RICHinNC
Contributor
THE CATAMARAN TOURS
I have always found that the cat tours are one of the best bargains going on the islands I have visited. We took a 10 am until 3 pm cat tour that took us to three different locations. The first location was where there were an abundance of sea turtles and everyone snorkeled with the turtles. Regardless of how you feel about interaction with sea life, for the average non diver this was great stuff. The second location we stopped at was an area known for its fish life and again you could snorkel. What they didnt tell you was .that after everyone got in the water they threw fish food over the side and it was a feeding frenzy. One poor lady thought she was going to be eaten by piranhas. God could she scream !! The final stop was at a nice beach where you could swim or just chill. There was a great lunch served on the cat and man was there soooooo much food. And needless to say there was the ever present rum punch and other drinks that came as part of the price. In fact, they had several different rum bottles mounted so that you could come by on your own and just push your glass on the dispenser and have all the rum you wanted.
THE RUM DISTELLERIES
There are a number of rum distilleries on Barbados. The two most famous are the Mount Gay and the Malibu distilleries. I had toured the Malibu once before but went back again. Both are pretty interesting and again .samples are involved. The Malibu place has its own beach so you can go for the tour and stay for the beach as your admittance fee covers usage of the beach. The Mount Gay place offers a special luncheon twice a week after its tour. Both places can be seen in half a day if you just do the tours.
OISTINS FISH FRY .
Oistins is a little town that on every Friday and Saturday night have a big fish fry and music. Friday nights were the happening nights this year. Lots of locals come out and they set up huge speakers and a DJ pumps out the reggae and other music as well. You can get a huge meal and a couple of beers for under $10 US. There are vendors around as well so you can do some last minute shopping if you like. The fish are super fresh. There is a prep area you can visit if you come early and see the fish coming right off the boat, over to the cut up area, and off to the cook. Actually there are several cooks, go check out the pics you will see that there are little sheds and the food is sold out of these sheds. We always ate at Angels and it was great.
GETTING AROUND THE ISLAND ..
While I love to dive .I also love to sight see.
We rented a small car with auto trans and AC. For the entire 10 days we were there it cost just over $400 US. Not bad and we put some miles on that little thing. They do rent open cars called moots but I love my AC and the moots are a novelty so they actually cost much more.
It is British rules there .drive on the left. But, I had done a good bit of driving in the UK and Ireland so it was no biggie for me. I love the freedom of having my own wheels and getting out on to the back roads. There is a lot to see in Barbados.
There are two kinds of cabs available in Barbados. One is like a Volkswagen bus. It is white with a burgundy strip running from front to back. This is a cheap ride .less than $1 US. But dont be surprised who or what you find on these cabs. I have gotten on one and there was a guy taking some animals to market. But they are cheap if $$$ is a concern.
We met a regularcab driver Michael Gooding and this guy was great. Even though I had rented a car, I knew there was going to be some drinking at night. I dont mix drinking and driving so at night it was cab city for us. We met Michael and he would pick us up at whatever time we asked him to .and come back for us at whatever time we asked him. One night, we were having a ball at the Oistins fish fry dancing .and he showed up right on time. We asked if it would be a big deal for him to come back in a couple of hours. He said no problems and there he was when we were all danced out. So if you go to Barbados and need one dang dependable cab driver, give Michael a call at 246-235-5985.
BARBADOS MONEY
Somehow the Barbados dollar is linked to the US dollar. So, whatever price you see on an item divide by two and that will normally be the price in US dollars. You can use US dollars just about any place, but you will get your change back in Barbados dollars. Also, they never say something costs like 25 Barbados dollars ..they just say it costs $25 dollars. So it is often a good idea to have them distinguish what type currency they are talking US or Barbados dollars.
RESTUARANTS AND BARS GALORE .
Food aint cheap in Barbados. One of our favorite restaurants was called OPA. And, yep, it was a Greek restaurant.
Bajun food is good as well and there are lots of local restaurants one can visit. But the prices are usually pretty pricey there too. Be aware a lot of Bajun food is spicy so if you dont like spicy food let the waiter know up front and they will give you a tourist version.
MOJOs was a great little bar across the street from our hotel. They had food as well as booze.
