Sea Turtles, Shipwrecks in Barbados

The last stop on our Caribbean adventure was Barbados. We caught a short flight direct from Saint Lucia to Barbados, which was fantastic only taking half an hour total.

Getting Around Barbados.

To explore Barbados we decided to hire a car from the airport for the 2 days were staying on the Island. Picking up the car from the airport was relatively easily, after walking out of the airport, the car hire booth is right out the front where the taxis are. They help you fill out the paperwork whilst one of the colleagues drives the car around to the front for you. They inspect over the car with you to note any damage to the car and then off you go. For the returning the vehicle back to the airport, we were advised to just leave the car keys under the floor mat on the drivers side with the door open. Found this extremely weird but it went all ok to plan and the car park seems to be secure at the airport.

What to see and do in Barbados

The first day in Barbados we drove along the west coast to Paynes Bay Beach to try find sea turtles to snorkel with. I did a bit snorkelling off the beach but wasn’t have any luck seeing anything interesting. Whilst I was in the water my husband was approached by a tour promoter selling cruises where we would get to snorkel with turtles and over a ship wreck. After much deliberation and him giving us an apparent last minute discount we got picked up off the beach by the boat and began our cruise. First stop on the cruise was a small bay north and as we approached there would of been 3 to 4 other boats there with lots of people in the water, turns out this is where the tour operators find the sea turtles and feed them to keep them around whilst we can snorkel with them and take photos. It was a very amazing experience seeing the sea turtles up close and snorkelling next to them. Our next stop was a shipwreck in Carlisle Bay, we plunged into the ocean off a slide on the end of the boat, and followed the guide over the shipwreck, was fantastic to see all the different tropical fish swimming around us, but was very tiring snorkelling against the waves.  Our final stop for the day was the animal flower cave which is one of the main tour attractions on the Island, you can pay to enter the cave but we decided to just walk along the top of the caves.

Our last day was left to explore the east coast of the Island. Stopped at a few different beaches before stumbling across this lookout called Cherry Tree Hill Reserve which gives you awesome views of the Island.

Where to try local cuisine

We found a small coastal town on our first day  called Holetown. We sampled some local cuisine of fish fritters and macaroni pie which was delicious at place called Little Bristol Beach bar which overlooks the ocean. Then our last night happened to be a Friday night which is the local fish fry night in Oistens, where the local market stalls cook up all local seafood and you eat this while enjoying some live music. Definitely recommend trying out a fish fry night whilst visiting Barbados.