arbados is the Florida of the West Indies, albeit with distinctly Caribbean and British accents. It is highly developed, crowded (along the south coast), and gets lots of tourists on packages - it's not a get-away-from-it-all kind of place. Barbados also caters to upper-crust types who like their lodging in primped suites with voluptuous balconies and don't mind dressing smartly for dinner - it's certainly not a cheap destination. It does have some fine beaches, especially on the southeast and east coasts, which are less crowded and far less developed than the south coast.

The mood here is definitely more hectic, or should we say faster paced, than other islands nearby (Barbados is the third most densely populated island in the Caribbean). Actually, it's light-years different from a Grenada or Tobago, both of which lie to the south, or especially one of the Grenadines. Visitors here come for beaches, first-class resorts, diversions - such as nightlife, restaurants, shopping, golf - basically the comforts of home in the West Indies. Or they come to windsurf. They don't come for privacy - there are many more private places on other islands, especially since the beaches here are open to the general public. The ease of reaching Barbados, especially nonstop from Europe on jumbo jets, makes the package tourist the mainstay of the Bajan economy.

Tourism is the business of Barbados, and the industry is more highly developed here than on almost any other Caribbean island. And the government makes a point of educating its citizens on the value of the tourist dollar. A banner we once saw strung across a major access road into Bridgetown, the capital, said it all: "Tourism is our business. Let's do our part." Bajans are surprisingly friendly despite the hordes of tourists who stream through Barbados (almost 500,000 a year). One gets the feeling that they view visitors as they do rain - a necessity to keep the island growing.