Mitsugirlys FASCINATION with San Juan-review & pictorial
Day 7: Barbados
DAY 4 on the ship-BARBADOS!!!!!! Woo hoo!
So this is (was) my first time here and I was super excited. Even though I had never been here before, I knew that one thing that Barbados is known for is turtles. We seen turtles for the first time in Bermuda last year and we were so excited. However, as soon as they seen you, they were "outta here". They would never let us get close. I've tried going several places before where they say you're sure to see some, but with no luck. So I knew for sure I wanted to see me some turtles!
I searched the boards and a lot of people suggested The Boatyard. I did find other places that looked appealing as well...and I only looked elsewhere because I know that the Boatyard is close to the port and figured it would be crowded because that's where most would head.
However, what sealed the deal for me was when The Boatyard emailed me back saying that it was $20 to get in and INCLUDED a free drink for everyone, 2 chairs and 1 umbrella AND MOST OF ALL....IT INCLUDED A BOAT TRIP TO SWIM WITH THE TURTLES!!! At no added cost! Yep, that did it for me! We were going to The boatyard! Others had said that you can find vendors along the beaches that would take you out to the turtles for $20pp. I'm paying $20 pp and I get everything else too.
So...from the beginning...
I set my alarm for 6:45am and we headed up to the buffet grill outside by the pool again.
Like always, there wasn't many out and about and there was no line. I just can't believe this! I feel like I'm the only one on the ship most of the time. But I thought it was so nice for Carnival to throw me this exclusive cruise.
First day eggs, second day eggs and croissant then you combine the eggs on the croissant to make a breakfast sandwich. Just mix it up a little each morning.
This is obviously the hubbys or Sakari's plate because I don't eat ham nor is my name Sam.
The windows they open up on the pool deck. They kinda scared me because it gave B access to sticking his head out at any given moment or body parts depending on his mood.
It was 8am and I knew we could get off around then. Beepppshhhhbooommmm went the intercom sound on the pool deck and everyone jumped. What the heck is that??? I took it as a sign and we all headed to our rooms to get our beach bags, have my cooler bag filled with ice for drinks, and off the ship we went at 8:10am.
Once we were off, we really wasn't sure which way to go.
The paparazzi was waiting for us to exit and they managed to get a picture out of us.
We had to ask which way to go and they pointed "that way" and off we went.
They had a neat sign and we had to stop for pictures.
There was a really nice lady (couple) that was standing behind us waiting to get their pictures done. She ask if I'd like her to take a picture of all of us. "Why yes, thank you".
We all did a funny pose and she snapped the picture. She said "Let me get a few more" and took 2 more pictures and handed me the camera back. Then she ask if I would take a picture of her and her husband. So I did and we were on our way.
We entered a building and it had a lot of stores. However, there wasn't anyone open, which I found that strange. I mean I'm sure they know what time the ship is in port. Although it didn't matter to me because we always do our shopping after we return.
Thank goodness for this is all I can say.
We made it out...now what?? I wasn't really sure.
I found the sign...
This is the taxi stand and they were all lined up and waiting
Of course several people approached us and ask where we planned on going and tried to get us to go some place else. We told them "no, we are going to The Boatyard". Several tried to talk us out of it and I walked away and on to the next.
Another guy said "I'll take you there" and we followed him.
He said follow me and we walked down past the taxis. Um....ok.
We passed up all of the taxis. Now I'm feeling a little uneasy.
I look back:
Then all of a sudden he takes off running! :eek: We were just left standing there and confused. We started to walk back and another driver approached us and ask us where we were going and he would take us. He told us to walk outside the gates with him.
The family did not look too thrilled so I ask him why we had to walk outside. He told us in order to take a private taxi and not have to wait on a taxi to fill up, we would have to go outside. If we caught the taxis inside, they would not leave until they were full. Ok, good enough for me.
Once we got in the van, the driver told us "You know they charge you to get in to The Boatyard"? "Yep, I'm well aware of that, but thanks for letting me know."
Sorry, it wasn't a very interesting ride there. It was a short ride. I think it took 10 minutes to get there.
The driver stops in the middle of the road and then does this huge U turn and pulls in.
I like this place already...
We checked in and paid our fee's of $20 pp. They put wrist bands on us and ask us about the boat trip out to the turtles. They said their first one would probably be around 9am and they would have them throughout the day. I told him we wanted to be first on the list. He added our names and said when it was time, we'd hear them call for us.
About that time we heard a noise...it was a familiar noise. It was a noise I had hoped we wouldn't hear the entire cruise. It was POURING! The sky turned dark and opened up. (Look closely at the pictures, you can see the rain drops in the blue sky part, which I thought was pretty cool).
So while it was raining on my parade, I figured I'd take a few pictures and have a look around.
I took this picture and posted it for all to see back home. Everyone was sad that we were not having good weather. However, look at the picture closely. You see the dark angry clouds, but if you look at the sand, the sun is shining on it. Yep, the sun was over us with 10 minutes and we would have the most beautiful sunny day there.
We headed out and to the left and picked a spot in the first row. I wanted to be able to see the munkin(s) from my chair if needed (well you know, with my FOMO disorder, I would only be in the chair no more than 10 minutes tops anyhow). See the hubby is leaving me already (picture below).
