Barbados is a coral island. Like all the islands in this chain, it was pushed out of the sea by volcanic activity, many eons ago. On the west coast of Barbados, coral shore beaches of fine white sand stretch along a blue-green sea. Coral reefs fringe the Barbados shoreline to provide excellent snorkeling, scuba diving and submarine viewing. Along the east coast lively surf is blown briskly by the strong and constant trade winds and the waves pound against a rocky shore. The trade winds give Barbados a mild and pleasant tropical climate. Geologically Barbados is unique, being two landmasses which merged together.
Our tickets for the day's excursion. Some excursions (like this one) formed up in Moulin Rouge, the ship's theater. Others met on the pier. There were excellent shows in the Moulin Rouge theater each night.
We were escorted to the pier, where we met our guide.
We boarded a bus and rode from the tourist ship pier to the small boat piers of Barbados.
There were plenty of yachts at the pier, as well as several workboats.
We rode this launch out to the submarine and its tender.
Jan and I rode on the lower deck. She couldn't take her rollator (walker) to the upper deck and I was still nursing a bad sunburn.
Seated comfortably, we await the ride.
Jan anticipates the tour.
Richard, our guide, prepares us for the trip.
I was fascinated by the cargoes.
And by the material handling equipment.
The weather for the entire journey was like this--sunny, with clear skies or scattered clouds, about 80°F, with glass-smooth seas.
Another harbor picture.
I love these coastal scenes. This picture could be in the Carribean, the Mediterranean (Israel or the Cote d'Azur), or Southern California.
A camera tip: For sea pictures, make sure your camera is level with the horizon and sea, not the boat's rail or roofline. These tilted-horizon pictures look funny.
There were clouds over the island, but skies elsewhere were clear.
We transferred from the launch, across the submarine tender, to the submarine.
Boarding the submarine. We sat in two rows, back-to-back. Each person had his own porthole.
We received instructions on photography. The camera flash must be turned off to avoid glare from the porthole surface. The water filters out light of most colors. Deep below the surface, things are mostly light blue-green. Neither film nor digital cameras are optimized for this lighting. Focus and color rendition are off. Here, in a test shot of water with no objects, my camera struggles to find differentiation. The rendition is too blue, with not enough green.
We pass below 80 feet.
I was not successful at getting pictures of some of the fish and plants we saw. The best pictures are on the next page. Folks who couldn't figure out how to disable their camera flash units were advised to cover them with a finger.
Wire coral was one of the most interesting structures. It looks like a coiled wire or giant coil spring growing from the bottom. The guide insisted that the coil direction changes south of the equator.
138 feet at this point. It was hard to hold the camera steady.
Half the tour took place at the bottom, around 150 feet deep.
Eventually we will get close enough to the bottom that the photographs become meaningful.
Bridgetown, capital city and commercial centre of Barbados, has a population of about 80 000. Bridgetown was originally named "Indian Bridge" for the rude bridge which had been constructed over the river (now known as the Careenage) by the Indians. It was later called the "town of St. Michael" in official documents, before finally being named Bridgetown when a new bridge was built in place of the Indian Bridge, sometime after 1654.
In previous times, the careenage was an important hub of activity for inter-island trading vessels. Nowadays the careenage is mainly utilized by pleasure craft (catamarans, yachts, fishing boats, etc).
The camera struggles to show the plant life on the ocean floor at 150 feet.
One couple on the tour was disappointed at the small color range and pronounced the Disney World submarine (which descends 10 feet and has brightly painted artificial objects outside) to be much better.
More plants and animals on the ocean floor.
Unlike me, Jan had the discretion to stay out of direct sun (and to use lots of sunblock), so she avoided a sunburn.
A shipwreck, possibly a treasure ship, or so the guides first tell us.
Then he admits that local diving clubs bought a derelict ship about 25 years ago and sunk it for a place to explore.
Wire coral is visible in this picture if you look carefully.
The coral reef appears.
A school of fish is visible as we ascend.
More pictures from March 7
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