Tracking Down Lighthouses in Barbados

This was our first visit of two on these cruises.

The ship was to dock in Barbados at 7 am, and it did so. We went up to the dining room about 7:30 to eat. I've decided that I don't like the buffet line, so wanted to give the dining room another chance. (Last time it took us an hour to get food)

(dining room)
I had eggs Benedict,

while Bob and I debated what the loading hoppers were there to load.

They are most often used in the US for things like coal or gravel.

Later Leif said they were for sugar. There were several small ships out on the dock including a large sailboat.

As we were going back to our room, we saw the crew on the deck doing training on one of the 12 person life-rafts.

I took a picture of our window, which reflected the building across from us - you can't see in the window in the daytime.

I had made an arrangement with Leif, a guy that I've corresponded with on the internet who is Norwegian married to a girl from Barbados named Petal to meet him with a car he would rent for us at 9 am. He said that he was bald, so when the other taxi drivers asked us if we wanted a tour, I blurted out that I was looking for a bald white guy.

This time there was a whole steel drum band at the pier and we also had to wend our way through the pier shops and out to the gate. Their Leif was waiting for us as promised. I wanted to take some photos of places that I had missed before, chattel houses etc, and also some photos of the four lighthouses. So we drove out the west coast with me snapping photos from the car.

Police car

Following a truck with bald tires - Barbados

Driving on the left

Signs pointing to attractions

Farm

bus stop outside a big resort

I asked Leif to drive by some chattel houses because the photos I took last time I was here were not that good.

Chattel Houses

Chattel houses are a unique part of the Bajan landscape.

The name chattel was confusing to me, but the word "chattel" comes from the English common law. It refers to personal property as distinguished from real property (land as in real estate).

Plantation workers on the sugar cane plantations had houses that could be disassembled and put up again in another place. The foundations were of loose stone. This was because the workers did not own the land that the houses were built on. In the event of being fired or some other dispute they could be moved to another place.

Old chattel houses

The houses are usually small and brightly colored and have a steep gable roof with short eaves, constructed of corrugated iron. This is to prevent the wind getting under the edge of a flat roof and lifting it off. Chattel houses often have jalousie windows (very popular in the tropics) which may have wooden slats and three sets of hinges (2 vertical and one horizontal) for maximum flexibility against the wind and sun. They are often trimmed with ornamental wooden fretwork.

Chattel house

We saw the first lighthouse in the distance (Harrison's) but couldn't find a road to it.

West coast landscape

After several wrong turns, we came to a restricted area, which turned out to be a prison.

The road toward the lighthouse was blocked, so we asked some ladies, and they said they didn't know that they had come off (I assume to visit someone at the prison) without an island map.

Visitors to the prison

We asked the guard at the gate, and he said that if I walked down the road that was blocked,

Blocked road

I would be shot. So I decided discretion was the better idea. So I just zoomed in as much as I could

Harrison's Point lighthouse

Harrison's Point lighthouse

Then we drove over towards the east coast, and St. Nicholas Abbey, which Leif said he had not visited before. But it was closed on Sunday.

Entrance gates

We saw a spider monkey cross the road and I tried to get a picture of him sitting on the ground under the trees, but he was pretty well camouflaged and I can't see him in the photo.

Can you find the monkey?

Incidentally in the daily bulletin that we get, there were strict warnings about wearing any camouflage gear on either Barbados or St. Kitts. We came across to Cherry Tree Hill,

Cherry Tree Hill overlook

Cherry Tree Hill Reserve sign

Cherry Tree Hill vendor

and Leif bought us a coconut -

Coconut sliced open

the vendors said that coconut water was good for your health. We also ate the jelly that was inside the coconut.

Then, the fuel light came on in the car, so we had to backtrack to a gas station because there aren't any on the east coast. He just put $20BD in the car. It was about $BD2.21/litre. (A Barbados dollar is 1.8 to 1US$)

Gas pump

Then we drove along the rest of the east coast,

Cattlewash beach

Cattlewash - Surf beside the road

Park on the east shore where we had lunch in 1996

Don't Dump, Don't Litter

Beach from the road

Surf from the road

past the Edgewater where we stayed in 1996

Bathsheba rocks

and past Bathsheba where they were surfing.

Surfer

We stopped up on the hill above Bathsheba, and Bob and Leif went down the hill

Surf beach

Surf in Bathsheba

Leif climbing the hill

- I stayed up with the car and used a telephoto lens to take photos of the town.

