Crashing an Antiguan Yacht Party

Apparently Antigua has its own special kind of black pineapple which we were unable to locate. We did have an interesting encounter at the grocery store while looking for one though. In the checkout line a kid kept ramming a shopping cart into me and his British-sounding, soccer jersey wearing dad was apologizing for his behavior. Fine. On the way out of the store our cab driver informed us that the man was the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne.

It was especially funny because his face is all over these Christmas billboards but I never would have recognized him.

Always a little money-grubber, I found the equivalent of 7.41 US on the ground in the supermarket. I hope the prime minister didn't see that. Embarrassing. I used it to prop up the local economy sir.

We took a cab to Nelson's Dockyard which is a major tourist destination. It is named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lived in the Dockyard from 1784 through 1787. The place itself was about as we expected, with lots of old buildings with interpretive signs posted everywhere. Some rusted cannons and defensive walls rounded out the old naval base experience. However it wouldn't surprise me if this turns out to be the strangest day of our trip.

I'm glad SCUBA isn't like this anymore.

It began with the other visitors that we saw walking into the historic grounds. One was dressed like a sailor off of a Cracker Jack box. Others had garish Christmas outfits on. What the heck was going on? Inside this historic British naval base bad highschool prom music blared and a group of white people were playing beach volleyball. There were way more westerners than locals which was a first for us anywhere in the Caribbean. Several were quite drunk and yelling Christmas greetings at each other in varying levels of accented English.

The ancient docks were filled with yachts of differing shapes and sizes. Most had US or British Commonwealth-looking flags on them. We had officially stumbled upon a fancy people Christmas boat party.

A yacht fun fact is that some countries have specific flags for recreational ships to use. The US required this one from 1848 to 1980:

At first I was weirded out by the un-local nature of this odd gathering, but by the time we left I was glad we were there. There wasn't that much to see at the historic site anyway.

I approached one of the boat people (he had one of those silly looking floaty sunglasses straps around the back of his head). I was most interested in how long it had taken everyone to converge their big boats on this place. I didn't recognize the name of the place he'd embarked from but he said 3 weeks. No thanks! I suddenly felt a lot less inferior. I'd been on the boat yesterday for about 30 minutes before I was barfing over the side. Somebody really needed to tell these rich people that planes are way faster than yachts. Silly rich people. I'm going to be in America the beautiful for weeks while that poor guy is still staring at his naval little navel off the coast of nowhere.

An additional plus was that all these rich people meant that all of the restaurants on the property were open and rocking despite it being Christmas. The downside was most of the restaurant prices were obscene and it was mostly ham and figgy pudding sort of stuff. I was hoping for more local fare but we did pretty well. Local stuff included ginger beer, sorrel, which is a fruit punch-like drink enjoyed in many Caribbean locations on Christmas. The food was solid but pretty normal by American standards.

There was enough ginger in that ginger beer to cure what ails you. Ales you?

We found this notice board at the nearby marina, and it was like a window in a world I have no experience with.

There were several people looking for employment on yachts. Some clearly stated where they wanted the boat to be headed and others didn't. How interesting, if a person picked up some nautical skills they could just boat hitchhike across the earth. Wild.

It felt especially awkward when we returned to our cab driver's beat up van. I felt like we had to do that thing where your friend didn't get invited to a party so when he asks how it was you lie and say it wasn't fun. Sorry bro, it was fun.

This little governmental looking sticker was on the back of our taxi van. I don't have time to look this up but I'm pretty sure it's Japanese. Japan never seemed to have ANY older cars on the road. I think they must ship all their beaters to poorer countries.

We next did a little drive to nearby Shirley Heights which served as a lookout for the British to keep an eye on those sneaky French. There were more cannons and guardhouses. I'd like to see a recreation of a naval battle from this era. It seems like it would be pretty hard to hit a building from a mile away with a little iron bowling ball. Who knows.

Our taxi guide pointed out Eric Clapton's house across the bay. It's called Standfast Point and it actually looks like parts of it are available to rent. Clapton also seems to own a rehab center just north of that across another bay. Very interesting.

On the flight to St. Lucia they announced and then sprayed an aerosol pesticide in the cabin. Nothing gets me more excited about a trip than a good delousing. We then had to fill out an Ebola related health questionnaire at immigration. Get real. Get in close contact with me and you are at risk to contract a serious case of healthy and/or awesome.

