By 9am we were walking to Lobster Alive on Carlisle Bay. The weather this morning looked to be spectacular, and it stayed that way the entire day. We didn't dawdle on our walk, and by 9:30am we had a front row umbrella at Lobster Alive and I was already in the crystal blue water of beautiful Carlisle Bay beach. There, the wifi, at least first thing in the morning, cooperated and I was able to phone Mom using Vonage and it was really clear.
Lobster Alive, in response to their ridiculous price increase from $15 last year for two loungers and an umbrella (plus three free rum punches) to what we paid last week- $21- has had another change in pricing strategy. As Kevin, who works there renting out the chairs, told me today, "It was killing me, mon", which leads me to believe that, as with most things on Barbados, Kevin works largely on commission. He simply couldn't compete with the $12 per person Boatyard charge that includes taxi fare back to the ship. So today we were charged $15- $5 each for the umbrella and two loungers- and received three coupons for half priced drinks. In the end, if you buy three rum punches (half price is $2 each), you're still paying $21. We actually prefer it this way, as one rum punch each is plenty, especially if we're walking back to the ship. And we still prefer Lobster Alive over the Boatyard with its louder (and younger) atmosphere.
The weather could not have been more perfect. The beach was crowded, quite a change from last week when the weather was more overcast and we were the only ship in port. The snorkel, jet ski, paddle board, etc. concessions were making a killing today...everyone was in a festive beach mood. We kept layering on the SPF50; there was no doubt some people were going to get fried today and we didn't want to be among them.
2:30pm arrived too quickly, and we gathered up our things and headed back to the ship (all on board was 3:30pm for a 4pm sailaway). The taxi drivers kept telling us that it was too hot to walk, and they were right, it WAS hot. But we had wet our Tilley hats in the water before we left and draped our wet beach towels around our necks, and somehow survived. G immediately went to a hot tub; I immediately went to a pool, just to get the energy to get ready for the evening and Thanksgiving Day dinner.
We're starving after no lunch and a day on the water, but we're forcing ourselves to wait until we get to Skywalkers to eat a few nibbles, saving the real hunger for tonight's dinner.
Photo 1: Lobster Alive as seen from the water
Photo 2: the Boatyard- the difference in the two places is obvious
Photo 3: pirate ship snorkel excursion
Photo 4: my view for the day