9 April Bridgetown, Barbados, Rick, the negotiator

Having been to Barbados before, we opted out of the included Viking tours. Rick went to the gym for a quick workout while I worked on Word 2. We met up for breakfast and then headed out on our own.

Rick had a list of things we wanted to do courtesy of our friends Bruce and Valerie Goddard. Bruce was born and raised in Barbados, so we trusted the places he suggested to be worthy of the cab fare. However, walking through the terminal and looking for a taxi was certainly not the way we remembered. The taxis were all lined up in the back of the terminal. With the list in mind Rick forged ahead and asked the first driver about costs to do what we wanted. The guy got a funny look on his face and asked for a map. He then pinpointed the three stops we mentioned showing us they were in 3 different far apart locations on the island and put a $300 USD price tag on the trip. Rick was so nice. He folded the map, thanked the guy and walked away. “Wait a minute” we heard. Stopping and turning around, we saw a young man in his late 20’s walking toward us. He said he would take us for $100 USD and a tip (he smiled). We hired him immediately. What a score. He was smart, knowledgeable and a good driver. Funny and congenial.

First stop was St. James Anglican church. Unfortunately, the church was closed due to COVID. Men were cleaning the grounds in preparation for Palm Sunday. Still enjoyed walking around, reading some of the tombstones and admiring the stained glass, what we would see through the open shutters in the church. Awesome old trees cover the grounds of the church built in 1626, the oldest church on the island.

Next stop and after much chatter and conversation with Dwight who is an identical twin 13 minutes younger than his brother, we stopped at the Hunte’s Gardens, a beautiful peaceful well-maintained acreage that used to be a part of a sugar plantation called Castle Grant. In 1990 Anthony Hunte purchased 2.5 acres of the estate, largely the gardens. Anthony himself with the assistance of helpers maintains the gardens. Officially we were at Castle Grant, St. Joseph, Barbados. Orchids in so many different varieties were lovely. The gardens were developed in levels, often stopping in a dead end, but furnished with chairs and a table for resting to just admire the variety of plants and flowers. Approximately 83 varieties of flowers and plants were listed. We were there for about 45 minutes

Finally ready for lunch we headed toward Cutters, the Goddard family-owned restaurant. We missed Michael Goddard by about 10 minutes. Last time we missed him by a day. One of these trips we will get to meet him. All of us ordered the flying fish sandwich. Rick and I got rum punch with shaved nutmeg, a drink Cutters is known for. Dwight had to settle with a juice drink.

Time to head back to the ship. We talked incessantly about a variety of topics, mostly about how COVID had hit the island and destroyed tourism which provided the main income for many many people. We also stopped and picked up three bottles of Banks and three of Deputy Beer. On our last trip a shopping area had just opened with 10 -20 vendors. That had mostly closed. Dwight stated he took all kinds of odd jobs to have an income. We said goodbye at the terminal, got Dwight’s business card and hope to pass his information on to others visiting his island.

Replete with good conversation and great food, we boarded the ship. Did very little after that except eat an excellent meal, talk to friends and called it a night. Rick had to wake me up from my sitting position to put away my Kindle and say good night. A great day.