Welcome to Barbados, my 143rd Visit and 138th Run UN Country out of a UN total of 193. After my blog photos below are the key statistics, brief history and interesting facts about this destination.
Barbados had a bad start and a bad ending. It was bad all-round. Here’s the bad start. Off the ship first at a record early time of 720am but no one to pick us up for our 8am hire car until 9am. I swear. NO ONE has picked us up on time after 12 car hires !!! Even the likes of Avis and Herz have failed miserably let alone the mum and dad operations which are likely not to exist next year. How hard can it be ? These islands are tiny and everyone lives close – can’t they be on-time ??? By the time we got picked up and driven to the office and car it was 945am when we set out for our run-walk. That put us in our hire car ready for the island tour at 1030am – the latest ever for the earliest Port arrival – go figure. We quickly regained our composure and drove ages via three detours to the famous Harrisons Cave which is a showcase of limestone caves formed when this island was formed via two colliding plates many millions of years ago. Much to our surprise the yours were booked out with only one departure at 2pm and it was no 1130am – no go – we would not miss out on the rest of the island for just one cave, especially given all the lost time from this morning. We then drove to Welchmans Hall Gully but got put off by the $USD20 per person to walk 1km through a forest we could see on our way there.
Barbados was not turning out well. The capital is crowded, unkept and full of beggars and one-way streets going nowhere. The island is flat as a pancake with limited greenery and no lush rainforests or jungles. It was time to head to the beaches. Our first west coast beach at Bottom Bay had spectacular limestone cliffs surrounding the beach but it was unswimmable – Water colour was dreamy but it full of waves and currents. So was Harrismith Beach. Crane Beach was similar so we decided to head to the eastern coast beaches via vast fields of sugar cane used to make the famous “Gay” brand of Rum – the first rum in the world made in 1703. There are bottles of this stuff everywhere, including small corner or convenience shops. The sugar cane fields was the only scenic piece of the island offering some greenery and colourful homes opposite the fields which must belong to the workers tending them. The eastern beaches were better. Miami Beach had calm turquoise waters suited to lap swimming and Batts Rock Beach added to the picture with some reefs and coloured fish for snorkelling. This was our final beach and swim before heading to the largest supermarket on the island to stock up on wine and Gay Rum !!!
The worst part of the day came when we boarded the ship. I was asked for the first time after 22 days on this ship what was in my backpack. I innocently answered – oh, just a drone and GoPro with batteries. They then asked me to hand over my drone for safe keeping with ship security until the end of the cruise and I exploded. I refused saying that it was the same as asking all other passengers to hand in their cameras and mobiles !!! The security staff then brought in their boss Larry and he took me up to his office to explain. No drones to be kept in cabins on the ship for security purposes. Larry was a reasonable man and we did a deal. He would keep my drone in his office and hand it to me every morning before I got off the ship to use on the island as long as the local authorities agreed. Why on earth had they not detected my drone for the 22 days I was coming on and off this ship !!! It just so happened that it came down to one try-hard to actually look at the scanner screen and decide to play god. And just when you thought the badness has ended – there was more bad. We got back to our cabin minus drone and I went back out to Guest Services to check up on our hire car the next day. No hire car. This was the second time in 12 hires that a hire car for which I had confirmed paperwork was nowhere to be seen. All my hire cars were booked and confirmed via email in September 2025. This is no guarantee. My extensive travels have taught me always to ring a few days ahead to talk to a human and make sure that car is there. And the two culprits were Herz !!! Big brands you say – no – still no guarantee. Always ring. Lucky for me I got a good person on both occasions and they sourced a car from another provider but at twice the cost since it is last minute. A difficult pill to swallow given all the homework and extra early planning. It took me 60min on the ship’s phone with a man who could barely speak English to secure this car. I got the car in the end but it drained the life out of me and took away lots of wine, cheese and olives. At Ieast this long bad day finished with OK images and the best rum I have ever tasted – even if it is Gay – not that there is anything wrong with that as you will see below…
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BARBADOS IN A NUTSHELL:
• Population (2024): 282,500.
