AIRBNB 204 Waterside pre booked guests, Payne’s Bay Barbados

Before leaving

Order “Avon skin so soft. ”from Amazon. This is really good against sandflies and mosquitoes.

Go on line and check in for Barbados airport. Google “ travel form barbados”This will get you through the immigration queues quickly. Sometimes four or five UK aircraft land in quick succession which delays processing.

Arriving at the airport

Once you have cleared immigration with your sanity intact the best way to get to the apartment is by taxi.

As you leave the arrivals hall you will see a taxi organiser on your left with a yellow jacket with a podium in front of him. This is the official taxi rank and prices are government controlled so are fair. Do not wander off and get accosted by unofficial taxi operators or you will get ripped off.

You can see it is very transparent with all the prices laid out. You can see above that there is a price for “prospect/cave hill. That is what you ask for. $93BDS. This is $47 US dollars.

The main guy will now give you a ticket for the taxi driver. You keep the white copy and he gives the pink to the driver. That is the price. End of.

Directions

Tell the driver that Waterside is on the west coast just past the Cliff Restaurant. It is on Payne’s Bay.

Go past the Cliff, Payne’s beach is then on your left. Waterside is the second large property block on the left after the beach. A large set of gates says WATERSIDE on it. ( look on google earth ).

Pull up at the gates and security will open the gates for you.

The security office is facing the gate The keys to the apartment will be with security. There are two entrance doors to the apartment. Take the second one. The door code is the same as the front gate. Ask security to show you to apartment 204. It is up the lift, press 2 in the lift or one set of stairs. It is on the first floor up. Exit lift and it is on your left.

The Apartment

Welcome to your new vacation home. We hope you have a lovely stay here and I will highlight below things you need to know within the apartment.

1.Wi-Fi connection in the apartment.

Air conditioning. Each bedroom has its own controller in the bedroom. In the kitchen and lounge there’s one controller which controls the two units. Stand beneath each one and press the middle, Green button. Wait 30 seconds ( remember this is Barbados) and it will start. Then repeat underneath the other one.
Safe is in the hallway in the small room which holds the water cistern. It is on the left hand side, fixed to the wall.
Washer & Dryer in the kitchen area.
Most importantly for coffee addicts there is a Nespresso machine. The machine is Virtuo so remember the pods are very new and cannot be bought in supermarkets. They are circular, like little space ships so please bring the correct pods with you. Pods can also be bought from:-
Fine Espresso Ltd, Christ Church, Barbados, phone number from apartment is 428 4137. They do deliver to Holetown for orders over $100BBD.

KITCHEN

Fully equipped kitchen. Clothes Washer and dryer is in this area. Full size fridge and freezer. Nespresso machine.

BATHROOMS

In the main bedroom is a bath, separate shower and toilet and washbasin.

In the second bedroom is a shower and toilet, and washbasin.

In the hall is a toilet and washbasin.

GYM

There is a gymnasium in the basement. Take the lift down to floor 0 and it is at the far end of the garage.

When returning from the garage up to the apartment the elevator lift code is

GARAGE

Garage is underneath the apartment. Bit tight down there so watch the pillars. Good idea to park down here, keeps the car out of the sun and is handy if you have lots of heavy shopping ( beer is very heavy ). Just jump into the lift in the garage and it takes you straight to the apartment on 2. Code for the elevator from the garage is

CLEANING

Cleaner if required.

POOL AREA

Pool area is on the sea side.

Key code from pool to beach is….

Towels. Please use the coloured towels rather than the white ones.

The guy in charge of the pool is Troy who cleans it daily and looks after the grounds surrounding Waterside.

Pool is not supervised so please be careful with infants and children.

SECURITY

There is a security guard on duty every day and night. He patrols all night around the outside of the apartments. The security lady during the day is called Judy.

FOOD

Daily Fresh Fish is available . Turn right leaving the apartment on the main road side or left out of the beach gate. Walk about 50 yards and there is an amazing little fish market. The lady in charge is called Miss Young. I asked her what her first name was and she said “Forever” !!!Her accomplice is Melissa King. She is very funny, loves to dance whilst filleting the fish.
To watch her fillet the fresh fish as you order is a real treat. She is a marvel with a knife. Don’t argue with her.

Fish only arrives about 1pm so don’t go before then. We always buy Maui Maui for breakfast. Also flying fish good for breakfast also. Kingfish steaks good for dinner.

Great variety of fish.

Across the road, to the right, is a pizza restaurant. Pizza are good but the rest is rubbish. Why they choose to sell frozen,cardboard fish when they can buy fresh fish daily across the road is beyond belief.
The petrol station across the road also serves snacks and sells food. However does seem to attract some dodgy people.
Just alongside the petrol station is the road leading to Holders Hill. They have a farmers market there every Saturday.
The best and most expensive supermarket is Massey’s in Holetown. Jordans supermarkets are better value. Jordans is a couple of miles south of the apartment on the main road on the left.

