Antigua

I wake to the ship pulling in to dock and from my window I can see “The World” yes the world!  Well the ship “The World” it is a ship where people buy space and own it for a period of time.  We have seen it before but it has been a very long time. 

We head for breakfast and then a coffee in the coffee bar and we are taking our time this morning.  We don’t even get off until 11 to do some wandering around.  

We had thought about going to the beach but we both decide today we will just walk around a bit and visit my favorite store here.  Zion, which is a lovely store that promotes local and cultural goods.  Catherine the owner is so helpful and friendly, she points out items that she thinks we might like, you can see how proud she is of her items.  

Catherine the owner

We visited her store just over a year ago and got a few items there and today we buy some lotion, a beautiful necklace/earring set and some other little things.  She has a full array of items.  You can get to her store by walking up the main street from the pier one block then turn left (where the casino and taxi stand are) and she is on the right if you are looking at the taxi stand, with casino on your left.  She is thinking of closing her store, because tourists just don’t make it into her store, but I hope she gets more customers because these small local stores are what we love.  So check her out, and say Vickie sent you.

Here is a link to the blog I did mentioning her store back in Dec of 2011 when we were there too.  http://vickieandbernietravel.blogspot.com/2011/12/dec-14-2011-antigua.html

Bernie wants to visit the market and get some bananas and we head over and chat with a few of the older women who are selling their produce.  We also stop and buy some spices and then we think a good local meal is in order.  We come across this little restaurant, nothing fancy but many locals are inside and we both get a curry dish, for me goat curry and for Bernie chicken curry.  Very good meals and lots of food.

laughed when i saw this bench in the market

We are back on board for mid afternoon and I am relaxing in the cabin till I decide to head up to the Thermal Suite again – life is tough for us isn’t it.

Dinner will be back in Michelangelo with Elda, we are going to surprise her.   We will dine with Norma (Alice’s friend who she is sharing a cabin with this voyage) until Alice joins us afterwards, as she is attending the Most Travelled Passenger Party.  We are also planning on seeing Kory Simons who is performing in the Explorer’s Lounge tonight.

We are in St. Lucia tomorrow and Veggie beach is in our plans.  But who knows, plans can always change.

Oh the movie Lincoln is on the in cabin tv today so I am watching the part that I missed yesterday when I couldn’t stay awake.

Dec. 14, 2011 - Antigua

We are now docked, it is 9 am and there are two other ships in port.  It is very muggy and today I am the one to make the latte and tea run and we sip the drinks on our balcony until we can no longer handle the oppressive heat.  We try to watch the morning show but I guess someone forgot to turn it on as it is not showing.

 

We head up to the Horizon Court for breakfast, which is not my favorite place to have breakfast.  I can’t handle the crowds, and the eggs Benedict I had today was cool and the muffin was barely toasted.  There are a lot of older people on board and dodging walkers/scooters etc is getting to us.  We walk on the Lido towards Horizon Court where really only two people can walk side by side because of the tables/chairs and the walkers stopped dead in their track to talk to others, not only once but twice!  It was like a traffic jam on Lido.  I have a lot of patience but this is getting to be too much, you have to strategically choose your path when moving about the ship and often we take the long way around. 

 

I am relaxing in the cabin right now, the door is open and the calypso band is playing on the pier and is drawing us out.  We discuss what our game plan is for the day, because again we said we would wake up and figure out what we wanted to do daily.  We agree we would like to head out to Nelson Dockyard and then the beach.

We head ashore around 10 am and as soon as we get out of the port area we are faced with tons of taxi drivers offering us tours. We don’t want a tour we just want the dockyard and for just the two of us it is $35 one way. We decide to walk around a bit then head somewhere. It is so hot though and the traffic is crazy, we walk to the market and get some bananas and a black pineapple (cut up in a bag), I have to get out of the market area I am getting bitten by something there. We get some water then walk around the town until we are ready for our picnic of fruit. We sit in the cemetery next to an older lady who we share our fruit with.

The heat is oppressive we walk around and check out some stores.  We find a lovely local store that sells arts/crafts (Zion) and we purchase a few items.  We also want to check out Exotic Antigua which is right on the water near the pier. 

 

Last year we were there and we bought a few Tommy Bahamas Shirts for Bernie and I got a cute beaded ring.   So we want to go there again but this time they don’t have their Tommy Bahamas shirts, or at least they don’t have many of them, but Bernie does find one to buy and I get two more rings.  They give us a coupon for two Caribe beers in the restaurant upstairs (which is owned by the same people).  We sit looking out at the water I get a sour kiss martini and we pick up a few appetizers and watch the pirate ship tour load up with ship passengers and listen to Madonna blaring from the speakers – Spanish Lullaby, then the song ends and it plays again, then again, then again  -- yup four times!  We are all laughing at the store and cheer when they change the song to Madonna’s Like a Virgin and we all cheer because of the new song, but the song cuts off about three quarters or the way thru and Spanish Lullaby starts up again.  Ha ha ha we feel like we are part of the movie Ground Hog Day. 

 

As soon as we leave the restaurant the skies open up for a strong shower.  We end up back on the ship.  We did get a price quote for Dickerson Beach $12 each way by taxi but we think the cabin is calling and relaxing on our balcony.  And that is exactly what we do, and find we are really enjoying our cabin this cruise. 

 

We are enjoying drinks on the balcony for sailaway, vodka and ginger ale.  Tonight’s drink in Skywalkers is Sandleman’s port so we are up there for that.  Dinner in Michelangelo with two other couples.  I have to say order the mushroom tartlet it was yummy, for my entrée I had the past which was a pesto type pasta and very good. 

 

The shows tonight are Beatlemaniacs second show (different from the first one but we saw it last voyage), Country Western Night in Club Fusion, and the Yes No Game in Explorers again.  We wander about checking it all out and head back to the cabin around 11 pm.