Barbados - Scuba Diving - Carlisle Bay Marine Park

Wednesday afternoon I went scuba diving off the coast of Carlisle Bay, Barbados.  I went with the dive company Dive Barbados Blue located near the Hilton hotel.  We took a short boat ride out to the marine park where there is a handful of sunken ships (see map below).  I love diving wreck sites, I enjoy learning about the history of the wrecks along with seeing all the marine life that lives on or around them.     We dove down about 50 feet and explored the 5 wrecks; Eillion, Bajon Queen, Ce-Treck, Cornwallis, and the Berwyn. The only open slot for diving was at 2pm, that being said the visibility was good but not great.  I was under for about 35 minutes  exploring the wrecks.  I would say the highlight was seeing a bright green moray eel and a sea horse.  I also enjoyed swimming through the wrecks themselves.  

Green Moray

Air pocket on the Eillion Wreck

Map of the the wrecks.

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Barbados - Surfing the Soup Bowl

The past week Melis and I went to Barbados for a vacation and to visit our good friends the Tallons, from college.  On Friday morning Holly took us to Bathsheba.  This is a beach community that is home to the "soup bowl", the best surf spot in Barbados.  I used my friends' Patagonia 7'8'' board to enjoy some mid morning surfing.  The waves were amazing, a good 2 foot overhead, which is just about all I can handle.  I paddled out around the reef and got a quick tip from a local out in the water that the wave breaks right in line with a house on shore.  As soon as he told me this and motioned me to come over I caught my first wave.  STOKED!!!!!!!!!  It was a nice, clean wave that was easy to turn.   The waves were awesome and there were only 5 people out.  The water was around 76 degrees and I didn't need booties to walk out.

After the session I couldn't wait to get back out again.  Unfortunately, a few days later when we returned the waves were well blown out and super choppy.  Still, that one session was all I needed, those waves are the best I've surfed.  I can't wait to go back!

Choppy Soup Bowl!

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