Antigua Christmas 2024 - Day 6: Hanging at the villa, returning home, closing thoughts

Our flight wasn't until 3:05 PM and checkout wasn't until 12, so we had a relaxing morning at the villa, interspersed with some packing and organizing.

This is the first thing I saw out the window, after exiting the bedroom this morning: Steve helping Jeanne get some clothes off the line, because it was seven feet above the ground for some reason.

I had some breakfast and retreated to one of the porches to read a book. An hour or so later, I found everyone lounging around the pool, variously enjoying the sun or a slice of shade.

It was a beautiful 80F with a strong breeze and scattered, thin clouds; we were all ready to stay another day, but it was time to load up the van one last time and head back to the aiport.

Just before 12 noon, our host arrived to say goodbye, collect the keys, and chat about our visit. He was not surprised to hear about the tarantula, answering "Oh yes, we have them in the garden. They come out when it rains, because their burrows fill up with water."

We thanked him again for their patience with our delayed arrival, for leaving water, beer, wine, and fresh fruit for us, and for their wonderful hospitality.

It was only about a 15-minute drive to the rental car return area, straight up and over the hill between the house and there. The bottom of the rear bumper cover scraped on the way out of the steep driveway one last time (for probably the ninth or tenth time in 6 days); we hoped they wouldn't notice (or care about) the slight sag, when we returned it.

As with everything else on the island, returning the rental car took 15 minutes longer than it should have (#islandtime).

The airport was somehow quite confusing, considering that it's not very large. (I think there were maybe ten gates?) The rental car area is past the arrivals area (maybe for obvious reasons) so we had to walk the entire length of the atrium/lobby.

The signs pointed us up an escalator for "check-in", but that was where the emigration checkpoint and security screening areas were; to check in, we had to go back down (stairs), down to the far end of the lobby, around the corner to the United counters.

I'd hoped we could just have two people bring six passports, since we'd already checked in online, but they insisted on seeing everyone in person. After dragging all our bags down there and persuading their security personnel that we had our passports, we were able to get boarding passes and then go back upstairs to wait in several lines.

Despite passport control and security also being on island time, we made it through with time for a quick look around the small airport before boarding. There wasn't really time to eat anything, especially given the lengthy line at the only real food venue, so we went right to the gate. I'm not really sure what everyone else was doing, as I got selected for additional security screening and paged to the counter; it was rather casual, as far as these things go (not my first SSSS designation).

At 2:40 PM, we emerged into the savage sun one last time to hoof it out the to plane. At least boarding goes faster when using both front and rear doors.

The flight was unremarkable, and even felt quick compared to our southbound debacle. Most of us enjoyed some quality time with our books, and it was all over before we knew it.

We hustled off the aircraft ASAP, and marched (what felt like half a mile) straight to immigration where we found literally no line whatsoever, for once. From there, it was a short walk to a cramped Uber XL back to Lauren's building, where we had a late dinner before carpooling everyone home.

Overall, it was a rather frictionless, uneventful travel day, which is all we can ask for.

Antigua had a similar feel as the USVI, or a little bit like St. Lucia (although that's hard to judge, as we were there during COVID restrictions) but with less dramatic/mountainous terrain. The shape of the island made it easier to explore than Tortola, where we were last year.

It rained a little bit almost every evening or morning, but it didn't affect us at all. I definitely wouldn't want to be there during a serious storm or hurricane, as the flooding must be severe.

The food, people, and culture were all wonderful, and I like that there's some history to experience beyond the beaches (there are more than 100 sugar mill towers around the island, for example). It's certainly not an easy place to explore, and has little-to-no public transit whatsoever (we saw a few buses, but they didn't seem to have extensive coverage).

Other than Sandals, we didn't see any large resort brands that I recognized; they seemed to be mostly independent/boutique (or maybe just British/European?). There were no huge resort/casino complexes on the beach, as in some other places we've been.

