walked through and handed our form somewhere else. Our "red hat" took us to the taxi dispatch where he gave us a slip of paper that was 37 BDS$ or $19 USD he said. "Red hat" took us to taxi and loaded our luggage in. I asked him his price. He explained it was tips and said $4 a bag was fine. We had 2 suitcases. I gave him $10 BBD. He laughed at the ten for some reason. I asked him why and he said it must be "old". I assured him it had come from foreign exchange so had to be legit. He just said he hadn't seen the bill before and mentioned he wanted new. I had no idea what he meant. Our cabbie Andrea gave us her card and let us know how we could reach her if we needed.
A bell hop came and assisted with our luggage and offered us a rum or fruit punch. Of course we chose rum. We checked in, had to fill out a form, leave a deposit on a credit card - $400 USD and then she tied our wrist bands which were our door keys. That was pretty ingenious and I quite liked that - all AI's and cruise ships should do it. Desk clerk told us room wasn't ready and to head to Colin's beach bar while we waited till 4pm (about a half hour). We stopped at the Concierge desk and made reservations for the Specialty restaurants. You cannot pre-book them, I tried by email before we left. We were entitled to 3 during our stay. We made one for the steakhouse at 8:30 this evening. Our first view below:
When we got to Colin's the gentleman behind the bar told us it was closed for the day. I let him know what we had been told and he said we had to go to the main buffet. I told him it was closed. He shook his head when he asked who told us to come here and explained we could get in to the buffet. We went over and it was indeed closed too, but you could get in by the bar. We sat down. Someone came over and asked if we had been helped. We said no and told him what had happened so far, and he said, "so you want to eat then?" I said "yes" and he sort of sighed but did service us. So far, I wasn't exactly feeling that welcome...we got a plate. Food was serviceable but not hot. We had a drink as well. The drinking water is fantastic here. And how nice not to have to drink bottled all the time! I loved that. By this time our room was ready. The bell hop took us over and was extremely friendly. I tipped him $5 BBD for our bags. I unpacked a little and then we dropped to the beds for a nap. I forgot to take room pictures, but will another day. They were done up lovely though with lots of fresh flowers and leaves strewn about.
We awoke and showered and felt much better. It was pitch black outside. We found our way to the front desk and asked them for help how to get to "Sizzle". They had someone escort us over.
OMG, it was sooooo HOT in here. I felt like a Popsicle in the sun. I can see where they got their name - you will sizzle in here. I could not stop sweating - it felt like having a constant hot flash. I guess only older ladies like myself will understand that. 😉 It took awhile before anyone acknowledged us (another couple arrived at the same time) and we just stood there uncomfortably. Finally a lady came by and waved us to sit at the bar. Service improved from there and we were seated shortly after.
This restaurant also serves outside customers that aren't staying at the hotel, so the menu has prices. We were offered better steaks for an up charge. We didn't tonight and decided we might at our next dinner. They brought us some bread. The dark one below is oat/molasses. I was surprised the butter was rock hard, but "duh", in a couple of minutes it was soft as can be...I had to go to the washroom to get paper towels to continue dabbing myself dry...
Son had the mahi mahi taco as his appy and it was fantastic. Probably best bite of the evening.
Everything was good. I didn't love the steak. Perhaps medium rare wasn't the way it should have been ordered, but I found it a little tough. I didn't end up eating much of it. It could have been from the heat too, it was making me kind of miserable. Son got salmon with fries and corn. It was really tasty and cooked perfect. The sauce was to die for. Really loved that.
I tipped $20 BBD and we headed back to the lobby. It is very, very dark at night in the complex and you have to be really careful while walking and pay attention to the ground and what's on it. I was surprised how poorly lit it is.
We made our way to the bar. The entertainment was finished, so we had a drink. Son had a "mudslide", below and said it was very good.
And with that, we called it a night and went to crash.
Sunday, September 8th:
We awoke early, showered and got ready for the day as we had an Island tour today that was picking us up at 9:30am. We went to the buffet for breakfast. Below, those black things are mushrooms. The eggs benny was cooked perfectly with a runny yolk. I think we timed it right as everything was hot and fresh. My son had a made-to-order omelette. We enjoyed it and service was terrific. The bar doesn't open till 10, but they have champagne for mimosas.
The birds flying around the dining room were a real problem though. Staff were very quick to pick up plates, but the birds were brave and everyone has to wave them off their tables at some point. Staff have to stand at the buffet station or else they would crawl all over it...
We exited at 9:10 and I was going to use the bathroom by the front desk. As soon as they saw me, they pointed out our tour driver. I told him my email confirmation said 9:30 pick up and he said, it should have said 9am. There was one other couple from England in the van. Our driver was Theo. He was a likable fellow and boy oh boy could he talk! He talked the entire time we were in that van and our day ended up being 7 & 1/2 hours!
