Day 1: Soufrière to St Lawrence Gap
We left at noon for the airport. We made such good time that we had to wait 20 minutes before we could check in for our flight. After checking in we walked across the road to the beach which looked surprisingly nice. We were accosted by a pretty persistent beggar so we left quickly. The airport in Castries is the smaller airport. Most of it is open air. Security was cramped but everything was efficient. We were assigned seating on the prop jet. Since I remembered to check for entry requirements and used the online forms our entry into Barbados went super smooth. Getting a taxi at the airport was well organized. We checked in with someone who wrote out a slip with our destination and assigned us a taxi. Fares are set so no negotiation is needed.
We checked into the Rostrevor Hotel then went to the mini-market across the street for rum and beer. Dinner at Harlequin was great. Afterwards we walked down to the Gap convenience store since the mini-market didn’t have any spiced rum. We were so full from dinner we only had one drink and one beer. We brought some Crystal Light from home to use as mixer and both the Tropical Punch and Cherry Pomegranate flavors work well with the spiced rum.
Day 2: Grocery Shopping
We had a full English breakfast and french toast and bacon at the hotel. Then we walked down to Clifton Market to stock up on snack food, breakfast, and beer. It was expensive but we got premium stuff. Dairy is pricey here; we bought vegan cheese by mistake. (Which was surprisingly good.)
We had an early dinner at Cafė Sol, then walked down to Dover Beach to check it out.
We tried some smoked porter tonight. It was pretty good, but I don’t need any more.
Day 3: At the Pocket Beach
Dover Beach looked nice but the pocket beach at our hotel is right here and the loungers are free. So we found loungers under an umbrella and Steve tried out the water at the pocket beach. We saw turtles out in the water.
We walked down to Mimosa’s for pizza and passion fruit mimosas, along with a lovely view. I ended up getting almond milk for my coffee. It does not work that well. (Apparently dairy products have been hard to find lately. Something about the local cows not producing milk.)
Day 4: Another Day of Lounging
We sat closer to the pool today. There seemed to be lots of people arriving and waiting for rooms.
We had piña coladas and flying fish sandwiches across the street at Sharkey’s, where we saw a bananaquit drinking from a rum dispenser.
The lizards really like this light we can see from our terrace. I think this was the most we saw at one time.
Day 5: Yet Another Day of Lounging
We got out earlier today and snagged loungers more or less below us. We have a new routine: Steve goes down after breakfast and finds a spot, then texts me where it is. I go down after I’m ready — since I take longer than him — and then he can go back up. We got in the pool a couple of times today. The water temperature is pleasant and it’s not as wavy as the little beach. This appears to be another of those places where everyone knows each other.
Crabs hang out on the rocks and occasionally come up on deck to visit.
We had snacky food tonight. A persistent bird landed on our table wanting chocolate cookies.
Day 6: Errands (and more Lounging)
We sat in the same spot today. In the afternoon we walked to the ATM for some local cash, hitting a new market, a bakery, and The Cake Lady coffee shop en route.
We had dinner at Harlequins again. We liked our first visit so much we made reservations for two more nights.
Regardless of time of day, we don’t get tired of our view.
Day 7: Ditto
Today was about the same as yesterday, except we only hit one market. And I got smacked awake by a rogue wave that came over the seawall.
We had snacky food for dinner again. Here’s tonight’s sunset.
Day 8: More Lounging
Pretty much a repeat of yesterday, except we went to Sharkey’s again for dinner. We met a nice English couple who sat next to us and asked us about chairs. The front desk told them they couldn’t vacate chairs for more than 15 minutes! We actually haven’t seen much hassle over seating here. They told us some people come here and stay for months at a time.
Here are a couple of bananaquits, and a dove on our terrace.
Day 9: Getting a Rental Car
We arranged a rental car for a week and today it was dropped off at the hotel. Other than that we sat near the pool and had one last dinner at Harlequins.
St Lawrence Gap is lively, but I wouldn’t call it party central. Which is fine with us.
Day 10: Valentine’s Day
We had snacky food on Valentine’s Day, to avoid the restaurant crush. And pouring rain, it turned out. We also bought a “happy dude” for a Christmas ornament. We’ve been walking by them on the street everyday and decided we had to have one. We had to wait for the vendor to come back so we had a beer at the nearby food truck (van). Happy Dude was twice as much as we expected but bought it anyway. Too cute.
Here’s one last look at our view. Tomorrow we move on to Holetown.
Essentials
Lodging
We had a few options to choose from near Dover Beach in our price range. The Rostrevor Hotel beach isn’t big enough to sit on but there are plenty of loungers seaside and stairs to get down to the water for swimming. (And Dover and Worthing beaches in walking distance.) We had a nice balcony with a sea view. St Lawrence Gap is busy but street noise was not an issue for us. Lots of repeat visitors here and I can see why.
Dining
We loved the hotel restaurant, the Harlequin. Delicious food, excellent friendly service, and not fussy. We shared the Seafood Dipper twice, deep fried bits of fish and seafood with a tasty dip. We also sampled spring rolls, Thai curry, Barbados Hot Pot, Harlequin chicken, and mahi mahi with garlic butter. The cocktails and the warm rolls were good too.
Café Sol was highly recommended. The margaritas were pretty good; the nachos and burritos were okay but not great. They were out of the carnitas I wanted so that may have influenced me. We had pizza and passion fruit mimosas at Mimosa’s. Lots of cheese on the Mafioso pizza, plus a garlic butter pizza. The crust was a little stiff. We can’t tell you about anything else at Sharkey’s but we went back for another round of flying fish sandwiches. Good drinks too, and good service.
Transportation
We rented a car through Stoutes for a week during our stay, to get us from place to place and so we could more easily visit some of the gardens and more remote beaches. We arranged to pick up the car at our hotel in St Lawrence Gap and to have them collect it in Holetown. We weren’t sure if we would need to go to their office to do paperwork — we’ve done that on other islands — but they did all the paperwork in the hotel lobby. Getting the car was efficient and organized. They were an hour late picking the car up in Holetown; we suspect there may have been some confusion over where to pick it up. They also questioned some damage to the car and we were able to show them that it was marked when we picked it up. So make sure you pay attention to that if you rent a car!
I would rent a car from Stoutes if I rented again, though now that we’ve seen the gardens and the east coast of the island I don’t think we would need a car. Lots of buses run up and down the main roads on the south and west coasts.