Barbados

Aargh mateys! (Sorry. By popular demand, I’m not going to tell any pirate jokes…) 

After a pleasant day at sea, today we are in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, a port city on the island’s southwest coast. Barbados is a small island country in the south-eastern Caribbean Sea. It is 170 square miles, and has 270,000 inhabitants, who refer to themselves as “Bajans”. 

It is known for its British colonial architecture, 17th-century Garrison, and most importantly, it is the home of the Mount Gay Rum Distillery. 

Touring the distillery is awesome. Mt. Gay is widely accepted as the birthplace of rum. My favorite brother-in-law (thanks Dano) turned us on to their magical elixirs years ago, and it has long been our favorite. It is believed that this distillery was the primary attraction for pirates to visit the area for hundreds of years. Some even stayed…

The most famous Barbados buccaneer, Sam Lord, made this his home. However, Legend has it that this swashbuckler didn’t require his own vessel for his antics. He hung lanterns in the coconut trees on the beach near his castle to attract ships, who mistook the lanterns for the lights of Bridgetown and wrecked their ships on the reefs, where he would then plunder them! His castle was later turned into a must-see attraction, but unfortunately it burned down in 2010.  It is now part of the the island’s premier all-inclusive resort.

On another note, a couple of our new onboard friends include two recently retired Australian sailors, Steve and “H”. H is a kick. We were out on a boat ride, and the bartender (who was making concoctions that double as embalming fluid) offered him his third (rather large!) drink. In his usual Australian accent, he eagerly responded “Alright. You want a drunken sailor. I’ll give you a drunken sailor mate!” He was wearing sunglasses indoors the next morning…

As they say in this neck of the woods, ”All de seasons a de year start with C – Congaline, Crop Over, Cricket and Christmas! Have a very Merry one!”