Blog #6 - More Pictures of our Antigua Adventure

This will be my last blog for our Antigua adventure.  But don't despair because Sandy will post lots of her pictures when she gets back from her trip up north.  The zip line, mangrove kayaking, snorkelling on the reef, climb up Goat Head Hill, sunset at Shirley Heights and circumnavigation of the island on a catamaran were lots of fun, but for the rest of the time, I mostly just hung around the pool, the beach, our cabin with the verandah and ate lots of great food. 

We did have a few interesting adventures that we unfortunately did not capture on camera, such as Kristin's amazing Karioke performance when she sang three songs - Cabaret (from the musical), Don't Stop Me Now (Queen), Mr. Roboto (Styx) and came away with the first prize!  And then there was the limbo dance that Kristin did on the catamaran, but there were no prizes for her for this performance as others could limbo lower.

Blog #5 - A Cruise Around the Island

Thursday, 17 February 2011.  Today we went for a cruise around Antigua on a catamaran.  The circumnavigation of the island took about six hours and although the weather was windy and cloudy, it turned out to be a very nice day with enough sun to get a sunburn on unprotected parts.  We booked our cruise with Treasury Island Cruises.  Here is a picture of the catamaran from their web site at http://www.treasureislandcruises.ag/

We had one stop on a beach where we went snorkeling on a reef.  Again we saw lots of nice tropical fish and quite a few conch shells.  I wanted to bring one home, but there was somebody living inside of each of the conch shells I found.  Here are some of the pictures from our cruise.

Waiting on the beach for our ship to come in.

Sandy and Kristin pause before wading out to the catamaran.  The water was up to mid-thigh before we reached the ladder underneath the boat.

Sandy and Kristin found a nice spot for us on deck where we had a great view for the day, but were not too close to get wet from the spray (except for one dousing).



The Wadadli Cats catamaran waits on the beach for our boat to pull away.  The Wadadli Cats was from another cruise company and sailed parallel to our boat for much of the trip.



The Sandals Resort was our starting and return point for the circumnavigation.  It was a 40 minute taxi ride from our resort.

A picture of our mast that I took while lying on the deck on my back.

Our guides told us that this house on one of the small islands offshore from Antigua, belongs to Oprah.

The old fort at English Harbour.

Blog #4 - Kayaking through the Mangroves

Monday, 21 February 2011 - The adventures continued after our morning zip line adventure when Ricky Ricardo drove us to another part on the island where we changed into swim suites and got fitted out with life jackets, two-bladed kayak paddles, and snorkelling gear.  We ambled down to a dock on a river that flowed slowly through a mangrove swamp out to the sea.  We boarded our kayaks and paddled through beautiful mangrove-canopied water routes out to the sea.



Paddling through the mangroves.





Paddling in from the Caribbean Sea back into the mangrove swamp.



Our new firends Craig and Teressa paddling in sync.  Theressa took some pictures of us, so we will swap photos when we get home.



A nice action shot of our new friends Caroline and Charlotte.


After beaching our kayaks, we climbed on board a speed boat that took us out to a beautiful reef about 1 Km offshore where we went snorkelling for 30 minutes.  We saw many interesting tropical fish including an octopus who blended in with the rocks until one of us got too close and then he would scoot away. 

Heading out to sea to go snorkelling on the reef.

The lady behind Kristin is Rose-Anne our kayaking guide.  We unfortunately have forgotten the name of the boat driver.

Yes, that is Goofy on my hat, which I got at Disney World about five years ago.

We then returned to the beach for a great barbecue chicken lunch with Suzie's Hot Sauce and the typical Caribbean drink of rum punch.  After Lunch, Ricky took us on a hike up to the top of Goat Head Hill.  And yes, we did see several goats on Goat Head Hill.

Kristin with our guide Ricky Ricardo at the top of Goat Head Hill.

What a Diva!

The view from the top of Goat Head Hill back to the beach we started our hike from.

After paddling back to the docks through the mangrove swamp, we boarded our Range Rover for the trip back to the resort.  However, there was one important stop we had to make on the way at a small grocery store in English Harbour where everyone picked up several bottles of Suzie's Hot Sauce to bring home!

Blog #3 - Ziplining in the Antiguan Rain Forest

Monday, 21 Feb 2011.  Kristin and Lorne went on an adventure today where we joined a group of Brits and other Canadians from our resort for some ziplining fun through the treetops of the Antiguan Rain Forest.  Here are some photos from this great excursion.



Kristin and Lorne in the back of the Range Rover heading off for a day of adventure.

Our driver and guide, Ricky Ricardo, stops by the side of the road to pick some lemon grass.

Ricky explains how the lemon grass is made into a herbal tea to cure ailments.

We also stopped to see the famous Antiguan black pineapple - smaller than a normal pineapple, but much sweeter.

Two of our new friends from the UK, James and Charlotte holding water lily flowers that Ricky picked on one of his stops to show us the local flora.  Their mom, Caroline, took the zipline action shots below with our camera.  You are not allowed to carry a camera with you (for safety reasons) so we are very grateful to Caroline for getting lots of good shots for us.



Kristin waits patiently for the fun to begin.

Getting the zipline harness on with our new friends from Canada (L-R, Claire, Kristin, Lorne, Teressa, Craig)

Getting instructions from the Antiguan Ranger.

Lorne zipping through the forest.

Oops! Someone got turned around in the middle of the run.

Kristin glides in for a landing.

A great action shot of Kristin.

Kristin watches as Lorne comes in for a landing.

And we lived to tell the tale.  Thanks for all the great action shots Caroline!