Last night we dog paddled the 130 miles to Barbados. Woke up to a lovely industrial port with containers everywhere and those big things that move them around. It was actually kind of interesting to watch them zip around, but we had a very exciting tour to get to since today was our Segway adventure. So after a quick breakfast at the buffet, we headed through the gauntlet of port shopping opportunities to our tour. It started with a 45 minute drive through some very unsightly and then some very lovely areas of the island. Of course the required celebrity segment included pointing out there Rihanna grew up (very poor) and where she lives now when she’s in town (VERY rich, as in $3,000 - $20,000 per night rich). Who’s Rihanna, you might ask. She’s a famous singer, I‘m told. And Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Air) has a home on the beach that he bought from Claudette Colbert’s estate. And Tiger Woods got married at a famous golf club here. Big whoop.
So we got the 10 minute Segway lesson. I was a little apprehensive because one of the others on the tour told us about his first Segway tour when he was thrown off onto his back after someone else came in contact. However, here he was again, so I thought there may be a little exaggerating going on. Turns out that driving/riding these things really is pretty easy, it just takes a little practice. So we drove down the pothole filled country road to a beautiful beach for a little visit. I felt pretty comfortable on it by then at which point the guide told us they were pushing the Segways into the next gear. Hmmm. Well, if they did, I didn’t notice any change. I actually got stuck behind a man who was very timid and I couldn’t really open it up - they discourage passing and the lane was pretty narrow anyway especially dodging those potholes.. The next section included a ride through a field, complete with grazing cattle, to a beautiful cliff view of a different beach. They took our pictures there, and if I could only figure out how to post pictures here, you could see it. We look dashing in our helmets (color coordinated) and elbow pads. Then we spent a half hour or so at a local beach where we had a beer and soda at a nice open air bar. Since we had spent the whole time on the Segways in the blazing sun, this was a welcome respite. And a bargain, too, since the beer and coke were only $4.
I’d say that Barbados is a step-up again from St. Lucia in beauty and overall comfort and prosperity. However, the people don’t seem nearly as friendly. We weren’t the only ones to notice. Someone called them “stuffy” and our waitress calls them rude. A generalization, admittedly, but there is some truth to it I think.
On the way back, I bought a bottle of laundry detergent and no one looked twice at it when we brought it aboard. I told Michael we should have disguised our bottles of rum as Tide and we’d have been sitting pretty.
Tonight we do a leisurely 14 mph southwest 150 miles to St. George’s, Grenada. We’ve come about 1,600 miles from Ft. Lauderdale.
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