Whoa were going to Barbados
Getting on the transatlantic Virgin flight the song started resonating around and became one of those annoying earworms, not having gum to help rid me of the problem (according to a study published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology, a recent series of experiments revealed that when people chewed gum right after a tune began in their mind, they were less likely to be plagued by the pesky piece of music), I resorted to a free gin and tonic.
A reasonably pleasant 9 hour flight had us landing in Barbados at 6:30 pm and in a nearby bar playing pool with the locals soon afterwards. A few Banks’s and maybe a couple of rums set us up for a week of diving and soiclaising.
In the morning the six of us walked the five yards to Rogers Scuba Shack, from our accommodation, to the dive shack, sign up and start t set up our kit. All dives would be from their dive boat and using 11 litre aluminium cylinders. One thing we had to do was reset our minds to Barbados time 8:30 means sometime within the next hour or so. Whilst timings are relaxed the dive centre is a well oiled machine and functions very efficiently.
- Set up kit in the morning and then transfer it to the boat.
- We get on the boat and go for two dives.
- Getting on and off is by a deep ladder but is ably assisted by the crew.
- Water and biscuits are provided on board.
- We jump off the boat at the end and take our kit back to the centre (50 yards up the beach).
- We clean and wash the kit in specially provided troughs, hang it up to dry and go for a beer and a fish wrap at the centre cafe.
- The kit is put away at night by the team and locked up.
After the first day the morning routine changed slightly to include a walk down the beach, a quick swim, breakfast and then over to the dive centre.
We decided to visit one of the traditional morning traditions in Carlisle Bay, a visit from the racehorses for a swim. We also extended our walk on the last day to Bridgetown and had breakfast on a veranda overlooking the old main street.
Diving was wonderful and relaxed. They all started with a giant stride into the blue and then a descent to a reef or wreck. We saw plenty of life including Turtles, nudibranchs, barracudas, moray eels, snakes, puffer fish, nurse sharks, the list goes on. The visibility was between 15 and 20 meters with depths ranging from 5 to 35 meters. Most dives were between 45 – 60 minutes in length and the water was a pleasant 27degrees.
On all dives we were accompanied by a group of local divers who spent dives capturing the Lion fish that are proving to be such a problem in the Caribbean. On Thursday night the café at Rogers holds a popular evening event call Lion fish Lime. The Lion fish captured during the week are cooked up into tasty meals.
The evenings were spent visiting some of the local restaurants and sampling Bajan cuisine, the highlight was probably Shakers in Hastings, which is a venue for locals as much a tourists and is well worth a visit.
List of dives completed. (The link to the dive sites is from Sandals resort) Scuba diving Barbados: Best spots & what to expect | SANDALS
Sunday
- Close Encounters (reef)
- Carlisle Bay Wrecks (wrecks)
Monday
- Horseshoe (reef)
- Dottins (reef)
Tuesday
- Pieces of Eight (reef)
- Carlisle Bay (wrecks)
Wednesday
- Maycox (reef)
- Palmira (wrecks)
- Carlisle Bay (wrecks)
Thursday
- Stavronika (wreck)
- Astra (wrecks)
Friday
- Castle (reef)
- Trident and Carlisle Bay (wrecks)