Theo informed us this would be a circle island tour and would hit every parish except St. Thomas and St. George as they are inland. He said we would see every other spot along the coast. He told us Barbados was very religious, as he was and showed us almost every church on it, I think. He also showed us every school, every gas station every restaurant, etc. etc. etc. I can tell you one thing, if there was a Barbados "Jeopardy" game, Theo would kick your ass! He knew dates, names, government, businesses, agriculture, farming, history, etc. etc. You could tell he was very, very proud of his heritage and island. I liked that.
Our first stop where we could get out and take pictures was at Rihanna's house. He said her parents don't live there anymore, and that's not surprising, is it? He stopped EVERYWHERE, but I'm only going to show pictures where we actually got out of the van.
Behind that statue was a rum bar that sells the Cockspur "rum punch".
The next stop was in Speightstown where we had 15 minutes to wander. We went into PRC bakery which is well known for their Caribbean baking.
I got a "meat roll" (nice touch of spicy heat to it) which is what I'd call a sausage roll and son got a fruit pastry, (below). Both were delish.
I forgot to mention how impressed I was with "Sandy Lane" when he briefly stopped there in St. James and told us all the history about it. Alas, it will never be in my budget to stay there. Below is a couple more shots of Speightstown.
Next stop was Little Bay in the parish of St. Lucy. This was stunning and there was a nice breeze. Ahhhh, so needed!
Then it was drink time; rum punch, beer, water or soda. I took a "Deputy" beer. Theo made a joke about the Sheriff. 😉 I was getting used to his corny jokes now. He also did bird calls, animal noises and was full of anecdotes. Quite a character and sometimes I laughed till tears rolled.
The beer was good! The next get out of the van stop was Cherry Tree hill.
The view is beautiful from here:
Unfortunately my son got nailed by a coconut stand and before he knew it the man had sliced one open for him, and when I came to see what was happening, he cut one open for me too and added rum. I asked him what the price was. He spoke to my son and said, "I'd settle for your mom's phone number". I asked him again. He said, "$20 BBD!". I told him I didn't have enough money and would only give him $10. He was fine with that and even asked me if I wanted more rum. When we managed to escape (neither of us liked them), I told my son, I should have just told him my number was "8,6,7,5,3,0,9", lol.
Another vendor was relentless so I bought a fridge magnet for $10 BBD and then when we got to the van the other couple said they would have warned me had they known we weren't prepared for the hard sell. Theo just bestowed the virtues of how healthy the coconut was and listed all its medicinal benefits. Told us if we have family in the hospital we should bring them coconut water. 😜 I generally cannot do anything but buy something when vendors start in on me...I'm a sucker that way. I was so bad on the Panama Canal cruise - my tour mates would groan at me when I would buy something and the vendors would flock to us like flies. My house is decorated with all kinds of useless island knick knacks.
Morgan Lewis Windmill in St. Andrew was next.
Below is a goat, I think. We saw lots of them today, but Theo explained that they weren't all goats, the ones with long tails were sheep. They all looked like goats to me.
It was somewhere around here that Theo started telling us about stick shift driving and automatic. He was saying women don't know how to drive stick because they had trouble with the gear shift. The lady's husband in the front seat said, "no comment" and she stated she knew how and was standing up for women. I couldn't learn on stick and had to do auto but I didn't relay that info.
Anyway, then he gave us a demo on a steep hill about neutral and reverse and how the car won't move, but it was moving, we were rolling down the hill and I wondered if he had taken something up on Cherry Hill because it just seemed bizarre.
And if that wasn't enough, after he caught the car from rolling, he said, "Ok, let me show you again". And then he did it one more time after that! Traffic was honking at him from behind as he was doing reverse and I briefly thought he had lost his mind...then I wondered if "coconut man" had slipped me something and maybe I was hallucinating because I just couldn't understand what was happening. We made our way to Bathsheba for our lunch stop at Dina's.
Stopped a few times to watch surfers for a bit first though. My son and I had requested fish. When we were seated, it was boiling hot 🔥 and flies swarmed the table.
The hot sauce was good. I planned on buying this to take home at some point. The other bottle was salad dressing. I had my first bite of Mac 'n Cheese Pie and fell in love! OMG, soooo mouth-watering tasty! Yum.
One drink was included so I chose a Banks beer. Very good, very refreshing in the heat.
The first thing the other couple said was, "What was he doing? He was telling us the car wouldn't move and it was rolling down the hill?" The lady said she was ready to save us and take the wheel. We all laughed until tears ran down. She said it was one to tell the grandchildren about. Theo sat beside us and I asked him what kind of fish it was as I've never had it before. It was meaty like a steak. He advised it was "Bill". I spelled it because with his accent I wasn't sure and he said, "Yes, like Clinton" and then giggled like a schoolgirl. We had a few minutes after lunch to walk around.
