Explore: The Cave of Barbados

One early Saturday morning we made our way through the island's picturesque countryside to Harrison's Cave as we were going to try out their new Eco-Adventure tour. As we entered the recently redeveloped facility, our friendly tour guide greeted us and started to show us "the ropes." He gave us a quick training session on how to navigate through the caves and what movements we would be making in order to get the most out of our tour. Strapped up with elbow pads, kneepads, gloves and head gear/helmet, we headed into the cave to start this little (well pretty big) adventure. 

As you enter Harrison's Cave, it is quite humid but with in a few minutes you are fully aclimatized. The first thing we embarked upon was a magnificent array of cave formations- stalactites and stalagmites - which glistened beautifully in the dim light of the cave. The crystal clear water streams were flowing along the limestone and it literally took my breath away as I stared at nature's beauty in awe. We started to make our way deeper into the cave and explore a bit more as our guide gave us informative details. He stressed the fact that we were not allowed to touch any stalactites or stalagmites as Harrison’s Cave does take great care to protect and preserve their naturally stunning underground sanctuary.

Be ready to get down on your hands and knees and get muddy because that is what this adventure tour is about. In order to see some of the magical water streams and formations in the cave, we had to crawl and squirm through small areas. When we thought we had seen just about the majority of the cave and it was coming to an end, we then embarked upon a large crystal clear freshwater pool. Little did we know we were actually going to hike through this pool and enter yet another cranny of the cave. The surprises never ceased during this adventure! We entered the cold fresh water pool which was up to my waist and up to Kim’s chest (you can understand the difference in height there) and hiked along the outer section of the pool. As we made it to the end of the rope, we hiked up a small but very steep cliff of the cave to encounter more magic.

This adventure is no doubt one of the best in Barbados. If you are of the adventurous kind and try this tour while in Barbados, here are a few tips from our experience:

• Wear old "sporty" clothes as you may need to discard of them after the tour
• Wear stable enclosed shoes
• Have a good lunch before you start the tour (as the tour lasts for 4 hours)
• Bring a bottle of water with you to stay hydrated
• Refrain from wearing white as you will get wet and muddy

 Let us know what you think if you have tried this tour before or if you are thinking of trying it!