Oldies On Tour

Tuesday 14th January 2025

Sailing today so an early start, unfortunately this morning is hot again which is good, but zero wind, not ideal for a days sail; let’s hope there is a good breeze at sea.

After breakfast we headed off to Jolly Harbour, earlier than we needed because we were unsure where we boarded our yacht.  I had one place in mind from four years ago and Christine had a different idea so we decided to head to the booking agents office and find out.   The girl here recognised Christine immediately and shouted at me to park opposite, unfortunately this was where Christine has told me👹👹!!!!   We then headed along the broad walk to the collection pontoon.   As we were early we had to hang about a little, but then a rather large catamaran arrived and that was that, there was no room for our charter to dock so a call was made to our skipper for the tender to be sent to collect us.  The dock we were on was for the height of a normal boat, not low enough for a dingy, so our getting on was a little undignified to say the least!!!    Anyway we were on our way and met up with our 51ft Benateau in the harbour channel and clambered aboard.   We met our skipper Charlotte, and Devon our deck hand and then headed out into the clear blue Caribbean water, but no wind😩😩

In a sail boat, running on engine “doesn’t cut the mustard”, noisy and no fun but as we rounded the first point, “hooray” there was a modicum of wind so out went the jib and the  engine was cut; we were sailing, albeit about one knot, but sailing none the less, peace at last!!!  Now was the time for refreshments as we headed to Carlisle Bay accompanied with slices of fresh fruit, this is going to be good.

Arriving in Carlisle bay right opposite the famous hotel, we dropped the anchor, broke out the masks, snorkels and fins and straight into the clear blue water.   Though the water was clear there wasn’t much marine life to look at.   The skipper then broke out the “Lily Pad”, a mat made out of plastic and foam about 3-meters long and 1-meter wide attached to the boat with a lanyard.   I was the first on it but to my surprise everyone joined me; this pad was buoyant enough to support the weight of the four of us.   Laughing and joking whilst lying on the Lily Pad, soaking up the sun with water lapping over us, we got the call; “lunch is ready”.   After a bit of a scramble we were all off the pad and back on board looking forward to the bar-b-q.

I have to say the food was not as good as the food we had on our last charter 4-years ago, the bar-b-q’d chicken was dry and tough though the sauce it was cooked in was excellent.  There was no salad only coleslaw and a plate of mixed beans accompanied with  cold corn-on-the-cob, mine still had ice on it!!!   Desert was fresh fruit, though we had to ask for it!!!   The offer of booze was very good but a limited range bar.  On the whole I was very disappointed, still overall we had a good time, both Charlotte and Devon were chatty and good hosts.

After lunch there was plenty of time for more swimming and sunbathing before heading back to Jolly Harbour.

The trip back was better as we found some wind but some of the Skippers manoeuvres were questionable, especially when going about; the jib went in all directions and we did a 360 turn; still all was well with the sunbathers on the bowes.

Upon arrival, fortunately the Charter boat pontoon was empty so we docked and had a far more genteel  disembarkation. We settled up, said our goodbyes and headed to the bar overlooking the marina, not that we needed another drink!!!

As it started to get dusk and the issues with driving in the dark,we headed back to base but stopped en-route at the local KFC for a bucket of chicken, we were peckish!!!   Car safely parked in the drive and we “dived” into the bucket, oh yes we also had a mountain of fries and some “hot” (this time) corn-on-the-cobs; anybody would have thought we hadn’t eaten for a week!!

Full and satisfied we cleared up and relaxed but not for long, doing nothing has tired us out so another early night was called for

Monday 13th January 2025

Buggies today, so after a brief breakfast we headed to our local beach for an early dip, and as today is shaping up to be hot, swimming was a good option.

We had to be adjacent to Jolly harbour for 1330hrs so back at the “ranch” we had an early lunch or was it a late breakfast; bacon and eggs!!!!

