BABADOS: I’LL BE BACK

I will come back to this place. 

For many years, 7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island has been the standard by which I measured all other beaches.  Its beautiful sand and gentle surf were ever in my mind as the perfect conditions for a day beneath a tropical sun.  The color of the water seemed even to my color blind eyes a pleasure.  And yet, today I learned that a greater perfection existed.  

Today I experienced a beach that defies my ability as a wordsmith to explain.  I will try, but fail.   I will in vain search through the vocabulary of man to describe a place that seems made by the Divine.  You think I exaggerate, but I do not.  This place… this beach… is found on a 166 square mile island paradise called Barbados.  The beach: Brownes Beach which overlooks pristine Carlisle Bay.

BROWNES BEACH - BARBADOS

The sand was like walking in sugar… soft white sugar.  Never before have I walked on a sun soaked beach on an 87 degree day where the sand was “cool” beneath my feet.  I know it sounds impossible, right?  But it was cool… it really was.  I don’t know how.  It just was.  I did hear someone say that it is because the sand is so perfectly white.  It absorbs very little heat, but rather, it reflects it back to the sky.  Whatever the reason, I do not care.  I just want to come back to this amazing place.  Again.  And again… and again.

And the colors… Please note: I’m am medically certifiable color blind… but the colors were like nothing I have ever seen before.  The white sand clearly visible beneath the crystal surf, then somehow turning a light bluish silver, and then as if painted by God himself, I saw strand after strand of ever darkening shades of blue like I have never seen before.  All of this ending in a stripe of brilliant dark blue drawn directly beneath a beautiful light blue sky dotted with perfectly white puffs of clouds.  I will come back to this place.

As I lounged under a dark green canvas umbrella, I could smell lobster being grilled at Lobster Alive, a small beachfront café that had provided us with a couple of lounges and the umbrella for the price of… are you ready for this?...  $15 dollars US!!!  This included discounts on drinks, access to the necessary rooms.  Fifteen Bucks!!!  I will come back to this place.

THE VIEW FROM UNDER MY HAT - I THINK I'LL TAKE A NAP

Now here is the scoop if you are considering going to Browns Beach.  Your taxi ride will cost you $5 per person each way.  And… they will drop you off at a place called the Boatyard. The Boatyard is a beachfront restaurant that will offer you a bunch of “stuff” for a whole lot more money.  But… if you are willing to walk just a 1 minute stroll down the street from the Boatyard you will find Lobster Alive.  There you will find someone who is eager to get you “set-up” for your day at the beach.  Simple as that. 

For your return to the ship, no worries.  As a matter of fact, as Joni and I were gathering up our stuff getting ready to return to the ship, I put my arms around Joni and gave her a kiss.  It was then that I heard someone saying, in clearly a Barbadian accent, “Hey!  Romeo and Juliet.  Do you need a taxi back to the ship?”   It took us a moment, and then we realized that he was talking to us.

“Yes.  Sure”, was our embarrassed response. 

Simple as that, and we were on our way back. 

This might be a good place to comment about taxi drivers.  Some drivers seem processed of the Devil, because they drive like the notable “bat out of Hell”; like the one we had several years ago on a ride from Miami International Airport (MIA) to the Holiday Inn across the street from the Port.  I distinctly remember looking up at the speedometer and seeing the needle at 70 mph as we entered a tight curving exit ramp that was clearly marked 25 MPH!!!!

However, there are more great ones than bad ones, and the young Barbadian driver who would take us back to the Jewel of the Seas was, as we say back home, “A hoot!”  He cheerfully got us in this van, and easily headed back to the ship, singing as he drove down the clean and beautiful streets of this vibrant tropical city.  When suddenly… he stopped.  Right in the middle of the street.  He just slowed down and stopped.

For what, you ask.  It seemed as though he had spotted a pretty young women walking down the sidewalk.  He leaned out the window and said, “Excuse me, but could you please give me directions?”

She gave him an odd look and replied, “Directions?”

To which he, with a bright smile said, “Yes, directions.  Can you tell me the quickest way to your heart?”

This guy was in a league of his own.  She smiled back at him, shook her head in flirtatious disbelief and walked away…  And we were then back on our way back to the Jewel.