An Island Adventure

Hi, this is Mari, Julie, Lauren, Terry, Emily V., Danae, Michelle, Lisa, Cristina and Bonnie and we took Coach, Loreli and Jen on an Island Adventure today.  Before we start, we have a riddle for you.  You may not get it (since you're not true Bajans like us) so we'll have the answer at the end.  Here goes:  What has one church, one woman and nine men?  Good luck!

We met our awesome driver and guide, Dwayne at 11:30 and took off for our first destination, Crane Beach. After two minutes of extreme reversing, Dwayne, the man, dropped us off at Crane Beach. We walked down the walkway under an arch of greenery. It was quite the entrance. The water was blue and clear. We all took snap shots on the rock formations. Bonnie had a desert in her shoes, so on our way to our next destination she decided to empty them.

The Entrance

The Adventurous Bunch at Crane Beach

Our next destination was Bottom Bay. There were a dozen skinny, 25 foot palm trees.  Terry led the group in scaling the cliffs off the beach. The rocks were scorching hot and extremely sharp. 

Bottom Bay

Cliff Scaling

Next, we stopped at St. John's church. The church was built in 1645 and destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1676. Then, the church was destroyed by a hurricane and rebuilt again in 1836. Inside the church there was a huge pipe organ.  The last Prime Minister of Barbados is buried there in a huge crypt.

St. John Parish Church

Inside of the Church

The View from St. John Parish Church

Next, we went to Bathsheba. This is where all of the pro surfers go to catch some gnarly waves. This is where Terry took pictures with a monkey on his head and also where the famous mushroom rock is located. Some people also bought some souvenirs here. It was very rocky and wavy at this beach. You know it isn't safe when the locals aren't in the water. 

Mushroom Rock

Bathsheba

Following Bathsheba, we made our way to the Animal Flower Cave. But before we got there, our driver stopped in the middle of a steep hill to show us a cool trick. He shut the car off and we gradually started rolling backwards as expected. But shortly after, the car stopped and actually started moving forwards (uphill) again. He explained to us that in this situation gravity is fighting gravity. This is referred to as a magnetic hill.

At Animal Flower Cave, Lauren, Lisa, and Terry went down into the awesome sea caves. They started off going down a very steep flight of stairs. Right when they got down there it became very loud from the crashing waves and was very slippery. Their tour guide explained that when it rains a lot, the cave fills completely with water. They went to another area of the cave called the swimming pool where occasionally waves will come up and enter the cave. Also, every 40 minutes or so, 3 waves will come together to form one giant wave to flood this area. Luckily, these 3 were able to experience this. Once the guide started running out, they knew they were in trouble. But once they got out of the cave, they knew that was the best part of the trip.
On top of the caves, there were scenic areas to take pictures.  The waves crashing onto the rocks was so violent and powerful that the spray went up over 100 feet into the air.

North Point

Animal Flower Cave

JuJu and Lauren

Finally, we dropped Lauren and JuJu off to find the famous JuJu's Beach Bar. They have been talking about this for weeks. While it took a few minutes to find, it was extremely gorgeous and everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves. They even had tables out on the sand and occasionally the waves would crash up and soak the patrons' feet. After taking a few pictures in front of the sign, they ran back to the bus and we all headed home after a long, but life changing day.









Riddle answer:  Barbados!  There are 11 parishes - Christchurch (the church), St. Lucy (the woman) and nine more named after male saints.