Barbados
Barbados is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is 34 km (21 miles) in length and up to 23 km (14 miles) in width, covering an area of 431 square km (166 square miles). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 km (62 miles) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 km (104 miles) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 400 km (250 miles) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt.
History
Barbados was initially visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s and first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Spanish explorers may have plundered the island of whatever native peoples resided therein to become slaves.[6] The Portuguese visited in 1536, but they too left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first British ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1624. They took possession of it in the name of the British king James I. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England and it became an English and later British colony.
Barbados has an estimated population of 284,000 people, with around 80,000 living in or around Bridgetown, the largest city and the country's capital. In 1966, Barbados became an independent state and Commonwealth realm, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State. Barbados is one of the Caribbean's leading tourist destinations and is one of the most developed islands in the region.
Open Water Swimming
- Barbados is site of the Barbados International Open Water Swim and the SwimBarbadosVacations two open water swimming festivals in July and October.
- The Barbados Open Water Festival is held in November, one of the World's Top 100 Island Swims.
- Cameron Bellamy was the third person to attempt a circumnavigation swim around Barbados. He completed a 96.4 km swim in 40 hours 43 minutes on 13 November 2018.
External links
- Shelley Taylor-Smith & Cameron Bellamy Talk About His Guinness World Record At WOWSA Fest
- Shelley Taylor-Smith & Cameron Bellamy Talk About Swimming 150 km Non-Stop At WOWSA Fest
- Shelley Taylor-Smith & Cameron Bellamy Talk About Channel Swimming At WOWSA Ocean Fest
- Katie Blair, Ted Lomicka, Chris Allshouse To Attempt St. Lucia Channel Swims
- Cameron Bellamy Talks About His Extreme Adventures On WOWSA Live
- Cameron Bellamy To Swim 96 km Around Barbados
- Cameron Bellamy Will Be Back Around Barbados
- Bellamy Back In Barbados
- Cameron In The Caribbean, From Barbados To St. Lucia
- Cameron Bellamy Honored By International Marathon Swimming Hall Of Fame
- Extraordinary Swim Year Concludes with Barbados Open Water Festival
- Cameron Bellamy, Ubunye Challenge Going To The Extreme From Barbados to St. Lucia
- Cameron Bellamy Gets Lucky On Friday The 13th
- Swim Barbados Vacations
- Cameron Bellamy’s 100-Mile Swim: Barbados to St Lucia
- Swim Barbados Vacations Facebook page
- Blast In Barbados Bay
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Open Water Swimming Association
- Daily News of Open Water Swimming
- Beauty In Barbados
- Locals Fascinated By Swim Around Barbados
