Welp, it wouldn’t be Barbados if I didn’t start out by talking about the alcohol haha.
When we were welcomed in, of course we were shown to the bar to wait. I was still hungry, but was worried we didn’t quite have enough time for me to order real food. So… obviously the smartest idea on an empty stomach is to drink some alcohol, as that’s gotta make you feel full right?
(Don’t worry. I didn’t get overly drunk (at Harrison’s Cave at least, wait until we get to St. Lawrence Gap, but that’s for later). So, everything was fine. But I did finally partake in the drinking! Scuba diving was over. I didn’t have to be responsible for anything else! So, I got a “green monkey tail,” and I think it might’ve been my favorite drink I ever had.
I wrote down the ingredients, but I have no idea about the amounts. But if you want to make your own Green Monkey Tail at home, it’s:
- Blue Curaçao
- Watermelon Liquer
- Mount Gay Silver Rum
- Passion Fruit Juice
- Lime Juice
- Simple Syrup (sweetener)
I thought it was ironic that once I finally started drinking, no one on this tour drank but me! I’d been to a number of events where people constantly had a drink in their hand. But not this one. Aye, aye aye.
[This was the only time this happened in Barbados. At every other place I mention (except scuba), just imagine everyone is drinking… though you probably won’t have to imagine it, because I will probably remind you.]
So, anyway, if you’re reading these posts, and you don’t know who Alex is, he is my Sky Team co-captain for life.
[The Sky Team is something we made up. It’s not a real thing. (I actually do think it’s a real thing, in the sense that Delta and Air France and all those airlines that work together call themselves the “Sky Team,” but we didn’t know that when we started using the phrase, and for our purposes it’s a made-up, not-real thing.]
All it means is that Alex is my best friend. And for many years, he’s done my “new birthday thing” with me. I like to do things in the sky. And many of the birthday experiences we’ve done together have been in the sky (e.g. hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, helicopter flying class). So, we are the “Sky Team” aka, Alex is my super adventure buddy, and anytime something can be more adventurous, I try to make it so with him, because I don’t know if I know anyone in my personal circles who’s more game for stuff/ready for adventure than Alex.
All that to say, there used to be a tour through Harrison’s Cave where you could crawl around, do the tight spaces thing, swim, just explore that cave fully and get a full experience.
Alas, because of Covid (which I’ve been trying to gloss over, so it’s not remembered as a big part of this magical trip), it was deemed as too close of contact with people. So, for now, you can’t do that tour.
We did still get to go in the cave! We just had to ride a tram through it instead. (They always had the tram tour as an option for people who didn’t want to do the active cave tour. That’s not something that was started as a pandemic response, though that would’ve been impressive had they revamped all the cave stuff in such a short time.)
So yeah, we got a tour where we learned a bit about the cave and saw some parts of it. (You had to wear hair nets and helmets, so the pictures aren’t the prettiest anyone’s ever seen haha.) But it was fun!
So, I was sad I couldn’t do the version of the tour that lives up to his adventure level. But he didn’t seem bothered! Our driver was so funny and fun! It was completely a good time still! And it was fun to see how they were building things out. They’re making a ziplining course, and it seems like it’s gonna be a place you can do many things.
[Sorry I don’t have that much to write about the cave itself. but yeah, get yourself a green monkey tail. Mmmm mmmm mmm.]
[If we were to ever go back to Barbados for any reason, while I do feel like we saw the whole island and I’m incredibly happy with how things turned out, IF I randomly had the opportunity to go back, doing the intense-r tour of Harrison’s Cave would be toward the top of the list of things I’d do – and I’d do the zip-lining, and obstacle course, and whatever else they’re building. I think things would be a lot different by the time we got back!]
And speaking of alcohol, I’ll talk about Thursday night tomorrow.