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We had booked a trip to Barbados just before the pandemic hit. Of course, the trip was delayed. It was made worse by some policies regarding visitors. For the longest time we would have been required to quarantine in our room for 5 days after arriving. They finally let up on that, and then air fares were crazy expensive. Sigh... Last November we finally decided to just pay the still rather high air fare and get the trip off our plates. It sounds like torture, but it really was wonderful once we were there! It was two weeks of beach living in a wonderful location...

November can be hit or miss in the Caribbean. Sometimes it's dry for the whole trip. Sometimes it rains for the whole trip! We were fortunate this time around and we only had a couple of days that were a bit too rainy. We went to the gym on those days, but the sun was shining when we came out. Generally it was very good weather. We went snorkeling almost every day, and most days that included snorkeling with the sea turtles (which was wonderful). They also have a protected section of coral reef right off the beach from our resort, and it was amazingly healthy! There were so many different species of fish -- it was fantastic. And that protected area also has two shallow wrecks, so that was also a treat.

In addition to snorkeling, we also did a little sailing with the resort Hobie -- which was great. And of course, we walked. A lot. We walked up and down the beach every day, multiple times each day. The water was so nice that we could just jump in for a swim if we got too warm. It was great to explore the coast that way. The resort itself was also nice. They tend to play the music a bit loud at night, but I think that is just us getting old!

This really wasn't a photography trip. You know we brought cameras, but we really tried to leave them in the room most of the time. We still shot a bit, and took some go-pro and phone images as well. We've included some of our favorites here, and we hope you enjoy viewing them! Happy trails, Mike & Hali

** Click on the images to see the full size picture **

Two phone pictures. On the left is our first room. It was a nice 3rd floor room with a great water view. It was also right above the bar that plays loud music until the wee hours. That lasted one night. The folks at the front desk very graciously offered us a different room, and we accepted. The new room was a first floor walk-out, with beach chairs right outside our door. We watched the sunset from those chairs just about every night. The picture on the right is the sort of thing we would see very often -- boats cruising up the coast as the sun slowly called it quits for the day.
What's a trip to the Caribbean without a picture of a boat on a sunset cruise sailing past the setting sun? Hali Canon EOSR6 + RF 14-35mm lens

Boats would bring tourist groups to various locations along the coast to see the thriving coral reefs, or the ship wrecks, or the turtles. We were lucky in that we could just swim out from the beach to get to those places.

Here are a couple of Gopro shots from snorkeling... Left, a green turtle swimming below us. Right, Mike coming out of the water as we finished another snorkeling session (both shots taken with the GoPro Hero 7).

Swimming with the turtles was fun, and we had multiple chances to do that. We also saw some sting rays, but didn't get any good shots or video of them. Taken on the GoPro Hero7

Some afternoons we just didn't feel like getting in front of the camera for the sunset selfie. This was one of those afternoons. The sunset itself was not special, but we got some nice color after sunset. Mike stitched together 3 different shots to get this panoramic image (Nikon Z9, 24-70mm lens).
Some days we were having so much fun that we just didn't get time to shower before sunset. This was one of those days (Nikon Z9, 24-70mm lens).

