Barbados Sport and Nature: Cricket Religion, Kensington Oval, Golf at Sandy Lane, Windsurfing, and Sea Turtle Watching
The sport and nature of Barbados centers on the cricket tradition that has produced Sobers and the three Ws, the championship golf of Sandy Lane, the windsurfing excellence of Silver Sands, and the hawksbill sea turtle watching program on the west coast nesting beaches.
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Cricket: The Barbadian Religion
Cricket is more than a sport in Barbados: it is the organizing principle of the island's social calendar, the vehicle through which the Barbadian identity was asserted against the colonial power, and the source of the most disproportionate contribution to world cricket from any island, with Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder in cricket history, Sir Frank Worrell, the first Black captain of the West Indies, and the three Ws of Weekes, Worrell, and Walcott all from the same island.
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Kensington Oval: The Cricket Cathedral
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, the home of Barbados cricket and one of the finest cricket grounds in the Caribbean, was completely rebuilt for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup and now provides a modern cricket stadium with the historic atmosphere of one of the oldest Test Match venues in the Caribbean. The Kensington Oval pitch produces the fast and bouncy conditions that have produced the great Barbadian fast bowlers from Roy Gilchrist to Joel Garner.
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Barbados Golf: Sandy Lane and Royal Westmoreland
Barbados has developed one of the finest golf tourism offerings in the Caribbean, with the Sandy Lane Country Club Green Monkey Course designed by Tom Fazio and the Royal Westmoreland course providing championship-level golf in the most sophisticated landscaping on the island. The golf tourism of Barbados targets the luxury villa rental market of the Platinum Coast.
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Water Sports: Windsurfing and the Silver Sands
Silver Sands on the south coast of Barbados, exposed to the consistent trade winds that sweep across the Caribbean from the east, is the windsurfing and kitesurfing capital of the Eastern Caribbean, with the international BWA World Cup event held annually at the beach that has produced multiple world champions from the Barbadian windsurfing school.
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Turtle Watching: Hawksbill Nesting Beaches
The hawksbill turtle nesting on the west coast beaches of Barbados, monitored by the Barbados Sea Turtle Project run by the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus, is the most accessible sea turtle conservation program in the Eastern Caribbean, with organized turtle-watching excursions from the Holetown and Speightstown area beaches providing the encounter with the nesting and hatchling sea turtles that is the most emotionally powerful wildlife experience in Barbados.
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Barbados Sailing Week: The Regatta
Barbados Sailing Week in January is one of the premier Caribbean yacht racing events, drawing the international sailing community to the west coast race courses in a combination of competitive ocean racing and the social events that connect the sailing world to the Barbados rum culture in the most complete maritime festival in the Eastern Caribbean.