DRINK

Good little bar directly opposite Wateside called KARIBU. On arrival on the first day you are probably too tired to go into Holetown so try KARIBU. Lovely staff, rum puches, beers and a small delicious menu. Mutton and rice, prawns in garlic. Good limited local menu.

Owned by lady called Sonia who is lovely.

Happy Hour at Surf Inn on the beach in Holetown every evening. Surf side is good for watching football and rugby. Multiple screens, magnificent location, rubbish staff, poor food, but good for sport and drinks when they decide to acknowledge you. An education in how not to look after customers.

Happy hour at Zachio’s on the beach every evening. Efficient staff. Need to spend over $20 BD to use a credit card. No problem there then !!!Great location to watch the sun go down.

Restaurants

Restaurants come and go but the best list at time of writing is:

• CARIZMA in chattel village Holetown for breakfast. Nice little cafe during the day for breakfast and coffee. Owned by Anita from Leeds. Living here must be better than Yorkshire. They have UK daily papers there just to spoil your day and WiFi. Password is CHILLIPEPPERS for WiFi. Book on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the Tapas evenings with a great little band playing. It’s always full and excellent value for money.It’s a 2-3 stop trip on the Reggae buses from Waterside to Holetown. Chattel village is at the start of Holetown.
  Tides.
  QP Bistro. Very very good.
  Lone Star. Great position on the beach. Good for Sunday lunch. Expensive.
  Next door to Lonestar going north of Juma’s. Good for curries. On the beach so good views.
  Sandy Lane for Sunday Lunch. All you can eat, magnificent buffet, but very expensive ( about £420B per head). Ouch.
  Good restaurant in Speightstown called “Local”. On Main Street. Our favourite.
  Sea View is on the east coast. Been recommended by a local. Not tried it.
  La Cabane. Really good restaurant on the beach. Near Batts Rock. Google it. It’s about 10 minutes away by car heading south. Tables are on the beach.

Getting around the island

Yellow and blue buses stop outside the apartment. No they don’t. Yellow buses stop anywhere. Just turn around and they will stop. Private enterprise at its best. $3:50 will take you anywhere. Stay on the bus all day There is a bus stop to the left of the apartment. This side of the road will take you to Holetown and Speighstown. At Speightstown you can connect with buses to take you north or to the east coast. On the opposite side of the road the bus goes to the capital Bridgetown, the airport, and Oistins Oistins is a great place to go on a Friday night for the weekly fish fry with reggie bands to entertain you. There is a difference between the yellow buses and the blue buses. The yellow buses are called “reggie buses” and are a bit chaotic in that they tear around the island playing loud reggie music. Forget the bus stop as they will stop anywhere and will attract your attention with Colonel Bogey air horns whenever they can. They are a lot of fun but not for the faint hearted. The blue buses, on the other hand, are government run, drive slower, no music and more civilised. On the blue bus you need to put the exact money into the box as no change is given.
The cost per person on yellow bus is now $3.50 Bajan each. $7.00 BD for two. This fare takes you anywhere.
The blue bus is same price but no change given. A lot of the blue buses are now electric. Courtesy of the Chinese. They are getting a toe hold into Barbados and are lending the country millions of dollars. They did the same in Zimbabwe and now own most of the country. Very clever. Lend millions which you know country can never repay, then take all the main assets, airports, ports etc. I bet America will be made up when Chinese warships are in the port here, their port.
Taxi’s. Plenty of taxi firms to take you anywhere. Very strange, though, that the taxi from the airport to Waterside is always cheaper than the one home.
Walking

Places to visit

Holetown.
Speightstown
Bridgetown
East coast.
St Nicholas Abbey.

CHURCHES AND MASS TIMES.

Nearest Catholic Church is St Francis of Assisi at Stanfest. About 15 minutes on the bus heading north. Lovely setting as the ocean is behind the altar. Mass is 10;30 am on Sundays. Every day at 6am…,,yikes bit early that. The Church is a few yards north of Lone Star so it fits in well. Mass at 10:30 then lunch at Lone Star. Then ambulance home about 4:00pm.

Out and About.

• Hire a car for a couple of days and get around the island. Just explore and have fun. It’s a small island so you won’t get lost……,,,Famous last words.
• Harrisons cave – very good fun and well organised.
• St Nicholas Abbey – you must go there and see the film from the 1930’s of old Barbados – very interesting. New passenger steam train has been added which is great.
• Oystin’s Fish Fry. Every Friday Evening. A must. Make sure you don’t sit on the edge of the market but go in the middle as the food is better and cheaper
• Bridgetown – Not much to see. Worth a morning but nothing more unless you want to see what Bridgetown was like 70 years ago. It’s not changed.
• Diving – lots of diving boats based on wharf side in Bridgetown.