Antigua

 

19 February 2014

After a continental breakfast out on our balcony, Russ headed off for a morning boat ride and snorkel tour while I went into the town.  The ship was docked practically on Main Street so it was easy to get to town. The first several streets were duty free and obviously setup for cruise ship passengers. It was easy to get around to the shops, but I found the same poor deals on jewelry.  I did find a very nice formal tablecloth and napkins that I will use for holidays. I tried to go outside the duty free area but quickly found that the sidewalks were not built for scooters, the stores were strictly utilitarian and the area was very poor. So I slowly went back the way I came and waited for Russ.

Russ’ tour was more successful. He took a catamaran ride over to the snorkeling site where he spent about an hour exploring the reef and fishes.  Then they went to the other side of the island (about a half hour boat ride because the island is that small) and stopped at a beautiful beach for a bit. While the beach was very pretty, it was treacherous to swim in because of the very steep drop off.  Russ contented himself with wading along the beach.

We talked about taking a taxi tour in the afternoon, but with the ship leaving relatively early and the tour taking 2 hours and the Princess cruise people emphasizing that they don’t wait for late non-Princess sanctioned tours, we decided against it and relaxed on deck for the rest of the afternoon.

Antigua is the largest of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean. It was owned by the British until it won its independence in 1981. It is not actually that big, just 14 miles long by 11 miles wide.

After leaving port, we had dinner in the formal dining room with some interesting folks from Australia and Canada. There is some excellent entertainment on board, tonight we listened a bit to a pop band and watched folks doing their ballroom dancing. Some folks have spent lots of money on dancing lessons.

 

Breakfast on the balcony.

The ship practically docked in downtown St. Johns.

Even though Carnival isn’t for another week or so, we are seeing increasing numbers of partiers.

This building was nicely decorated with pastel painted pineapples.

The catamaran that Russ took to the snorkeling site.



The mother ship in the background as Russ was leaving for his snorkeling adventure.

 

Russ is enjoying all the snorkeling he is getting on this trip.



The crew put up the catamaran’s sails on the way to the beach.



The boat on the beach.  Very pretty but not a great place to swim, the dropoff was very steep. Russ said people really struggled to get back on to the shallow part.



Russ being creative with his GoPro camera.  The shots above the water are pretty nice, but I don't think the photo quality is that great underwater.



A beautiful beach that Russ' tour stopped at.



A partial rainbow over Antigua.

Another beautiful sunset at sea.