Day 525 - Antigua

Yawn. I'm beat. I was up until 0230 working on Becky's birthday card. It's her birthday today. She phoned me at 0930 this morning to see what I was doing. (Sleeping) She called again at 1130. Still sleeping! I got up after the 2nd wake up call & made arrangements to meet her out at a bar with Nelis & Tim for a drink & then for lunch. I quickly rushed out to get the birthday card printed before I joined them. 


I had previously spoken to Becky about a day at the beach, but when I joined them, no one was in beach gear. Antigua has the best beaches & this was my last one. I was a bit bummed that we wouldn't be going in the water today. In any case, I tagged along for lunch. I didn't eat anything, as I thought I might bow out & sneak away to the beach. In the end I didn't, but I enjoyed some political/religious talk with the boys & Becky!


I went back to the ship & headed out on deck for a bit of sunshine. While I was lying on my belly, I felt a little tickle on my back & then noticed some black soot all over the postcards I was writing. Where on Earth did that come from? I looked over & there was a large man, also on his belly & he had a massive chunk of soot on his back. Yuck. That was the end of the sunning session!


On my way down to the Medical Centre, I ran into Carla & Alessia. They were having ice cream sundaes. It was British Sailaway, so we watched the Brits wave their flags & sing patriotic songs as we left our berth in Antigua. 


In the evening, we went for supper for Becky's birthday. She's quite the birthday girl. I've never met anyone who specifies their birthday cake request - actually fills it out! Orders chocolate covered strawberries, goes for drinks, lunch & dinner... I suppose we could all take a few lessons on how to have a birthday! We had a wonderful team dinner at the pizzeria. It would be the last meal at the pizzeria, so we enjoyed visiting with Rafeeq, Maja & Danka one last time! Of course, Rafeeq gave Jaco his usual plate of nuts to keep him happy!


What a day! Tomorrow will be a little more packing... I'm getting there! 


xxxxMaria

Having a drink & checking birthday texts 

 Lunch with the boys!

 Where they had lunch

 British sailaway

 Wavin' the flags

 Sailing out of Antigua

 The Pilot leaving

 Nice views

 The choir sang while we were trying to dine. It was VERY loud.

 Nic & Nelis

 Tim & Rebecca

 Maja

 Jaco & Becky

 Nic shows us what's under the uniform!

 Having a laugh

 Spoon

 Becky's cake

 Happy Birthday Girl

Her card

The inside of the card!

Day 510 - Antigua

Another day, another dive. This morning, Leana, Bronwyn, Nic & I went out for a dive. Off to a great start, I managed to leave my wallet on the seat of the taxi van. Thankfully we were able to get ahold of the driver & he found it & would return it when he picked us up. Phew!

Bronwyn had been the cruise before & said the diving was extraordinary. I only did one tank, as I emerged with an excruciating headache & a bad case of seasickness! It was VERY rough on the surface & I was quite nervous getting in & out of the dive boat. We didn't see too much on the first dive. Naturally, they saw a lot on the second dive. I told them they would, seeing as I wasn't going with! 

I had a great visit with the Captain. He was a Scandinavian now living in the Caribbean. He loves to sail & enjoys life every day to the fullest. Apparently his stomach is a little stronger than mine. I didn't get sick, but I sure had to focus on the horizon! Not much eye contact during the conversation!

We stayed at the Jolly Harbour after our dive & enjoyed a bite to eat & the white sand beach. Wow. The water is absolutely stunning here. Apparently there are 365 beaches in Antigua. One for every day of the year. I'd be happy to stay at this one!

Once we were back at the terminal I went on a mission to find an ATM. Apparently there was one at the Casino. I went there & found the ATM right outside the Casino. I withdrew the amount I needed. And it came out in local currency. Doh! Great! Argh! So I went inside the Casino & found the USD ATM. I exchanged the $80 in Eastern Caribbean currency & withdrew the balance in USD. (Having just paid $10 in foreign ATM fees & another $5+ for the actual ATM use. Nice.)