Back on the road, Theo showed us 5 or 6 rock formations in the water and asked what they looked like. The lady in the front said a lion. Theo said yes, but in the water... My son said a sea lion and then I laughed till I cried. Anyway, they were Nefertiti, a frog and some others I can't remember. He informed us that below was the final stop.
I stayed outside and tried to get a good picture of the church. My son said Theo told them about the altar and how long it took to carve. It was too hot in there for me. Theo picked us some Plumeria which I love the scent of. Brought me back to Hawaii.
Another view shot. Theo taught me how to read a sundial and a few more gravestones and we were on our way...
...but not before seeing a beautiful caterpillar soon to transform into a butterfly...
We went back to Christ Church. We saw Oistins and the Boardwalk. The other couple were dropped off at Bougainvillea and we returned to Sugar Bay. I tipped Theo $20 USD. He told us he highly recommended we see Harrison Caves and St. Nicholas Abbey (we saw that today, but he wanted us to spend more time there). Hugs and handshakes and it was around 5pm. We freshened up in the room and went for dinner at 6. All we wanted to do was jump in the Atlantic ocean, but it was not meant to be today. It was Sunday roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and it was very, very good though my picture below isn't. You'll just have to trust me on that.
The entertainment tonight was a band called Virgo. They were excellent and really got the crowd up and dancing. We enjoyed the show a lot.
If you've been reading along, you probably thought this day would never end. It definitely was a long one. We collapsed in our beds.
Monday, September 9th:
We slept in a little and just managed to get ready in time for: The Original Bajan Walking Food Tour. We got the front desk to get us a taxi and she quoted $25 BBD and I tipped him $5 more. He was there quickly and we were in Bridgetown about 10 minutes later. 20 minutes early for our tour. We were to meet at Independence Square at the Errol Barrow Statue, below.
Chamberlain Bridge
There was a bit of seaweed today so could only get out so far and it was pretty rocky as well, but I had read reviews and brought water shoes with us.
After a while we decided to see what the pool was like. We didn't like it. It was small, not deep (4 & 1/2 ft) and had these awkward steps dividing it into sections. Poorly designed in my eyes. The ocean was warm but this was hotter - like a hot tub hot, just blech. We preferred the salt water to the chlorine and doubted we'd go back to it, at least in the day time. We showered and got ready for dinner. The theme was "International". My food pictures are horrible, so I won't show any but I will say that the Dauphinoise potatoes were the highlight for both of us. My son eats dessert and loved what he chose. Below is apple strudel, chocolate spice cake and something just called "cluster". Son said strudel was one of the best he's ever had.
I don't remember the entertainment, so I must not have been impressed. I have watched to see if people tip besides me and I've seen a few do it, but it's done very hush hush with a palm slip or handshake, so I've done it the same way. Staff are very low key about it and pocket it very quietly. I tipped the maids $7 - $10 BBD every day. Sitting at the bar, one of the customers told us the "late night bar" had A/C, so we were in! It opens at 9pm so we made our way there to escape the relentless, soul sucking heat.
It wasn't as cool as I was hoping for, and the staff agreed and fiddled with it. It improved after a while. My son and I play cribbage together on vacation so settled into our 3 games for $5 each match. While were playing we noticed a young couple that sat beside us in the specialty restaurant were there. They had "Congrats" on their dessert plates and received a complimentary bottle of champagne. We learned they were newlyweds on their honeymoon from Edinburgh, Scotland. We talked about how hot it was in the restaurant that night, and we got along well.
My son taught him crib when we finished, and then we all played pool and started doing shots. Bartender was making these ones called "corn oil" - sounded weird but drank o.k. Well, I can't tell you how much fun the evening was, but it was, lots and lots of laughs. They kicked us out at 1 AM sharp and weren't the nicest about it. No last call notice and they served us a drink a couple of minutes before. They wouldn't let us finish the pool game and we just had to exit. In hindsight it's fine as we all had enough to drink but they could have been a little better at letting you know you can't stay 1 second past 1 AM... We said goodnight to our new friends and went back to the room, and went lights out down.
Tuesday, September 10th:
We rolled out of bed at noon-ish. Heads were thick and foggy for both of us.
Decided to have lunch at the beach bar and then hit the water as it was hotter than Hades again. Son had cheeseburger.
I had a breadfruit seafood casserole and salad with spicy mango dressing. It was pretty darn good. Cheesy and carby and ideal for the hangover. I was happy with my choice. I cleaned the plate.
As soon as the food came, we had company watching from above...
Then that one and more just jumped on the table one-by-one. They don't even care if you wave them away sometimes, they just sit there and hope you'll give up. My mom made me watch Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" with her when I was in kindergarten and I am still scared shitless of them.
