Either you prefer the safe haven of a glass-bottomed boat or you’re happy to go snorkelling.
I had always been in the former camp but when faced with the choice in Barbados I opted to break the ice, as it were, and jump in.
As an animal lover, I was never going to just watch the turtles from above when there was the option of swimming with these magnificent creatures.
After donning a mask and snorkel, I lowered myself into the pleasantly warm water and was almost immediately greeted by two turtles, which allowed me to stroke them.
Of course it wasn’t my attentions they wanted but rather the fish that the captain of the speedboat was about to feed them. However, they continued to paddle around me long after their meal was over.
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The pace of life is seductively slow
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My hotel, Cobblers Cove, was a mere 200 yards from the turtles’ favoured haunt on the north-west side of the island.
The hotel is set amid lush vegetation, with landscaped gardens, a well-equipped fitness centre, tennis court, a spa and all-important pool. My first-floor room, with its large reception area and sleek bathroom, overlooked the property’s own sheltered beach.
I found the pace of life here seductively slow. There was no urgency about anything, so much so that joggers were conspicuous by their presence. In a week on this chilled-out island, they were the only people I saw with any desire to break free from the infectious Bajan inertia.
A Sunday walk into nearby Speightstown revealed that a high percentage of locals attend church and dress for the occasion.
Fishermen chatted close to their boats, others ambled to one of the “rum shops”, most notably The Fisherman’s Pub. Despite its expansion into a restaurant and beach bar, this “shop” has lost none of its original feel.
Proprietor Clement Armstrong, who has been running it since 1972, offers food at reasonable prices. The menu included Bajan staples such as barracuda, flying fish, macaroni pie, split peas and rice, sweet potatoes and blackbelly lamb.
The live band on Wednesday nights is definitely worth catching; after hearing the likes of Sweet Caroline and Night Fever played Caribbean-style on drums, the originals seem one dimensional by comparison.
Despite being the island’s second largest town, Speightstown holds little interest for tourists. Once known as Little Bristol because of its trading routes with the English city, it is now little bigger than a village.
I took a half-day bus tour of the island, which included a visit to Holetown, the first settlement in Barbados, further south. It was far more commercial but there was still no urgency about it.
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Try the Lone Star brasserie for an excellent beach-side affair
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A brunch at Devine in the Chattel Village, a cluster of chic shops idyllically located among trees and lawns, took an age, not because the service was slow but because there was no desire to move on. It was de rigueur to simply watch the world go by.
The pace was slower still when the tour moved on to St Nicholas Abbey on the island’s east side. Its name is a misnomer as there are no religious connections in its 358-year history. One of the oldest plantation houses on Barbados, it was built just 23 years after the first settlement of the island and was a great example of Jacobean-style architecture.
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The island attracts a large clientele of celebrities
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The grounds contain a small refinery and old sugar mill from where you could sample local rum. Don’t miss the holiday film shot by the owner’s father in the Thirties, which gives a wonderful insight into Barbados and its past.
There’s nothing like sightseeing for building an appetite. Barbados, thankfully, has no shortage of good, alternative dining options.
In glitzy St James, the Lone Star Restaurant was an excellent beach-side affair. I entered via an ingeniously converted garage, which is now the kitchen, and descended by grand stairs into a New York-style diner playing ambient “Buddha Bar” music.
Inland, Sassafras at Sugar Hill Resort offered the best menu in terms of innovative cooking and choice. I enjoyed
a brilliant seafood dish in sophisticated yet informal surroundings.
Sassafras, which is adjacent to the famous Royal Westmoreland complex of luxury homes and villas, attracts sports and showbiz stars that own second homes on Barbados or are just passing through.
Back at Cobblers Cove, I discovered that the hotel’s Terrace Restaurant was a sanctuary of peace and elegance and as romantic a spot as any on Barbados for a dreamy, candlelit dinner by the beach. Most of the fish was freshly caught that day by the in-house fisherman, Barker, who takes clients out to sea, if they have the stomach for it.
After my experience swimming with turtles, personally I couldn’t wait to get back out there.
GETTING THERE:
Kuoni Travel (01306 747 008/www.kuoni.co.uk) offers seven nights B&B at Cobblers Cove in a superior suite from £1,569pp (two sharing), including return flights with Virgin from Gatwick and private transfers.
Barbados Tourism Authority: 020 7636 9448/www.visitbarbados.org