Not one of my better days, but I'm still in paradise, so I won't grumble anymore. Here are some photos from my 'bad day'... Enjoy! (Tomorrow will be better!)

xxxxMaria

Sailing out of Jolly Harbour

Bronwyn & Leana

Nic

Wayne & another diver

Gorgeous water

the Wake

Bubbles go up

Or do they?

Sand dollar (Ocean Currency)

Coral

Coral

Fishies

Divers

Lobzilla

Trumpet fish?

Wow.

Wowx2.

Sailing back into Jolly Harbour.

Yeah.

Yeah again.

The Captain & Alex

The beach

Ahhhh.

Ahhhh x 100

Day 497 - Antigua

Ah yes. Antigua. I do love this island. The beaches are fine white sand & the water is the most delicate & feminine shade of green. It is simply beautiful.

Jaco & I left the ship around noon. We ran smack into M&D2 on their way back from their tour & a little souvenir shopping. They were headed to their room & then straight off again to have lunch with some friends they’d met on the tour.

We also saw Larissa, wearing this stunning red dress. Wow! What a looker! She was off to do some last minute shopping before she heads home next cruise. We made plans to connect this evening to set up our meeting time for tomorrow in St. Kitts.

Jaco & I haggled with some taxi drivers before finally jumping into a van with another couple who were headed to Dickenson Bay. I’ve been there before & it is nice. We were wanting to go to Darkwood Beach, but not at the price of $50 for a few hours! (It was $12 to Dickenson)

We walked to the end of the beach & found a little patch of beach that was quite secluded from the rest of the busyness of the main beach. The water was quite cool today, but once we were in, it didn’t feel too cold. In fact, the colour of the water alone was enough to make you never want to get out! Jaco & I stayed in the water for about 45 minutes until I decided I should get out. He went for a long swim parallel to the beach & I laid on a towel & read a book.

He came back & took his turn on the towel while I searched for a loo & took some more photos of the beautiful beach. I just couldn’t stop shooting the water! The colours! Amazing!

We found our cab driver & headed back to the terminal. Once we were out of the cab, Jaco realized he’d left his shades in the back of the cab. We tried to chase the cabby down, but we were too late. We managed to find another cabby who knew our cab driver & called him on his cell. He was out of town already, but said he’d return the shades to us. We waited about 15 minutes & ended up paying him an extra $5. Jaco then told me they were only $10 sunglasses. Not anymore! Thankfully he didn’t take his Maui Jim’s with him today! I had nearly insisted he did! Thank goodness he didn’t listen to me!

Jaco went back to the ship & I looked in a few shops. I didn’t buy any souvenirs, as I only had about 10 minutes to look before I had to be onboard.

I tidied up the cabin & finally connected to the internet. 198 emails later, I was up to date! Jaco called & told me we were going to go for dinner in an hour with the Medical Team, plus the Youth Coordinator & the Captain’s Circle Hostess.

We had a lovely meal & enjoyed a great visit with everyone. Rosie, the CCH,  was a delight! She is a treasure! An Opera Singer, a former Photog – who worked with Chris & TJ – two of my dear friends, a former Cosmo Marketer (yes, the magazine) and now she’s chillin’ out on Princess seeing the world! What a gal!

After our dinner, some of us headed upstairs to investigate Island Night. We sat outside in the cool Caribbean breeze & listened to the live band, watched the passengers dance & enjoyed some more conversation. I had a great chat with Bronwyn, who is getting married this June. I’m very excited for her! I also enjoyed visiting with Leana – she is such a ‘real’ person. Every time I visit with her, I feel like I’m walking away a better person. It’s never a chat about the weather or something shallow. Her words have substance… I’m sad she’s leaving soon too!

Anyhow… I’m off to bed. Tomorrow we’re searching for a fortress – supposedly the best views in all the Caribbean… We’ll see!

xxxxMaria

A perfect day.