River Bay Another Barbados Beauty Spot
I recently had the pleasure of visiting another amazing Barbados beauty spot called River Bay, which is located in the north of the Island in the parish of St Lucy. I can imagine that because of the Location of River Bay and it’s distance from the main tourist areas that it is hardly ever visited by tourists, in fact the day I visited, which was on Monday morning there were only two other people there. It is seemingly a different story at the weekend when the place is packed full of locals enjoying themselves.
River Bay is an extremely beautiful place to visit in Barbados. I had a great couple of hours there enjoying the views from the cliffs overlooking the bay and I also had a wee dip in the sea. The waves were a wee bit on the big side and the current was fairly strong when I was there, so I wouldn’t recommend going too far into the Caribbean Sea unless you were a strong swimmer.
There are even showers and toilet facilities at river bay as well as plenty of picnic areas, which are greatly appreciated. It sure is a nice spot to have a picnic if you can find somewhere to eat where there isn’t too much rubbish to put me you off your food!
As is usually is the case here in Barbados, any beauty spot that is fairly busy and popular with locals during the weekend there is always a huge amount of rubbish strewn all over the place and River Bay was no exception. The worst thing is that there are plenty of bins for people to put their rubbish into.
For me a drive up to the Parish of St Lucy and to River Bay is well worth the effort even though the state of the roads is unbelievable bad and the road signs are invisible. I wish I knew how the local MP for St Lucy can sleep at night? Or maybe he thinks the roads are in pristine condition. David Thomson needs to come out of his big mansion and stop worrying about what is happening in other countries and sort out the basic things at home.
River Bay is a place that I would recommend that all visitors that come to Barbados set aside some time and go and visit it. You will see a different side to Barbados away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas. In fact I would advise you hire a car and make a day of it, visiting the many other great attractions and beauty spots in St Lucy and St Andrew.
The Legendary Chicken Rita’s of Barbados
I’m currently having a wee break at a nice apartment down at the Silversands area of Barbados. By chance I came across what I would describe as a typical looking down to earth rum shop called Chicken Rita’s. I suppose the name gives the game away that that chicken is their speciality.
Because Chicken Rita’s was within walking distance from my accommodation, it meant I could leave the car and have a few drinks along with my food, which is probably the main reason we chose to eat there.
Deciding what to have to eat at Chicken Rita’s isn’t too difficult as long as you want to eat chicken, because that’s all they do! You can have breast, yes please and make them big, legs or thighs, which you can have along with homemade chips or rice.
What can I say about Chicken Rita’s a little unassuming rum shop, is that they do extremely good fried chicken, it was very tasty and fresh. The chips were homemade and looked just like my mum would have made them when I was a wee kid back home in Scotland, but Chicken Rita’s chips weren’t the best I have tasted, they maybe looked like my mums, but they were a poor imitation, they were cold and a bit soggy. I would also like to add that the Banks beer was chilled to utter perfection and tasted too good!
Overall I would personally say that Chicken Rita’s is well worth paying a visit if you are ever in the mood for some rather tasty fried chicken in a fairly laid back rum shop. Also don’t feed the cats until you are finished eating or you will never get rid of them and there was 7 of them hovering around the night I was there.
There was also some delicious looking rum cake and chocolate cake in a cabinet on the bar, which I was sorely tempted to try, but alas I was stuffed from the Chicken and chips. There will however be a next time when I visit Chicken Rita’s.
The Total bill for 2 servings of chicken breast and chips, along with 6 bottles of banks, (it was thirsty work!) a quarter bottle of rum and 3 bottles of soft drinks came to around $65.00BDS, I would call that very reasonable indeed.
Chicken Rita’s Rating:
Fried Chicken: 7 out of 10
Homemade chips: 4 out of 10
Banks Beer: 8 out of 10
Directions:
Head along the south coast main road towards the airport until you get to Oistins. At the fork in the road, turn right heading towards Silver Sands, continue up this road until you come to an oval shaped roundabout. Turn right and follow the road until you come to St. Christopher’s Church. Turn right and follow the road for about half a mile then take the next turn on your left. At the end of this road you will see Chicken Rita’s right in front of you.
Cotton House Bay A Great Wee Beach In Barbados
I came across Cotton House Bay in Barbados completely by chance. I was standing at Keizer Hill watching another beautiful Sunset with my wife, when I noticed a pretty looking wee stretch of sands in the distance. I could see a handful of people on the beach itself and a few learner surfers at one end of the bay, The Sunset In Barbados Is An Amazing Sight!
It was obvious that you could get onto Cotton House Bay, the only problem was how you got onto it. Once the sun had set it was too dark to go searching for the Bay, it is hard enough to find places in Barbados during daylight hours let alone when the sun has set.
So the next day I set out on a mission to see if Cotton House Bay was as a picturesque beach as it looked from the distance. I parked the car beside Keizer Hill and thought I would walk along from there until I came to the entrance to the beach. Because this is Barbados and they are a bit backwards as far as signposting places is concerned and I was rightly not expecting to find a sign pointing me in the right direction.
I walked along  the road, dodging speeding cars in search of Cotton House Bay for about 10 minutes until I came to a road, which was called Seaside Drive. A wee walk along that road and I had found what I was looking for.
Cotton House Bay is a truly beautiful stretch of beach and there were only a handful of people on it, almost perfect. At the start of the bay there were quite a few surfers getting lessons, but they were tucked out of harms way. Cotton House Bay is great little beach for those that like things a little bit quieter than nearby Miami Beach, Miami Beach Is In Barbados, It Really Is!
I think Cotton House Bay would be a great place for a romantic picnic at the beach, the setting is near perfect and if things get a little bit too hot, the sea is fairly calm and is perfect for a wee dip to help you cool down!
