Barbados & A Taste of Banks Beer

Aaahhh... Barbados. Day-Oh. Daaaayyyy-Oh. Daylight Come and Me Wanna Go Home....

Barbados is a land of Spanish conquests, slavery, English rule, gorgeous beaches, and warm friendly citizens. We were so excited to arrive here in this tranquil and utterly tropical island that measures roughly 20 by 15 square miles. Docking near Bridgetown, we are in the midst of barges and freighters. Where is the beach?? It's a few miles up the way and gorgeous.

We are delighted to take a ship's excursion to Harrison's Caves. If you know me, you may be surprised (or not) but I LOVE caves.

This is one of those amazingly limestone caverns surprisingly found on Thomas Harrison's property in the late 1700's. It was not properly explored until the 1970's by an enterprising trio of adventurers from Denmark and Barbados. Driving through the cave in a tram built specifically for this cave with an exceptional guide was awe-inspiring. We were "blessed" many times by the dripping water throughout the cave and enjoyed it's warmer temps. Unlike other caves with very cold temperatures, this cave maintains a more humid and higher temperature throughout the year. Can you even imagine being on an island and dipping below the surface into a cavern of this proportion? It does seem illogical, doesn't it?

Stalactites and Stalagmites in Harrison's Cave

One of the areas of run-off in Harrison's Cave.

The buildings at Harrison's Cave - Yep... the cavern is under these buildings!

Lush and tropical at Harrison's Property above the cave.

We headed back to the ship for some lunch but stopped in at a local eatery instead. Boy do these people know how to cook and eat! The food was exceptionally prepared in this teeny-tiny kitchen by a sweet woman

 in her headscarf and apron. Yummy, right?



 We had a few bottles of the local beer, Banks and they all went down quite smoothly!

After polishing off a few beers, we headed back towards the ship and stopped into the dock-side shopping area. Wouldn't you know we found a few items we couldn't live without?? First up and (Zach would be proud) highly enjoyable was the bottle of Mt. Gay Rum we played 4-square with. What does that mean? Well, there were 4 of us and we polished off the bottle right quickly. Amazing how good a $4 bottle of rum tastes...

Once onboard we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Celebrity Summit did not disappoint in their presentation of delicious food and talented entertainers. We especially enjoyed the guitar player onboard who played in the style of Carlos Santana every night. Great melodies and his voice was really nice. The Cellar-Masters wine bar was a hit for us as well. We were able to serve ourselves 24 hours a day from their inventive wine refrigeration system. Dinner this first night with our waiters from Costa Rica and the Phillipines included (for hubby) Prime Rib, baked potato, and veggies or (for me) a delicious Lamb Shank with sweet potatoes and extras.

Here's wishing you were traveling with us!!
Deb :)