As part of the 2024 new year update and spring clean we have updated the BajanThings homepage. The new BajanThings homepage features a hero image of a fishing boat at Tent Bay, St. Joseph. Going forward we aim to change the hero image on the homepage regularly – and will add a homepage hero images library page.

Tent Bay is home to a small fish market, colourful local fishing boats, the Atlantis Hotel and further up the hill Andromeda House, the Bayley family get-away house and the location of a covert cold-war submarine tracking facility from 1954 to 1985/87. Tent Bay is in the parish of St. Joseph, with Martin’s Bay and Congor Bay to the south, and Bathsheba and Cattlewash to the north. Nearby was also the location for an iconic Bajan photograph the – “Martins Bay Fisherman” that hangs on the wall of the Atlantis Hotel. This iconic photograph was taken by Manuel Auguste Nunes Siza where the Quamins River meets the sea on the northwest end of Bath.

Between 1883 and 1937 the old railway from Bridgetown to Belleplaine stopped near to Tent Bay at Bath and Bathsheba. The Atlantis Hotel was one of the first hotels to exist on the East Coast of Barbados – made possible by the new railway line that opened up the Atlantic East coast as a holiday destination for Bajans.

Bathsheba and Tent Bay were two of my parents favourite places. It’s where they and their grandparents used to holiday.

Here are some bygone photos of the Powell Spring Hotel, Bathsheba St. Joseph Barbados. My memory of the Powell Spring Hotel was Mr. Carter and the barman Sammy who would make the parents and grandparents rum punch and the children Bentleys:

[Some of the images here were sourced from the Facebook Group: Old Time Photos Barbados searching for “Bathsheba” or “Powell Spring” or “Tent Bay” or “Atlantis”.]

Here are some bygone photos of the Atlantis Hotel Tent Bay:

[Some of the images here were sourced from the Facebook Group: Old Time Photos Barbados searching for “Bathsheba” or “Powell Spring” or “Tent Bay” or “Atlantis”.]

When my Dad was alive he loved the Bajan Sunday buffet lunch at the Atlantis Hotel.

Over the years taking Dad to lunch at the Atlantis Hotel we have witnessed the decay of Tent Bay fishing boat 01 Derek…

Preserving the historical integrity of old buildings, monuments, and sites is not inherently ingrained in the DNA of the Barbados Government. The HARP Gun, Victorian Blackwood Screw dock, hilltop signalling stations and many, many other historic Bajan buildings and monuments owned by the Barbados Government are woefully decaying through blatant neglect and lack of funds.

The Barbados National Trust that exists to protect buildings, monuments and places of National interest is so short of funds it can neither lobby effectively nor take over their upkeep. It is a serious tragedy for Barbados. The historic preservation of old buildings, monuments and places is just not a priority.

Those buildings and monuments that have been saved like the Nidhe Israel Synagogue and St Nicholas Abbey have mostly been saved by private individuals and communities.

For Barbados Government Ministers and Government Officials, maybe the exorbitant difference between the cost of hiring private executive jets or first class travel and the cost of standard economy for trips under 6 hours and business class travel for trips over 6 hours, could be funnelled as a starter into the Barbados National Trust coffers to help support the upkeep of historic Barbados and ipso facto support Barbados tourism?

For some additional background on Bathsheba and Tent Bay see:

• Facing North: Tales from Bathsheba. A collection of short stories by Bajan writer Edison T. Williams.