Experience Barbados
with Catherine Leech
Sunshine and scenery are important of course but most people’s holiday memories are based on experiences and Barbados has more than most…
One of the latest attractions is the Concorde Experience located in the south right next to the airport…
Guide: People obviously are quite fascinated by such an amazing aircraft. To get to Barbados fast, in four hours and 10 minutes. You are leaving London at 9am and arriving here at ten minutes to nine the same morning. It boosted our economy, we have some of the wealthiest people coming here, it made our dollar strong. And those who came to Barbados on Concorde still come today on their own private jets
The Concorde Experience is really well done some fascinating memorabilia, multimedia presentations and of course the chance to have a really good look around the aircraft itself – you can even have a go at flying it!
Back out in the real world and the sunshine, another unmissable experience is a catamaran cruise along the famous West Coast. It’s a great way to see more of the coastline but the highlight is to get into the warm water and swim with the turtles
Lovely, crystal clear water. Moray eel, beautiful fish and I got to swim with a turtle. Fantastic.
I opted for the sunset cruise but as crew member David told me, you can also do it as a full day trip
We offer a 5 hour cruise in the day which goes from 10 in the morning til 3 in the afternoon. Included in that you have 2 snorkel stops, one beach stop and we also serve you lunch as well.
Lovely nice day out
Yes it is, if I may say so myself
It’s a party boat but not in a wild crazy sort of way.
That’s the idea, its quite different to the Jolly Roger cruise, we offer a cruise where you can come along for a couple of hours, relax, chill out, enjoy the nice atmosphere.
With the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other this is the perfect place to have a go at all sorts of watersports. The south coast in particular is renowned for great wind surfing and kite surfing - local personality and professional surfer, Brian Talma explains:
If you are a beginner, there’s a long stretch of beach so you can learn to kite surf. Windsurfing, paddle surfing, we do all the action sports
Alongside watersports, there’s plenty of other action for sports fans too. There’s polo and horseracing and, of course cricket is huge here – on virtually every green or beach you’ll find locals trying to emulate their West Indies cricketing heroes. And if you like golf, Barbados has some wonderful courses – the Royal Westmoreland for instance is much favoured by sporting celebrities
But its not all about pace and action – sometimes its nice just to kick back and relax
Barbados has never had a reputation as one of the world’s great Spa destinations, but its really catching up. Most of the hotel’s have got their own spas now and this is the latest at Coral Reef Club – its beautiful. Sums up really what this place is all about its elegant, its calming, its sophisticated, very impressive. You don’t have to guest at Coral Reef Club to come to their spa but I would suggest you book early, my guess is its very popular.
And how better to end the day than with dinner under star filled skies. There are many spectacular restaurants here but for me, this is the ultimate… The Cliff
Barbados is one of those places that people come back to year after year, its also people come to for the first time when they come to the Caribbean and I think the reasons are clear – it works, its as simple as that. There’s a level of sophistication in Barbados that you don’t get anywhere else, and I think there’s a sense of graciousness about Barbados which is also pretty unique. Its also a place where you can have fun but above all it just delivers that Caribbean dream.