In no particular order, here are some things that I'd want to know if I were to go back to Antigua:

• Driving
• Google Maps cannot be fully trusted; several times, it tried to send us down unimproved/dirt/gravel roads that we weren't even sure were roads, or hallucinated roads that were not there at all.
• The roads are generally terrible, just like everywhere else in the Caribbean we've been, although the road along the southwestern coast wasn't awful.
• I've driven many rental cars, but this is the first time an employee has ever specifically shown me the location of the jack and tools for changing a tire, the implications of which were slightly troubling. (We did see only one tourist with a flat tire, though.)
• There are many, many speedbumps, usually in pairs, sometimes with warning signs but usually not.
• There's a temporary driving permit that costs $20 US (cash only) at the rental counter.
• Airport
• When departing, don't go upstairs without a boarding pass.
• For departure, 2 hours early was enough time, but 2.5 would've been better during busy Christmas travel.
• The rental car companies literally share one giant counter in the same building; they are functionally equivalent, and all offer slow/mediocre service (sample size of one, around Christmas).
• There was no wifi available in the airport, and the cell signal was so weak my Solis hotspot didn't work.
• I find the $55 VIP service to be offensive, but I would've gladly paid it had I known how unprepared they'd be for holiday travel volume at immigration. It appears to require advanced planning.
• Money
• The internet suggests the official abbreviation for the Eastern Caribbean Dollar is XCD, but they use ECD everywhere I saw in Antigua (and St. Lucia).
• The fancier restaurants insist on charging your card in USD, despite listing all prices in ECD; they will not give you the true exchange rate (2.7:1), instead using 2.6 (or 2.65), which seems shady and lets them pocket the difference (theoretically, the bank/card-issuer gives a better rate). This seems trivial but can add up to actual money on a large restaurant bill.
• Similarly, prices at beach bars or restaurants will be a better deal in ECD but not significant enough to merit carrying ECD (e.g. a beer might be $12 EC / $5 US).
• We didn't need or use any ECD cash, but US cash is accepted everywhere, and seemed expected for chair/umbrella/whatever rental.
• Every restaurant included a 10% service charge (one was 12.5%) automatically, but an extra 5% or so in US cash for great service seemed to be the norm at the higher-end restaurants.
• We had a waitress refuse a $20 because it had a tiny tear in it, stating that the bank wouldn't accept it (we supplied a pristine $20 instead).
• Sights/Activities
• There are beaches everywhere, but the east coast is probably not great for swimming.
• There always seemed to be some public access/parking, at least at the five or six beaches we visited. If not, there are plenty of other options.
• Downtown St. John's is not a great place to visit, mostly because the roads are narrow and disjointed, but also because there isn't much reason to go there.
  
• The tea house is worth the drive.
• Stop at a roadside fruit vendor.
• Consider Stingray City 😉
• Consider CocoVibes for charter boat, for not much more money than a large group tour.
• There's apparently a huge party at Shirley Heights on Sunday evenings.
• Cruise ship schedules need to be taken into consideration.
• Boxing Day is a real holiday, and things are closed.
• I feel it was worth the $20 EC to get into Nelson's Dockyard (I see people on forums saying they paid much more, but that it also included admission to two or three other historic attractions).
• Misc
• There were US outlets/plugs, at least where we stayed. They might've been 120V or 240V, unclear.
• We saw several RO plants along the coast, and it looks like there's municipal water available many places, but restaurants all served bottled water.
• The villa's tap water was perfectly fine, seemed to be rain-capture/cistern and filtered on-site.
• The Epicurian grocery store was wonderful; First Choice was good but less fancy.
• We saw maybe two or three people riding bicycles on insane roads (aside from a few at one beach area)... I would never consider doing that, there.

Antigua Christmas 2024 - Day 5: Fort James Beach

We had a bit of a lazy morning at the villa, and didn't leave until about 10:30 AM.

There were two large cruise ships in port for the day (and a third that was departing today) so we expected the beaches near St. John's to be crowded. We originally debated going back to Dickenson Bay Beach, but assumed it would be crowded, or maybe Runaway Beach, but some of the more-recent reviews suggested it was still recovering from hurricane erosion, so went for Fort James Beach in the end. Ironically, this page I just linked to concludes "Fort James Beach is also a popular spot for cruise ship visitors, as it’s only a 5-10 minutes drive from the cruise ship dock in St.John’s."

The road out to Fort James Beach is a bit rustic. We encountered a group of kids doing some Saturday morning donkey-riding. It wasn't entirely clear if the donkeys were willing participants, and I don't think the kids in the second photo were thrilled that I took their photo. There was a third donkey that had just bucked off a small rider, also.

Not too far after the donkeys, there was a cow wandering across the road, and also probably a dozen of them randomly lounging in a field.