We went to the water and bounced and swam, back-stroked, jogged, dog paddled, breast-stroked, etc. etc. for 2 hours until we were wrinkled prunes. The hangover was gone though. Another couple had told us about a cappuccino machine and high tea so we decided to head over there. It was just before 4pm and tea starts then. Well, right on cue, a flock of birds flew over just in time.
It was scenic and breezy here and felt hidden. We just sat there and enjoyed the breeze, it was heavenly. They started white table clothing and getting the cups set up.
I had a salami croissant and BLT wrap "finger sandwich" and my son had some pastries. They have scones with butter and jam but no Devonshire cream.
We went and showered. I looked at my email and saw that Expedia sent me a cancellation notice and refund for my food tour! I was incensed. I went to the Lickrish site and tried to chat live, but learned that they don't work for the company. They gave me an email so I sent one asking WHY they had cancelled after the agreement we came to? They replied quickly and said they were comping the whole tour and the transportation. I found that over and above what I was expecting and was very thankful. He said customer satisfaction was his #1 priority and it certainly seemed that way.
The theme was "Caribbean Night". The food and shows were all about it. When I was selecting my plate, one of the chef's recommended I have the curry lamb. Honestly, I was just going to eat a big ole plate of the mac & cheese. 😋 Below is Bajan Mac 'n Cheese, Curry Lamb, some DRY roast pork that I put Bajan pepper sauce on and 1/2 BBQ chicken wing underneath it. The ball on the lower left was a fish cake and was good. The curry was to die for. He told me I'd come back and get seconds but I just took a big helping and was fine, otherwise I would have. Best hangover day ever food wise...
The food at this resort is great. I have to say that I could not complain about it at all here. Yes, I could nit pick, but I'm talking in general. They have a small selection but most everything is done well. Some dishes are utterly fantastic, some not so enjoyable, like anywhere. It's like home-cooking at its best. All tastes covered with something for everyone. The food here, to me, is a stand out. I am dreading to get on the scale when I get home...
The stilt walkers were talented and nice looking men with great bodies. Many of the ladies wanted their picture taken with them. I found the pictures funny as their heads ended up at stilt walker's crotch. I mentioned this to another couple we were chatting with from Washington, D.C. and they agreed. We giggled while watching the line up of ladies get their pics. There were some dancers from the West Indies...
And then the night ended with "limbo" with audience participation. It was entertaining to watch and we enjoyed the night very much.
We played crib by the bar and toodled off to bed. The main bar closed at 10:30-ish it seemed, so about then.
Wednesday, September 11th:
We awoke feeling much better than yesterday, that's for sure. This was a down day, lazy day at the resort. We went for breakfast. The birds were waiting for us. We ate lightly and hung around until it was time for my son's massage.
We went to the room so I could take money out of the safe for him. It had been cleaned. The beds were okay, not that comfortable and of course small. It didn't make for great sleeping.
Below is the view from our balcony. We only used the balcony to hang our wet suits after washing and use bug and suntan sprays. They have drying racks installed and knobs to hang. Speaking of washing suits, I bought this great stuff from Amazon that neutralizes chlorine and salt water really well. Soak, swish, rinse and good to go. Highly recommend it.
I walked with my son to the spa and I paid them. I always treat him as he works hard and deserves it. We also had a $20 USD credit towards it with our booking. It cost me $164 BBD with the credit. My son tipped her $20 USD. They offer 10 minutes free massage to all guests but would not allow it to be combined with 60 minutes he paid for. They told him he could come another time for the 10 minutes. That felt unfair since he actually paid for a service, but whatever... the staff even told us to do that, but the SPA was not having any of it...
Below she showed me an empty room. This was not where my son was.
I sat at the bar and watched the pesky birds be a nuisance...
When he was done we went for a late lunch at Colin's beach bar. I had fried Kingfish and vegetable chowmein. Very good but no way I could finish it, it was huge portion!
My son ordered a hot dog. When our server dropped it off she looked at him and said, "Repeat after me". He stared intently at her. She said, "I will NOT order a hotdog again at Colin's". She then told him that Colin's makes real food there. 😊 He got coconut cream ice cream for dessert. (And he never ordered a hotdog again).
And then we finally went and swam. The best part of this vacation has been the ocean and our time in it. It was what we looked forward to most each day. Conditions were good today, no seaweed and we stayed in till sunset.
We had dinner plans at the specialty restaurant Umi at 8pm.
We were informed the chef himself is Japanese. We had plans to later meet "Scotland" and "Washington D.C." in the A/C bar after we finished. You get one Appy, one Entree and one Dessert. Service was slow and very unorganized. My son's first course below was a crispy shrimp roll, which was tempura. It had avocado too.
I went with a sashimi plate. I was nervous, but it was quite good.
