Today I took a snorkeling tour on the West Coast of Barbados on a 60-foot catamaran that glides very smoothly. I had this tour in mind for a while and ended up buying a waterproof case for my point-and-shoot camera last month to be able to use it here. The boat usually takes 30 people, but there were only 18 on board today, which left plenty of space for everyone.
On the way to our first stop, we passed the huge Sandy Lane Luxury Golf and Spa Resort, where Tiger Woods had his wedding ceremony back in 2004, and where the cheapest room goes for $1,000 per night in low season. Reservations, anyone? It took us almost one hour to get to the first stop – Mt. Standfast, the site where hawksbill turtles congregate. I was pretty excited. I got my little camera ready in its waterproof case, donned the mask, jumped in the sea and…found out that I was swallowing a lot of water. Problem is, I hadn’t snorkeled in ages and had obviously forgotten how to properly fit the mouthpiece. To compound my problems, the Barbadian waters apparently are not very salty, which makes floating harder, so every time I tried to adjust the mask, I started to sink and ended up swallowing more water. It was pathetic, I wanted to slap myself. My only consolation is that none of my friends was there to witness this deplorable performance. But in spite of my mounting frustration, it was absolutely thrilling when a turtle just glided by right underneath me. People usually get too excited and try to swim after them, but I found that if I just tried to stay put and let them do their thing, they’d eventually get close. Unfortunately, I still hadn’t managed to deal with the camera in the water and couldn’t get a single photo. And I just wanted to slap myself again.
Next we went to the Marine Reserve in Holetown, an area with a manmade shipwreck and hundreds of fish. This time, I wanted to make my life easier and did something utterly shameful – I put on a floatation vest. Laugh, but it made a world of difference because then I didn’t have to worry about sinking anymore, and could focus on getting some shots. But little did I know that there was another catch: when you’re using a point-and-shoot underwater, you can’t really see what you’re photographing. It was the most frustrating photographic experience I’ve ever had…pointing the camera to what I was hoping was the right spot while bobbing on the water, all the time thinking that I’d end up with an utterly blurry mess. So I did manage to take some pictures, but I didn’t even want to look at them for fear I’d have to toss them all. I finally looked at them when I returned to the hotel at the end of the day, and to my surprise, some came out fairly decent. And this whole experience gave me a newfound respect for underwater photographers.
After the snorkel tour I decided to go to Paynes Bay on the west coast of the island, reputedly one of the prettiest. Paynes Bay is actually a series of crescent beaches linked to each other and lined with resorts, a place where you can rent hobbie cats or jet skis. The beaches are indeed charming and on one of them there was a wedding party with bride and groom parading on the sand at the request of the videographer. At one point, the videographer said to the groom: “Don’t you want to carry your wife?” The groom said nothing, but his face screamed “Are you out of your mind?!” Ah, love is a many splendored thing!
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