SnapHappyRoss

One of the most famous and indeed most easily accessed of the Caribbean islands, Barbados is also the easternmost and bucks the volcanic trend of its cousins in the Lesser Antilles arc. Barbados is a coral island with gentle slopes and accompanying white sands, but while fully surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean it is nonetheless fully Caribbean in culture. The country’s name comes from Spanish for “the bearded ones”, following the first European colonisation shortly after Columbus navigated the region. Portugal held sway for a brief stint, before the British took over from 1625 until independence in 1966.

We spent a full week in Barbados during summer 2023 at the start of the rainier season, but the temperature and humidity are fairly consistent year-round. It had been several years since I’d been to the tropics and I was surprised at how badly adjusted I was to coping with the heat. Our hotel was The Colony Club just north of Holetown on the popular Platinum Coast, and was the perfect setting for swimming, snorkelling, paddle boarding, sailing, water skiing and general lounging around for the week. Next time however I’d be inclined to book an all-inclusive deal, as restaurant prices in and out of the hotel were eye-wateringly expensive.