Then service really declined. We received no more water, no refills of drinks. I finally flagged someone for more wine but even when they did that, no one ever refilled water again. And we waited a long half hour between our appy and entree. It was not even busy, 5 tables at most. My entree below is "catch of the day" which was snapper. It was done with teriyaki and I had fried rice as my side. There were 3 calamari rings on top. I enjoyed it but would have liked something other than teriyaki as the sauce.
My son had some ginger chicken stirfry with bell peppers and teriyaki sauce too. He enjoyed it.
Dessert took another half hour, still no water or wine now. Then only one dessert came out. The server was very stressed and said the banana one had a problem. I told her not to worry about it. We had given up by now anyway. I gave my son my dessert but had a bite. We got fried ice cream with caramel sauce and fried bananas with chocolate sauce.
I only tipped $10 BBD and hesitated over that, but I figured everyone has an off night. It was 10 pm. None of our friends were there, so we got some wine to go and went and played crib in our cool A/C room. Then it was off to sleep.
Thursday, September 12th:
We awoke super early and went for a light breakfast at 7-ish. After breakfast back in our room, we had a knock at the door and it was half of the Washington, D.C. couple giving us their bottle of Champagne as they knew I liked it and they didn't. We thanked him, gave him a hug and then we were out of friends for now, everyone we knew departed...
We had the food tour today so had to be outside at 10:30am. Transport was right on time and was friendly. There was another couple in the van on their 53 year anniversary from Pennsylvania. He was in jeans as his hotel advised him his camouflage shorts would get him arrested. Only the military can wear camo. He told them he was former military, but not Barbados because they never called on him. 😉
We were dropped at Independence Square again. It was insanely HOT today. I was already miserable. Our guide Claudette showed up. I really liked her. She was genuinely nice, funny and was a historian by trade. So she started us off with some interesting history and then we were off to the first stop which I had found Monday, the juice bar. Part of her talk confirmed what I thought, Barbados is not surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, it is all Atlantic ocean.
The first tastes were a meat roll followed by a berry smoothie. Both were good.
We wound through the streets in Bridgetown and went through an open shopping market area. Hidden away in a building upstairs was our next stop. No way could a tourist find this easily.
We were served "pig tails" and breadfruit here with pickled cucumbers on top. Pig tails are vertebrae on the pig, popular in Caribbean cooking. It was fatty but very tasty and the pickled cukes helped cut the fat. The pork was done in a BBQ sauce.
We left Tim's and continued our journey to an open air food market. It was SO HOT!!!! I thought I was going to collapse. I had a cooling towel in my luggage, but forgot to bring it today when it was needed the most. Claudette helped by finding me shade and we had frozen ice water bottles. I had a little mini-fan (many envious people over it - got it at the dollar store at home!), but in the noon day sun, it just blazes at you...that and pounding the concrete made it tough... Many locals we spoke to mentioned how hot it was too, and that as kids, the island was never like this. I felt so sorry for all working in this heat. More global warming changes...😢
The proprietor of the stand above made his own vegan fruit juices. When I went to take a picture he stopped me and put the Bajan flag beside it first. 😎 It was Sorrel. I only had a small sip as it was super sweet but was interesting in taste.
And then it was back to pounding the pavement. We got some fresh mango slices to go. They wrapped them in baggies for us, so we could eat at our leisure and wouldn't get all sticky from the juices. (I had mine later at the hotel and it was delish).
She tried to buy us some Caribbean plums next, but couldn't work out change/money with the vendor. I asked her if they were ripe, and she said yes, though some more than others. That is what is below...those little yellow/green thingys that are way smaller than plums I know...
She also showed me "breadfruit" which I have had plenty of since here...
Next stop was "fishcakes". OMG, no heat relief here, but the fishcakes were great. We had sampled these at our hotel already and my son preferred those as they were smaller (little balls) and less doughy. I could only eat one as it was just too damn hot out to eat more, but he finished what I couldn't...
From there we went over to a church for more history. Claudette had pictures to show us as she went through stories and was animated and worked hard to bring them to life. She gave me an extra thick paper towel which I soaked with ice water and wrapped around my neck. That helped. Then we were off to a family run restaurant featuring Barbados national dish - flying fish and cou cou.
First she brought out this shot of something called "Mauby". Definitely an acquired taste. I asked her if there was alcohol in it and she said no. I joked with her not to waste my time then. 🍸
I really enjoyed this dish. The cous cous had a resemblance to grits and the fish was good. The husband didn't like it and said it was fishy but the 3 of us didn't agree. He commented that he was hoping for more of a "foodie" tour, not this. I explained it was more about the Bajan culture, but he said he was expecting quality seafood, like lobster and shrimp, etc. as we were right on the water. I bought some Bajan pepper sauce here. Apparently I had "old" money and they wouldn't accept it even though it was legal tender. I guess because they did not have a machine to put it under a light to make sure it was legal. Everywhere else I had no problem, including my hotel. If you go to foreign exchange, maybe make sure you get "new" money though.