Arriving a little earlier than planned, less traffic perhaps??  Still we had time to sort ourselves out; we planned to take towels etc., as we visit a beach only to be told in no uncertain way, now loose objects and the beach visit isn’t long enough to have a swim🥵. Eventually another two couples arrived and then we were issued with crash hats and had a safety talk including who is responsible for certain damage to tyre sidewalks, damaged frame etc., hey, these are off road buggies built especially for these trips surely all damage should be down to the business: have I got that wrong???

Once we had had all the briefings we were asked if we wanted to buy any face masks or goggles at un-realistic prices, we declined.   Lee mounted a couple of “Go Pro” cameras on our two buggies and now we are ready to go.   We had the guide leading the convoy followed by Lee then us and the Americans behind and a rear-gunner (employee) bringing up the rear.  After a few minutes we realised we should have bought some goggles and a face mask!!

These buggies were quick and the tracks we went along were really bumpy neither of us had time to take in much scenery, I was 100% concentrating on driving and Christine was hanging on for dear life as our bones were being jarred and our eyeballs jumped around in our sockets, not to mention the dust we inhaled!!!   Up hill and down dale we following these tracks, and on one section we drove down  a 45-degree wear wall, very disconcerting as the approach looked as if we were dropping down a cliff!!!    Eventually after passing numerous undernourished cows, tethered separately trying to survive on minimal parched grass we eventually arrived at the beach for a drink stop.   When we took our helmets off we all had a dirt line across our foreheads; dirt below the helmet, clean under the helmet, even my glasses were covered so seeing was becoming difficult: we all regretted not getting some goggles at the start!!!   The first half of this tour took over a hour and this break was very welcome, these buggies are not comfortable to sit in anyway but add in all the rocks, pot holes , ditches and steep hills, our bones ached and our legs were set in the bent position; as I said a very welcome break.

The second part was much shorter but still as “lively” as we wound our way back to the starting point.   We really enjoyed the experience and on balance preferred this years experience to the one we did four years ago.   

Now it was a question of finding the nearest beach to “clean off” and “cool off” so after consulting google earth, headed to Ffryes  Beach, about 1-mile or 5-minutes away!!  Hardly had we parked the car before we headed straight into the see, lovely, lovely, lovely.

Once clean and cooled it was “drinky-poo”, time so headed back into Jolly Harbour, found a bar overlooking the marina and thinking of tomorrow when we have chartered a boat for the day whilst laughing and chatting about our experiences in the buggies.

With dusk falling we headed off, first to the supermarket, then home.  Driving here after dark is the worse of all nightmares, now driving during the day doesn’t seem so bad!!!

Stocked up with wine and food we enjoyed a quiet night in but even so, we were knackered and had an early night!!!

Sunday 12th January 2025

The four of us enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before heading out to Half Moon Bay.   Sarah has memories that the “shack” behind the beach produced a particularly nice Pina Colada and this has been on her mind for some time so naturally we have to do it!!

We arrived in time to secure a couple of sun beds before getting into the sea to cool off.  Today is particularly hot with hardly a cloud to be seen and being a long beach wrapping around this cove, and out of the way, it was not busy.

After our some time in the water, a stroll along the beach to dry off, or burn!!, we headed into the shack to buy some Pina Coladas and took them back to the beach.

Shirley heights tonight so we booked a taxi to pick us up at 1530hrs meaning we needed an early snack lunch from the “shack”.   We were on a tight time schedule but unfortunately the locals and in particular the staff in the shack had their own time Agenda and everything was painfully slow, trying to chivy them up just didn’t work, even when it came to paying our bill we had to wait!!!!   Still we left in time in the end, and had another quick dip before heading back.   We calculated we just had enough time for the   45 minute drive, 4-showers and be waiting for our taxi at 1530; our concern was if the taxi driver was on time, knowing their general approach to timekeeping.

All good, our taxi driver “Junior” was waiting for us, and as a bonus it was a brand new taxi, just out of the showroom though he was sending straight back in as it had a terrible squeak on the side sliding door.   Taxis around here are small people carriers that can carry 10 passengers, many of them look like wrecks; I wonder how long this one will look like new!!!

