PapaMarshall

Day 5 – 1/6/2022 – Barbados

The day started like so many others: spit test, exercise, room service breakfast on the veranda.

Spit test involves providing 2 cc of saliva, first thing each morning, into the provided tubes that go to the on-ship lab for PCR analysis. We just spit and leave the tubes outside our door. Thanks to Jen for the suggestion to lick our teeth to activate the saliva glands.

The morning was, however, different because we were in the midst of a run from St. Kitts all the way down to Barbados at the end of the chain. Thus, we weren’t scheduled to dock until noon. This left a virtual “half-sea day.”

So we lingered on the veranda, sipped a hot beverage (tea for Cheryl, coffee for Randy) and watched the flying fish play in the ocean swells. Sadly, they were too small and fast (Randy referred to them as humming bird fish) to capture on photos. In the fullness of time the posting for Day 7 may include some video that will show them. Until then you’ll just have to take my word for it that they were worth spending a vacation morning watching.

Dockside in Barbados. Since we only have half the capacity of passengers they have decided to take on a shipment of sugar to fill empty staterooms. Actually these sugar loading chutes are outdated thanks to the introduction of containerized shipping.

Eventually, though, we did have to get the day started, so at 10:00 we tuned in to the Port Talk for our Day 6 visit to Dominica. Then we reported to the Cruise Planning desk for our 10:30 appointment with the Cruise Planning Agent. We booked our next two cruises (after the ’22-’23 world cruise): a July ’23 “Viking Homelands” cruise (on the same ship we had just left 6 weeks earlier) (Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, Berlin, 2 stops in Denmark, 3 stops in Norway); and an April ’24 “Far East Horizons” cruise (HongKong, Taipei, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Beppu, Hiroshima, Osaka, Shimizu, Tokyo) Needless to say we’re really enjoying ‘seeing the world in comfort.’

Having made a major dent in our children’s inheritance we headed for lunch. After trying several other lunch venues we’ve settled on the cafeteria – and ‘our table’. It’s only taken a couple of days for the Assistant Waitress for our section to learn us and our drink preferences. Sawmi is from India and is very attentive to us geezerly types.

Following lunch we had a few minutes to relax before our afternoon excursion.

Barbados is proud of its English heritage.

Our excursion today was a photo tour of the island. Our guide was a noted photographer and he provided some good photo hints along with a running commentary on the history, culture and geology around us.

Avenue leading to the plantation house of an old sugar cane plantation. No, this is not Hollywood.

Of all the Caribbean islands we’re visiting, Barbados is the only one that didn’t change hands (Spanish, French, English, back again) multiple times in its history. It was first colonized by the English and stayed that way until it gained its independence.

We stopped to spend some time photographing this old ‘Chattel House’. When slavery was abolished former slaves were allowed to build houses on their former owners’ land. However, the land still belonged to the owner, so if he wanted it back, the house had to be moved. Therefor the typical Chattel House style was developed. Chattel Houses were typically set on stone foundations and were relatively easy to move. In this instance the house has been permanently set, and added on to at least twice. In the original form it would have included only the front gable section. Note the steep roof pitch and very narrow eves. These design elements were significant in minimizing damage from hurricanes. Note also the center front door and windows on either side. These are typical Chattel House features.
Our tour took us to the northeast part of the island. Barbados is different from the other Caribbean items in that it is not built by volcanos. It’s generally made of limestone – except for the northeast section which is made of clay – and tends to move. Pretty much everything in this area (houses, shops, roads) is ‘temporary’ and subject to sliding downhill a bit after a heavy rain.

We did get down to sea level. Because of it’s position in the island chain, the next land east of Barbados is Africa. They say this results in the purest air anywhere.

And the wind tends to blow from that direction as well.
There were also some great rocks. Note how the tide is undercutting this one.
I couldn’t help adding this image of a koala bear.

Following the tour it was back to the ship for a snack (they serve a great shrimp salad at a couple of the ‘drop by and eat’ places) and a lecture on volcanos and reefs of the Caribbean. Then it was time for dinner and a magic/comedy show put on by the cruise director. We spotted two of the tricks from Renner’s Christmas present. He was pretty funny and when he called for a volunteer from the audience our next door neighbor Pam volunteered. He used her well for several tricks and even referred to her after she had returned to her seat. It was a pretty good show.

Here are a couple of “things I’ve learned”

My tendency is to slide my hand along a rail such as this one as I walk down a hallway. I’ve made a conscious effort to unlearn that habit.
Stair landings are decorated with sections of the Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry depicts the victory of William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings in 1066. This section shows Duke William’s vessel as he sets sail for England.
Across from the Bayeux illustrations, at each deck level is a modern-day depiction of a section of the 19th century “Chronicle of the Kings of Norway.” This panel shows King Olav ordering the construction of Visund.

Tomorrow is Dominica. See you then. R

1 Comment

  1. I’m glad Brian’s tip about tongue on teeth is helping. It’s a good trick for us all to learn.
    I will sometimes run my elbow or forearm against a railing instead of my hand.
    It took a while for me to see the koala. I almost told you it wasn’t there! The balcony pics make me long for the sea again!! Glad you are getting plenty of balcony time!

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