From the archives: Caribbean day trip #2 The view from North Point

On Sunday we drove up to one of our favourite places in Barbados - North Point. The Cote Sauvage of the Caribbean, it's nestled in a jagged bay at the very tip of St Lucy, and is a showcase for the Atlantic Ocean that crashes and rages against the cliffs, spraying up through blow holes in the rocks.

Even though the breeze is hot and moist and the sea glitters under the wide blue sky, it doesn't really fit the image that most people have of Barbados. And during our first year here, we'd often make the drive up there almost to get away from the perfectly manicured white beaches and flat turquoise sea -to experience something more rugged and wild.

Since then, we've spent many happy afternoons at North Point with a picnic, taking photos, getting covered in sea spray, watching the kids play on the scrubby grass. We've yet to walk further along the cliff to explore the abandoned North Point Surf Resort - one of many disused hotels on the island. It's said to have been a popular weekend hang-out for the residents of the nearby US naval base in the 1960's. But it closed down in the early 1970's (the US naval base left the island following independence - the lease on the premises expired and the Barbados government declined to renew the agreement).

Otherwise, North Point exudes a natural beauty and has remained largely unchanged since colonisation. It's a special place with a stong atmosphere that never ceases to ignite my imagination, where the dark vein of history that runs through this island can be felt, palpating.