• Life Expectancy: 73.6 for men and 78.6 for women.
• Literacy Rate: 99.8%.
• Ethnic Composition: African (92.4%), Mixed (3.1%), White (2.7%), South Asian (1.3%).
• Religion: Christian (75.6%), with Anglican (23.9%) and Pentecostal (19.5%) and 20.6% report no religion.
• Nominal GDP (2024): $USD7.2 billion.
• GDP Per Capita (2024): $USD25,365.
• GDP Growth (2024): 4.0%.
• Inflation (2024): 1.4%.
• Unemployment Rate (2024): 7.5%.
• Public Debt (2024): 102.4% of GDP.
• Tourism Contributes between 17.5% and 31% of GDP, supporting roughly 33% of all jobs.
• Land Area: 439 sq km.
• Population Density: 660 inhabitants per sq km.
• Infant Mortality: 9 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Forest Cover: Roughly 14.7% to 15% of total land area.
BRIEF HISTORY OF BARBADOS:
• The island was first inhabited as early as 1600 BCE by groups from South America. Later permanent settlers included the Arawaks (c. 800 AD) and the Kalinago/Caribs (c. 13th century).
• Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos visited in 1536 and named the island "Los Barbados" (the bearded ones), likely after the hanging roots of the bearded fig trees.
• Spanish slave raids in the early 16th century largely depopulated the island, leaving it virtually empty when the British arrived.
• An English ship arrived in 1625 to claim the island for King James I. The first permanent settlement was established in 1627 at Jamestown (now Holetown).
• In the 1640s, Barbados transitioned from tobacco and cotton to large-scale sugarcane production.
• To labour on sugar plantations, the British forcibly imported hundreds of thousands of enslaved West Africans. By 1660, the Black population outnumbered white settlers.
• The largest slave uprising in the island's history took place in 1816, led by the African-born Bussa.
• Slavery was abolished in 1834, followed by a four-year "apprenticeship" period until full freedom in 1838.
• Following labour unrest in 1937, social reforms began. Universal adult suffrage was granted in 1950.
• Barbados was a member of the short-lived West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.
• Barbados became a fully independent nation on 30 November 1966, with Errol Barrow as its first Prime Minister.
• On 30 November 2021, Barbados officially removed the British monarch as its head of state and became a republic.
• Dame Sandra Mason was sworn in as the nation's first president.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BARBADOS:
1. Barbados is widely recognized as the home of the world's oldest rum. Mount Gay Distilleries has been producing rum since at least 1703, making it the oldest continuously operating distillery of its kind globally.
2. The Grapefruit was born in Barbados. Originally known as "The Forbidden Fruit," it was first documented on the island in the 18th century as a hybrid between a sweet orange and a pomelo.
3. The name "Barbados" comes from the Portuguese phrase Os Barbados (meaning "The Bearded Ones"). This likely refers to the long, hanging roots of the bearded fig trees that once grew in abundance across the island.
4. Barbados boasts the third oldest Parliamentary system in the Commonwealth. Established in 1639, its uninterrupted parliamentary governance has been in existence for over 380 years.
5. Barbados is the only place outside of the United States that George Washington ever visited. He stayed there in 1751, and the house he occupied still stands today as the George Washington House museum.
6. Global superstar Rihanna was born and raised in Bridgetown. The street she grew up on was renamed "Rihanna Drive" in her honour, and she has served as an official Cultural Ambassador for the country.
7. Barbados is famously nicknamed "the land of the flying fish". These fish, which can glide for up to 45 seconds at high speeds, are a national symbol and a key component of the national dish, Cou Cou and Flying Fish.
8. Dame Sandra Mason was sworn in as the country's first president on its 55th anniversary of independence.
9. Unlike its volcanic neighbours, Barbados was formed by the collision of tectonic plates that pushed up a core of coral limestone. This unique geology created the island's famous Harrison’s Cave, a massive underground system of crystallized limestone.
10. Barbados is home to one of the world's highest per capita populations of centenarians, frequently ranked alongside Japan. The island's historically clean air and mineral-rich groundwater, filtered through limestone, are often credited for this longevity.
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