Arriving at Shirley heights is always the same, taxis and their drivers milling around whilst all the people head inside, but first one has to pay an entrance fee then get a wrist band as the receipt.    

As soon as you enter there is the first bar so we armed ourselves with Rum Punches except Christine, she had a ginger beer, not a normal one of course here in Antigua, no they’re own concoction.  Ginger root is put into a blender with some water,sugar and a squeeze of lime, then all blended together and served on ice, very refreshing but boy it nearly knocks your socks as it is such a strong taste of ginger.   Eventually we put a straight rum into it to soften the taste!!!

It was good to be back at our old haunt, overlooking Falmouth and English Harbours, listening to the local steel band, watching the sun go down, enjoying the local refreshments and having a bar-b-q.   Unfortunately I had a funny turn; certainly not too much rum and felt very odd, still the evening finishes after dark so headed back to meet “Junior” for the drive back.

En route I asked Junior to pull over, which he did very quickly but unfortunately being very dark, as I stepped out of the taxi there was quite a big drop into a hole and I fell straight down into a muddy puddle.   What an unfortunate place to stop, and even worse everybody was falling about in hoots of laughter.   Lee jumped out and Junior came round to help me get back up and into the taxi but unfortunately in the process Lee very nearly went flying!!   Whatever it was I wanted to stop for had long been forgotten as we set off again, covered in mud.

Safely delivered with Junior apologising over and over again for stopping in such a muddy place, we went inside where the full extent of the mud bath I had was revealed; strip and straight into the shower and my clothes into the washing machine.   My shoes I will deal with tomorrow when we go to the beach.

I then went for an early night whilst the rest chuckled and discussed my situation

Saturday 11th January 2025

Beach number 4-today, Dickinson Bay Beach just past Sandals, a well guarded and expensive resort, but for a change we are heading there this morning.  Over the past few days we have been watching Serries 2 of “Reacher” and we have two episodes left.  With visitors over the next couple of weeks, we didn’t think we would get to finish them and as we were both awake very early, took the opportunity to,so followed by a slim breakfast. 

This morning the sun is shining and hardly a cloud in the sky, a far cry from yesterday.

We were aware this is a very popular beach, especially with cruise ship passengers but it suited us to go there and though we arrived mid morning, most beach chairs were occupied.  The sea on the other hand was devoid of swimmers, mainly due to the waves knocking some people over when they tried to enter; this was probably the final acts of yesterday’s bad weather.

We found a couple of sun beds, deposited our “stuff” and headed into the sea, yes access was tricky but when we got past the “nasty” bit we enjoyed the cool but warm water before negotiating the “getting-out” procedure, it was all about timing and good luck!!!!   Whilst Christine was “lounging”, I headed long then beach only to spot a big “red flag” warning bathers not to go in, oops!!!!!

Back to base for lunch and wait for Lee and Sarah to arrive.  Unfortunately their flight was over an hour late leaving Gatwick so stayed back until it was time to head to the airport.

They cleared immigration and customs and we met up and we were off back to base for a few “drinky poos” where I introduced Lee to Rum and Ting, a favourite in these parts😎😎

Tonight we had booked a table at C’n C, an old haunt of ours down in the old town by the docks. One of their redeeming features, apart from good food, was their wine stock from South Africa wines, white in particular.   So at the appointed time we arrived only to be informed their stocks of South African wines was virtually non existent, they only had a few bottles of red left.   Apparently the place had changed owners recently and their preference was for Italian wines!!!   Once we had got over the shock we decided on their Chardonnay, tried a bottle and then re-ordered several, it was very nice😍😍.  The food was also good so everything was “tip-top” and we had a great evening. 

Eventually we headed back to base, had a couple of night caps before turning into bed.  Tomorrow is “Shirley Heights” day, yeah!!!

