Silver Moon Barbados

One of the most fun activities of our Caribbean Cruise in March was a five hour cruise on a catamaran called the Silver Moon II. The catamaran had 12 guests, including our group of 6, and 3 employees who did everything from steer the boat, put up and down the sails, provide lunch and drinks and take us out snorkeling. 

I had not been on a sail boat since high school, when I went out on Hoby Cats with my friends. This boat was much larger, more sturdy and also had a motor to speed things along when the wind was not providing enough lift. 

One of our first activities was to go snorkeling, first to see green sea turtles and a sting ray, then to some ships that had been sunk in the bay to provide the base for a reef, where we saw lots of fish, particularly sergeant major fish. 

A green sea turtle, some tarpon and a stingray.

Ballyhoo and sergeant major fish.

More sergeant major fish, which were the dominant species we saw.  

Then we sailed along the coast of Barbados and were provided a Bajan style buffet lunch. Bajan means Barbadian and is a mixture of African, Indian, Irish, Creole and British influences. A typical meal has a main dish of fish or meat marinated with a mixture of herbs and spices, hot side dishes, and one or more salads. We started with an appetizer that looked like a small empanada, filled with beans and some sort of mixed meat, then our buffet included a coleslaw salad with cabbage and carrots, a green salad, grilled fish, grilled chicken, a mac n' cheese type casserole, and rice with peas, carrots and corn. I smothered much of my food in Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce to give it some heat. It was a pretty nice lunch and the setting would be hard to beat. 

Setting up the buffet lunch.

Serving ourselves.

Appetizers.

Inside the empanada style pastry.

My plate

The ubiquitous hot sauce which we found at every meal in the Caribbean (not this brand, but something similar). 

A non-alcoholic mixed drink which was cold, sweet and marvelous. 

We sailed as far as the Sandy Lane Resort, an exclusive resort where Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren. There we dropped anchor off shore and had an opportunity to go swimming. I swam toward Sandy Lane and set my feet on the bottom, but did not get out onto the beach. The water is quite warm, the sky and water were blue as can be and the weather was perfect, probably about 80 degrees. 

Sandy Lane Resort

I never did get a great picture of the catamaran. All I managed were some shots that got pieces of it and a picture of another catamaran that looked fairly similar. 

The front of the catamaran which provided an area to lounge.

From the back, looking through the covered cabin.

Looking up at our sails.

Our main sail.

A catamaran similar to ours, although smaller. 

Passing our cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas, as we go back to dock.

I would guess that among the six of us, this activity was the universal favorite and it was nicely representative of a Bajan meal.