antigua part 3

Like I said yesterday, by Day 3, we had pretty much established our daily routine of  beach/ activities in the morning, lunch, workout, then pool in the afternoon. So just know that even if I don't share pics of us lounging on the beach everyday, we were still getting plenty of relaxation and sun in!

Day 4 we took a catamaran ride around the entire island. The total trip was about 5 hours- we stopped at a few other resorts along the way to pick up some more people and then we went out into the Atlantic for a wild 20 minute ride where we got soaked from head to toe, literally.

After our excursion into the Atlantic side, we pulled up at Green Island for snorkeling and a barbeque lunch. A guide took us around that point to snorkel in the pic below. The only thing I know I saw for certain was a sea cucumber and sea urchins because the guide pointed them out. There were plenty of fish to see in a variety of sizes, although overall I was struck by how monotone in color the reefs were compared to other snorkeling I have done.

That group of kids in the front of the boat (who we sat by for the entire ride) was a school cricket team from England over for a tournament. I wish I would have played a sport that went to the Caribbean for away tournaments!

After our swim, snorkel, and lunch break, we continued around the island with a guide pointing out many points of interest, both natural and man made including the houses of both Oprah and Eric Clapton. Below is a site of the natural variety though, the Pillars of Hercules.

Then we  toured briefly through English Harbor where many sailboats are docked and there are remains from an English fort from the early 18th century when the island was used for sugar production (we also saw ruins of numerous sugar mills around the island as we sailed around it).

Finally after a long day in the sun we circled back to Galley Bay. The boat ride was obviously a highlight for us. It was fun to see some of the "mountain ranges" and completely uninhabited portions of the island, as well as see some gorgeous vacation homes and the capitol city of St Johns by boat. After scoping many of the other resorts we stopped at I think we can safely say we are pleased with our choice. Below is Galley Bay from the water as we pulled in: Teepee Bar straight ahead and the SeaGrape to it's right (and our room, not pictured, even farther to the right).

Day 5 we decided to take the shuttle from the resort into town for a bit of exploring and souvenir shopping. It was a 15-20 minute drive and every time we entered a car we confirmed that our decision to not rent a car was a good one. Driving on the opposite side of the road, through narrow streets where goats and cows roamed free (and pedestrians did as they wished) through a poorly marked city would have been disastrous.

The vendors were extremely aggressive, way more so than anything I remembered encountering in Italy. But venturing through the little stands and being harassed was worth it in the end, as I wound up with a handful of fun souvenirs some of which I even haggled for (although the prices were already so cheap I didn't feel the need to really push this, I did walk away from a bracelet though when she wouldn't lower the price). And meanwhile the local vendors were probably thinking they got a good price out of me....

We spent three hours in the city, and David was able to grab a quick snack/ lunch from a nearby food stand. It would have been nice to have an hour or two more to explore and sit down for some local food, but not too much more than the three hours the shuttle dropped us off for unless you wanted to end up in an argument with some pushy locals.

When we got back to the resort it was BBQ night on the beach- the one night where instead of doing a sit down meal in a restaurant they did an informal buffet BBQ. It was also the one and only night David got to wear shorts to dinner (the normal dress code was pants and a collared shirt after 6pm).