Barbados - West of the airport Travel Guides | Barbados | Sub Regions | Barbados - West of the airport

There is little to distinguish the places west of the airport nowadays as the coast is entirely built up from Hastings to Oistins, but St Lawrence Gap is the place to go for nightlife and Maxwell is the base for the Barbados Windsurfing Club. St Lawrence Gap, known as just The Gap, has recently been titivated with a boardwalk along the water, new street lighting, better parking and general beautification works. Tucked away behind the hotel strip is the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, where you can go for a change of scenery and a bit of birdwatching, while the fishing village of Oistins sparks into life on Friday nights for a fish fry. The south coast is great for windsurfing and kitesurfing, particularly to the east of South Point, where Silver Sands is a windsurfer’s mecca, but watch out for rip tides if you are swimming. This part of the coast lies within the parish of Christ Church.

Sights

Off Highway 7, just east of Oistins.

Also known as Enterprise, busy Miami Beach is divided in two parts, calm or rougher, so it’s suitable for small children or older, braver types. Swimming is good, but it’s not safe to go out beyond your depth, hence the presence of a lifeguard. Windsurfing is popular, particularly for those at an intermediate level. There is lots of shade under casuarina and broadleaf trees and everything you could need for a pleasant day on the beach. Catamaran tour parties often anchor here for lunch if the west coast is too rough for them to go up to see the turtles at Alleynes Bay. Facilities include beach chairs and umbrellas for rent, parking, a toilet block, a drinks and snacks van and picnic tables.

Highway 7.

Oistins, the main town in the parish of Christ Church, was named after Edward Oistine, a plantation owner in the area. It was important in colonial times as one of the sites where Roundheads and Cavaliers clashed, with the Royalists achieving a stand-off for six months. On 11 January 1652 a meeting took place in Ye Mermaid Tavern in Oistins, when the Articles of Agreement were signed. This later became known as the Charter of Barbados when recognized by the Commonwealth Parliament.

Christ Church parish church overlooks the town and is notable for its cemetery containing the Chase Vault. When the vault was opened in 1812 for the burial of Colonel Thomas Chase, the lead coffins were found scattered around inside. It happened again in 1816, 1817, 1819 and 1820, whereupon the coffins were removed and buried separately in the churchyard. Whatever had been moving them around had thrown them about with such violence that one coffin had taken a chunk out of the vault wall.

Oistins is now the main fishing port with colourful boats pulled up on the shore and you can still see fishermen mending and making nets. The fish market is worth visiting, even if you don’t want to buy, to see the expert skill and lightning speed with which the women fillet flying fish and bag them up for sale. Flying fish being the signature dish of Barbados, they make it into something special here, celebrating every Friday night with a fish fry around the market. Dozens of wooden stalls are opened for the occasion and the smell of well-seasoned fried fish wafts along the coast attracting hundreds of hungry people keen to fill up before hitting the bars and night spots of the south coast. Oistins is also the venue for an Easter Fish Festival, selebrating fishermen’s skills with demonstrations of fish boning, boat racing and crab racing, helped along with steel pan music and dancing.

St Lawrence Gap.

This beautiful horseshoe shaped bay with pristine white sand and turquoise water is the stuff of dreams. It’s a great place for lazing around, sunbathing and cooling off in the sea, which is usually calm and protected. There are windsurfers and other watersports for hire.

Worthing. Park at Sandy Beach Resort or the Carib Beach Bar.

The curve of the coastline and an offshore reef has produced a lovely beach with shallow, calm water, almost in a lagoon, making it ideal for families with small children. Also known as Carib Beach, it’s a good place to learn to windsurf because of the lack of waves and there are beach chairs, umbrellas and towels for hire. The Carib Beach Bar attracts all sorts and is lively during the day and at night.

Worthing, Highway 7.

The largest expanse of inland water in Barbados, Graeme Hall Swamp, near St Lawrence Gap, has 80 acres of wetland and mangroves around a lake. It is a natural habitat for birds and there are 18 resident species and 150 migrants. Some 180 bird species have been recorded in Barbados, mostly migrants and mainly shore birds and waders, which breed in North America and winter in South America. The first to pass through are normally sighted in July when they flock into the swamp. A boardwalk is open to the public but the rest is to be a bird sanctuary for scientific research only. Three endangered Caribbean duck species are found here.

Rockley, off Highway 7.

In the middle of the hotel strip, this beach is understandably popular and often crowded. Strong swimmers should head out to a small, man-made reef of huge boulders for the best snorkelling on the south coast. Sunk in the late 1990s, it is already growing coral and is home to large schools of blue tang, jacks and other colourful fish. A young hawksbill turtle sometimes hangs around there and you may be lucky enough to see him if not too many boatloads of snorkellers have been there first. You must be careful on such a young reef not to damage anything by standing on it or poking around with your hands as coral dies if you touch it. Depending on the waves, Accra Beach is also good for bodysurfing or, alternatively, just sitting watching the fit types performing and strutting their stuff. Facilities include a car park, kiosks for vendors and boogie boards and beach chairs for rent. There’s also a lifeguard.

Travel Guides | Barbados | Sub Regions | Barbados - West of the airport
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