Patterned Pants: Antigua

My favorite day!

I had the roughest start this morning. I was feeling rather motion sick. We travelled from St. Lucia several hundred miles to Antigua at a rapid clip, plus the ocean had large swells due to the hurricanes that were in the vicinity. I was worried that our day on a smaller boat would make me feel worse, but I felt fine once we disembarked from our ship.

We met our tour at the nearby dock. The tour picked up 7 of us (including Tim and I) and we headed over to Sandals Resort to pick up 8 other passengers. Once on board, the crew introduced themselves and they outlined the itinerary for the day. We didn't think they were serious, but one of the crew was named "One Love". The others were Tony and Surge. Characters they were, and they were great hosts!

Our first stop was about 100 yards off shore from Long Island. Ken Follett has a house there, along with many other multi-millionaires. We could see starfish all over the bottom of the sea while we were anchored. We didn't swim, because along with the starfish, there were lots and lots of jellyfish.

We travelled through the Caribbean around various islands where we learned about sea turtles, baby fish, and sharks. We pulled up to the shore on Bird Island and hiked to the top of the hill. We could see for miles. We swam in the water near the boat, and ate lunch on the island.

After lunch, we continued on our journey through the sea to "Hell's Gates". This is a natural island with a bridge/tunnel that has been carved out by the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Some of the passengers hopped out into the choppy water to snorkel. Tim and I followed Tony through the water to the bridge. We walked up to the opening and then climbed up the cliffs where we could walk over the bridge. I have to admit, I was a little nervous swimming in the rough waters, but it was definitely worth the risk. In the picture, the Atlantic is on the far side of the bridge. The water looks calm in this shot, but when the water washed into the cove it was scary!

While I was climbing up, I found a cute little crab which I took back to the boat for a while. It was in it's shell just hanging out.

After our adventure on the bridge, they took us out to the middle of the Caribbean and stopped near a reef. We hopped into our snorkel gear and jumped out of the boat. Surge guided us through the reef where we could see all sorts of sea life. Toward the end, I nearly collided with a jellyfish. Fortunately, I saw it in time and squirmed out of the way.