A morning through lunch catamaran cruise highlights our first day on the island
By Eileen Ogintz
Best birthday ever?
“It’s right up there,” said Yasmin Naaman, celebrating her 31st birthday on a Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruise in Barbados.
The half-day cruise comes complete with two snorkeling stops, one to gawk at sea turtles, the other to see tropical fish on a shipwreck! It also comes with a traditional Barbados lunch (chicken, snapper, macaroni pie, rice and peas, potato salad) and all the rum punch and Banks beer you want to consume.
Our captain, Hosea Harte, notes that the 36-passenger sailboat can easily accommodate those with disabilities. “We can get anyone in the water,” he said. That includes me, still recovering from multiple knee surgeries. The crew gave me a needed extra arm getting into the water (heaven!) and on and off the boat.
“A catamaran cruise is always the favorite of our trip,” said Deb Holt, here with her husband Sonny from Vermont. The couple honeymooned here 37 years ago and have been back a half dozen times since.
She added that the couple have been getting around by public transportation and feel completely safe. Others opined how friendly locals seem.
“I wish we could stay longer,” said Olu Solanke, here with his sister, parents, and grandfather from Philadelphia to celebrate his grandfather’s 80th birthday. He gave their Airbnb high marks (Providence Estate) where a private chef cooked up a birthday dinner for the family.
We have just arrived in Barbados and have met a happy mix of vacationers, many from Britain and Canada (this island was British until 1966 after all.) While Americans, like the Solankes, often come for a long weekend (a four hour flight from NYC), many of those from Britain arrive for two to three weeks at all-inclusive resorts like Sea Breeze Hotel.
“And many don’t leave at all,” one smiling staffer told me. After all, there is a long white sandy beach, a pool, plenty of activities (yoga in the gazebo perhaps) spa, aqua aerobics, rum tasting (Barbados is where rum was invented), a kids’ club, Bingo, kayaks, volleyball on the beach, water toys (take out a Hobie cat maybe or a boogie board) and plenty of good eats and a stocked mini bar with soft drinks, beer, mixers and even champagne.
We are staying in a comfortable two-bedroom unit ideal for a young family (the second bedroom has twin beds). Our first dinner at Cerulean, the resort’s fine dining restaurant couldn’t have been better—ceviche, blackened snapper, a rack of lamb and homemade mango sorbet and mango cheesecake for desert followed by a sipping rum (to make up for our long overnight travel), the manager said with a smile.
“I’d tell my friends to come,” said Angela Rodionova,16, here with her parents and twin sister from Toronto. “Going to the beach is my favorite…I know I want to come back.”
This afternoon we have moved over to the O2Beach Club & Spa, owned by the same company and also on the south part of Barbados. This hotel—70 suites and 88 double rooms – is more designed for adults or those traveling with older kids (no kids club but there is a teen lounge).
The resort offers unique Bajan experiences—if you can tear yourself away from the gorgeous beach or pool. (Love hearing the surf break from our balcony.) You could, for example, learn to play dominoes, Bajan style on Mondays, blow a conch shell on Tuesdays, make Bajan fishcakes on Thursdays or a classic Bajan cocktail on Fridays…that’s besides the typical activities – power walks, beach cricket and volleyball yoga, etc. and plenty of choices to eat and drink, including afternoon tea, the chance to sample craft beers while listening to steel drums. It’s no wonder many guests never venture outside the resort.
Last night we ventured to the West Side of the island, about 40 minutes from where we are staying, to a popular Local & Co where we dined on a terrace outdoors. This restaurant—popular with locals as well as visitors—showcases ingredients sourced from local and regional farms, producers, and wild foragers, the menu “determined by what our farmers have available at the time and what our chefs have managed to gather and preserve in house,” the menu says.
If we order soup, soup is donated to a family in need.
I opt for barracuda—the catch of the day while my husband has shrimp curry. Yum! Desert was a sea salt caramel tart with homemade banana ice cream and a chocolate truffle.
When can I return? Maybe a long lunch?