The building below was a hotel. Claudette told us it was originally owned (?) run by a woman who made friends easily and loved to curse.
Our last stop was a chocolate shop for ice cream. I joked with Claudette and asked her if she wanted old money for her tip. She asked me for USD. So, I gave her the $20 I had on me. I would have given her $50 BBD. My son bought chocolate to take home here and used my old money.
They made the ice cream with coconut milk. It was good. I had rum raisin.
The other couple wanted to get a porcelain turtle and were leaving tomorrow so Claudette kindly took them (us) over to the duty free store. When they had finished with their purchase, our ride back was waiting for us. I hugged Claudette goodbye and thanked her. She emailed the pictures she took of us and I promised to write my review on "trip advisor" for her. I think this tour would be great for cruise ship visitors, close to the port and would give them some Bajan insight into the food, people and culture.
Back at the resort the dinner theme was American. There was BBQ ribs which were fantastic. They were grilling steaks to order and a bunch of fried food was on offer as well. Below was ribs, a ravioli, salad and veg and fried mahi mahi fish.
They informed it was movie night and "John Wick 3" would be playing at Colin's beach bar on the beach there at 8pm. It was 7:59 when we sat down. I asked how we were supposed to know these things. Our server said we would have gotten an activity sheet at check in. We did not get one, we even re-checked what they gave us. After dinner we retired to our room for some crib playing and went to bed. We had to be up early.
Friday, September 13th:
We had booked a luxury catamaran today through Silver Moon and they were picking us up at 8:25am. Driver was on time and another couple from our resort were also going. They were from London. We made our way to the marina and checked in.
Both of these were theirs, but we boarded the one on the right.
We also had 3 generations of a family from Virginia join us and a couple from New Mexico. Everyone got along well and it was a nice group to go out with. Then we were off. First place was to snorkel with turtles in Carlyle Bay.
We didn't wear flippers when we swam with the turtles. I was only able to get one picture of the turtles, though I saw more, but timing is everything...
We saw stingrays too, below, but my pictures are shit...
Those needlefish below were so pretty in blue, but I could not capture the colour correctly.
We were able to wear flippers when we moved to the shipwrecks. We swam over two different ones.
Next we anchored in beautiful Paynes Bay and had some lunch and as our captain said, "the pool is open". The water was crystal clear and wonderful to swim in.
They started grilling Kingfish on the boat.
Bajan mac n cheese and BBQ chicken. It is very apparent they love their BBQ chicken here. It was on our buffet daily and we saw it on offer at all other restaurants we saw so far.
Lunch was served and everything was perfect. I put the Bajan pepper sauce over my kingfish.
Some more swim time and then we headed back. Grandson from Virginia rented a jet ski for a bit - they came right over to the boat drumming up business.
Going back to the dock, they made everyone Pina Coladas. My son said they were better than at the resort. The captain put a tip jar out. I had asked the company pre-trip what the gratuity rate was and she said while discretionary, 15% of the total price was acceptable. That is what I did, and that was $40 USD. We got our ride back and I tipped him $5 USD as well just because he was so nice. Showed me pictures of his young son and said he was taking him to NYC.
Dinner was French creole at the buffet tonight, and I was looking forward to this one the most. Unfortunately, nothing was very creole about it. We were zapped. The sun today took it out of us and we were crispy and burned. We went to the A/C of our room, played crib and boom boom out went the lights.
Saturday, September 14th:
We slept in till lunch time and made our way to the buffet. It made up for the dinner last night. They had lamb chops that were excellent!
Afterwards I got my cooling towel and a sun hat as we decided to walk down to the Boardwalk. We love to walk far distances but it just wasn't possible in the heat. We walked up the hill to our resort entrance and hung a right.
Immediately after starting to walk, these mini vans with a red stripe down the middle and a taxi sign kept honking and asking if we needed a ride. It seemed like every minute one went by. The first place we saw where we could get onto the boardwalk was Blakey's. We stopped there for a beer and to cool down a bit. Our server said the boardwalk was a mile long.
Lots of seaweed around here...
We continued walking but the boardwalk came to an abrupt end. We turned around and stopped at Tapas for a drink and to cool off. They put us on the top floor which had a nice breeze. We weren't very hungry so I just ordered some albondigas (meatballs). Son had a cappuccino and I had a glass of Prosecco. Pricey at $42 USD with tip built in for the bill.
We walked back to the resort and had numerous beep-beeps from the mini-vans all the way back. As much as we wanted to swim we couldn't because we were so sore and red from the Catamaran trip the day before. We took a nap and just laid low until dinner. The theme tonight was "Latin". They had a whole roasted baby pig at the carving station, with cracklin'.
