November 15 Antigua

November 15 Antigua

Today was our most active day by far.  On docking at St. John, the capital city, we found that there were actually three mega-cruise ships here.  Our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Sea, Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Sea (sharing our dock) and Cunard’s Mediterranea.

We started off in a bus, crossing the island to the north side, still on the Caribbean Sea.  We then went on open air boats, holding about 12 people.  After the bus, we loved the fresh air on our faces as we were hot.  Temperatures were in the upper 80s, and the sun was shining today.

We arrived at a platform where many kayaks were tied together. 

We then rolled off the dock (quite literally) into the sea kayaks.  Now the fun began!  It was hard work, paddling on both sides for about an hour (Jim said we were on them for a month!)  While I was super-tired, I kept thinking what good exercise this was for my arms.  No, really, I thought, “I’m tired.  You paddle!”  Jim was behind me, though, so I never knew when he was just resting.

The sun was beating down on us, and while I had on sunscreen, I knew I was getting sunburnt.

We paddled back to the boat and they took us to a nice beach, one of the 15 islands on this side of Antigua that belong to it.  We didn’t stay there, but donned snorkel equipment and immediately headed out towards the reef.  I was very leery of this as I am afraid of deep water and waves.  I love snorkeling in a lagoon, or protected water, where I can touch bottom.  I am not a good swimmer, partly because I nearly drowned when I was a child.  Everyone was jumping off the boat into the water and I couldn’t do it.  I made Jim get off with our underwater camera, and I timidly had the driver help me down, as no way could I jump off in 10 foot water.  It didn’t work and I had to get back onboard.  After I calmed down and waited until I found my courage again, I climbed down the ladder and was just fine.  I was comfortable and excited to see the fish in the water as I was snorkeling.  I wish I didn’t have such fear.

Brain Coral

Back on shore, we went for a hike to the top of the island.  From there, we could see not only the Caribbean Sea in these islands, but the Atlantic Ocean, a deeper blue instead of the turquoise of the Caribbean.

It was quite a long trip back by boat to where we started, but rum punch awaited us in the shade of a beautiful beach home.

Back onboard our ship, we again rested before getting ready for another formal night’s dinner.