Bus stop with shelter in Bathsheba

A police car stopped there too.

Police car by snack bar

Leif coming back to the car

I mentioned to Leif that the car registration had expired last month,

Expired registration on the rental car

and he asked if the police had said something, and I said no.

Leif getting himself a snack

Details of houses - Barbados

Old sugar mill

He stopped at a little house to get himself something to drink (people sell stuff our of their homes). We also stopped for a little bit at old St. John's church.

St. John's Parish Church

Garden

View from the church

The first time we went to Barbados, we only saw the lighthouse from a distance. This time, when we passed Codrington the first seminary in the western hemisphere,

Entrance to Codrington College

we could see Ragged Point lighthouse in the distance.

Ragged Point Lighthouse

As we approached, there was a large sign that said "Public Notice - Visits to Lighthouse are Free. If Harassed Call Police. Tel-211 423 7141"

Sign approaching the lighthouse

There were signs on the houses on each side that said "Ragged Point - Private Property! No Entry! Beware of Dogs. The Owner".

Sign approaching the lighthouse

The land surrounding the Ragged Point Lighthouse is the remaining part of Golden Grove Plantation, which was owned by the Manning family since the 1920s.

Ragged Point Lighthouse

buildings around Ragged Point

Bottom of Ragged Point Lighthouse

The lighthouse dates from 1875. Active (although there are reports that it isn't always in service); focal plane 213 ft; white flash every 15 seconds. Ninety-seven ft stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white (with rust stains at the top); lantern and watch room black. Surrounding light station buildings are abandoned and in ruins and the tower needs paint.

Bottom of the lighthouse

We got out and walked around and took photos anyway. Both Harrison's and Ragged Point are white lighthouses of similar structure, but this one (Ragged Point) is on the southeast side, and Harrison's is on the northwest side and has a red lantern room.

View from Ragged Point lighthouse

It is located on a bluff above the Atlantic just northwest of East Point, the easternmost point of the island. On a clear day such as we had, you can see all the way up the coastline to the northern points of the island such as Cove Bay and Pico Tenerife.

Off the coast lies Culpepper Island, a tiny island that can be easily reached. The Barbados Museum was also closed so we couldn't do that so we continued on down the coast,

Banks beer

Past the

Emancipation Statue (Bussa)

at centre of the J.T.C. Ramsay roundabout formed at the junction of the ABC Highway and Highway 5
This has the following Inscription:
Lick an Lock-up Done Wid,
Hurray fuh Jin-Jin [Queen Victoria].
De Queen come from England to set we free
Now Lick an Lock-up Done Wid, Hurray fuh Jin-Jin
It was now getting towards lunchtime. We told Leif that we'd treat him to lunch, so he stopped at the Barbecue Barn.

Sign outside

Menu Board

You order your meal and they cook it and you pick it up.

Counter people

I got a quarter chicken, macaroni and corn chow and juice,

Corn chow, chicken, and macaroni pie

and Bob and Leif both got the Gourmet Burger which was half a pound and too much for either of them to eat.

Bob's Gourmet Burger

The total was 77.50 BD$ We also used the bathrooms which were spotless.

Now we were closing in on the South Point lighthouse - this one was red and white striped. We took a somewhat circuitous route to it,

Ladder up a pole

beach

Road Hump sign

South Point Lighthouse

Top of South Point Lighthouse

Bottom of South Point Lighthouse

but we got there eventually. Bob and Leif both played with some puppies that were there.

Bob and Leif

Leif and puppy

We went on past some of the beaches that the Bajan's use (Bajan is short for Barbadian), heading for the last lighthouse which was in front of the Hilton.

Bajans at the beach

South shore beaches

We could see the Hilton but could not see the lighthouse - that was because the Hilton was much bigger than it was.

There was a guard at the gate and he told us to go down a road - Leif at first thought the road (between stone walls topped with chain link fence) was too narrow, but the guard insisted that it was OK.

narrow road

It took us down to the Hilton beach,

Lifeguard stand at the Hilton

Hilton beach

Hilton grounds

and there in front of the hotel was the lighthouse, which has been rebuilt.

Needham Point and Hilton

Top of Needhams Point lighthouse against the Hilton

Needham Lighthouse

On one side of the narrow road that we drove down to get to the lighthouse was a historic cemetery. I took photos of that.

After that Leif drove us back to the ship through Bridgetown. He wouldn't take any money, so I gave him the fourth bottle of wine.

I had prime rib for dinner