Day 14: Antigua

We were awake early, as we had skipped seeing a show last night. I was up on Deck 19 walking by 6am, and we were in the dining room just shortly after it opened at 7am. After a quick but filling breakfast (because, in all likelihood there would be no lunch today), we were at Big Banana using wifi by 8am. It was so good to get a few things done that simply aren't do-able from the ship (uploading videos, checking home webcams, updating apps). By 9am we were on the ship packing for what we thought would be a combination beach day and exploring day. There was still one fort within sight of the ship that we hadn't yet explored- Fort James- and a stretch of beach right next to it. While it seemed close, due to the large salt ponds on that side of the island, and the lack of sidewalks, it was just beyond what we wanted to walk today.

We hired a taxi to take us over there for $10 and arranged for the driver to pick us up at 3:30pm. As we were getting out of the taxi right by the fort the driver said to us, "I have to tell you that you could be robbed while exploring the fort. Local hide in the ruins and rob tourists". Uh, okay. As we walked away, I asked G if he had paid the driver yet, and he said no. I figured that if the driver was really concerned, he would have asked to be paid for the one way ride and wouldn't be waiting until he picked us up later in the day to get paid for the round trip...because we wouldn't have any money after being robbed.

Undeterred (we're not stupid, but we are fairly intrepid), we set off to explore the completely unrestored Fort James. The view from there was amazing, and it was fun to look at the dirt road and arched bridges and cannons and imagine all the history that took place there. It was also fun to have the entire place to ourselves and explore every nook and cranny...at least those nooks and crannies that looked sturdy enough to enter.

Eventually, we walked from the fort down to the beach. I'm not exactly sure of the name of the beach (it might be called Runaway Beach.  ETA:  It's called Fort James Beach.), but there's a beach bar on one end named Millers by the Sea. We found a nice tree that provided shade at one end of the beach and spent a couple of hours playing in the warm water and gentle waves.

Eventually, we made our way along the water to the beach in front of Millers (where the taxi driver was going to pick us up) and set our tarp down again under a wooden umbrella. There is usually a $12 charge for their use, but it was almost 3pm and the beach was nearly empty and we didn't even see anyone to pay. We went back in the water and enjoyed the waves with our floats.

We returned to the ship about 4pm, and once again G snuck out to a hot tub while I cleaned up the beach gear. That's okay, it gave me full use of the cabin to wash out my swimsuit and nylon shorts and hang them up to wear again tomorrow. We were showered and in Skywalkers at 5pm for a gorgeous sailaway and sunset. By 5:45pm we were sitting down to dinner. We. Were. Starved. I could have eaten the menu, but managed to wait until I was served my largest dinner to date on the cruise: crab and artichoke dip, a salad, shrimp, my usual veggies and even dessert- red currant sorbet. Then, per our usual MO, as soon as we ate we realized how tired we were. No shows tonight; we're in bed by 8pm.

We're getting too old to have this much fun.