Today we have arrived in the beautiful town of Bridgetown, Barbados. The sun rises at 5:48 a.m. and Captain John is docking around 6:30 a.m. All ashore is 7:00 a.m.
Barbados is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. The Port of Bridgetown is the country's capital and largest city. This limestone island ringed by coral reefs is a tropical gem and is 166 square miles.
It is believed that Barbados' first inhabitants were the Amerindians, who reached the island around 1623 BC from the part of South America known today as Venezuela. In 1537, the Spanish and Portuguese happened upon the island, christening it "Los Barbados" supposedly after the hanging roots of the Bearded Fig Tree.
By the time the British arrived in 1627, the original inhabitants had been virtually wiped out. Barbados was a boon for agriculture with its mild climate, rich soil and favorable geography. English rule lasted some 339 years; Barbados gained its independence in 1966.
We are welcomed by the local steel drum band. Love the sound of Caribbean music!
We are scheduled to go on the Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive Tour at 9:15 a.m. We meet in Fathom's. I suggest that you get to Fathom's and head to the side door (by the bar) after check-in so you can be first to get off the ship with the group because there are alot of guests going on this excursion. It helped being on the first bus when we got to Harrison's Cave.
We are the first Disney bus to arrive at Harrison's Cave. You have to take elevators down from the main parking lot and then they shuttle you in in groups, and they can only fit so many in each group.
The caves are naturally formed by water erosion through the limestone rock. The calcium-rich water that runs through the caves have formed the unusual stalactites and stalagmite formations. You travel through the caves by tram (thinking of the Disney parking lot trams but no doors and no roof). At certain points during the tour visitors we were allowed to get off the tram and get close up to the formations. One main area of the caves is a huge cavern, termed "The Great Hall", measuring over 100 feet in height. After the Great Hall the tram stops at "The Village". At The Village some of the formations have joined together to form columns after thousands of years. It is situated at 700 feet above sea level.
These are the elevators we ride from the top of the parking lot to get down to the caves.
Olaf really enjoyed the caves because it was nice and cool inside!
After we finished at the caves we went back up the elevators to the gift shop at the top and then it was time to board our bus for the rest of our scenic tour back into the city. This was a 3 hour tour today. Went down some narrow winding roads on our way back to Bridgetown.
Catholic Church
Sugar cane fields. They do not burn the sugar cane here, they cut it down. There are no poisonous snakes in Barbados.
The Steel Drum band has moved closer to the ship in the shade. They stayed out playing all day long!
The Disney Magic welcomes us home through the palm trees!
I really enjoyed the tour. We weren't gone all day long but were able to enjoy some time on the island. We headed to lunch and then I headed back out to port to do a little shopping and spend some time on my computer blogging. There is free internet at the cruise terminal! Many guests and crew members are taking advantage of free internet. I sit outside a local bar and listen to the Caribbean music for the afternoon until it is time to get back on the ship.
Sailaway is at 5:00 p.m. Ended up being another gorgeous day. The weather was just perfect.
Tonight in the Walt Disney Theater there is some special entertainment that DCL has brought on board called "The UmBides". They are a modern day gaucho act from Argentina. The Navigator shows a picture of 4 people in the group. But there are only 3 that perform. They are very talented and put on about a 35 minute show. The Spanish guests enjoyed them tremendously. The UmBides spoke alot in Spanish. I enjoyed it for awhile, but probably would not go see them again.
After that it was time for Bingo. Not much luck in the Bingo game today.
Dinner follows. Tonight we are surprised with plates of calamari as an appetizer for the table.
Tonight we are in Carioca's. But to our group it is Parrot Cay (the original name of the restaurant). Scott has brought us all coloring projects for evening and they are entitled "It will always be Parrot Cay to Me!" We spend time coloring our pages. Our servers Willie and Wanderson love our pictures so much they go and get scotch tape and hang them in Parrot Cay. We also had parrots on the table.
We are also celebrating Pete's birthday tonight.
After dinner it is off to Fathom's for the Adult Variety Act of Dale K. He does a comedy and hypnosis show. He has one guy on stage who thinks he is a cow and "Moo's" everytime Dale says a key word. Fathom's is packed.
After Dale finishes his show it is time for Rocking Rowdy! Our Club Host, Miguel, introduces the Boot Scootin' dancers from the Walt Disney Theater to start the party. They do a bootstomping performance! Lots of line dancing follows and then it is time to head in for the night since we have another day tomorrow planned with lots of activities.
