Barbados and the submarine ride

 Barbados and the submarine

Last night we went to watch a magician, he was really clever, very entertaining

This morning we had an early breakfast and then we had to meet for the submarine tour.  They gave us all numbers to stick on our clothes, and then had us sit in lines in the cinema, to get us organised.  I was playing on my phone and then they called us to leave, guess who's number was missing from her shirt?  I have no idea how, I was just sitting there, but apparently the stickers don't like nylon/polyester.  So it didn't stick, Kearie was of course not surprised.  I told the little dude at the exit, and he said to stick with Kearie at all times, great.  As we are walking up the pier and I am swinging my arms, guess what I see, my sticker is stuck to my wrist... I have no idea.  I sometimes wonder at myself.  A few days ago, after one of my little mishaps,  I said to Kearie, "I think I might need a carer."  I was joking, and you know what the little brat said.  Without missing a beat, she said, "Isn't that what I am?"  Little shit. 

Once we got on the boat to take us out to the submarine, it was really awesome, we were both excited for this adventure.  It was surreal inside the sub, everything was a kind of blue.  We went to 109 ft below sea level and at this depth the sunlight cannot penetrate, so the colour blue becomes prominent and everything is a lot duller than up above.  So the coral was dull and the fish were too, except the blue ones.  I have been snorkelling when it is crystal clear, but this was murky, so not sure if it always is down here, or if it was cause by somehting else, the wind can do that at shallower depths, but don't know about down there. 

We saw a lot of fish, mostly they didn't show up in the pics

Kearie's dress shows how much the blue takes over once you are 100 ft below

The real colour of her dress

Her dress at 100 ft below

It was still awesome, we saw schools of fish, but mostly too far away to show up on camera.  We also saw a ship wreck, not sure what it was called, he did tell us, but I can't remember.  The crew were brilliant, lots of jokes and inuendo's.  Very enjoyable.  We both loved it and would recommend.

The ship wreck

After the submarine tour, we had a tour of the island.  We saw the mansion that Simon Cowell brought a few year back for millions of USD.  Then a few years after that Rhiannon brought the top floor for 32 million.  So there you go.  Rhiannon is from Barbados and we saw the little street she grew up on , very humble beginnings, but they have named that street after her now.  She donates lots of money to local hospitals and things.  So good for her.

The mansion

They have a memorial to a plane that was bombed back in the day.  Not sure why.  But people come each year to lay flowers  for those who lost their lives.  I had no memory of that tragedy.

There are lots of green monkeys on the island, they are not green, by the way,  they were brought there as pets and now they are pests.  They eat all the crops the local farmers plant.  The farmers tried spraying the crops to prevent that, but the monkeys pulled the crops out,  they didn't eat them, just pulled them up.  So now  they don't grow anything.  Everything is imported.  We did see some sugar cane. the monkeys don't eat that, but only one farmer grows it, and that is to make his rum.  It is not financially viable  to grow sugar anymore, it used to be, but not now.  Most rum is made from malasys

We saw some island sheep, they looked a lot like goats, but they are sheep.  They do not grow wool to shear really, they skin them and eat them.

I fell asleep on the bus, so I missed some of the tour.  I did wake up to see the park, it was full of mahogany trees, and one mansion ruin.  It burned down years go.  There was an amazing view from the top of the hill in the park.

The park, with the mahogany trees

The ruin

After the tour we went back to the boat and had a late lunch. we played some more trivia.  We were the only table that knew New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote.  Everyone was amazed, "How did you know that?" Americans are funny sometimes. 

We then had dinner and played some pony, I won this time, so that was a great end to the day.  Tomorrow we have a day of cruising and then we dock at San Juan again.  The next day we leave on our second cruise.  We will visit other islands, but we do go back to Dominica once again. 

We are both looking forward to that, we are also looking forward to a day of rest on our cruising day back to Puerto Rico.

Talk again soon
Lones