“Adventures on the Coast of Barbados : Encounters with Turtles, Strange Fish and Visas”

Discover a world full of surprises on the coast of Barbados: from encounters with newborn turtles to challenging sea swells and visa adventures. Read our unforgettable sailing trip!

While we are walking along the beach, I suddenly see a small turtle moving with difficulty. A large crab hastily releases it and my heart jumps with excitement. I approach the little turtle, shouting, “Look, there’s a little turtle! It must have just crawled out of its nest!” There is only one of them, which suggests that the others may have already found their way to the sea, or perhaps this one was just an early riser.

With my heart pounding, furiously in my throat, I follow the turtle to the edge of the sea. I put on my snorkel and venture into the water with the turtle. As my heart pounds, wildly in my chest, I do my utmost not to disturb or startle the turtle. It is a particularly beautiful moment that touches me deeply.

After this extraordinary encounter, we continued our walk along the beach, the excitement of the moment still coursing through my veins. The beaches on the west coast of Barbados are stunning, with their white, powdery sand. There are countless beautiful houses and hotels along this coastline, which somewhat detracts from the feeling of complete seclusion during our beach walk. Here you will not easily experience that unique feeling of total loneliness.

Back on the boat, Jeroen started discovering more about turtle season, while I was busy cooking. “Did you know that from August to the end of October is turtle nest hatching season?” he said, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. He told us that there is even a volunteer association that could notify people when turtle nests hatched somewhere on the island. We looked at each other and decided to sign up for this. The thought of witnessing those little turtles making their way to the sea made us both smile and shiver with joy.

It was very clear that Barbados was mainly focused on receiving tourists arriving by air. Facilities were limited for sailboats and other small vessels, which is usually a crucial aspect for sailors. In addition, the island was buzzing with motor-related activities, with jet skis and thrilling speedboat rides that whisked people behind the boats on inflatable tubes for extra fun. This meant that snorkeling was not always without risk, and we were not always welcomed with open arms by the speedboats and jet skis as we floated in the water.

While snorkeling, Rajesh found a new species of fish that we had not seen before. “Has anyone ever heard of a batfish?” he asked, a glint of excitement in his eyes, after scouring the internet and the fish encyclopedia. The red-lipped batfish was truly an outlier, with frog-like “legs”, lipstick-red lips and dangling lures. It was undeniably different from any other fish we had ever seen in the sea.

What we also noticed was that Barbados didn’t offer many sheltered bays, especially when the wind turned south. For 2.5 weeks we were faced with a constant, uncomfortable swell along the coast, which made our life on board difficult. The boat tossed back and forth, and nothing stayed in place. Cups and plates immediately flew off the table or counter and every now and then something flew through the boat that was not completely secured. Everything became a challenge, sometimes it even seemed impossible. 

A few hours of such conditions were bearable, but after 2.5 weeks it started to take its toll. Our mood deteriorated, fatigue overcame us and the motivation to do something decreased. Ironically, the urge to get off the boat actually grew. We tried several places along the west coast hoping to find some more stability somewhere, but to no avail. Finally we decided to throw out our stern anchor for the very first time. The stern anchor helped a little, but not enough due to the constantly changing direction of the swell in the sea.

It seemed to take forever as we waited for our passports to be returned. Jeroen and I had received a message before Rajesh and we finally decided to go to the post office to pick up our documents. What initially started as a simple task quickly turned into a real mission that had us waiting in line for more than three long hours. Hungry and impatient, we left the post office and headed to the nearby shopping center for something to eat. It felt like an eternity before we finally had our passports in our hands, a wait we never expected. Meanwhile, tension was in the air over Rajesh’s visa and the return of his passport. We had no choice but to pump ourselves up and do more activities, both on land and in the water.

Luckily we managed to disembark more and had nice walks along the coast. While we were resting on some rocks, Jeroen suddenly noticed something. He shouted with enthusiasm: “Look, there’s a little turtle!” In an instant, all our worries from the past few weeks seemed to fade away, and we stood up to get closer. Jeroen said with amazement in his voice: “Not just one, but dozens!”

It was an extraordinary experience to see an entire nest of young turtles hatching. There must have been at least a hundred. Unfortunately we couldn’t take underwater photos due to the cloudy water caused by the sargassum, but that didn’t matter. It was truly an unforgettable experience to witness the awe-inspiring journey the little turtles undertook and how their instincts immediately led them to the sea. From the moment they crawled out of their nest, they started an adventurous journey full of obstacles and challenges. Their little turtle bodies stumbled and tumbled over holes and piles of sand, sometimes landing on their backs. We felt the intense urge to help them, our hands itched to lend a helping hand, but we also realized that this was their journey, their struggle for survival. We stood in silence, our eyes focused on these little warriors wildly waving their flippers to move forward. Each of them seemed determined to reach the sea, regardless of the obstacles that came their way. We thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful spectacle on the beach. What a beautiful moment in the midst of all the uncertainty and tension.

This video shows a collection of the videos that Rajesh has produced:

After another week of impatient waiting, we finally received the news that Rajesh could collect his passport. This time we were well prepared for our mission to the post office. With fully charged phones and a supply of food and drinks we drove to the post office. Fortunately, everything went a bit smoother this time and we only had to wait an hour and a half. When Rajesh got his passport back, with a glittering B2 visa for America, it felt like we could conquer the world. This opened the door to 50 additional countries without the hassle of visa applications and most importantly, it meant that our long-held plans to go to Panama could remain unchanged. We could barely contain our excitement as we quickly did some last minute shopping and raised a glass of wine in the evening to celebrate the good news.

The next day we would sail back to Martinique in the late afternoon. As a result, I was in the kitchen early to prepare our dinner, while we then all prepared the boat for departure. All our belongings were neatly put away and we made sure that everything was securely fastened. Although not much wind was expected, there was enough to take us straight to Martinique. It turned out to be one of our most comfortable sailing trips to date.

Rajesh was finally able to use his drone while sailing again after a long time, with which he made beautiful films and videos. The sea swell decreased during the night, allowing us to sleep more comfortably than we had in all those weeks in Barbados. We fell asleep like logs when we weren’t on watch. We didn’t have to change our sails or course during the entire trip, which was especially nice during the night watches. The countless stars lit up the sea, and occasionally we saw groups of flying fish jumping out of the water next to the boat. During our last hour of sailing to Martinique our anemometer broke down. A job high up that Jeroen is not looking forward to! It is now our 3rd anemometer that has broken down within 1 year. Despite this small setback, we said to each other: “If only every sailing trip could be like this!”

Once we arrived in Martinique, we immediately checked in and got a fresh baguette. It was the little pleasures of the French islands that said: Welcome back! This video shows a collection of the drone videos that Rajesh has produced;