Blue Horizon Hotel
Days 1 & 2: I decided to use my United miles to fly to and from Barbados and use the money that I saved in airfare to spend some extra days in Barbados before embarking on my easyCruise of the Caribbean. United booked me on the Air Canada red–eye from Los Angeles to Toronto, Canada, and then a couple–of–hours–later flight direct to Barbados––a bit of a roundabout way of getting to the Caribbean (Barbados is in the southern Caribbean, close to Venezuela). I asked for a window seat so I could see Barbados as we were landing, but ended up in seat 16A, which actually didn’t have a window. But on a flight to Barbados, sit on the left side of the plane for views. I had arranged to be picked up from the airport and was transported via sugarcane–field scenery to my hotel: the Blue Horizon. I booked this 3–star hotel through Travelocity. Photo: the Blue Horizon.
Blue Horizon Hotel
Blue Horizon Hotel
The hotel room e–rate that I had booked put me on the fourth floor of the building in this photo (my hotel room was the one on the top floor, all of the way on the left)––no elevator, 63 steps up to my room, but I felt good that the management thought that I could make it up all those steps. The room itself was roomy and colorful, but the bathroom could have used some updating. I also had CNN, so I was pretty happy with it.
Blue Horizon Hotel
View from My Balcony
I had a good view from my balcony of Rockley Beach across from my hotel. When you book a hotel in Barbados, you are given the address of the area––this was Rockley, and then of the parish––this was Christ Church. There are 11 parishes in Barbados.
View from My Balcony
Blue Horizon Hotel
The lounge at the Blue Horizon was in bright Bajan colors and well air–conditioned, as was my room. The temperature in Barbados ranges from 75 to 85 degrees F––hot and humid but also very pleasant as tradewinds are usually blowing.
Blue Horizon Hotel
Blue Horizon Hotel
I arrived late in the afternoon and the first thing that I needed to do was call home. I had brought a Office Max phone card which was serviced by IDT, but it failed to work. Better to bring an MCI or an ATT card. I tried to e–mail home but the hotel computer was set up in a way that kept telling me that I was using forbidden words when I put my password in, so I had to call home using the hotel line. I had already booked my tour for tomorrow and I asked the manager of the hotel to book some other tours for me. He asked me why I was taking so many tours and I told him about my website and that I needed to take many photos of Barbados for it. He wanted to be on my website and here he is.
Blue Horizon Hotel
Blue Horizon Hotel
And another photo. I thought that I had written his name down, so I hope that he does look at this website and sends me his name so I can add it. I was soon finding out that Bajans are a very nice, educated, and good–looking people. I had time for a needed nap before dinner, which I had at my hotel: red snapper, squash, carrots, brown rice, and coffee––$32 Bajan dollars (the exchange rate is $2 Bajan per $1 U.S.). I was assured by my hotel that it was safe for me to walk around at night and I went off to explore the stores near the hotel before calling it a very long day. (FYI: Bajan time is four hours ahead of LA time, one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and four hours behind UK time.)
Blue Horizon Hotel
Rockley Beach
Day 3: I got up early this morning and had the free breakfast at my hotel: sweet, delicious, fresh–squeezed orange juice; a piece of some kind of fruit loaf; toast, and coffee. I had a little time before my tour was to pick me up from my hotel, so I walked across the street to Rockley Beach. We were on the south side of Barbados and I was told that here the water is part Caribbean and part Atlantic Ocean. The water was a beautiful blue with a slight surf and the sand was white. Quite nice. There weren’t many people now on the beach, although earlier, about 7 a.m., I saw a number of people walking along the water.
Rockley Beach
Rockley Beach
These young children are catching small crabs that try to hide in the rocks.
Rockley Beach
Rockley Beach
Beach sweeper and sunbather.
Rockley Beach
Atlantis Submarine
A small tour bus came to pick me up to take me to today’s adventure. I was to go on a real submarine! We were driven to a staging area to catch our boat that would take us to the submarine, which, really to my surprise, we were to transfer to about a mile off shore. I had been picturing a submarine on some kind of track close to shore.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We were told to search the sea for a light blue area. This was where the submarine would be surfacing. You can see the light blue area in the photo and a bit of the submarine.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
The submarine is surfacing. By now I was trying to figure out what I had gotten myself into.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
Thar she is––the Atlantis!
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We then had a bit of a holdup as the submarine tender (or was it our rescue boat if anything happened on the submarine) needed to be towed to a buoy. It had lost power.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
The buoy that we towed the tender to. We didn’t see many sea birds anywhere in the Caribbean, but these are birds I have not seen anywhere before.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We transferred easily from our boat to the submarine. There was already a group on the submarine and they got off after we got on. The submarine seats 48. We only had a group of 11, which allowed us easily to move from one side of the submarine to the other. Two of the eleven were from Germany and three were from Latvia. Inside the submarine.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
Our first sight through the portholes was of the bottom of the ship that had brought us to the submarine.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
Our second sight was of a “shipwreck.” Actually, it was an old ship that was purposely sunk for scuba divers.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
More of the “shipwreck.”
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We sailed (if that is the word you use when traveling by submarine) over three coral reefs and went down to a maximum of 145 feet. It didn’t take long until you felt comfortable being on the bottom of the sea––it was like being in a huge aquarium. View of the ocean floor.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
A school of fish that swam by. We saw many small, tropical fish but most were swimming between the rocks and my camera did not catch them.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
A school of blue fish.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
A lone fish.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
You can see a striped fish at the very bottom, middle of the photo.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
More of the ocean floor.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
An interesting ocean effect: the ocean changes the colors of items. My Caribbean–type handbag (bought at Target) turned from red to purple.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We got back on the boat that would take us to shore and watched the Atlantis start submerging.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
We got back on the boat that would take us to shore and watched the Atlantis start submerging.
Atlantis Submarine
Atlantis Submarine
Almost entirely submerged.
Atlantis Submarine
Jolly Roger
On the way back to shore, the Jolly Roger, one of the many boat trips that you can go on in Barbados, passed by. We were offered various drinks aboard our boat––soft drinks, juice, or rum punch. I chose the rum punch––this punch really packs a wallop and I was glad that I was able to stagger off the boat without falling. The recipe (in case you want to try one of these at home): one part lime juice, two parts brown sugar, three parts rum (preferably Mount Gay Bajan rum), and four parts water.
Jolly Roger
Bajan Music
I was back at the hotel by lunchtime and had a BLT and diet Coke at the hotel’s restaurant: $20 Bajan ($10 U.S.), then put on my bathing suit and walked across the street to swim at Rockley Beach. The water was quite warm and soothing. Actually, this is the only day that I swam my whole time in the Caribbean––I would rather be up and about taking photos. Tonight there was the manager’s rum party at the hotel. I had my second rum punch of the day––you can easily stay completely soused in Barbados if you so wish. A one–man steel band played for us––I put a movie clip of this on this site: Go to Movies, Caribbean, “Bajan Music.” Two women traveling together (BJ and Jean) who were staying at my hotel asked me and another woman from the UK (Judy), also traveling alone, if we would like to join them. We did and we all went out to dinner together, which also included a bottle of wine. I greatly enjoyed the evening.