PIC LINK>>>>
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rdr5k/album?.dir=/cce6&.src=ph&.tok=phJ80pDB0vCYq5GE
Clik on this and enjoy some of the pics I took. Hope the review helped.
rich
I have always found that the cat tours are one of the best bargains going on the islands I have visited. We took a 10 am until 3 pm cat tour that took us to three different locations. The first location was where there were an abundance of sea turtles and everyone snorkeled with the turtles. Regardless of how you feel about interaction with sea life, for the average non diver this was great stuff. The second location we stopped at was an area known for its fish life and again you could snorkel. What they didnt tell you was .that after everyone got in the water they threw fish food over the side and it was a feeding frenzy. One poor lady thought she was going to be eaten by piranhas. God could she scream !! The final stop was at a nice beach where you could swim or just chill. There was a great lunch served on the cat and man was there soooooo much food. And needless to say there was the ever present rum punch and other drinks that came as part of the price. In fact, they had several different rum bottles mounted so that you could come by on your own and just push your glass on the dispenser and have all the rum you wanted.
THE RUM DISTELLERIES
There are a number of rum distilleries on Barbados. The two most famous are the Mount Gay and the Malibu distilleries. I had toured the Malibu once before but went back again. Both are pretty interesting and again .samples are involved. The Malibu place has its own beach so you can go for the tour and stay for the beach as your admittance fee covers usage of the beach. The Mount Gay place offers a special luncheon twice a week after its tour. Both places can be seen in half a day if you just do the tours.
OISTINS FISH FRY .
Oistins is a little town that on every Friday and Saturday night have a big fish fry and music. Friday nights were the happening nights this year. Lots of locals come out and they set up huge speakers and a DJ pumps out the reggae and other music as well. You can get a huge meal and a couple of beers for under $10 US. There are vendors around as well so you can do some last minute shopping if you like. The fish are super fresh. There is a prep area you can visit if you come early and see the fish coming right off the boat, over to the cut up area, and off to the cook. Actually there are several cooks, go check out the pics you will see that there are little sheds and the food is sold out of these sheds. We always ate at Angels and it was great.
GETTING AROUND THE ISLAND ..
While I love to dive .I also love to sight see.
We rented a small car with auto trans and AC. For the entire 10 days we were there it cost just over $400 US. Not bad and we put some miles on that little thing. They do rent open cars called moots but I love my AC and the moots are a novelty so they actually cost much more.
It is British rules there .drive on the left. But, I had done a good bit of driving in the UK and Ireland so it was no biggie for me. I love the freedom of having my own wheels and getting out on to the back roads. There is a lot to see in Barbados.
There are two kinds of cabs available in Barbados. One is like a Volkswagen bus. It is white with a burgundy strip running from front to back. This is a cheap ride .less than $1 US. But dont be surprised who or what you find on these cabs. I have gotten on one and there was a guy taking some animals to market. But they are cheap if $$$ is a concern.
We met a regularcab driver Michael Gooding and this guy was great. Even though I had rented a car, I knew there was going to be some drinking at night. I dont mix drinking and driving so at night it was cab city for us. We met Michael and he would pick us up at whatever time we asked him to .and come back for us at whatever time we asked him. One night, we were having a ball at the Oistins fish fry dancing .and he showed up right on time. We asked if it would be a big deal for him to come back in a couple of hours. He said no problems and there he was when we were all danced out. So if you go to Barbados and need one dang dependable cab driver, give Michael a call at 246-235-5985.
BARBADOS MONEY
Somehow the Barbados dollar is linked to the US dollar. So, whatever price you see on an item divide by two and that will normally be the price in US dollars. You can use US dollars just about any place, but you will get your change back in Barbados dollars. Also, they never say something costs like 25 Barbados dollars ..they just say it costs $25 dollars. So it is often a good idea to have them distinguish what type currency they are talking US or Barbados dollars.
RESTUARANTS AND BARS GALORE .
Food aint cheap in Barbados. One of our favorite restaurants was called OPA. And, yep, it was a Greek restaurant.
Bajun food is good as well and there are lots of local restaurants one can visit. But the prices are usually pretty pricey there too. Be aware a lot of Bajun food is spicy so if you dont like spicy food let the waiter know up front and they will give you a tourist version.
MOJOs was a great little bar across the street from our hotel. They had food as well as booze.
PIC LINK>>>>
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rdr5k/album?.dir=/cce6&.src=ph&.tok=phJ80pDB0vCYq5GE
Clik on this and enjoy some of the pics I took. Hope the review helped.
rich
