In Antigua
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2007
1
8
12
Trip End
Jul 28, 2007
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St. John's,
Antigua and Barbuda
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Saturday - leave for airport. We are leaving from the new International terminal so we get there a little early and eat lunch at Cool River. Left way too much on the plate (we should have split). Our plane into San Juan, Puerto Rico was uneventful - watched Wild Hogs. Our flight from there to Antigua was an hour and a half delayed so it was midnight when we were checking in. A couple we met on the shuttle had a great idea - they stayed at Trade Winds for one night and arrived at Sandals the next morning after breakfast - paid a couple hundred vs the 6 that we spent just to sleep (ie we didn't arrive in time to eat, drink, dive, etc). We did get champagne upon arrival but no one was in any big hurry to get us to our room and actually the key card didn't work so we were left standing outside our door while he went back to cut another one. Interesting thing is our room number is the same as our old address (the house we lived in for 9 years).
Sunday - rained at least eight times on and off all day. Rough sleeping - a dog was barking (actually sounded like one that was trapped in a pin or kennel) both at midnight when we checked in and again at 5 am the next morning.
Broken zipper
We finally got some good views of the hotel and walked down to the end of the beach and back. We went to the orientation and we got a couples massage in the Red Lane Spa. Adjusting to the late times to eat - we were ready for lunch at 11 but lunch didn't begin till 12:30. We had dinner at Il Palio and were pleased. Met up with another couple we met on the shuttle to play some pool - they are at Sandals on a trip promotion - won a Harlequin romance contast and are doing a big photo shoot for a book that will come out around valentines day. Monday - we did the resort certification for diving, just as we were about to go out on our 11 am dive - Sandals realized an experienced group was headed out - too many on the boat so our dive was delayed till 1 pm. We grabbed a bite to eat and were headed back to the room when we decided to join in on some water volleyball (motivated by earning points to get a Sandals necklace as a souvenir). This started on island time (scheduled at 11:30 - we went to the pool - no sign of game - headed back to events desk - they confirmed yes - it is on - back to the pool - 11:45 we see a playmaker bringing in a net - we played for 45 minutes, ran back to the room to reapply sunscreen and off for our 1 pm dive. The boat had not yet returned so our island time dive actually left at 1:45 - took some good underwater pictures but quickly realized Caroline cannot stay buoyancy neutral and take pictures - was rising quickly every time I tried to snap. Jeff worked his tail off staying down and when we dive again on Wednesday we plan to dive with more weights (both on us and on the camera). Our evening ended with a beach party - Caroline did the limbo and the fire limbo man was shortlived by a rainstorm. On our walk back to the Mediterranean village we saw our pool friends trying out the snookers tables in the English pub - after a long game with a table that definitely had a bit of a slant - they won. We have already scouted out another location by the old swim up pool bar for a rematch before the end of the week.
Comments
Happy Anniversary
Hi Jeff and Caroline,
Enjoyed the pictures and details of your first few days in Antigua. Hope you have a very nice Anniversary tomorrow!!
Love you, Aunt Bo (and for Uncle Worth)