I wedged my knees under the gunwale of a shipwreck 15 feet underwater and gazed up through a menagerie of parrot fish, trumpetfish and sea turtles.
Fire coral, which looked like white-tipped blades of flame, grew on the deck to my right. To my left sat a brain coral, an animal capable of neutralizing the burn I would receive if I brushed against its fiery neighbor.
I learned this piece of native medical advice from a guide aboard the Cool Runnings luxury catamaran, a vessel that was called the "creme de la creme" of catamaran cruises by Zagat in 2010.
It's easy to see why the cruise received the distinction. Few activities set the psyche more at ease than stretching out on a netted deck while sailing over turquoise water in view of a white band of sand and tropical foliage.
In two hours of cruising, we covered three-quarters of the western coast of Barbados, the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles, which is 21 miles long and 14 miles across.
The previous afternoon I had gleaned some historical info from the staff at St. Nicholas Abbey, one of the more successful producers of sugarcane syrup and rum on the island. English rule began in 1627 and extended until 1966, though some rules, like driving on the left-hand side of the road, still exist.
Rum barrels at St. Nicholas Abbey, a sugarcane plantation house in Saint Peter. Photo Credit: Dan Peel
The nation's 50-year independence anniversary on Nov. 30 has excited many members of the travel and tourism industry, including JetBlue Airways, which launched a daily roundtrip flight from Fort Lauderdale to Bridgetown on the island in anticipation of an expanded tourism season.
I joined JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes aboard the airline's inaugural Bridgetown flight. After the preflight celebrations, which included live music, a tropical buffet and greetings from Bajan girls in feather headdresses and the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders, Hayes explained how the airline has expanded from 500 employees and two planes 16 years ago to being the largest airline to the Caribbean with more than 60,000 employees and 221 planes.
The flight aboard the Blue Ribbon, a 150-seat Airbus A320, featured live music from Barbadian celebrity and musician Elan Trotman, seat bingo and a christening of water sprayed from two airport fire trucks.
During the rest of my trip, however, I saw more rum flowing than water. I enjoyed my first glass of Barbadian punch at the Bougainvillea concierge desk. With amenities that include a swim-up pool bar, kayak and snorkeling rentals, child care for ages 3 to 12, a full gym and catamaran rides, I could see why it boasts a 40% guest return rate. Its shoreline restaurant, Lanterns by the Sea, hosts a weekly Bajan buffet dinner featuring a DJ, stilt dancers and a flaming limbo dancer as well as local specialty dishes such as pig's tail stew and fried flying fish.
Bougainvillea's sister resort, Sugar Bay, offered a more modern experience from its Unesco World Heritage Site location. When the guests here weren't receiving massages and wraps at the Karma day spa, they reclined on the shoreline hammocks, listened to the waves and whistling frogs and kept an eye out for the sea turtles that have been known to nest there. I opted for the latter.
Hunte’s Garden is a 10-acre place of tranquility that contains a variety of tropical plants. Photo Credit: Dan Peel
One of the hidden gems of Barbados is a 10-acre sanctuary known as Hunte's Garden. After passing through the gate and meeting horticulturist and owner Anthony Hunte, I became immersed in a variety of tropical flowering plants as well as Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9," which played from hidden speakers along the path.
Hunte led me past palms, ferns and stone statues and down into an Edenic limestone gully where groundskeepers assembled a pavilion for a wedding. The atmosphere was so tranquil that it makes Hunte's Garden a must for anyone wishing to make a trip to Barbados.
During my final night on the island, I indulged in lobster, gratinated oysters with Champagne sabayon and truffle burrata at the Cliff, a sea cliff restaurant that has attracted guests such as Justin Timberlake and Beyonce.
Before dinner, I enjoyed a martini from the restaurant's torchlit balcony and observed the sea life.
A school of 4-foot-long tarpon cut through the illuminated water 10 feet from the main dining deck, their eyes flashing gold as they made their turns. The notion of 100-pound fish approaching a seafood restaurant is not without its appeal — or irony. And yet it summed up Barbados for me as both a traditional and enlivening route for travelers to encounter the exotic.