We’ve had a great start to Evelyn and Liam’s Antigua visit and have already managed to do a lot of stuff!! It all started on Saturday February 21st with a road trip into St. John’s with Sharron and John. We all wanted to do some grocery shopping but first we made a visit to the downtown (waterfront) area of the capital city. We went to Redcliffe Quay which was very touristy and then we walked to their local market area. We were able to purchase local produce – bananas, plantain, squash, tomatoes and onions. After our shopping, we returned to the marina to put all our goodies away and rest before Mark and I headed back out to the airport. Evelyn and Liam’s WestJet flight arrived slightly early (at 6:05pm) and they were only slowed down by the 2 hour late Air Canada flight that arrived just before them. We were back at the boat for their first night by 8pm.
Their first full day (Sunday, February 22) on the island was spent getting into “island time”!! We had a leisurely pancake breakfast and then E & L went off to the beach (it’s an easy walk from the marina). We had a nice lunch in the cockpit and then rested for an hour or so before we launched the dinghy and took off to the dinghy disco party! I mentioned earlier about this electronic music festival being held here at the marina (organized by a few sailors). This event was the final one for the 4 day festival. The main organizers of the festival took their sailboat called Electric Passage out into the main harbour area and anchored it. They played DJ style electronic music from their boat to the audience in their dinghies. Some dinghies were tied to the sailboat and the rest just tied to each other. We went out around 3:30pm and joined our friends Sharron and John. We listened to the music and enjoyed ourselves! Evelyn and Liam even went for a swim!! We were back at the boat around 5:30pm and had a wonderful rib dinner!! We ended the first day with a few hands of monopoly card game! It was a great day.
Today, February 23rd we had a day away from the marina. We drove to English Harbour and explored the historical sight called Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. Antigua has done a very good job of keeping the old structures well maintained and preserved while having a functional marina on-site. We had a great time exploring the buildings, museum and the little fort area plus we had a very nice lunch overlooking the harbour.
After lunch we drove to the opposite side of English Harbour which is also a national park and home to Shirley Heights Lookout and Restaurant. We had an amazing view of the harbour. On our way back to the boat, we stopped at a local farm to buy black pineapples – you can only buy them on the island because they are a bit fragile (and they’re only black when unripe). Unfortunately they didn’t have any today but will have some on Thursday.
Our last stop of the day was dinner with Sharron and John at the pizza place near the marina. We got back to the boat around 4pm and Evelyn and Liam went for a quick swim at the beach. We met up with Sharron and John and had a nice dinner. Sharron and John are leaving in the morning to jump down to Guadeloupe so we’ll plan catch-up for a bit.
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 