"Barbados..The Spice Island" Barbados Travelogue by percy961

Mandy and I began this holiday in January 2001. We needed a place to stay overnight close to London's Gatwick airport and we were Lucky enough to find a delightful place at Wayside Manor Farm.
We flew from Gatwick Airport to Grantley Adams airport in Barbados, from the airport it was just a short drive to the cruise terminal to join our ship the S.S.Emerald

Our first day aboard the "Emerald" was spent at sea, giving us time to relax and to settle in, explore the ship and try and find our way back to the cabin !

In the evening we met the other people who were to share our dining table, Steve and Lyn from Bath and Steve and Jenny from Liverpool. During dinner I announced to our guests that it was Mandy's Birthday and then a waiter brought her a birthday cake, while the other waiters surrounded our table to serenade Mandy with several birthday songs.

After dinner we attended the Captain's cocktail party and were introduced to the rest of the ships officers. Mandy and I then went onto the top deck to celebrate her birthday with a bottle of champagne under the stars.

Mango Bay

Our base for our stay on the Island was The Mango Bay which is situated in Holetown,Barbados. Its a beautiful resort, right on the beach, has excellent and well kept gardens and the food was superb. .

Paul and I decided to take a trip down to Bridgetown to watch England ‘A’ against Barbabos at the Kensington oval in the Busta cup and have a few cold beers in the "Garfield Sobers" bar and the girls went shopping. We spent a lovely afternoon at Garrison Savannah, the home of horse racing in Barbados. Mandy managed to pick out two winners, "Midnight Thomas" and "Jackdaw"

We took atrip on the local catamaran, which pull right up on the beach outside the hotel, it was a lovely relaxing afternoon with some lovely views of the coastline.

We made a number of friends at Mango bay and after a farewell party we found out that our flight had been delayed for 24 hours...so we had another farewell party.

Life's a beach

The East coast is acontrast to the built up area's of the West.
The East coast is wild and rugged with some lovely scenery.

The Bar Gang

On our first night we met Norma and Paul who run "The Anchor Inn" in Worcester, UK.

Mandy and Vaughan

We decided to explore the Island of Barbados so we hired a Taxi and our driver/guide was Vaughan,a man who knew a great deal about the island, its history, its wildlife, its plants and flora and his favourite subject of all..the local food. Our first stop was the old look out point at Gun Hill, with its breathtaking views down to the coast. Our next stop on the tour was the Rugged East coast of the Island and St John's church, Vaughan seemed to have a story about every grave we passed until we reached the end of the graveyard with its wonderful views of the Atlantic. We then drove down through Bathsheba and Cattlewash and up through an area call Scotland with its impressive views.