** All of the GoPro shots were taken by Hali **

Here we have a couple of very different B/W images. On the left is a large school of sergeant major's (fish) that were swarming over one of the wrecks. They were rushing to get to the food that was being spread by one of the snorkeling tour boats (gopro Hero 7). On the right is a phone image that Mike took while we were sitting in the lounge chairs, trying to decide if the sunset was going to be good or not. Full disclosure: the image did not look like this straight from the phone.
On left is a sunset image from our favorite sunset location - right outside our room (Nikon Z9, 24-70mm lens). On the right is a phone picture to remind us of where we spent our late afternoons into evening. The bar had staff walking by periodically to get you whatever beverage you might want. We were so active each day, that we really enjoyed sitting down for a little bit as the day was winding down.
Hali's latest obsession: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) The beautiful waters of the Caribbean Sea provided a good learning ground for her. To the left-a sunrise walk had beautiful soft colors to capture. Middle - that afternoon brought blue skies and blue-green water to photograph. Right- sunsets were sometimes disappointing with clouds moving in to block the sun but still provided nice color for ICM. All shots-Hali: Canon R6 RF 24-240 (with a 6-stop ND filter for the middle one).
Most of the sunsets were not as beautiful as this one was. ICM by Hali (Canon R6 with the RF 24-240mm lens)
The resort now has two Hobies for sailing. They weren't easy to get, usually having a waiting line for them, and getting out and into the resort area could be tricky. Our intrepid adventurers would not be dissuaded and if there was wind we were out there! Both photos with the GoPro Hero 7.
On this day, we decided to take a walk up the coast with our cameras. Hali took some wonderful images, and I took some pictures of Hali being wonderful (Nikon Z9, 80-400mm lens). We would probably get bored if we had nothing to do except walking up and down this coastline. But it might take a very long time to reach that point.
On left, it's just a palm frond. On right is a baby green monkey, as he climbs over the fence. A small group would pass through the resort a couple of times each day. Both images taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.
Some diffuse colors around sunset one evening (Nikon Z9, 24-70mm lens).
The water was often calm, leading to some smooth water, but there were a few good days with surf. That made for some interesting walking on the beach and some fun photos as well (and made Hali really wish she had brought her long lens!). Sadly, we could not rent a board through our connection at the resort (as we did the last time we were here).
We had seen this large piece of driftwood on a walk up the beach at low tide and thought it would make a good subject for some long exposure during high tide. The only problem would be getting there during high tide with our cameras. So on a cloudy morning when the tide was high, we walked along the road to a beach access point and got at it that way. We ended up getting wet anyhow, from a passing rainstorm, but we had fun for a while shooting this large log as the tide went out. By the time we got done, the tide was low enough to walk back to the resort along the beach without getting our gear drenched.
This is a very wide panoramic image taken with the phone. It shows the area between our resort and the famous Sandy Lane resort and beach. On the right side of the image is the area that can be very tricky to cross at high tide -- especially when there is some swell. On the far left you can see curve of the shore that holds the Sandy Lane resort (yes, that is the one where Tiger Woods was married). You can also see Hali on the left!
On left is just a phone picture from a walk down the beach. On right is a sunset selfie of the two of us. We are always trying to get at least one good sunset selfie per trip! (Nikon Z9 and the 24-70mm lens)
This image was extracted from a phone video, and it shows some of the big shore-break we experienced for a couple of days.
Hali had the GoPro for most of the trip, even for walks up and down the beach, and what was more fun than skipping stones back to where they came from? It also gave Hali a chance to get a shot of Mike unawares as well as some better shots of him with the light more favorable.
Left-Mike and Hali after a snorkel with the turtles (GoPro Hero 7). Right-Hali photographs this rusty winch every time she comes to this resort, I think she has an obsession. (Canon R6 with the 24-240mm lens)
No trip to the Caribbean is complete without meeting some wonderful people and spending time with them. (iPhone 13Pro)
Janey and Stuart, from Britain. We snorkeled and sailed with them quite a bit during our two weeks there. (Left taken with the GoPro Hero 7, Right taken with the Canon R6 and the 24-240mm lens)
Another phone panoramic image from just outside our room.
Some critters that you might see in Barbados... On the upper left is a Barbary dove (Streptopelia risoria), which is often misnamed as a ring-necked dove (Streptopelia capicola) -- which should not be confused with Hot Capicola, because that is a lunch meat (although it is a fine lunch meat). There is some debate regarding the origins of this dove, but it is basically considered some form of domesticated dove. They are found in many places and all over the Caribbean. They generate very soothing "coo" sounds which are created by muscles that vibrate air passing up from the lungs. On the upper right is a Frangipani hornworm (Pseudosphinx tetrio). Other common names include Frangipani hawkmoth, tetrio sphinx, giant gray sphinx (because the moth form is grey-ish brown), and plumeria caterpillar. On the island of Martinique it is best known as the Rasta caterpillar. The caterpillar can reach about 6 inches in length and the moth can have a similar wingspan -- a BIG moth! The large but beautiful caterpillars can be a nuisance because they can completely defoliate a frangipani tree (their favorite meal) in a single day. If you see one, do not pick it up! They are coated in barbed urticating hairs (just like tarantulas), which stick in skin and cause irritation. And also, they bite. On the bottom is a balustrade from the resort next door to ours. Sadly that resort is abandoned. Apparently, it is a "heritage" site -- which means that it will be very costly to bring it back to working order. All 3 shots were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.
This image really embodies the Caribbean islands. Hali snapped this (awesome) shot with the GoPro while we were walking back to the resort after snorkeling with the turtles. This image was taken during a super long walk up the beach to find a snorkeling spot that we had heard about. Someone told us that it's "just up the beach". It was about a 1.5-hour walk (each way). Sadly, the snorkeling wasn't as good there -- which might have just been due to the windy weather.
It was a dark and stormy afternoon. Actually, it was a beautiful afternoon with light clouds over us but this beautiful storm out at sea. (Canon R6 and the 24-240mm lens)
On our last day we were treated to another visit by the green monkeys. The youngster on the right had just raided a birds nest and was figuring out how to eat the egg. (Canon R6 and the 100-500mm lens)
Our last sunset of the trip! There was about 45 minutes between these two images, taken just outside of our room. In the first image (left), the sky was nice but not what I would have wanted -- so I borrowed the sunset from a few nights before this and stuck it in there. On the right, we were getting some nice after-sunset color and decided to take just one more.
Appreciate

Credits:

© Hali J Sowle, © JM Sowle