Friday 10th January 2025

Beach number 3 today; Half Moon Beach right down in the south east of the Island.but first breakfast and “another” trip to our local supermarket.  The trouble is we have a “huge” one called “Epicure” round the corner and it has aisles dedicated to numerous countries around the world, as well as catering packs; we always come out with more than we want!!!    This is also a favourite “Go-To” place for the crews of the “Super Yachts” moored in English Harbour or Falmouth Harbour.   You always know as usually it is a young lady with a white polo shirt with the name of the yacht and pushing 4 or 5 trellises.

We awoke to rain this morning, let’s hope it clears up for the rest of the day.

After a quick slimming breakfast 😡, Christine caught up with the ironing whilst I headed out to the super market with “Strict Instructions” to “JUST” buy something we can take to the beach for lunch; the way it came over it sounded like a 3-line whip!!!!

Mission accomplished and no repercussions 🤠 upon my return!!  Now we headed to Half Moon Beach, a drive of about 47 minutes but only 17-miles; the roads are so bad!!!!  Unfortunately the clouds are still hovering but hey, it’s still hot and we are on a mission.

After dodging all the pot holes and local drivers with minimal road sense, we dropped down into Half Moon Bay, and to our surprise there were lots of cars parked but the beach was empty.   Adjacent to the beach is the “Beach Bum bar & Cafe”  and no doubt, being lunch time, everyone was in there.    We on the other hand got our picnic box out and found an outside table, it’s the diet you know!!!!

Parking  by the beach, and After our feast 👹🥵👹🥵 we stepped two paces and was on the beach itself.  A quick “strip” and we were in the sea, lovely but still the clouds were looking grim.

The beach, which is a couple of miles long was still empty, but that is good.  We splashed about, I did some exercises, we enjoyed a swim in the waves (ha ha) but over-head the black clouds were gathering; we debated the direction of travel and finally decided they were coming our way.   We know from experience that when it rains, it buckets down so out of the sea we came and gathered up our things, at which point it started to spit.  Our car was no more than 25-meters away and by the time we got to the car, we were both drowned rats, probably wetter than we were in the sea!!

Thank goodness it was a hire car, with the best will in the world we could not get in dry!!!!   Disappointed with no sun we headed back but we had our swim, that was the main thing.

Christine has decided “again” to sort dinner (diet!!), nothing wrong with this but if we went out! less work for her but obviously no good for our weight!!!  This will all change tomorrow when Led and Sarah arrive!!!  The good news it’s Friday night, we can have a proper drink, none of this Rum stuff🤣🤣.

Thursday 9th January 2025

No rush this morning as we are only heading into St John’s heritage centre down by the docks; having looked on line for “decent” flip-flops and found a proper shoe shop but overpriced no-doubt as this is where the cruise liners discharge their passengers!!

The small roads around the docks were full of taxis and folk trying to sell day trips to the passengers but we managed to find the small car park we used on many occasions in the past only to find it cordoned off which then forced us into a pay car park; what a cheek!!!

We parked-up and headed to Redcliffe Quay, firstly to C&C for a coffee and book a table for Saturday night.  The coffee part didn’t materialise as they don’t do tea, can you believe that??  So just booked a table and moved on to another place, again no tea but ordered a coffee. When it came it was $4US, in a paper cup and it was undrinkable, whatever it was it was not coffee as known to man, so we left and gave up.  We now headed to Heritage Quay and with a little help from one of the attendants, found the shoe shop, success.   Though they hadn’t got what I wanted I did get a good pair of flip-flops so left the shop a happy chap.

Back at base Christine cooked our main meal at lunchtime, before we headed to Runaway beach, a mere mile and a half away.   This local beach is a very long, quiet, out of the way beach which suits us fine.   The access road is extremely damaged, pot holes and un-made up stretches, which probably keeps many away.  Also there are no vendors, bars or beach furniture but one can park literally on the edge of the beach and usually under a tree, very satisfactory.   There are 365 beaches in Antigua, we’ve done two and we are here for another 29-days, oh dear we will fall short of the total so need to return!!!!!

Because we now live in U.K. we are now not used to hot weather and by early evening we are ready to settle down but this will all stop on Saturday night; Lee and Sarah arrive to liven things up👍👍