Antigua

 Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Funny story. Last fall a friend of ours told Bob she and her daughter were going to Antigua. One of our favorite places is Antigua, Guatemala so Bob got excited and started telling her all about the city and what she should see while they were there. This conversation went on for a long time before our friend mentioned how nice the beach looked on a photo of where they were to stay. Dead silence from Bob. He knew Antigua was land locked but he didn't have the heart to disappoint our friend. End of discussion.

And you have probably already figured out what Bob hadn't. There are two Antiguas. Bob was referring to ahn-tee-gwa and our friend was going to an-tee-guh. Eventually the mess got sorted out and shortly after that we learned we were also going to Antigua...the island, not the city in Guatemala!

Back to the Eurodam...

I got up much earlier than Bob so I would have time to shower and wash my hair. (Bald guys have it so easy!) We sat and watched the rain out the windows as we had breakfast with Jon and Michelle in the buffet. I was kicking myself that I hadn't brought a rain jacket or an umbrella so was happy when we walked down the gangplank around 8:30 and realized the rain had stopped! 

But...we hadn't even walked the length of the ship when the skies opened up again. Luckily the ship was docked right in the city of St. John and we were to meet our tour with "Lawrence of Antigua" a short distance away. I had booked a private tour for the four of us but Lawrence (actually Leston Lawrence) had emailed a few days prior asking if another couple could join us. We agreed. The price would be adjusted and we didn't mind having a couple extra people.

We found Lawrence waiting right where he had said he would be. We were able to wait under a store awning during that time and avoided getting any wetter than we already were! Amy and Dan (the other couple) showed up about 10 minutes later. He led the six of us to his mini bus which by my count had 26 seats...definitely plenty of room for our small group.

This photo was taken from our meeting spot, just a short distance from the ship.

Lawrence's minibus...plenty of room for 6 people!

Lawrence gave each of us a map so we could follow along as we made a giant circle around the western side of the island. He wore a microphone that amplified his voice and there was no problem hearing as he narrated our drive. The rain followed us for part of the morning but we were fortunate that it was light. 

A map of Antigua showing our route.

Lawrence claimed this is known as the prettiest church in the Caribbean...so I took a picture. 😄

One of our first stops was at Shirley Heights, a military lookout and gun battery from the 17th century. Ruins of many of the military structures still remain and the view from there was amazing!

Lawrence of Antigua

Lawrence pointed out Eric Clapton's house in the distance.

Back down at sea level, Lawrence took us to Nelson's Dockyard, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is the only continuously working Georgian era dockyard in the world. The entrance fee to the national park was $15/person which we were able to pay with a credit card. A local guide gave us a short tour of the marina area and then we had time to explore on our own. 

Interesting (and large) cactus on the fence posts.

English Harbor

We walked through the museum and then at Lawrence's recommendation we bought pastries at the bakery.

Jon and Bob with the Queen's palm tree.

Many sailing yachts in the marina.

The dockyard bakery.

Clarence House. Princess Margaret spent the first night of her honeymoon here but her two week stay was cut short by harassment from the paparazzi (the curse of being a royal!) The newly married couple were forced to flee onboard a yacht and spend the remainder of their time in Bermuda.

A few British  met on the porch of the museum. 😄 

With our tour we had the option of going to a beach at the end or just back to the ship. We hadn't brought swimsuits and didn't plan on going to the beach but Amy and Dan wanted to stop. Lawrence was just going to drop them off and come back to pick them up later, but when Jon saw there was a beach bar he wanted to get something to eat.

Valley Church Beach was totally deserted. Lawrence said the day before it was packed, but we were the only ones around. Amy and Dan walked around a bit and decided they wouldn't stay after all and would be happy just being there until we were done eating the conch fritters that Jon had ordered. With the empty beach, The Nest Beach Bar agreed to make our food and then were going to close for the day.

When we asked Lawrence what type of tree this was he said "a Christmas tree."

After sharing the order of conch fritters, we all climbed back into the bus for the ride back to the ship. Amy showed us a bunch of shells she had picked up and Michelle asked Lawrence if he would stop one more time so they could look for shells too. Bob, Jon, Michelle and Amy all got out and went to a secluded part of the beach where they found a bunch of shells. Dan made fun of Amy because she had her pockets so full he thought her pants were going to fall down. Bob's small bag of shells will go to one of our grandsons who has a collection.

Traffic was crazy when we got back to the city of St. John, the capital of Antigua. We passed by many students in the school uniforms headed home at the end of their school day. Some photos taken through the bus windows.

After Lawrence dropped us off, Bob and I came directly back to the ship but Jon and Michelle stayed in town to shop. Michelle even found a cute swimsuit at one of the stores near the ship. It was right at the all aboard time of 3:30 when they made it back to the ship!

Bob and I were hungry when we got back on the ship so we went to the buffet for a sandwich and salad. I was tired and went back to the cabin for a nap. Bob also took a nap, but his was in one of the lounge chairs on the promenade deck! He stayed there and watched sail away.

Since Jon and Michelle hadn't had lunch, they went to dinner early. Bob and I went around 6:00 after taking time to gather our dirty clothes and fill the laundry bag for our steward to pick up when he did the evening turndown service. By the time we crammed it full it was so heavy I could hardly lift it! 

For dinner I had some delicious smoked carne asada, coconut shrimp, mashed potatoes and asparagus. The sugar free option was a chocolate dessert that was ultra rich. Jon and Michelle went up to Deck 10 and played in the arcade and then met back up with us as we were having our dessert.

The four of us went to the World Stage to see comedian, Andrew Grose. He was very funny and we enjoyed the show. From there we went to the Love Game in the Rolling Stone Lounge. It was sort of like the Newlywed Game from TV. We tried to answer some of the questions that the contestants were given and decided we were really glad we hadn't been on stage!