They had tacos with all the fixings. Food was very yummy tonight and the pig was delicious. After dinner, we did our usual crib playing in the A/C. We spent way more time in our room than we wanted to, but it was the coolest place to be. The AI charm and appeal was slowly wearing thin and we were becoming bored.
Sunday, September 15th:
We awoke early and went for a swim. The water felt cool this morning and was refreshing.
As we made our way to lunch, they had a one man band playing music. This was a first for the day time here, or at least that we noticed.
We were getting good at cutting out the food on our plates now. From when we arrived to now, the plate portions had decreased a lot. Below is pulled pork (leftovers from last night), saffron potatoes and curry chicken.
I did some research on those buses and discovered they are called the ZR (Zed-R). They cost $3.50 BBD per ride. This is what we used to go to Oistin's Fish Fry tonight. Another couple said the ZR will get people seated on laps when they are busy, so I was glad they weren't tonight. They do drive fast and crazy, I can vouch for that...we were quoted $20 USD taxi fare so this was much better!
Oistins was quiet and we liked that. Others had said how busy both Friday and Saturday had been. I liked it like this. The only two places that had customers were Mo's and Pat's so we chose the latter.
I ordered a small bottle of rum and diet coke which is coke light there. I decided on Marlin because I've never had it before. I went and checked out the grill.
I got mac n cheese pie, plantain and breadfruit. Did not like the breadfruit at all, but the plantains were good. I didn't love the Marlin either, too meaty and steak like, but glad I tried it.
Son ordered the grilled shrimp which took 20 minutes to prepare, but they tell you that. He loved it, so much that he made me try one. They had this crazy good garlic sauce on it. We felt a few sprinkles of rain, but nothing more. That is the first since we arrived! Our server was really nice and chatted to us. When we were getting ready to leave she asked us if we were going to watch the karaoke? I winked at her and told her that is why we were leaving - painful to listen to when you're sober. She understood that. 😜 I found the meal reasonably priced, so with rum, 2 soda pops, and meals it was $82 BBD or $41 USD. I tipped her $8 BBD. We got the ZR back. The security guard at night would only let us back in by squeezing through a awkward space by his guard house. The ones in the day would just open the bar and let us walk through but not him, so in the pitch black we had to go up a step, squeeze by the plants and down again. Jerk. We went to the A/C for our usual card games and then sleep.
Monday, September 19th:
Woke to rain this morning. It woke me up about 6am, could just hear it pounding outside. Learned there was a tropical depression passing over. As we made our way to lunch, obviously no one was sitting outside.
I spent a lot of time drinking the Jean Dorsene brut sparkling wine at this resort. It was not bad. All the wines were pretty good which was a nice change from what All Inclusives usually offer - crap.
They don't really have top-shelf anything. They have a sub for Bailey's, top vodka is Smirnoff, no spiced rum, no Jameson's, etc. etc. We stuck to the Mount Gay rum and I drank the wines. We took it easy today, chatted with another couple from Glasgow, Scotland, and then went to St. Lawrence Gap for dinner. We took the ZR bus again. When we got off it was pitch black and we didn't know where to go so we stopped at the first place we saw.
Saw they had happy hour till 7 so we went in and asked if it was still on. The bartender rolled his eyes and said, "for 5 minutes more" and then sighed. We got 2 rums. I asked him where Cocktail Kitchen was. We had reservations for 8pm. He rolled his eyes again and said, "almost next door". The lone couple in there were nice and told us a bit about the "gap" and said the food was good and bartender was great where we were going. At that comment, the current bartender left and I never saw him again. The other couple left so we sat there and drank up with another miserable server. Very negative energy in there! We left and found Cocktail Kitchen.
We saw a place called "Crave" which had happy hour till 8, so we went to the outdoor patio there and sat at the bar. We talked to a local and enjoyed the conversation. They had some hippy dude singing (not great) but we stayed till it was time to go. We were seated immediately. I had emailed earlier to make sure they had A/C and they did, but they also had all the windows open. It was not the A/C I was hoping for. The bartender was the same one I saw working at Tapas yesterday. We said hello and he remembered us as well.
I saw "Pudding n Souse" on the menu which is something I wanted to try. Obviously this was a modern version of it. Catch of the day was red snapper. They started us with some addictive popcorn.
GARLIC AND GINGER POPCORN SHRIMP
Crispy fried shrimp marinated with ginger and garlic, sweet chilli dipping sauce
PUDDING & SOUSE
Sous vide pork shoulder, with pan-fried sweet potato pudding, pickled cucumber and scotch bonnet
PARMESAN CATCH
Baked in herbed parmesan crust, garlic potato purée, pesto cream and tomato salsa
CARIBBEAN STEAMED FISH
Aromatic steamed catch with citrus scented yam puree, crispy fried ginger, braised spinach and coconut/curry broth
CARIBBEAN S’MORES 26
Layers of dark chocolate mousse and ginger/scotch bonnet
graham cracker crumble, finished with torched marshmallow
Son said they made the best Pina Colada that he's had yet. We had 2 drinks each, I had Rosé. Bill including tip they added 12.5% was $275 BBD. It's what I expected. We took the meals to go as we could not finish them. I didn't love the pudding n souse but was happy I got to try it. We loved our entrees. Son loved all three of his courses. Very, very good restaurant. Young, vibrant crowd - I was the oldest one in there. We departed, got the ZR bus back and again the grumpy security guard made us squeeze through to get in again. We didn't play crib, just went and crashed.
