We disembarked from the ship around 9 AM and made our way through the duty-free shopping area in the cruise terminal. Outside the cruise terminal there were a large number of cabs and vans waiting on passengers.
We decided on a beach day in Barbados and after researching online about various beaches in Barbados, I had settled on Carlisle Bay. This beach is very close to the Cruise terminal and there are two options to get there.
* 5$/person one-way by cab
* 2$/person one-way by bus/van to town and then walk to the beach (about 10 minutes walk)
Since there were 4 of us, we opted for the bus to town. The bus actually is an air-conditioned van which dropped us in the town center (Bridgetown). The driver was also very helpfui in giving us the walking directions to the beach.
Among the most popular spots to spend a day in Carlisle Bay is the Boatyard and right next to it, Lobster Alive. I had read great things about both the places but chose Lobster Alive as the Tripadvisor reviews said that the Boatyard was quite a bit pricier.
We got two chairs and an umbrella on the beach and two chairs below some trees nearby. The total cost was $25 which also included 5 coupons of 50% off drinks (you could combine 2 coupons to get a drink free). Me and Karen got 2 rum punchs with the coupons. We were not big fans of the drink (too strong !!).
The water was very clear and fairly warm. The waves were minimal and we had a great time spending hours in the water.
There are vendors walking on the beach offering “swimming with turtles” excursions. Karen bought a 30 minute excursion for 20$.
While she went off for the turtle excursion, I spent my time on the beach and finishing up my drink. 🙂
Karen: The tour guides put me on a boat with another family of four. They took us very close to shore actually. There were lots of boats around and the captain started throwing food in the water to attract fish and turtles. After waiting for a while we found this turtle swimming along us. I had a great time swimming along the turtle, and even got to touch it !!
After swimming with the turtles for about 15 minutes we got back on the boat and the captain took us further out near an underwater shipwreck. There are 2 shipwrecks, one in 50 ft deep water and the other deeper. The water was a bit choppy and so I chose to only see the first one.
After Karen returned from the excursion, we spent some more time on the beach and finally called it a day.
We got a cab back to the cruise terminal ($3 per person one way after bargaining). After doing some souvenir shopping, we were back on the ship by 3 PM.