Barbados is the eastern most island in the Caribbean. One can say it is an Atlantic island rather than a Caribbean one. It is surrounded by Atlantic ocean. Geologically it is not on a Caribbean plate but a result of sediment accumulation from subduction of the South American plate under the Caribbean plate. The island is very flat compared to most other Caribbean islands and is composed of coral, 90 meters thick.
Coral reefs encircle most of Barbados. We did a few dives around the island and the video has the highlights. Reef definitely had more life than Jamaica. And as we were there at the time of severe coral bleaching across the Caribbean, reefs in Barbados seemed to have fared better with cooler water from Atlantic helping.
We dove with Barbados Blue Water Sports dive shop located next to Hilton hotel. They run a very efficient operation, gear and boat was great. It was also nice to dive with quite a few locals/regulars and not just tourists.
Exploring the island
We stayed in Bridgetown which has many hotels and excellent restaurants. We hired a car. Car rental brought the car to the hotel, very convenient. After diving in the morning, we headed across the island to Bathsheba to have a look at the (slightly) steeper, windward and rougher eastern side of the island. There are spectacular views of the coast line and cool rock formations. There are a couple of nice restaurants where one can enjoy a meal and fantastic views.
Next day we started by heading to Welchman Hall Gully. It has a nice walk through the gully with cool geological formations and jungle forest. We did not see any monkeys but were told they were there earlier on the day. A nice relaxing walk and opportunity to experience what Barbados nature was like before construction took over the island.
Our next stop was St.Nicholas Abbey. After some meandering following google map sending us to roads that were not exactly passable, we found our way with some spectacular views along the way.
St.Nicholas great house built in 1658 and its distillery offer tours with rum tasting. It is a good way to learn more of Barbados history. The site is beautiful with a carefully restored great house.
We then headed further north to Animal Flower Cave. There is a restaurant right on the cliff edge with incredible views. One can get a better sense of Barbados geology looking at that top bit of 90 meters of old coral forming the island.
Near to the cave site is the North Point with an old lighthouse and more impressive views of the coast line.
Barbados is a beautiful little island. Not only does it have excellent beaches and warm sea, it has really vibrant restaurant scene, a lot of history restored and well presented, natural sites that are easy to visit and some very reasonable diving. Barbados is also a very good connecting point for visiting other Eastern Caribbean countries with direct flights to St.Lucia, Grenada, St.Kitts and Nevis, and other islands.