Barbados Travel: An Adventure Underground
A popular Caribbean destination for good reason, use these Barbados travel tips to help you plan your stay. Barbados was another short cruise stop for us, but we filled it with an adventure underground. This island gave us the opportunity for a new experience that had some challenges and a lot of laughs.
About Barbados
Far down in the south eastern section of the Caribbean you will find the island of Barbados. It is actually the eastern most Caribbean island, located directly east of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Barbados became an independent country in 1966 although it retains some traditions from its years of British rule. The majority of its residents are of African descent. English is the official language and you may also hear an English dialect called Bajan.
Like many Caribbean islands, tourism is a main industry. Their economy is also driven by foreign direct investment, agriculture (mainly sugarcane), and rum distilling. Cricket is their main sport, while football, basketball, volleyball, rugby, and athletics are also popular.
What to Do
We spent our time in Barbados visiting probably its most well-known landmark, Harrison’s Cave. The cave, located in the middle of the island, was formed by water eroding through limestone rock. Harrison’s Cave has been open to tourists since 1981. It is an active cave, meaning the stalagmites and stalactites are growing and changing. Most tours involve a tram ride through the cave, but we chose the walking tour. We put on helmets with headlamps and kneepads, and were led through the caves by two entertaining and knowledgeable guides.
A good portion of the 2.3 kilometre (1.4 mile) long cave system is spacious, and we walked by streams and amazing limestone formations. Then we explored some of the smaller areas. At one point we swam through a pond, climbed up a rustic ladder on the other side, and crawled on our hands and knees through a tighter opening in the cave.
Towards the end of the tour we were given the option to experience caving the way the first explorers would have. Our tour included headlamps and other lights that have been placed inside the cave. The first people who explored the cave didn’t have that, and sometimes found themselves in complete darkness. We came to a culvert pipe and if we chose to, we could turn our headlamps off and crawl through the pipe in complete darkness. I hadn’t been sure if I wanted to try that, but somehow I found myself going into the pipe and didn’t make it through without too much panic.
Next Time in Barbados
Our caving adventure was a full day tour, so our only other views of Barbados were what we saw from a van window. And while I loved our adventure underground, I would like to have seen more of what the country has to offer in our Barbados travel experience. The St. Nicholas Abbey and steam railway sounds like they would be an excellent glimpse into history. Out in the water, I think a snorkeling trip to see shipwrecks and turtles and other sea creatures would be fun. I do like drinking rum, and I know I enjoy Mount Gay rum from Barbados, so of course I would like to have a tour and tasting at their distillery.
