Is Barbados a bit rubbish, really?

[Gazza]

I made landfall at Barbados from Cape Verde just before Christmas 2003. Cleared in at Port St Charles, where they were very helpful, but made it fairly clear that they didn't want a 32' boat in their superyacht marina. Went down to Bridgetown and anchored there for a few days.
Dragged anchor the only time on the whole circuit at Bridgetown, and pulled up the remains of an inflatable when reanchoring.
Enjoyed the island, although the beach clubs can be fairly noisy music-wise. I was kept awake until about midnight on Christmas Eve, and then woken up by a large service on the beach at 7am the next day.

 

[Bajansailor]

Re: Some pilotage info for Barbados

There is an excellent website of aerial photos of Barbados at http://barbadosphotogallery.com/aindx.htm - I have downloaded a few of these to my Photobucket and will post them here with some pilotage notes. These photos are copywrited - hope it is OK to post copies here if I acknowledge where they came from (?).

The first one is a view of Port St Charles marina.

There are two Customs and Immigration stations in Barbados, one at PSC, and the other at the big ship harbour in Bridgetown.
PSC is definitely the much better choice for checking in at! The PSC marina is about 11 miles north of Bridgetown along the west coast. The customs station is in the building on the breakwater - the entrance channel is buoyed with the American system (red, right, returning) and is pretty straight forward.
Our boat lives on a mooring near to the fishing boat in the photo closest to the breakwater.

The alternative is to check in at the big ship harbour in Bridgetown - here is a view looking NW from Carlisle Bay towards the harbour :

One disadvantage of the big ship harbour is the height of the quay - it is quite a scramble to get up on to it from an average sized yacht. And the fenders provided are ideal stanchion benders......

In the foreground is the harbour for commercial fishing boats - visiting yachts are welcome to purchase diesel here duty free (two fuel stations, on the ends of the jetties) at approx 30p per litre.

Here is a photo of Carlisle Bay looking north, with the new Hilton Hotel in the foreground on Needhams Point.

Visiting yachts tend to anchor at the northern end of the bay, off the Boatyard jetty (just visible in the far distance). The Boatyard btw is a restaurant and nightclub, and they usually keep going until 0400 hrs on a weekend, and a bit earlier during the week.... Couple this with the Harbour Lights night club on the beach a bit further to the east, and you get it in bad stereo on a yacht anchored out in the bay..... one reason for staying put anchored off PSC, where it is much quieter! Visiting yachts have also found that they can quite happily pick up the free wifi at PSC on laptops in the cockpit while anchored off the beach just south of the breakwater.

Here is another photo of Carlisle Bay, looking eastwards -

The jetty in the middle is the Grand Barbados Hotel (used to be the Holiday Inn). The Yacht Club is to the left (north) of it, while the Cruising Club is just to the south.
The Tradewinds tanker in the foreground is either loading crude to take to Trinidad for refining, or discharged refined products that have been brought back from Trinidad.

 

[Troutbridge]

Re: Some pilotage info for Barbados

Interesting. I'm doing 'the crossing' again in 2009. A friend who went (back) to Barbados a couple of years ago reckoned PSC was best avoided. I need local advice! Last time I anchored in carlisle Bay and had a great time at the Boatyard, but I gather they've gone too commercial ($20 US A DAY to use the dingy dock, that can't be right, surely?). I loved Bridgetown and the fact it was an easy walk in and stagger back to the boat in CB. What's transport like from PSC to Bridgetown and do they mind if a small cruiser darkens their swanky harbour? Bearing in mind anchoring in CB is free, how about anchoring near PSC? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Bajansailor]

Re: Some more pilotage info for Barbados

Why did your friend recommend avoiding Port St Charles??

It is much easier to check in at PSC than at the main harbour.
The berths in the marina at PSC are all private, and they only have about 5 berths for visiting yachts on the breakwater, and these are designed for boats over about 60', hence why they might appear to be unenthusiastic about letting you have a berth there - and they will probably be booked up anyway.

Anchoring off PSC is perfectly OK - although it can be a bit rolly at times. If you anchor fairly close in (inside and south of the breakwater) you should be able to pick up their wifi on your laptop while sitting in the cockpit. I sent an email to a visiting yacht last winter - they were anchored off PSC - asking them to look out for Vadis, a wee Centurion 32 who was due to arrive soon - and I got an email back from them a few minutes later saying that Vadis had just dropped anchor behind them.....

Anchoring off PSC and in Carlisle Bay is free - the only fees you pay are the clearance fee re Customs and Immigration (currently US$ 25 for 'in and out') and a small fee when you leave (less than US$5 typically - it is based on tonnage) as light dues.

Re using the dinghy jetty and facilities at The Boatyard in Carlisle Bay, I think that US$20 must be a mistake - more likely to be BDS$ 20 (or US$ 10 - still steep, but they are not really interested in grotty yotties, as they get plenty of business from the cruise ship pax).

Transport from PSC to Bridgetown is easy - just go outside the main gate and flag down a white 'ZR van' (private mini van that charges ordinary bus rates - ie BDS$ 1.50 for any distance on the route) or catch one of the big blue (goverment) or yellow (private) buses - heading south is the route to bridgetown, and the fare is the same on all the buses.
Taxis are a very different matter.....

The centre of Bridgetown is only 5 mins walk from The Boatyard, and there is a supermarket at the east end of the Careenage, and a nice watering hole called the Waterfront Cafe on the Careenage - they have decent food at a reasonable price, and excellent old time jazz every Thursday night.