Antigua

Our second port of call was Antigua and this time we only had to share our berth with two other ships. 

All went to plan and we easily found our hosts for the day, Tropical Adventures Antigua.  Kissoon our driver/guide ushered us into our Jeep more affectionately known as Spongebob.  

The tour started with a drive through the town with Kiss making a special diversion into Sir Viv Richards St and past his family home once he found out we were Australian.

Viv Richards grew up here

 Heading out of the town we started driving up into mountains to cross over the island.  Driving along dirt tracks had us being thrown around the jeep.  Seat belts were quickly fastened as the memories came flooding back of a similar experience in Tahiti in 2011, and it really felt like déjà vu when the rains came.  Rains…. Hang on didn’t Kiss just tell us that Antigua is in the midst of a serious drought…. “It wont last long” he called from the dry driver’s seat, but as the rain got heavier it seemed that maybe our arrival had broken the drought!

There is not major farming in Antigua and nearly all of their produce is imported from other islands.  But we did pass small hobby farms of fruit and veg and we believe hobby farms of a different sort.  It is now legal for people to be in possession of up to 15 grams of cannabis and grow 4 plants for recreational use.

Our first actual, get off the jeep stop was at Devils Bridge.  So named as slaves used to throw themselves off the bridge into the unforgiving swirling waters below to their certain death.  This driving around is hard work and suddenly Kiss produces a very lethal rum punch to take our minds off this inclement weather.

Next was Stingray City, for an up close encounter with the aforementioned creatures.

As the rain continued to sprinkle upon us, we signed our waivers and hopped onto the speed boats that took us to where the encounters took place. In waist deep water, the rays made a bee line towards us… not that they were attracted to us, but the food that our keepers brought with them.   We were shown how to correctly hold these small slimly squids so as rays suck the food right out of our grip they would not take a finger with them.  So strong was their suction that caught on any other part of your body, you are guaranteed to sport a massive hickey for the next few days, as one of our friends can attest to.

Our lunch stop was at Betty’s Hope, a well-preserved sugar plantation.   Under the shade of a couple of huge trees we sat at picnic tables and enjoyed a typical Antiguan meal.  The rum punch continued to flow, all the way back to the ship, which resulted in a few of us sporting a couple of headaches for the rest of the night….