Barbados

Now we're talking my kind of cruising. Beautiful islands, white sand beaches, hot sun but cool breeze and my favorite rum distillery. It doesn't get much better then Barbados. We walked around the town which is about the least touristy town in the island chain since Barbados actually has some economy here that is not directly tied to tourism. Then we hired a taxi driver to take us around the island. The Caribbean side is mainly developed by high end resorts although they were hit pretty hard by the recession of 2009 that has not really reversed yet. There is still a lot of construction that is sitting around incomplete so when the economy ever picks up there is lots to finish.
The Atlantic side, in contrast, is not very developed and very rugged and beautiful. The interior is mainly open and has farm land and some smaller developments but not much. They do have one of the most expensive resorts in the world though in Sandy Lane. At $3000 a night or so you can cavort with celebrities and important people from around the world. Or if you want a little privacy you can get a villa for $25000 a night for just you and your entourage. :-)
We felt a little underdressed so just ate at a local diner (Tim;s Place, Inc) and then headed for the highlight of the day, the tour of the Mount Gay distillery. Drinking rum straight at 3 in the afternoon is never a smart thing to do but when Nancy kept pouring the rest of her tasting into my glass I was thinking that a swim was needed. So after just a couple more rum punches and a final Mojito for my we walked all the way across the street to a little (only a mile of two) beach and took a great swim in the warm Caribbean. The couple mile walk home did sober us a little but Jeff was kind enough to have a couple bottles of Proscecco ready for us in less then an hour so we could watch the sunset while the newbies on board went through the lifeboat drill. Then followed a huge buffet that stretched around the entire pool and dancing to a steel drum band. By 9pm I was begging for mercy. It could have been the Pina Coloda's too but I am not sure. Needless to say we are on the final home stretch and there is not any fun that is safe for the next 7 days. :-)
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