Barbados

Our first stop on the cruise was Barbados. Here we learned that although getting off the ship and finding your own transportation to places is cheaper than pre-arranging it through a shore excursion, it still seems like a rip-off compared to the way fares are determined in the USA. Lesson learned here, take tons more cash than you think you may possibly need.

Several of the family members decided to just go to a beach someone had researched and heard was supposedly good and had snorkeling.

On the way our driver stopped by the oldest church in Barbados for us to have a little looksie. These are the pipes for their organ. Not quite as impressive as the MoTab's but still pretty neat.

The church had lots of neat decorative touches. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have pretty things in our church to look at when my mind is wandering or the speakers are boring. Imagine if we had these neat chimes that might just end up ringing at random times.

We ended up going to two different beaches per the recommendation of our driver, who was nice enough to come back and get us and ferry us all around. The first beach had some dead coral to snorkel around, but the waves were a bit rough so it wasn't that great. At the second beach we got to go out swimming with giant sea turtles. Andrew actually managed to grab hold of one and get a bit of a ride. Apparently though, the guides on tours there, don't like you to actually get close enough to touch them.

On the beach, there was this nice gentleman who was selling shells he had gathered in the wee hours of the morning. He was also cutting up the meat from the conch shells and sharing it with beach goers. Rich and I were the only ones brave enough to actually try it. Now, I am not much of a seafood eating person, but for some reason when it was offered I thought I could handle it. Just so you know, it is kind of a tough meat, with a salty icky seafoody flavor. I managed about two or three chews, then realized I better just swallow it before I gagged or barfed. Rich also learned how to blow the shell like a horn.

This is also the stop where I got my horrible sunburn. The backs of my legs from my swimsuit line to my ankles were very deeply red, and sore. It hurt to walk, to sit, and to move in any way. The pain lasted all week, then the itch started that lasted over another week. I think it is one of the worst sunburns I have ever had. I was sure to mention it a lot to Andrew and try to get sympathy from him, but unfortunately, he also ended up pretty badly burned and didn't feel to sorry for me.