Barbados April 2012

I've been recently thinking about our holiday last year. Mainly due to BericeBaby going there now.
Last year we stayed in a beautiful hotel called Almond Casurina, in St Lawrence Gap. The Gap as it is otherwise known as is the place to be for nightclubs, rum bars etc. It is not where you would expect a lovely peaceful family hotel, but this is where both the Almond Casurina and Turtle Beach (another lovely family resort) are based. The Almond has since closed and reopened as Couples, an adults only resort. We would have loved to have gone back, I haven't written this blog post before due to the closure of the hotel.

Nate 'reading' in his cot

My grandmother lives in Barbados so I have only stayed in a hotel for 2 visits there and a three day stint another time. So to experience Barbados as a Tourist (can you ever really) was fun although we really didn't need to leave the resort as it was an all inclusive.

One thing I would recommend with any island is check the beaches, if you can't see any locals there is a reason for it, especially Barbados as you cannot own a beach. This beach was not as rough as those on the South-East coast in Barbados (i.e. Sam Lords Castle or The Crane) but it wasn't as serene as the beaches we visit in the rest of Christ Church (Barbados is divided into Parishes a bit like UK is  counties). We didn't swim at the beach here, Nate didn't like the waves and we had access to two pools which he was used to.

It's very hot, I think I need to repeat that again, it is very hot. Nate took an extra nap every day and was exhausted by 6. It was hot and he handled it well but it did exhaust him. Be careful in the sun with little children, their skin is thinner than adults.

This was our balcony, we enjoyed "breakfast in bed" one morning we were there, no where near bed as you can see. Nate loved the birds that would come and steal crumbs. There are lots of animals to watch, this time he loved seeing the lizards. 

Nate spent most of the holiday in as little as possible however, there is a tipping point. It is very hot so when in the sun he was covered up and we spent as little time as possible out in the sun, pre-breakfast swim and post-lunch swim were our main times for being out in the sun and in the pool. 

We took Nate to Harrison's cave, which is a crystallised limestone cavern. He was a little young to enjoy it but I think he enjoyed the coolness of the cave. He'd enjoy it more now he is slightly older and could ask questions but did sit quietly on my lap. I remember growing up I would want to go to The Cave every year but they closed it often to doing work to improve it.

As you can see we really enjoyed our time at the Almond Casurina. It was a lovely resort that had lots of things to do. Since becoming an adults only resort they have recommended the resort next door which is Turtle Beach. We however, didn't stay there but have had a lovely stay at The Crane, which has two sections the original 1887 building and the new buildings. We stayed at the original 1887 building when they were still building the new buildings over 10 years ago and recently stayed in the new building. It is lovely and the views are gorgeous unless you get a room overlooking the building work (we did) but there was still a beautiful view if you ignored the concrete. 

There is plenty to do in Barbados for all ages.

Cool souvenirs

We wanted to get Nate a souvenir that was relevant to where we had been and in our search we found this a Canimal.

Its a stuffed toy in a tin can. On one side of the can you have a picture of the stuffed toy and a warning about how adorable they are.

On the other side of the can is information about the animal we got the canimal turtle so there is lots of information about their nesting habits. The other canimals I have seen are monkeys and black belly sheep but we didn't see any of the others this time.

The only issue with this is you have to use a can opener with it, it would have been nice to be able to keep the can with a resealable lid .

What's hiding in the can?

There it is, the canimal turtle is born. The turtle isn't the best quality stuffed toy we've had but Nate loved the novelty of having to open the can (mummy had to do that) and finding out what was in it. 

Barbados family friendly destination?

We've just recently come back from being on holiday in Barbados, this isn't the first time we've been as a family but while there this time I started to think about it's family friendliness. The first time we went as a family was last year for our wedding and was our first holiday as a family. The hotel we stayed in had everything so you didn't need to leave at all. However, as I have family in Barbados we explored the island and found there were issues with baby changing facilities.

 One major attraction on the island told me I could find the baby change in the "ladies washroom" so off I went and there was no where to change Nate, it was the floor or nothing.
I thought this would be a one off occurrence and other places would have space to change babies but this time we went to an event and the baby change facilities with a sign post for it was on the counter top next to the sinks. For an older baby this isn't much of an issue as noted by my noticing only one place this year without proper changing facilities.

Using the carrier in town

Barbados as a whole I would say is family friendly however, unless you use a carrier it isn't going to be easy to get around. The pavements when there are pavements aren't built for prams or wheelchairs for that matter. Remember to pack that suncream and to take little children somewhere cool during the midday sun.

In the pram near Grandma's house, notice the lack of pavements.

Holiday in pictures

Here are a few pictures from our holidays:

This was taken in Speightstown, to the North West of Barbados. Nate loved looking out at the sea and was pointing to another beach.

All cuddled up to daddy. 

Happy to be in his big boy pants

At North Point in Barbados there are lovely picture opportunities. Here you can see an anchor in the distance. 

Enjoying the view from North Point

At The Crane, the lovely hotel in St Phillip Nate enjoyed looking at the fish, there were two ponds for the Koi, one outside one of the hotel blocks 

The other with lovely large Koi outside the Zen restaurant

For daddies birthday we went on a picnic in Barclays Park along the East Coast Road

Nate's favourite thing was airplane spotting so here we are at my favourite beach for the same reason. When I was younger I always thought the planes flew close enough to touch so would jump when the big jets flew over.