The Traveling Huntley's Caribbean Cruise -- 2013: The Traveling Huntley's Barbados 4-13-13

Saturday 4-13-13 Barbados
We entered the port of Barbados under beautiful sunny skies.

This beautiful ship arrived into the harbor shortly after we arrived.

We left the ship at 8:15 this morning to an awaiting 4x4 jeep for a scheduled tour of the island including a tour of the Harrison Caves. Our tour guide was excellent providing the 8 of us an entertaining narration of the life on the island. Our tour included traveling through many residential areas and the differences between homes became quite obvious.

Notice the rock foundation under the house.

Another home with a rock foundation.

As Shirley knows I enjoy driving on back country roads and getting away from the heavy populated areas. Driving over the mountains on the way to the other side of the island we were in a heavy rain forested area with monkeys swinging from the trees, very large spiked leaf vegetation along the dirt road, and trees filled with termite hives. At this point, after being jolted about as the jeep slowly continued on the rutted dirt road, she turns and asks me is this “back country” enough? It was beautiful country, but not someplace I would want to be by myself.

The dark hives are termite hives.

The large "spikes" on the top of the leafs are very sharp.

Sugar cane use to be the major export for the island however in recent years sugar beets has had a major impact on the sugar industry such that sugar cane is no longer the major export.

The rock wall on the left was created to provide some humor for the local residences.

The results of a recent earthquake are quite evident on this church wall as well as the home below.

This home was under construction when the earthquake occurred resulting in cancellation of the financing for the new house. The tour guide indicated that the home would remain as is for many years.

The Harrison Caves. There are actually many caves on the island due to the volcanic structure of the soil. Harrison’s Cave is a massive stream cave system at least 2.3 kilometers long. The interior temperature is an average 27 degrees Celsius and Its largest cavern, the Great Hall measures 15 meters/ 50 feet high. It is an active cave as it carries water. The stalagmites in the cave are growing by less than the thickness of a piece of paper each year — but that’s very fast in geological terms!