Barbados Shenanigans

When we weren't trying all sorts of yummy food and meeting up with family, the gang and I found ways to entertain ourselves. One day we went tubing, which was nothing like the experience I had in Massachusetts, one evening was spent on a pirate party boat, and another day we went snorkeling and swimming with turtles.

I know what you're thinking. That's so cool! Why didn't you post about this earlier?  Well, the main reason is because Mike took some great video and pictures with his GoPro and I didn't bring the cable to hook it up to my tablet. Womp womp. And as cool as writing about it is, pictures really enhance the story. So I waited until we got home stuck in the Barbados airport for an eight hour delay, where we eventually ended up in the VIP lounge with a computer where I could hook up the camera and write about our adventures.  Thanks, American Airlines.  But not really.

Tubing
In June, Mike and I went up to his parents' to go tubing along the Quaboag River, where we slowly floated on down while shooting the breeze.  When Kim suggested we go tubing one afternoon, I thought it would be somewhat like that.  Oh boy, I was wrong.

These guys had huge inter tubes with the middle section covered up so that you could lie on them and had them tied to the end of their boat.  They then put the pedal to the metal and took sharp turns, trying to see how many people they could get to fall off.  It was so. much. fun.  Sadly, I don't have pictures, but Mike took some great videos that I'm going to edit and post on YouTube at a later date.  Keep a look out for it!

Jolly Rodger
If you ask my friends and family what sort of activities I'm not really into, I promise you that a party cruise would be a fairly popular answer.  When Kim suggested that we go on the Jolly Rodger, I was leaning towards skipping it.  But then Reggie and Linda decided to go as well, and it was hard to say no.  In the end, I am so happy that Mike and I did go.

Reggie, Mike, me, Linda, and James before getting on the boat.

Kim and Jerry.

The Jolly Rodger is a pirate ship that does lunch and dinner shows.  All of us went for the dinner show on Thursday and had a blast.  You arrive at the port in Bridgetown for pre-dinner drinks and a show.  They had a drag queen host and fire breathers, dancers, and more.

Kim with our drag queen Emcee. 

Crop Over dancers. 

After the show, you hop on the boat for dinner and, you guessed it, more drinks!  There is also dancing and another little show that they put on towards the end of the cruise.

The entire thing was admittedly a little corney, but we all had such a great time.  It was raining a little before and during our time on the ship, but towards the end it let up.  Nobody seemed to notice that the rain had stopped, which was fantastic because Mike and I went dancing on the top deck and no one else was there!  We were able to make total fools out of ourselves without onlookers.  Evenutally, we got Reggie and Linda to come up as well and they agreed that it was much nicer than dancing on the bottom deck like a bunch of packed-in sardines.

Even though this blurry, I feel like it perfectly captured our evening. 

Snorkeling and Turtles
You long time readers are already familiar with my past snorkeling adventures.  I have come to enjoy it so much that I am seriously entertaining the idea of becoming SCUBA certified.  Getting up close to these fish and other animals is absolutely amazing and I'd love to get closer.

I think it's a good look for us.

One morning, we got on a boat that took us out to a ship wreck where an artificial reef has been made.  We got to see all sorts of fish up close and personal.  I have never been so close to so many fish at once.  You could reach out and touch them (if you were fast enough).  It was nuts.

The reef on the ship wreck.

After we explored the ship wreck, we got back on the boat and headed over to see some turtles!  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  They even got close enough that you could reach out and touch their shells. 

So cool.

Now we can put turtles on our list of animals that we have swum with.  Hopefully we can add dolphins next!

These excursions were a lot of fun.  And being able to enjoy them with family that you don't get to see regularly made it even better.