[Dueller]

A few years back my then GF and I spent 3 months island hopping thru the Carribbean. We had a flight into St Thomas on 9/30 and out of Carracas VZ on 12/24...no other reservations. We hit 22 different islands plkaying everything by ear. We had to dodge 2 hurricanes but had no real problems.

Barbados is very friendly and larger than most islands we visited (e.g. Saba at 5 sq miles) . The area you are staying (St Laurence Gap...15 minutes by taxi) is the most active for night life and you can walk from your hotel to tons of bars, restaraunts, street food vendors, etc. Plenty of places to rent a car or miniMoke there...I think we paid about $40/day. There are a number of dive charters down there....don't remember who we used but most are reputable and priced similarly.

Some of the best fun we had was renting a MiniMoke. We only used it for 2 or 3 days which is plenty to explore the island. We visited a few tourist sites but pretty much allowed ourselves to get lost on the road that circles the perimeter of the island. We wouyld find out of the way hotels (particularly on the east side of the island. We'd carry towels, snotkeling gear, lunch, fruit, fresh juice and local rum with a cooler of ice and have impromptu picnics on beaches that were often completely ours...especially on the rougher west side.

Safe island save for petty property crime. (somebody lifted a pair of cheap sunglasses I left on a towel on one of the more populated beaches).

There is a sports car racing group we stumbled across down there when we followed a group of club racer/rally type cars one Saturday afternnoon...apparently there used to be a pretty active club down there.

Oh yeah...just remembered something. Ask a local about the Friday night (I think) fish fry at the fisherman's dock. Lots od little booths/chattel houses at the pier with local women cooking up fresh caught fish and ground provisions (plantains, peas, rice, etc) on propane buners. Try the fried flying fish...One of the best meals I've had. Three of us had more food than we could eat and several beers for $20 or so...but that was 6-7 tears ago. They sell bottled beer to was it down and you eat at little picnic tables in the open air. Mostly locals tho...but well worth a $10 CAB RIDE.