It’s Antigua today. A former British colony, with its neighbouring island of Barbuda, it became independent in 1981.
As is usual on this cruise, we glided in silently as dawn was breaking and I could see than another ship was following us in. And so it proved to be as AIDA’s Perla slowly followed us and docked alongside. That is some ship and a quick look on Cruisemapper showed that it was on a 14-night Caribbean cruise out of Barbados. We guessed it was a counterpart to us, offering winter cruises in the area exclusively for Germans.
But before I go further, dear readers, I have to confess that I am to some extent in the dog house, but fortunately I do not have to share it with 'Big Dog' Alexander (aka Boris) de Pfeffel Johnson. Yesterday we had something of a stressful spell which turned into the highlight of Elizabeth’s day. You may have by now guessed where this is going as Leeds United were playing West Ham United away at West Ham’s London Stadium. After a lot of back and forth, Leeds managed to win 3-2 and gain a very valuable 3 points in the process. All we need now is for Watford FC to win a few matches before the end of the season and all will be well with the world in the Atkins household.
But, back to today. We
had to be on the quayside for an 0845 start and around 13 of us were eventually
shepherded on to a minibus. For the first time on this trip we had our temperatures
taken on the dockside.
Before we were able to get on board we had to stand for quite a while waiting for the driver and our guide to agree that we could board while all the empty minibuses around us had their engines running with the concomitant fumes for us to enjoy.
Our guide was clearly a novice as she read a set text from her clipboard, at least for the first part of the trip. We drove up the main street from the dockside, past the Antigua National Museum and past their cenotaph. On each tour of these islands we are reminded that the inhabitants of the islands which were former British colonies provided personnel for the two world wars of the 20th century and lost their own citizens as did the mother country.
On we drove, past the old Recreation Ground which used to
serve as the island’s cricket stadium and past the island’s jail, which did not
look at all salubrious!
And on we went and eventually came to the new cricket ground, the Sir Viv Richards Stadium, named after the island’s greatest cricketer who is generally regarded as one of the world’s greatest batsmen. In his career he scored over 36,000 runs with a batting average of just under 50 and which included 114 centuries and 162 50s. As in Dominica, the cost of the stadium was funded largely by the Chinese.
Our guide told us that vaccination rates on the island were pretty good and there were billboards around the island exhorting people to get vaccinated as soon as they were eligible. Our guide also said that Antigua had introduced strict measures to make life for the unvaccinated noticeably tougher than for those who were.
Montserrat in the distance
The island had ben under a state of emergency for some time and this was finally lifted on 23 December 2021, so clearly life as far as tourism was concerned was just starting to resume.
She also told us that the island’s GDP was made up of tourism (75%) with other businesses making up the rest. It had always been sugar cane production and this continued even after slavery had been abolished, but the growth of sugar beet production finally made the production of cane sugar uneconomic. All over the island you can see old sugar mills which are now protected by being given heritage status.
I have already mentioned how destructive Hurricane Irma was across all of this part of the Caribbean in the autumn of 2017 and Antigua and Barbuda were no exception. Barbuda was so badly damaged that all the islanders were evacuated to Antigua and only a portion of them have returned.
All the food that Antigua produces is consumed on the island with the remainder of what they need being imported from Dominica.
We moved on towards the south-east corner of the island. In many ways the look of the place was similar to other islands with a few smart properties, but mostly the houses were small, reflecting the low average incomes on the island and there was a lot of an unloved look about the surroundings of houses – lots of overgrown outdoor areas, rusting, dilapidated vehicles and occasionally boats and various property walls made of such a breeze block which had been neither skimmed or even painted, giving a half finished look. There was the usual scattering of half-finished properties to be seen.
One shock we did have was when the driver slowed down almost to a halt and steered out into the middle of the road. I saw why. There was a dead donkey on the side of the road which our guide surmised had been struck in the dark overnight by a speeding car.
We finally arrived for our first stop, overlooking Eric Clapton’s extensive property in the Freetown area of the island and you can see the nearby Crossroads Centre which he founded to treat recovering drug addicts from the island. The views from the headland overlooking all this were stunning and included a good view of Montserrat, another British Overseas Territory, devastated by an eruption in 1995, from which the islanders are still suffering the effects today.
On we went to Shirley Heights which offer a commanding view over English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard. We enjoyed a spell there and many a photograph was taken by us and others before we moved on to our final stop at Nelson’s Dockyard.
We were temperature checked once again today as we went inside and our guide started to take us through the area and giving us a potted history. At our second stop, he was just telling us about Clarence House, high up on another hill overlooking the harbour area when the horns of the yachts and sailing boats started to sound off one after another. Our guide spotted what was happening. A team of transatlantic rowers were just arriving after 36 days at sea crossing from La Gomera. They had a police boat escort in and there were various media people on shore to record their arrival. For more, see https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-59987527
There was inevitably quite a hubbub of activity and excitement, after which we retreated for our obligatory rum punch in a nearby hostelry, although not the memorable one where Chris and I enjoyed a couple of them 10 years ago while watching Chelsea play Benfica in a European match.
We finally set off back at which point our guide told us that the minibus we were on had on board Wi-Fi and so a number of passengers duly logged in to check if the world had changed much since they last looked.
Progress along Antigua’s roads was slow and steady. On numerous occasions the driver slowed down and it wasn’t always clear if it was because there were speed bumps in the road or if he was working to avoid potholes. It may well have been a combination of both.
As we arrived back, we admired both ships tied up on the quay and it was quite a sight in the bright sunlight. After lunch up in the cafeteria we had a siesta spell and then gravitated towards the Terrace Bar at the back of the ship for a glass of white Zinfandel and a bottle of Doom Bar.
Although billed to leave at 8pm, Aida Perla actually left just before we were due to get off at 1730 and we followed her out as it grew dark and a beautiful full moon rose in a starlit sky.
We had dinner at what is becoming our usual table where Neetin, our waiter from Mumbai, was his useful pleasant and obliging self. Tonight was one of the best dinners I had had with starters of mussels in white wine, a bowl of their exquisite tomato soup and a main dish of Lancashire hot pot!
Dinner over we just had to go out on deck to see the moon shining over a crystal clear sea. We could see Aida’s Perla in the distance on the starboard bow and it seemed to be almost motionless on the water. On the way up there from the dining room, we had to pass through the cafeteria. Our jaws dropped. The place was packed and we can’t think why. It’s certainly not as if the dress code generally in the main dining room is particularly strict.
On our way back we noticed that the lifts were all out of action. As we got back to the cabin we had an announcement from the captain over the PA saying: “Don’t panic, don’t panic, but the lifts are out of action, as is the aircon” and that the tecky guys were on to it. We soon noticed that the Wi-Fi had gone down, so all normal life as we know it was quickly ebbing away. We were wating for the instruction to go to our muster stations, but after about 15-20 minutes everything returned to normal and life was moving along happily once again.
Tomorrow is St Lucia. We have no trips booked and it seems that, contrary to information we read just before the cruise began, we will now be able to wander around unhindered even though we’re not booked on a tour. There will be a temperature check on the quayside and we will be required to wear a wrist band from the time we leave the ship to the time we finally return but those seem to be the only requirements.
We have also been given information about our re-entry to
Barbados. It seems we will no longer be required by the Barbadian authorities to
have an LFT on disembarking the ship, although one of us will have to meet with
immigration staff for whatever purpose.
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