March 19 - Bridgetown, Barbados

We’re in the Caribbean and only one week from the end of this journey.  Today in port there are three other ships, one Royal Caribbean, a Tui (don’t know that line), and the new Ritz-Carlton ship.  Despite the fact that there are so many ships and passengers here, I was told all the stores in the downtown were closed because it’s Sunday.  That seems a little strange to me because Barbados’ principal industry is tourism.

I won’t tell you much about its history except to say that it was a British colony for hundreds of years.  In 2021 it became a republic within the British Commonwealth.

Here’s a tidbit about my cruising history.  Al and I began our very first cruise aboard the Sun Viking here in Barbados in October, 1983. Boy, has cruising changed since then.  Ships had no balconies. There was fixed dining with assigned seating.  If you didn’t like your tablemates, it was too bad; you just had to deal with it.  

Today I decided at the last minute to take a submarine cruise.  It was okay.  The waters here are not known for great snorkeling or diving.  We took a sub tender out to the sub and boarded through two hatches.  There were two rows of seats looking out multiple portholes.  I’m guessing there were about 40 of us.  We went as deep as 140 feet and passed an old shipwreck. It wasn’t an old as in colonial era wreck, but rather a steel ship like maybe an island trader. Fish like to hang around wrecks so there were some there but they weren't especially colorful.

We continued over some coral reefs and there were more fish there, but again the colors were muted.  I’m not sure if it was because the water wasn’t especially clear or because we kicked up some sand with the motors or because the windows distorted things.  There were quite a few little neon blue fish and a few black and white striped fish called sergeant majors.  There were larger gray fish which the sub driver called trash fish which swam right up to the windows because they seemed nosy.  

 I’ll put a few photos I took from the sub, but honestly they aren’t very good.                                                                                                   

If you look really hard you can see some neon blue specks around.  Exciting, right?

 

After about 45 minutes of puttering around we surfaced back by the tender and that was it.  We were taken back to the shore and then via a van back to the cruise terminal.  There we spoke to some folks who had gone into town and who told us everything was closed so we headed back to the ship.

I spent the rest of the day doing not much of anything.  A couple I met the other day invited me to dine with them and then I went to the show which starred a singer who played Aladdin in the West End in London for several years.  After the show it was time for dancing in the club.

Not a very exciting day I know, but the party is drawing to a close very soon so I need to get used to less jam-packed days.   Bye for now.