Already going on 1 a.m. on the ship. The seas are calm and we are headed to our next port of St. Kitt's.
Another great day! Goodnight from the Disney Magic!
Barbados is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. The Port of Bridgetown is the country's capital and largest city. This limestone island ringed by coral reefs is a tropical gem and is 166 square miles.
It is believed that Barbados' first inhabitants were the Amerindians, who reached the island around 1623 BC from the part of South America known today as Venezuela. In 1537, the Spanish and Portuguese happened upon the island, christening it "Los Barbados" supposedly after the hanging roots of the Bearded Fig Tree.
By the time the British arrived in 1627, the original inhabitants had been virtually wiped out. Barbados was a boon for agriculture with its mild climate, rich soil and favorable geography. English rule lasted some 339 years; Barbados gained its independence in 1966.
We are welcomed by the local steel drum band. Love the sound of Caribbean music!
We are scheduled to go on the Harrison's Cave and Scenic Drive Tour at 9:15 a.m. We meet in Fathom's. I suggest that you get to Fathom's and head to the side door (by the bar) after check-in so you can be first to get off the ship with the group because there are alot of guests going on this excursion. It helped being on the first bus when we got to Harrison's Cave.
We are the first Disney bus to arrive at Harrison's Cave. You have to take elevators down from the main parking lot and then they shuttle you in in groups, and they can only fit so many in each group.
The caves are naturally formed by water erosion through the limestone rock. The calcium-rich water that runs through the caves have formed the unusual stalactites and stalagmite formations. You travel through the caves by tram (thinking of the Disney parking lot trams but no doors and no roof). At certain points during the tour visitors we were allowed to get off the tram and get close up to the formations. One main area of the caves is a huge cavern, termed "The Great Hall", measuring over 100 feet in height. After the Great Hall the tram stops at "The Village". At The Village some of the formations have joined together to form columns after thousands of years. It is situated at 700 feet above sea level.
Olaf really enjoyed the caves because it was nice and cool inside!
After we finished at the caves we went back up the elevators to the gift shop at the top and then it was time to board our bus for the rest of our scenic tour back into the city. This was a 3 hour tour today. Went down some narrow winding roads on our way back to Bridgetown.
Sugar cane fields. They do not burn the sugar cane here, they cut it down. There are no poisonous snakes in Barbados.
The Steel Drum band has moved closer to the ship in the shade. They stayed out playing all day long!
The Disney Magic welcomes us home through the palm trees!
I really enjoyed the tour. We weren't gone all day long but were able to enjoy some time on the island. We headed to lunch and then I headed back out to port to do a little shopping and spend some time on my computer blogging. There is free internet at the cruise terminal! Many guests and crew members are taking advantage of free internet. I sit outside a local bar and listen to the Caribbean music for the afternoon until it is time to get back on the ship.
Sailaway is at 5:00 p.m. Ended up being another gorgeous day. The weather was just perfect.
Tonight in the Walt Disney Theater there is some special entertainment that DCL has brought on board called "The UmBides". They are a modern day gaucho act from Argentina. The Navigator shows a picture of 4 people in the group. But there are only 3 that perform. They are very talented and put on about a 35 minute show. The Spanish guests enjoyed them tremendously. The UmBides spoke alot in Spanish. I enjoyed it for awhile, but probably would not go see them again.
After that it was time for Bingo. Not much luck in the Bingo game today.
Dinner follows. Tonight we are surprised with plates of calamari as an appetizer for the table.
Tonight we are in Carioca's. But to our group it is Parrot Cay (the original name of the restaurant). Scott has brought us all coloring projects for evening and they are entitled "It will always be Parrot Cay to Me!" We spend time coloring our pages. Our servers Willie and Wanderson love our pictures so much they go and get scotch tape and hang them in Parrot Cay. We also had parrots on the table.
We are also celebrating Pete's birthday tonight.
After dinner it is off to Fathom's for the Adult Variety Act of Dale K. He does a comedy and hypnosis show. He has one guy on stage who thinks he is a cow and "Moo's" everytime Dale says a key word. Fathom's is packed.
After Dale finishes his show it is time for Rocking Rowdy! Our Club Host, Miguel, introduces the Boot Scootin' dancers from the Walt Disney Theater to start the party. They do a bootstomping performance! Lots of line dancing follows and then it is time to head in for the night since we have another day tomorrow planned with lots of activities.
Already going on 1 a.m. on the ship. The seas are calm and we are headed to our next port of St. Kitt's.
Another great day! Goodnight from the Disney Magic!
No comments:
Post a Comment