May 25, 2011 Barbados, West Indies

We are getting ready to set sail from Barbados, West Indies. It has been a nice, relaxing day once again.

Barbados, for those of you who don’t know, is an island nation in the Caribbean. It is near the Saints, and it was under British rule until the 1960s.

Today, we went to the beach. I know this is not a surprise, since that was out main purpose for this vacation anyway. We went to Cockspur Beach Club, which is just about 10 minutes from the Port of Barbados, which is where our ship docked. We went on a sponsored tour from the cruise ship line, since we’d never been to Barbados before.

The beach was gorgeous. Powdery white sand with tiny shells. The beach has a drop off just past low tide, and it has a bit of a shell boundary just at the drop off. Not too bad of a drop, though, and definitely not too shell-filled. It was perfect. The water temperature was excellent, with just the right coolness that comes so often in the Caribbeam this time of the year.

The port of Barbados isn’t as commercialized as some of the islands, which I like. I’m not much of a shopper, so for me to go on vacation to shop is not really a true statement. I loathe shopping for the most part, since I’d rather spend my time doing just about anything else. Even cleaning beats out shopping for me! This is why I love the internet. I buy almost all my Christmas gifts online these days. With free shipping and quick turn-arounds, without me having to traipse to the store and fight the crowds, I’m good. I hate shopping for some Christmas gifts since I feel like I’m just wasting my money. I wonder if that’s how Ludie felt about it, too? I think sometimes I’m more like her than I’ve been willing to admit!

So on the beach, we had the usual beach sellers hawking their wares. I got lathered up with freah aloe vera, straight from the plant. It felt great. We ended up paying him $20 for a bottle of it – actually a rum bottle of it. It was funny. He put it on and gave me a foot massage as a birthday gift – on the house. He kept telling Sweetie that he "liked his lover" which was also funny. Anyway $20. What the hell. You live once.

The pilot boat is taking us out of the bay now. I wasn’t up this morning to see us porting in, but Sweetie said that we turned the whole ship around in the channel. It’s amazing what they can do driving these huge hulkers with modern technology. I would hit something for sure.

I think it’s odd, but a tug boat is also following alongside us. I don’t remember that happening before in other ports. Maybe I just missed it but I think I would remember that. I wonder if it’s some sort of advanced port security or something.

Also earlier I heard an overhead announcement about Sierra Team Engine Room 0 Forward. It sounded a bit ominous. I don’t recall hearing that before, either.

We are out of the port now. It only took about 10 minutes. Pretty good for a big ship. The pilot boat just left us. This was a short port. Belize took well over an hour, but they have all those reefs to maneuver around.

To all, go on the sea. It is an experience like no other.