Bridgetown, in southwestern Barbados, is the capital of the island, on Carlisle Bay, in the West Indies. It is the country's chief port and commercial center, with exports of sugar, clothing and electrical parts. Sugar refining, rum production and tourism are also significant industries. The music and dances of Barbados reflect the African heritage. Barbados gained full internal self-government in 1961, and is a member of the United Nations and of the Organization of the American States.
We'd signed up for a HAL excursion, so met in the Ambassador Lounge to wait for the go ahead. They put us on a bus then on a small boat to "swim with the turtles". We passed by many beautiful homes and hotels on the shore. We stopped right in front of some, in about 20 feet of water, to swim. We were not allowed to use our fins, something about kicking others, and were required to wear life vests. After our other snorkel experiences, it was kind of lame. One of the guides went out and put food into the water. Sure enough, soon 2 large sea turtles showed up to eat. Regardless of the method, it is still a thrill to be in the water with those big, beautiful creatures.
We all got back on the boat and headed further down the coast to a beach. To our surprise, we were right next to Sandy Lane Golf Club and Resort where Tiger Woods was married in Oct, 2004. Mel put on his clothes, I wrapped up in a towel and we walked right into the place like be belonged there. I was expecting to be thrown out at any minute, but we went from one shop to another looking for a logo shot glass, magnet, or something. We had to ask several times where the logo gift shop was. Everyone was very helpful and friendly...but we never found it! That place is enormous! We headed back for fear we'd miss our boat. Beautiful resort, maybe a place to visit again in the future. It's closer than the Seychelles!
Once back at the port, we had lunch and changed on the ship then headed into town. It was very hot and quite a walk, so we went slowly. There weren't a lot of tourist shops in town, mainly shops for the locals. We were on a mission to find small locks to put on our luggage that would be shipped home via Fed Ex. We found some for 50¢ each, what a deal. Everyone was very nice and it was crowded. After the heat, it was great to get back to the air conditioning on the ship.
One more port, then we're HOME!
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