Antigua Delights

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The idea of a lobster lunch with sparkling wine is what sold me. What could be nicer--a ride on a catamaran to explore several beaches in Antigua, the possibility of swimming in the gorgeous Caribbean, and lobster! 

Some people tried to dissuade me from Antigua. They were sure the island had been "decimated" by Hurricane Irma. What a waste of my finances, they commented. How wrong they were! Antigua is a beautiful island of roughly 80k people. The island is about 12 miles across and approximately 100 square miles. The island has 365 gorgeous beaches, a rain forest, lots of resorts, and a great national park called Nelson's Dockyard. The country became independent of Britain in 1981.

Excursions

Catamaran Cruise with Seafood Lunch

You can enjoy several excursions when you visit Antigua: zip lining, safari rides through the rain forest, snorkeling at Stingray City, (our resort had a reef where Bill snorkeled one day), catamaran rides, a visit on Sunday evenings to Shirley Heights for great music, food, drink, and dancing--not to mention the people selling local trinkets and jewelry.

On our catamaran trip down the west coast of the island, we were joined by passengers of the Viking Sea which had pulled into St. Johns Port. We did see that one resort was temporarily closed due to water damage from a Hurricane Irma sea surge. We'd had reservations to stay there, which we had to change prior to our departure. Some of the first floor units had water damage and the surge destroyed the resort's "rum deck". Other resorts we sailed past were open and looked fine.

We stopped at Turner's Beach for a swim. Dummy Anita forgot to bring money and a credit card or we would have rented jet skis and had a drink! 

Tip #1--remember your cash and credit card! 

Part of the beach had washed out due to Irma, but you could still sunbathe. We spent over an hour here while our great guides were grilling lobster and setting the tables for an amazing lunch. When they were ready, the Mystic came back to shore to pick up her hungry guests. 

You've never seen such happy, contented people. We had sun, 85 degree weather, grilled lobster, sparkling wine, rum punches, salad, grilled potatoes, and more! YUM!!

Then, we headed north to another beach. Did I mention that Antigua has 365 beaches?! This time, we jumped off the back of the cat. The water was about 9' deep, so we swam closer to the beach. Most of us stood, drank those amazing rum punches and talked. We had had a wonderful day! 

 

Shirley Heights

I can't tell you just how much fun this is!! Just take a cab--because Antigua has a fantastic taxi system so why should you drive on the other side of the road when you can sit back and enjoy the ride while hearing some great stories from your taxi driver!