The Dude had an enjoyable time in Barbados this weekend. He started with a ride along the beaches of Barbados' South Coast, enjoying his great view from inside the windscreen of Shino, my Ninjette. About a mile from his current lodgings, the South Coast enjoys calm water, powdery sand beaches, and is known as the most active, approachable tourist area in Barbados. (More open and fun than the snooty, upscale West Coast spots. The East and North are largely undeveloped, with wild surf and rocky beaches.)
While at the beach, he climbed a palm tree to get some coconuts, looking for some good green ones for coconut water, an outstanding (and free) way to refresh in the hot weather. In fact, The Dude learned that one cup-full of coconut water contains more electrolytes than most sports drinks and more potassium than a banana.
After a nice drink, The Dude hung out on the rocks enjoying the waves. He saw quite a few "duppies", the local name for crabs. Oddly, duppy is a West African word for a malevolent ghost and has a really negative meaning - so crabs are bad luck. If you zoom on the pic, you may be able to see a baby one behind him.
From there, we rode through the inland sugar cane fields, most of which are no longer being harvested (due to competition mostly from Brazil) and have gone wild with flowers.
Sadly, the Dude was attacked by a Giant African Snail on the way to our next stop.
This may have been due to the bad luck caused by hanging with duppy crabs. The snails can grow to 8 to 10 inches and about 3 to 4 inches wide, and are besieging Barbados after having been inadvertantly introduced and lacking local predators. Thankfully, this one was small, and The Dude fended it off. However, they are very dangerous to motocyclists with their huge numbers, hard shells and slippery bodies. Don't cross the roads, you stupid snails!
Next, The Dude went spelunking in Harrison's Cave, named for the 18th century landowner who discovered it, but it was mostly unexplored until recently. The Dude's favorite spot was "the Great Hall" which is about 165 feet tall, carved out of limestone from hundreds of thousands of years of CO2 rich water dripping through the cave, making it a "Karst" cave.
When we dried off, we went to the Barbados House of Parliament, which first met in 1639, making Barbados one of the oldest operating parliaments in the world. Barbados, an independent country since 1966, still uses the British system of parliamentary government.
Not too far from Parliament is world-famous Cricket Stadium "Kensington Oval", where The Dude paused for a photo of Cricket Legend Garfield Sobers. Cricket is so popular here that Kensington is just called "The Mecca" by locals. It is best known for hosting the Cricket World Cup Final in 2007, where Adam Gilchrist won it for Australia with a cool 149 runs. The Dude really likes Cricket, because he finds it relaxing.
Finally, The Dude went fishing aboard the Voodoo, where we hoped to catch some flying fish, the national fish and food of Barbados. Bajans (what Barbadians call themselves) will eat flying fish anytime, anywhere, but particularly enjoy "cutters", which are fried flying fish sandwiches. We had no luck fishing this time, but mostly because we didn't try very hard, preferring to enjoy the views.
We have more adventures planned next week.