Barbados day 4

Today we took an Island Safari tour, recommended by Rihana, "Rasta Man", and numerous websites. It's a 5 hour Range Rover ride across the Island. The vehicle fits 11 tourists and one driver/tour guide. Not sure why we didn't get a picture of it.


We started out with a long drive north through the heart of the island toward Little Bay. We were guided past the old and impressive churches built from coral and concrete.


Little Bay was formed when the most recent portion of the island emerged from the Atlantic Ocean as the tectonic plates beneath the island converged. This convergence formed the island over three massive shifts. The land mass consists primarily of coral.


This is a great shot showing three distinct layers of the earth that formed under the ocean and then rose to create the island of Barbados.


The island is technically not in the Caribbean as it lies east of the West Indies, a chain of islands that creates the boundary of the Caribbean Sea.


The tour continued south along the eastern coast of the island. The roads were a mix of narrow blacktop and dirt.


They say this is what Scotland looks like, I don't see it.


This is the oldest Dutch made windmill still in operating condition. Unfortunately the sails were in need of repair and missing when we visited.


The east coast has dangerous undercurrents and is not safe for swimming. On the drive along the coast we drove past Cattlewash and the best surfing spot on the island, the "Soup Bowl" on Bathsheba. The tour guide claimed Kelly Slater owned a house at this beach. Along this portion of the coast there are a bunch of mushroom shaped rocks sticking out of the beach. This is the beach at Martin's Bay.


Mmm, brain coral....


This is a shot northward from south of Martin's Bay up the long coast with Little Bay fading into the ocean spray. This would be a great place to hike.


Same view a little further down the coast but on top of the second land mass shift which formed the "highlands". This is a tall cliff, I didn't get close enough to the edge to attempt to figure out how high we were.


We stopped for lunch at the Sunbury House. A former plantation house that now caters and hosts events. They served a good Bajan lunch. At this point I could really have enjoyed a beer but there was none to be found. After lunch we were dropped back at Jess's and took a nap before making some dinner. This picture explains how entertaining the stop was.