St. John's (Antigua) - Day 6

I don't even know where to start with this day. Fro. I guess I'll just roll with it. We wanted to get an early start this morning because everything we've read (yes Kathy, on the Internet) says the earlier you go to Trunk Bay the better. The later it gets, the more crowded it gets. The plan was to just grab a taxi to the beach. As we made our way through security and the shopping area Bob found the information booth and asked a lady about a taxi to Trunk Bay. This is where the story gets good....

Daddy Long Legs made it there several seconds before I did so I didn't hear her response. I was there in time for him to turn around to me and say .... Wait for it .... Wait for it .... "This isn't St John. We can't go to Trunk Bay." Wait, "what?" Where the hell are we then? (Later in the day Jim did a very good impression of an island woman saying to Bob, "You've got the the wrong island, boy! ... But we do sell maps!") Seriously. What. The. Hell. Apparently, we were in Antigua. It's a whole nother island!! BUT, the capital of Antigua is ... yup, you guessed it ... St. John's. You just can't make this stuff up. Smh. All this time and all these stories we've told everyone about the Lobster Cruise in St John. Lies. All lies. Not intentional of course but lies nevertheless. I don't even know what to say. All we can do, have done, and will do, is laugh our silly asses off. As we boarded the shuttle to Long Bay Beach (on Antigua) Jim said, "Right church, wrong pew." Our 20 minute ride (what the lady who said we were on the wrong island told us) ended up being at least 45 minutes. It took forEVER! And we laughed all the way there. 

(Photo courtesy of Sarah Williams)

(Photo courtesy of Sarah Williams)

Ya know, it all started making sense now. When Bob and I were researching things to do in St John we kept reading (on the Internet) that ships don't dock in St John. That's why you can't take excursions from St Thomas to St John. Humph, we thought. They don't know what they're talking about. OUR cruise line docks in St John because we've been there! We've always wanted to go to Trunk Bay because the "snerkling" is supposed to be great! There's a national underwater park that you snorkel. Everything we read said you had to take a ferry from St Thomas to St John and then a taxi to the beach. Sounded very complicated. Why would you do that when you could just take a taxi from port when you docked there? Well now we know. "They" (on the Internet) were right!! Honestly, you really can't make this stuff up. All this time we've told everyone how beautiful the water in St John is. Guess what? I have no flippin' clue what the water looks like in St John!! Confession time Padre!

As we boarded the shuttle bus, Jim said "Right church, wrong pew." We laughed all the way there, the whole time at the beach, all the way back and the rest of the night. Guess we'll be doing the same tomorrow when we fill Rick and Regina in (Regina wasn't feeling good today so they stayed on board). What else can you do? Driving through town Bob spotted Gigi Plaza.

How cool! He quickly snapped a picture so we could show that to her back at the cabin. When finally got to the beach it was just ok. The water was rougher than normal and murky. There would be no snerkling today. So we rented chairs and umbrellas and settled in. You know by now someone had to pee. I swear I feel like I've spent half of this cruise in the bathroom. There was a restaurant right behind us that wasn't open yet so their rest rooms were locked up tight. We walked down the beach to see what else we could find. Found another restaurant that didn't open until noon. But we could use her rest room if we bought a drink. No problem!! The local beer here in Antigua (I'll get the hang of this new island yet) is Wadadli. Less then 9 oz and about 4% alcohol. We can drink a few of these. :) 

Leroy found us pretty quickly. Leroy had fresh bottled aloe for sale. He even brought along a huge aloe leaf for proof it was real aloe. Jim needed aloe. For his feet. They were not happy campers. So Jim told Leroy he just wanted enough for the tops of his feet. He didn't want a whole bottle. A half bottle size for $5 would be good. Jim told him they would talk at noon. Leroy was back at 11:59 with a half bottle. Then I told him I'd take a half bottle as well. Off went Leroy. He came back to take care of Jim's feet. Jim told him he would do his own feet, he just wanted enough for his feet. I have no clue what daze we all must have been in to let this scene go down without documenting it on film. Leroy put aloe Vera juice all over Jim's feet, and Jim enjoyed it, yes he did. However much he protested, we know better. 

(Photo courtesy of Sarah Williams)

(Photo courtesy of Sarah Williams)

The water was pretty cool at first but quickly warmed up after a few minutes. DE was diving for shells and found a nifty piece of driftwood to bring up. There were spots on the floor where it felt like gravel. DE would bring up a handful at the time and we'd pick through it, finding little tiny shells. Unfortunately, we arranged with our driver to pick us up at 1:00 and the time flew quickly. We were wishing we had said 2:00 or 3:00 but with no way to contact him and a whole bus of people that wasn't going to change. In the end it worked out good because we were wiped and that beer gave several of us a headache. Probably because all we had for breakfast was oatmeal. Lesson learned. The drive back was pretty uneventful until we hit town. I saw this sign that caught my attention. I could explain it but it's better if you just see for yourself. 

As I was looking at the different options my eyes stopped on one in particular. And you know I have no filter. It came right out of my mouth. Out loud. Cock soup mix. What in the hell? The British lady behind us quickly piped in with, "I'll have three!!" LOL I turned around and said, "I have one and that's enough." To which she replied,"lucky girl!" Again, you can't make this stuff up. I think one of us also threw in, "You like that?" - the Kirk Cousins saying. But wait, there's more!!! Look at the bottom of the picture. Jim's personal favorite, "Nice up yuh pot." There are no words. 

On the way back to the ship I stopped to take a few shots of the local island band playing. Nothing like island music is there?

We get back to the ship, drop off our stuff in the cabin and go find some grub. I was covered in salt so rinsed off before crawling into bed for a well deserved nap. We we're exhausted. I know. Rough life, right?

A shot of the beautiful sunset from our balcony.

Later down in Blu we were pretty obnoxious, with one liners flying left and right. There were times we were crying and choking. Yeah, I'm sure we drew some attention. We couldn't help it. Towards the end of the evening an older gentleman sitting near us said they were dying laughing just because we were laughing so much and didn't even know what we were laughing at. He also said he wanted one of whatever I was having. LOL. I know they were glad to see us finish our meal. Oh wait! I haven't even talked about the meal!! And it's worth talking about ....

We knew halibut was on the menu tonight. They usually have it once during the week. I took the advice of our server, Billy Boy (from Jamaica) and started with the summer rolls (delish), creamed white bean soup (he said best we'd ever taste) and halibut for my entree. Then I ended all of that with some kind of white chocolate something with fresh fruit and granola. I can't be hungry tomorrow, right? Tomorrow night is lobster tails.

Back in the room getting ready for bed, Bob very seriously looks at me and said, "I really don't think it's THAT funny." OMG. I lost it all over again. We didn't even know what island we were on and had made plans to go to a beach on a different island and he doesn't think it's that funny? Dude. It's funny. Thank God it wasn't an excursion through a company that was planned and merely a taxi ride. Thankful for the little things. Tomorrow we think we'll be on St Martin. I'm not sure of anything anymore.