Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 9 : Barbados

Finally we returned to our starting point, Bridgetown, Barbados. This island is in the Lesser Antilles and is the most easterly of the West Indies with the Atlantic on its east coast and the Caribbean on its west. Barbados is 21 miles long and 14 miles wide - about the same size as the Isle of Wight.

Barbados was visited by the Spanish in the late 15th century. The Portuguese also visited in 1536 but left it unclaimed. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in 1624 and in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England. Barbados has been a British colony ever since then up to its independence in 1966.

The port is about a mile from the centre of Bridgetown.

We strolled to the centre ... 

 ... passing Pelican Centre, an art and craft area

 The Careenage - merchant and navy sailing ships used to lie aground here at low tide for hull repairs. It is now a marina with moorings for small yachts and pleasure craft.

The National Pledge of Barbados is as follows: "I pledge allegiance to my country Barbados and to my flag, To uphold and defend their honour, And by my living to do credit. To my nation wherever I go"

We decided to have a short tour of the island - but we didn't want to just see the beaches, which is what some taxi drivers offered us. We found a taxi driver called Mark who gave a personalised tour - he was great.

We saw the Kensington Oval - home of cricket on Barbados. Here is a statue of the great Sir Garfield Sobers, outside the ground

 St James Parish Church, Holetown in Barbados.  It's the oldest Anglican Church on the island.

This bell fell from the belfry of St James's Church in 1881 and was badly cracked but a benefactor donated a new bell. However, considering its historic value the old one was sent to England for repairs and returned to Barbados to be retained as a monument, which predates the American "Liberty Bell" by 56 years

We then toured the area where some of the rich and famous have luxury properties

 

We then went to the village of Rock Hall

 It was the first free village established in 1841, some five years after the time of Emancipation

The Rock Hall Freedom Village is located in the parish of St. Thomas, Barbados. The monument pays homage to a family of three freed ex-slaves and the village of Rock Hall.

The monument represents freedom. Caste in bronze, this 20ft stainless steel statue was designed by Mr. Stanton Haynes. It was officially unveiled in August of 2005.

View of the east coast

An old prison

One of the famous Baobab trees in Bridgetown

For more photo of our time on the island click Barbados

And so ended our first cruise and our first visit to the Caribbean - a wonderful experience

Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 8 : St Maarten

Our last island stop before returning to Barbados was St Maarten - some 150 miles east of Puerto Rico between Anguilla and St Barthelemy

In 1648 St. Maarten was peacefully divided between Holland and France, and today is the smallest landmass in the world to be shared by two sovereign nations. The island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands - they are roughly equal in population.

On 10 October 2010 the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and St Maarten became an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands

We docked at Philipsburg on the Dutch side of the island. 

There were three other cruise ships in St Maarten with us - that's over 10,000 tourists on the island for the day!

 We decided to have a lazy day

 We strolled around Philipsburg

 and lunched at this restaurant which overlooked the beach

For more photos of our time on the island click St Maarten