I had relaxing couple of hours at the Bay and I even found a short cut back to my car, would you believe there was a stairway leading to about 20 metres from where I parked my car. I never noticed the stairway leading down to Cotton House Bay because the gate had been closed and I had thought I was part of someone’s house. There of course wasn’t any indication at the top of the stairs that it was a public stairway!
Come on Barbados tourism authority do something to help makes things easier for people to find places on the island, it isn’t just about getting people to come to the island. You have to start making a bigger effort for when the tourists come to the island, start making people aware of great places to visit like Cotton House Bay and then erect some sign posts to help them find it. It isn’t exactly rocket science but you guys make it seem so!. Here is  some help I devised for you guys in power in Barbados, which  can be found right here, read and learn, 5 Simple Steps To Improve Tourism In Barbados.
The Poor Shop Assistants of Barbados
I read with utter disbelief in the Monday addition of the Nation Newspaper, when the General Secretary of the Barbados Workers Union said that he felt that a weekly wage of $200BDS (yes $200) is a totally unacceptable wage for shop assistants here in Barbados, I wish someone could explain to me why the past Governments have allowed this travesty to happen, I can only guess that all the politicians have been more concerned with lining their own pockets with their ill gotten gains rather than making sure that the people of Barbados do not get exploited by greedy employers.
I for one find it amazing that in this day and age people are being expected to work for a pittance of $200 a week in a country such as Barbados, where everything costs so much. Lets face it, I could understand such a weekly wage if it was a cheap country to live, i.e. it was cheap to buy food and that utilities were cheap, but as anybody lives here knows that is far from the case.
The only thing that seems to be cheap in Barbados is the Rum and now I can see why there are so many rum shops and people who frequent them on a regular basis, it is cheaper to drink liqueur than it is to eat!
I would honestly say that food is a hell of lot cheaper in the UK and we have a far better choice of produce to choose from. I know it is the same in the USA and Canada; they are also even cheaper than the UK.
I wish someone could explain to me how you are meant to survive on $200 a week in Barbados, I find it amazing that there is people out there having to suffer like that. For example I went into the shop today and bought some bottles of juice and few bits and pieces, which cost me $40 and they wont even last the day. When I was in the shop I overheard a mother saying to her child what you would like for her dinner and she ended up getting a tin of tuna and packet of biscuits, I thought to myself what a way to have to live.
To me there seems to be lot of good people that are struggling and who work hard to make ends meet in Barbados. I personally wonder if the Government really cares, I suppose they should. I would like to think that the David Thomson administration will take their hands out of the cookie jar long enough to try and make sure every worker in Barbados earns a decent wage.
As I read  this article I’m looking in the Auto Guide of the local news paper and see an add for a 2000 E320 Mercedes-Benz and they are asking $45,000BDS. I have a friend back in the UK who sold the exact same car in immaculate condition 80,000km on the clock for $12,000BDS. Only a slight difference in price! The amount of duty that they charge for vehicles to come into Barbados they should have the best roads in the world, not the worst ones!
I now can see why so many of the shop assistants in Barbados couldn’t give a crap about their job or the customers, quite frankly would you if you were having to work and survive on such a pittance?
The Sunset In Barbados Is An Amazing Sight
I was out for a wee walk the other night with my wife in search of a beautiful sunset and Barbados sure didn’t disappoint me. For me there is nothing quite like watching the sunset with someone that you love, it is pure romance.
Of course it is always a good idea to take a nice bottle of chilled sparkling wine to help add to the ambiance of watching something as beautiful as the sun setting on a cloudless evening with your lover.
We found a near perfect location from which to watch the sun setting here in Barbados and it is a fantastic beauty spot, which I don’t really want to tell the world where it is because there were about 6 other couples there at the time and I wouldn’t want it to become overrun with all you romantics out there.
I suppose it isn’t fair just not to tell you were the location is, it is called Keizer Hill and is just along the coast from Miami Beach heading towards Cotton House Bay.
It is a New Year and it you can make it a fresh start if you want too, by that I mean put a little effort into your relationship and on a regular basis set aside time where you  create  romantic moments for your girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, wife, life companion or whatever they call it nowadays and show them that you love them and are glad to be with them!
I know from personal  experience that it can and does put a little bit of spice back into your relationship and that  it is worth the effort.
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Bajan Beach Girls With Bodies of Goddesses
It is 2009 and we have all made our New Year resolutions and one of mine is to go to the beach on a more regular basis. I have plenty of other more serious business and fitness goals that I have, but I don’t want to bore you all with those, as I just plan on quietly getting on with those ones.
But I don’t mind sharing with the world my desire to go to the beach more often here in Barbados. I would like to visit every single beach that there is on the island during the course of this year.
As you can guess there are some of the most beautiful beaches in the world scattered all around the coastline of Barbados, they are almost as good as the ones in Scotland, but not quite. The only thing that they have that beats bonnie Scotland is the simple fact, we don’t get the weather that the Bajans get.
I was having a long gruelling walk the other day at Long Beach, it also a good place for getting some exercise, as well as lazing around relaxing and enjoying the view.
Whilst on my walk I came across something I thought was banned in Barbados, a girl waking around with her top off. It beats me why these ugly thin German girls think it is okay to be walking around showing the world their little breasts, it was a disgusting site, which I wish I had never seen, but when she walked right in front of my eyeballs I couldn’t miss her. Put them away and keep them away German lady, you are old enough to know better.
My picture of the two delightful Bajan girls shows what you should be wearing at the beach, they don’t have to walk around with their boobs out to have people notice them!
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