They put the umbrella up for us and they had the huge, thick cushions up at the building. The hubby went up and grabbed one (and by grabbed one, I meant came back dragging it because it was heavier than dragging an 8 year old mermaid kicking and screaming). Then he would do this x2 in order to put one in the chair I wouldn't be occupying during the day and all. Actually I would spend so little time there that I didn't even get a picture of it. LOL
The kids were the first to hit the water of course.
I have to admit, this place was GORGEOUS! The sand was beautiful and soft and the color of it was amazing. The water was clear and blue and just so pretty.
It was hot out and I hit the water too.
We decided to swim out to the water toys...I made it out there first. I may be 50, but I hauled my fat butt up that ladder like I was superwoman. I might have been huffing and puffing after I got up there, as I tucked away the big "S" on my chest, but hey, I wasn't about to let anyone else know that.
Kendra was struggling for some reason. She was way behind.
She comes up and yells "mom, look what I found". I had no idea what it was. I had just put my "S" away and my x-ray vision was not working now.
She made it!
Now show me what you got! She placed this in my hand:
So I'm going to share a "smaller" picture of a "bigger" Kendra now. This was what was holding her back. She's never had these before and well, this was her first experience in buoyancy. :p
You see she got new tata's when I was on my last cruise on the Breeze (which is one that she has been wanting to go on FOREVER) and at the last moment, she decided to buy some tata's. I hated that she was having surgery while I was on the ship and told her I was upset that I was not going to be around to take care of her. Like a stubborn child, she did it anyhow. No worries, she's very proud of them and I can't blame her since she looks good and has wanted them forever. You go girl!
She struggled for awhile with swimming and jumping on the trampoline...I don't think was her forte either. (See my daughters matching tat on her foot too).
Sakari made it too and up the ladder she came.
Sakari was having a blast jumping
I could not get the hang of it though. When you jump, the trampoline moves with the water and it's really weird. I felt drunk without the drank.
All of a sudden the hubby appears. Well I guess he wanted in on the fun.
A very short little video of us having fun:
I was watching the kids having fun jumping off the trampoline and the hubby disappeared. Then he reappeared over here:
It was funny to watch because he was so heavy that once he got on the side, it started to tilt and lift up. The higher he went, the more it laid on its side. It wasn't doing him any good to try to climb it because he was now laying sideways.
Sakari decided she would prove to me that she could climb the trampoline ladder and still be a mermaid too.
Kendra decided to prove a point
She made it
Now I have to apologize for a lot of my pictures from today. I honestly have no idea what was going on. Some pictures turned out good under water and others were just so darn blue. I know with my 830 camera my finger has a habit of hitting the round turn knob and switching the settings. I think maybe that's what happened. I do it all the time. The 620 camera has a different way of turning the settings and that doesn't happen. Grrr
We started to swim back and B yells "mawmaw, look" and about 2 seconds later Sakari is diving down because she seen it too.
He was not happy she was the one that came up with it.
We heard them calling our name and we headed out of the water and up to grab our things. It was time for our boat tour to the turtles.
After grabbing our things and heading up to the meeting area, they informed us that we would not be able to take our fins because they were afraid that we might hit the turtles. We could take our mask/snorkel tubes. They would provide the snorkel jackets. They gave us a briefing of the do's and donts and we headed out to the dock.
I managed to get some pictures from up high while on the dock
When the boat arrived, we would have to climb down this ladder to get to it.
Off we went...
It was about a 8-10 minute ride along the coast/beach area and we were there. There were several other boats there (maybe 3?) and we immediately spotted this guy
We all jumped in and "DUDE" they were everywhere.
We were actually swimming with turtles!! Finally!
It was so amazing.
We were withing feet and inches of them. So amazing and they are so graceful.
I don't know how Sakari was able to dive down to them with a snorkeling vest on. But she was determined.
B was the first one back on the boat. I'm not sure why. The other lady didn't get in the water.
So remember how I was complaining that I always forget to take videos of things when I'm snorkeling? Well, as some of you may know, my son-in-law (Kendra's fiance) bought me a pair of snorkeling goggles that have the camera built in to it last Christmas. I have only used them once during a cruise, and it has multiple settings that I have yet to learn. (4 different settings that are colors-red, blue, purple, green). I can't seem to remember what color means what.
Well, I had it with me twice this time: Barbados and swimming with the turtles and St Lucia while snorkeling at the beach. I just discovered them.
I "thought" I was taking pictures (which I did end up with a lot of them), but I also ended up with a lot of video as well. So, I put them together and made a video of each day. Now I want to remind you that I did NOT know that it was on video at the time. So, not the best video because you'll see me just zooming around looking, coming up out of the water, hair in the way and so on. I was unaware that it was on at the time. I have attempted to cut out a lot of the really bad "crap". So...enjoy.
Here's my swimming with the turtles video. It's a little over 2 minutes long.
It was an amazing experience. You don't stay really long. It's not an excursion and they do this as an added extra. If you want to go out for a long time, you'd have to actually book an excursion or probably pay extra for someone to do it. The guy said it would only be for about 10 minutes but we were probably out there at least a good 30 minutes and that was more than enough. I shared a bunch of pictures and that's probably on 1/4 of what I took. I mean you can only take so many pictures from so many angles.
As we headed out, I took this picture in hopes that someone could tell me the location. You can see we are not that far out.
Coming back to the dock
When we got back and gathered our things, we decided to move to the other side for the rest of the day. This would be the picture I sent back to friends and family at home.
We were ready for a drink