I'm just noticing now that one of the cows under this tree was actually a bull, with horns and everything. Also one of them is actually a horse.

I'm not sure where the egrets fit into this mini ecosystem, but I'm guessing the answer is somewhere on the Cornell Labs "All About Birds" site.

By the time we drove around a bit to find a spot with some shade, unloaded all the gear, picked a spot on the beach, and got set up for the day, it was after 11 AM. The beach wasn't very crowded, and the sand was soft and clean.

There was barely a cloud in the sky as Rudy inspects the water. We commandeered a few lounge chairs in front of a small, rustic beach bar; we sort of got the impression there was an unspoken expectation that we would buy a beverage or two from the wooden shack (cash only), in lieu of a chair rental fee.

About two hours later, we started looking for lunch/snack options at the neighboring Treehouse Beach Club. By then, they were fully enveloped in cruise-ship patrons, some of which were easily identified by their Norwegian Cruise Line towels.

Twenty minutes later, we at least had a few cocktails. Rudy decided to try an espresso martini, at Steve's suggestion. The woman working behind the counter wrote "Sabrina/Beard" as the name on the food order slip. I knew we were in trouble when she asked the customer in front of us when she had to leave (e.g., go back to the cruise ship); for our order, it would apparently take about half an hour. 

We returned to the beach, promising to come check on the food situation in 30 minutes.

Steve, Rudy, and I returned after the half hour was up, and waited around for a while. Eventually, we gave up when they offered to bring it to us, and wanted to know where we were sitting. I had to persuade them to extend their delivery range, as we weren't exactly "at" their establishment; I tossed out a plausible story (lie) about how we had to relocate due to the tide coming up, and the waitress seemed satisfied.

We probably futzed around for 10 or 15 minutes in there, but the people-watching and the accents were epic; at one point a guy asked me if I was queuing, for example.

It was around 3 PM by the time we got some fries, nachos, fish fritters, and a chicken sandwich. It was all delicious, and somehow made even better by the brutal sun.

After lunch, Steve, Rudy, and I went on an adventure; about 1/4 of a mile behind the Treehouse Beach Club, we found Fort James, or at least what's left of the 18th-century British fort.

The fort ruins are at the end of a peninsula, commanding a splendid view of St. John's harbor.

Other than the view, the stone walls, and a few ruined buildings, the most obvious attractions were the cannons arrayed around the outside wall.

We entered the... upper? area of the fort, at the extreme tip of the peninsula, where we found maybe a dozen more cannon and more collapsed buildings.

The sun was absolutely baking us, despite it being nearly 4 PM.

It was fortunate that we were here late in the afternoon; if we'd been a few hours earlier, I suspect the cannons would've been too hot for us to ride.

The only other visitor was this cat, who briefly joined our tour of the cannons.

I enjoyed lining up photos so the cannon is aimed at the ship that was anchored in the bay.

Once we returned to the beach, there was time for a final swim before packing up and heading back to the villa. We had just enough time to all shower and change before heading out to dinner.

I thought our reservation at Le Bistro was for 6 PM, but it turned out to be 6:15, so we had time to make another quick stop at the grocery store and also to get gas. (Wouldn't normally gas up the rental this early, but it wasn't full when we got it, so it'll probably be fine if it's down a bit when we return it.)

We were practically the first customers of the night, as they had just opened at 6 o'clock. Rudy forgot his eyeglasses, so had to borrow a pair from the very British manager/hostess; she even polished them, before handing them over.

Dinner was excellent, and we also opted for a few of the desserts. This required some seat changes, to facilitate better sharing.

After dinner, we followed the road back along the coast, the same way we had driven from the airport on Tuesday night. We also stopped at two small grocery/convenience stores in search of bananas, as the large grocer had been out of them (but struck out). The first of these stops was bathed in an eerie, red glow.

There's a stretch of road in Hodges Bay, near Jabberwock Beach, where they've installed red street lights to help prevent newly-hatched turtles from being confused on their trips to the ocean. Apparently the theory is that they crawl toward the moon as a navigation method, and bright/white streetlights look enough like the moon to cause them trouble, but the red lights are less prone to this.

That's the theory, anyway. I learned most of that from watching Bad Monkey, by the way. I don't know how much of it's true.

