Last week a couple of girlfriends and I returned from a week on the far eastern island of Antigua! This was my first trip to this end of the Caribbean Sea and it was just what the doctor ordered.
We had rented a small but cozy beach house that was right on it's own stretch of sand in a quiet bay facing the sunset. It had a huge porch and patio to enjoy the evenings on, as well as lots of windows to feel the ocean breeze all night long. Parts were a bit rustic like an outdoor shower and no hot water...but all is forgivable with the views and privacy that we had!
We had a direct flight from Toronto and after landing, getting our rental car, and finding the beach house we had just enough time to find some dinner at a roadside shack (these would quickly become our favorite and preferred method of eating!). After filling our stomachs with some yummy food (shawarma--first of many) we arrived back to the beach house just in time to witness our first of several breathtaking sunsets.
These little guys were skittering along our patio and private beach.
Each morning we enjoyed sleeping until the breeze and the sun woke us up, then we took our time coming alive with coffee and morning breezes. Once we agreed on which beaches we would discover that day, we all got ready and packed up the car with what we needed for a day of fun on the island!
Most of our time felt like it was spent putting on sunscreen. There was only a couple of days where we slacked on reapplication resulting in some extra pinkness. My aloe was there to the rescue and all was well.
We visited a different beach every morning and every afternoon--there is no shortage there! Our favorite ones were on our side of the island (southwestern) away from the main city and super tourists. If a beach started getting too crowded we would just pack up and head off to another one--after grabbing some food and drinks of course.
Evenings were spent at the house after sunset-o'clock it was bug-spray-o'clock, then dinner! We brought most of our creature comfort foods from home, and added what we could from local markets and grocery stores. We did try one of the "notorious" black Antiguan pineapples....rumored to be the sweetest in the world. I strongly disagree with this sentiment. Our $11 pineapple was tiny and tasted like a less-than-ripe typical American pineapple. Oh well! Those avocados though...those were legendary and we enjoyed many bowls of homemade guacamole to go with our quesadillas and chips.
From our private beach we saw many yachts, sailboats, and cruise ships passing by.
One of the yummiest shack meals I had--jerk chicken, rice and beans, and potato salad. Delish!
And a first for me--beach cows! They each wore a little cowbell and were all just hanging out for awhile right on the beach we were at. One curious little guy got super close to the water until an extra aggressive wave scared him back! He noticed me and started slowly coming closer until he lost interest and rejoined his friends.
One of the days we ventured up to the NE corner of the island to check out Devil's Bridge. This natural formation was on a cliff side facing the Atlantic and the ocean was extra choppy.
Some of the days an odd storm would roll through and we would have to scramble to cover our beach things. We failed a couple of times and returned to the house to replace our soaked towels before heading back out. This visit we were treated to a surprise rainbow over the hills behind our house.
Our last full day on the island we spent all day on a boat excursion for snorkeling and exploring. We passed this neat rock that they call Tortoise rock, but we all thought it looked more like a frog head so we named it Kermit rock.
We spent a couple of hours on Laviscount Island where they have a small refuge for tortoises and birds. We got to feed these sweet guys some carrots then took a short nature walk around to see the sights before being treated to a delicious lunch.
After lunch we stopped at a small area called Hell's Gate where we had the option to swim to shore and explore the rocks, or just snorkel. We opted to snorkel and had a fun time seeing the reef and the fish.
After that they took us out to another reef area where got to snorkel for longer in some deeper water.
After a full day of fun, we put our leftovers together for one last hodge podge dinner at the beach house and enjoyed our final sunset of the trip.
Thankfully our flight didn't leave the next day until 4pm so we had a lazy morning to drink coffee and pack up before bidding farewell to the beach house and hunting down lunch in the city then turning in the rental car. Our flight home was uneventful however the influenza virus managed to find me at some point and I was stricken ill the next day requiring me to call in sick to work as well as cancel my first craft show of the season! Most unfortunate.