Our driver Dalma Ossei was one of my favorite of the whole trip.

He's good people. Give him a call next time you're in town.

I think Antigua's flag is pretty cool looking.

Welcome to St. Lucia! Have you been bleeding from anywhere recently?

When we arrived in St. Lucia we went to the car rental desk and... surprise! They were closed for Christmas despite the fact they were accepting reservations. Good work guys. Stay classy.

You guys are the worst but it's not really an emergency, I imagine it's a long term condition.

In the capital city of Castries, St. Lucia we ate a really nice dinner at an Indian restaurant a la Christmas Story, as every other restaurant in town was closed (fa ra ra).

 We then retired for the night in our latest little guesthouse.

You know you're going to have fun when your bed has a mosquito net!

Antigua Then Barbuda

Lydia:

After a long day at the airport yesterday, we were ready for some fun!  We originally planned to rent a car in Antigua and Barbuda, but due to our extra late arrival, this wasn't possible.  As such, we headed out in search of a cab.  Our hotel in Antigua is quite a ways outside of the city center in an area known as Five Islands.

[I must interject here and describe the bug situation at the hostel. There were bugs, and they were legion. I found ants on the toilet seat, and ants in the sink, all of which I sent to ant hell. I had a delicious glass of ginger beer which I finished, and set the glass on the table. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, this is what the glass looked like:]

There aren't many cabs around, so a worker at the hotel suggested that we take the bus.  We followed his advice and wandered out the door, down a steep hill, passed some horses tied to the side of the road, and happened upon a small van-bus.

We hopped aboard and rode with the locals to town.  We made several stops to pick up people along the way.  It was interesting that the bus driver seemed to know where to stop and wait for people to come out of their houses.  I guess it was sort of like a school bus.  We also got to hear some Antiguan talk radio while aboard.  We thought it was funny that the radio personality spoke American English in a radio host accent, rather than the local Caribbean dialect.

Anyway, we eventually made it to the city center, paid the guy $5, and were on our way.  We were in search of a boat that would take us to Antigua's sister island Barbuda.  We wandered up and down some streets admiring the fruits and vegetables for sale at the market stalls and eventually came across the dock.  We spotted the Barbuda Express and hopped aboard.

When I booked this trip I imagined that it would be similar to the boat trip we took in Nicaragua a few years back.  I thought we'd be sailing smoothly on a Catamaran while sipping rum punch.  Well, I was sorely mistaken.

The Barbuda Express was like a floating bus.  It was packed full of locals traveling to Barbuda for Christmas.  They had their bags shoved under the seats, their babies slung over their shoulders, and their Christmas cakes piled high. Unfortunately, it was around this time that we realized our camera was dead, so we have no pictures.  However, I can assure you it was quite the scene.  Also, let me tell you quickly about the Christmas cakes.  According to a local lady, rum cakes are eaten by Antiguans on Christmas day.  However, the cakes on board were not home made, they were store bought.  They looked very similar to the birthday cakes people buy at Wal-Mart.

 [I did manage to get a couple shots off before the camera died. I'm still getting the hang of my new GoPro.]

Back to the boat, the ride started off quite nicely, John was taking a nap, and I was reading a magazine.  The boat was smooth sailing.  However, just a few short minutes later we started bumping and turning.  It got bad fast.  The lady in charge came over to ask if we felt okay (we were probably both green) and we shook our heads no.  She suggested we move to the back of the boat.  It reminded of a time when I was little and riding one of the spinning rides at Six Flags with my dad.  I remember saying "Daddy make it stop, make it stop" over and over again.  That's how this boat ride felt.  The journey was over two hours long, and it was not pleasant.

     

Luckily, our day in Barbuda made the torturous ride worth it.  First, our guide, took us to the site of the home of Barbuda's first owner,  Mr. Codrington, who rented the island from the crown beginning in 1685.  Mr.  Codrington had many slaves on his island to help with crop production.  He was also a pirate.  On our tour we walked up a steep, rocky slope to Mr. Codrington's lookout point.  He hid behind the foliage and watched for incoming ships.  The view was quite spectacular.  It looked down on the bright blue Atlantic waves crashing on top of large, dark colored rocks.  On our journey to the vista we also passed by some cool cacti.  There was one that looked like a tree at the bottom, but the branches were cacti.  Very strange.

