Tuesday - Antigua

This is the first visit to the island for us. It is different. The buildings aren't as tropical as in St. Thomas or St. Maarten with their pastel colors. But the island itself is lovely. The people are friendly. We had been scheduled to do an excursion to swim with the stingrays. I decided to forgo that one, and instead we signed up for a Catamarran swim and snorkel trip. That was quite enjoyable. The crew went out of their way to make it fun. They played Caribbean music, served fruit juice and soda, and sandwiches.


After the snorkeling stop, they brought out the rum punch. And let me tell you, the rum had a punch! We made another stop at a small beach where we swam for a while. As the boat approached, you could see locals making their way to the beach to meet us. With their wares. It was hard to resist buying anything, as I know that most of them depend upon tourists for their livelihood. I didn't have any more money to spend there, however. I had bought a necklace, bracelet and earring set from one of the crew on the catamarran.

When we returned, we took a short walk looking around at the shopping district. It wasn't much, really. At least not where we were. The few souvenir shops we were in were way overpriced. So we went back to the ship and got ready for dinner. It was Caribbean night and the waiters had a parade. They carried bowls, pots, pans, dishes, bottles, cakes, pies, and anything else they could think of on their heads as they danced about the dining room. Afterwards, it was a stop at the excursion desk to see if there were any more tours open for St. Lucia. I decided not to do the dolphin and whale watch tour, as I didn't want more sun than I already had. At least the catamarran was covered. I didn't know what to expect on the whale watch.