Tomorrow, we return to the US; our flight isn't until 3 PM, and checkout at the Airbnb isn't until noon, so we intend to just lounge around, poolside, for a few more hours before enduring the absurdity of airport security, economy-class seating, and immigration at Newark.

Antigua Christmas 2024 - Day 4: Tea house, Turner Beach

It was a beautiful morning to sit around the pool without actually going in, made easier by the underwater ledge that goes halfway around.

The housekeeping staff was coming by at 10 AM today, so we wanted to be out of the house before that. I think we made it with four minutes to spare.

We loaded in the van and drove about half an hour south, diverting around the busy streets of St. John's, to the scenic Fig Tree Drive (which doesn't involve figs).

About halfway through the rainforest drive, we stopped for refreshments at the Vintage Tea House. It was a bit tricky to find, although there was a sign on the main road that was visible because we were already looking for it.

There's a restored sugar (wind)mill tower adjacent to the tea house, which we toured while waiting for our orders of coffee/tea/snacks.

The view from the top of the tour was quite nice, although there was an incoming raincloud that soon drenched the area.

They were very much still in the Christmas mood, with decorations hanging everywhere, snow globes on every table, and a playlist of Christmas music playing the entire time we were there.

After leaving the tea house, we finished the remainder of Fig Tree Drive down to the coast, then followed the coastal road west toward the west-coast beaches.

Coming around the corner at the southernmost point of our ride today, I stopped at a scenic point that looked over the (unnamed?) beach by the Curtain Bluff resort. I guess it's sort of connected to Morris Bay Beach.

We continued along the coast, over to the northern end of Turner's Beach, which might also be Crabbe Hill Beach. Boundaries are all somewhat negotiable, here.

We rented a few chairs and an umbrella from a local guy named Trevor, who turned out to be the Trevor that Captain George suggested we find if we were in the area. He also offered kayaks, paddle boards, a sail boat (sunfish), snorkel gear, and probably more that I can't remember.

I walked over to OJ's Beach Bar for an adult mango smoothie. I couldn't decide how concerned to be about the bird perched on the blender rim; sometimes it's best not to get too involved.

Scattered cloud provided some respite from the blistering sun, although not everyone else would characterize that as a good thing.

In the distance, Montserrat is clearly visible. Much of the island, including the capital, was wiped out by volcanic eruptions in the last 30 years.

Less obvious but definitely visible to the unaided eye (faintly on  the far right in these photos), we could see the island of Nevis and some of Saint Kitts.

It was quite windy when we got to the beach around 12:30, but it calmed down by 3 o'clock, so we rented a paddle board for an hour and people took turns going up and down the shore on it.

Around 4:30, everyone was getting hungry, so we packed up the van and continued along the coast. Our dinner reservation wasn't until 6 PM, so we tried to stop at beach bars at two other beaches (Darkwood and Ffryes) for a snack and a sunet, but the beach bars were very crowded and closed, respectively.

It was already 5 o'clock by the time we struck out the second time, so we decided to just continue along to Sheer Rocks a tad early, and watch the sunset from there.

Being early allowed us the luxury of time to change before dinner, either in the van or in the bathroom of the building in the background. Who chose which option might surprise you.

Having finished the production of six wardrobe changes, it was 5:30 by the time we walked up to the restaurant, just in time for the last 10 or 15 minutes of sun.

Sheer Rocks is the restaurant of a five-star, all-inclusive, adults-only resort. so naturally they have several infinity pools, one of which overlooks the beach.

The resort juts out on a point, with Jolly Harbour and Reeds Point to the north.

Just off the shore, we could see the stationary party boat (with multiple waterslides) that we saw yesterday on our saltwater tour. A small boat was ferrying partiers back and forth from the resort, as we ate.

Thankfully, our table was ready about 20 minutes early, so we were able to watch the beautiful sunset as we settled in for a few hours of decadence.

After a lovely dinner, it was about a half-hour drive back to the Airbnb; along the way, we passed through downtown St. John's, which was alive with parties and loud music.

Back at the house, as we unloaded the van, we discovered a new bit of wildlife we hadn't yet encountered. Initial searching suggests it might be some sort of tarantula, which might be locally known as a "horse spider".

Size 12 flip flop, for scale.

Tomorrow, we intend to stay closer to the house and visit a new beach (or two, if necessary). The exact outcome will depend on when and where the cruise passengers show up.