     

Our next stop was the Frigate Bird Sanctuary.  This is pretty much the only real touristy site on the island.  We loaded into another boat, much smaller this time, and headed out.  The area we were in reminded me of the Florida Everglades.  After a few minutes of salt water spray, we started spotting birds flying in the distance.  We also started big red circles poking out of some of the trees.  John thought these were fruits, but as we got closer we realized the big red circles were birds.  It was frigate mating season and things were getting frisky!  The female birds are black with white chests.  The males are black everywhere.  The males also have little red gobble things sort of like turkeys.  However, during the mating season the gobble things blow up into big red balloons. [They also made this bullfrog sort of croaking sound with their inflated throats]. They are pretty crazy looking!  There were thousands and thousands of birds and they all stayed within an area about the size of a football field.  There were a lot just hanging out in the trees and quite a few flying through the air.  It was other-wordly, kind of like we entered a new  level on a video game, and we were supposed to capture all the birds or something.  They were definitely the coolest birds I've ever seen.

     

Our guide also pointed out the jelly fish lurking in the water near our boat.  He explained that this particular type of jelly fish doesn't sting.  He even picked one up to prove his point.  I followed his lead and scooped one up myself.  It was just as slimy as I expected.  It reminded me of some sort of Gak toy that Nickelodeon made in the 90s.  It was so slimy that it left a residue on my hand but thankfully no sting!

     

Next our guide took us to a deserted beach for lunch.  We ate in a little shack by the ocean. The main course was rock lobster, a Barbudan delicacy.  An interesting fact is that rock lobsters don't have front claws.  We also had some Caribbean corn bread and drank Barbudan lime juice.  All quite delicious.

     

After lunch we had a chance to take a nap on the "pink sand" beach.  I was a little disappointed because the sand wasn't as pink as I'd expected.  It was the normal tan color with little specks of pink shell.  Finally, it was time for our guide to take us back to the torturous Barbuda Express [Vomit Express].  Fortunately, the ride back was much smoother and no puking was involved.

   

Back in Antigua we had an uneventful dinner at Hemingway's and then went on a search for black pineapples.  As far as I know black pineapples can only be found in Antigua.  Obviously, they are black in color and sweeter than a normal pineapple.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to find any black pineapples at the local supermarket (which was surprisingly nice by the way), but we did have a run in with a local celebrity; the Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne! [His kid kept ramming their shopping cart into me]. It was pretty epic.  He just looked like a normal guy buying groceries.  Can you imagine if you ran into Obama at the grocery store?  Crazy!

The Puerto Rican Airport Debacle

We had to leave for our flight to our first new country of the trip, Antigua and Barbuda, around 1pm so we soaked up as much San Juan as we could beforehand.

This was the view from our hostel's balcony. Not too shabby.

Those little turrets sticking out from the city walls are a symbol of Puerto Rico, and are featured on many of their license plates.

Yet another interesting statue.

Our flight was at 3ish, so being the responsible travelers we are we left the hostel around 1 and arrived at the aiport around 1:30. We wouldn't actually board a plane until 10:30ish.

Our taxi dropped us off in the wrong place to begin with, so we waited in this strange line to get in the airport for a little while before we wised up.

Well Liat gave us an especially horrible version of the airline runaround. They delayed our flight multiple times and in time chunks that were just short enough that we didn't want to leave the airport. They made zero announcements during the 9 hours we were there. The only information we received was through other passengers or from waiting in line at the ticket counter. It was really insult to injury. There was some problem with the flight attendants not wanting to work overtime. Blah blah. We made it to Antigua and Barbuda so late that the rental car place was closed, so we apparently still have to pay for a rental car day that we didn't use. It was a mess. It was particularly scary because we would be flying Liat again multiple times in the coming days.

By the end of all the yelling and BS two of the airline desk ladies were crying.

We got very familiar with the airport during our abundant free time. Kinder Eggs are the best things ever.

The only free power outlet we could find was on the floor next to this USDA beagle brigade car.

Here's the pilot trying to explain why it's not his fault this airline is so bad.

Boo Liat. Boo.

We made it to our hostel in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda around 1am. The manager was whining that we were supposed to have checked in at 5pm and I was thinking "back up or I will cut you!" Doing hard time at the airport changes a man.