Tuesday, September 18th (a.k.a. Last Day):
We started with breakfast. We always sat inside in the morning and on the patio for dinner. The view is something I will for sure miss, it was picture perfect.
While I was looking out, I watched a lady hand her plate to the birds. Yuck.
The ocean was rough, but we weren't going to miss our last day out there. It was deep and bouncy wavy. Kept us on our toes as the current was strong!
We stayed in till late afternoon then went to wash the suits and let them dry. Our final dinner was back in Sizzle Steakhouse, the same way we started the trip. There was a little breeze, but still uncomfortable. Those mushrooms below were about as good as they look in the picture. I was disappointed.
The Catch of the Day Taco was Kingfish tonight
Son had Filet Mignon with garlic aioli and potatoes with all the sides
I had the NY Srip with Yam/Plantain mash, grilled veg and garlic aioli
The steaks were pretty good, can't complain. My mash was sweet and just yuck. The aioli was good and recommended by my fave server who used to work in there.
The mousse cake was rich and sickenly sweet, not a fave. Service was good again, so we tipped $20 BBD and left. It's hard to sit and relax in there when it's always sweltering. We went by the bar, but same entertainment repeating so we decided to have our final cribbage match of the vacay. Son won $20 in the end, so I paid him off and we went down and out for the evening.
Wednesday, September 18th:
We awoke early and went for breakfast. It was time to check out and I'm not going to lie and say we weren't happy. Today felt even hotter than every other day and we both had reached the end of our tolerance with it. We just wanted to get home and be cool, and get to our own beds. I went to look again at my favorite view.
We had a little walk around to say our good-byes.
Check out was noon, so we finished packing and I sat trying to get close to finishing my trip report as well. SO MUCH WORK it was this time. If I had left it to do when I got home, I'm not sure it would have got done. So, I plugged away at it as best I could. WiFi worked great here, no complaints at all. While I was doing it, an email flashed across my screen from WestJet saying my flight had been delayed for 2 hours on departure. That meant we would miss our connecting flight back to Vancouver (ours was the last flight out there of the night). I msg'd them and they said they'd provide a hotel and transport because of it. So, we checked out and had lunch while we waited to go. We were bummed out and the oppressive heat was making it worse. $25 USD return to the Grantley Adams airport from the same taxi guy the hotel uses. I tipped him my last $6 BBD.
We landed in Toronto around 11pm. Got to hotel just after midnight. Booked return taxi for 5:30am. Ended up getting three and a half hours sleep at a Holiday Inn Express after buying and heating up Swanson t.v. dinners from lobby shop. Son said the beds were way more comfy than our resort and he was right. We had a shower and then back to airport. We left for home on our 7am flight.
Made it to inside our house on the 19th around 11am our time. We went out and shopped, unpacked mostly and then napped. I'm wrapping up this report now. SO - what do I say? I know we picked the wrong time of year, for sure, but in saying that, we would never be able to afford high season. And I liked the lack of people. I would have been miserable if our resort was super busy. I think it's crazy priced for what you get in Barbados. I have been to other beach places spending equal money paid and got more value. Hawaii and Key West for example rate higher to me. Yes, I know, to each their own, that is just my opinion. I can't see us going back...OH, the mosquitoes got me once, but it was fine 🦟 . We did use that toxic spray twice a day though and saw and talked with many who fared much worse than we did. We were anal about wearing the Deet.
That being said, I did enjoy the culture, the FOOD (Bajan's know their spices/seasonings!), and it was so nice to have drinking water from the tap. Caribbean food is amazing. The local people are nice, friendly and helpful in general. All of them proud too which I adored. I didn't find the people any more special than any other touristy beach places I've been to. You have good, bad, surly and stellar everywhere you go. We certainly didn't feel unsafe anywhere. Only had one beggar at Oistins and guys smoking weed around there didn't bother us at all, even helped me find the washroom.
We had a enjoyable time even with the weather hampering it. The ocean was what we were there for and it did its job. In hindsight we both agreed we should have done half AI and half SC. We did get out though, but I think I'm done with my AI days unless I pick a last minute trip up for dirt cheap, I can't see doing it again. Too much excess. I'm waiting a few days before I get on the scale. 🙅♀️
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