I won't keep you waiting. I'm typing this with no broken body parts or teeth, no bruises, not even a scratch after our day's activities, and no one is more surprised about that than me.
As I alluded to last night, we had something new in store for our day in Antigua. Just yesterday, we emailed Segway Antigua about taking a tour with them. When we had been at Fort James on Antigua in November, we had seen a Segway tour going along the beach there (which I found out today is named Fort James Beach, not Runaway Beach, as I had thought. Runaway is the next beach to the north). G was instantly intrigued, but I was a little reluctant. Last winter, we had encountered a lady with her arm in a cast on the ship, who told us the damage had been done in the first port, doing a Segway Tour on Antigua.
I remembered that too well.
G, though, is not easily deterred, and remembered with fondness the few minutes he'd spent on a Segway last winter on St. Lucia. When he mentioned the Segways on Antigua again yesterday, I was more inclined to go along, and so we emailed them from the ship. I didn't get their reply email until last night, but they said they had four openings for their 9:00am tour. Without a firm reservation, we met their representative (she was on a Segway!) right outside the secured area of the port. There was still space available on the tour, so we joined a family of four from England (with two young adult sons who looked exactly like Prince Harry!) and took a short taxi ride to the Segway office, just behind Millers by the Sea on Fort James Beach.
We had to first watch a training video about what to do and what not to do (points driven home by showing a stick figure either getting rolled over by or flying over the handle of a Segway). The video was quite effective...in scaring the beejeesus out of me. Too soon I was signing the release form and "gearing up" with a helmet and elbow pads.
Honestly, Segway Antigua was as good as it gets when it comes to showing us how to operate the Segways. We first learned how to get on one, with the Segway being held by an instructor, and then how to get off (which was much tougher). Once we could do that on our own, we practiced going straight ahead and then turning right and left. On a Segway, it's all about being in control of your center of gravity. Where your center of gravity goes, so goes the Segway.
So far so good. But I ride a Harley. I know that the most important thing is to be able to do is to stop. Without falling over, if possible. Absent that ability, everything else is useless knowledge. That was our next lesson, and once stopping was semi-mastered, we moved off the smooth training course and onto the nearby terrain, which was not only pot-holed but sloped.
Immediately, I ran into trouble. Yes, I knew to push the handle forward to climb a hill, but I would intuitively lean back when I did that, and start rolling down the hill backwards. Yikes! But G was wiser...after 30 years, he knows exactly where my center of gravity is. "Your butt, J. Push your butt forward to go forward and back to stop", he yelled, so that everyone plus the pelicans heard. Gees, thanks, coach.
But it worked. That exactly did the trick, and from then on I was climbing up and down and maneuvering around ruts and onto the grass on the side of the road when a car passed. I just pushed my center of gravity in the direction I wanted to go and the rest of me, plus the Segway, followed.
While we toured, first going north to Runaway Beach, one of our guides was educating us on the history of Antigua through a megaphone while the other was taking our photos. I missed most of the history part...my brain was so busy keeping my center of gravity pointed in the right direction that my ears shut down. The photos, however, will be online in about two weeks. That's nice, because we weren't allowed to take photos while operating the Segways. Not that I could have anyway; they showed us how to use hand signals for right and left turns, but I couldn't bring myself to take my hands off the handle to use them. Besides, I figured I was in a line of 8 Segways. Those riders in front of me couldn't see me, those behind me knew exactly where I was going because everyone in front of me had already gone there, and the taxi drivers had been around long enough to know to stay the hell out of our way.
We turned back to the south and rode down to and into Fort James, where we drove the Segways across that arched, cobblestone stone bridge with no sides (fear! big fear!), then parked them for awhile and explored. Do you remember when that taxi driver warned us we might get robbed there? Well, if there were any bad guys there today, they hid when they saw this group of tourists driving these Segways willy-nilly into the walled fort. We were served water and fruit kebabs and even pieces of sugar cane, which I have always wanted to try, but mostly we stretched our legs and feet. Foot fatigue, it seems, is the most painful part of Segway riding (assuming you don't crash). And you can't lift your feet...that changes your center of gravity. So you do what is called the "Segway dance", kind of raising up a bit on the balls of your feet to flex your feet. That helps, but the feet still take the worst of it.
While we were in Fort James, a large sailboat sailed by and someone on it was yelling G's and my names. Sorry, we couldn't see exactly who it was, but whoever it was, hi back!! And I hope you had a fun sail!
Eventually, we made our way back to the Segway office at Millers by the Sea. We took a few minutes to use the wifi there, and I was able to upload the Bonaire snorkeling videos, but then, along with the family from England, we walked over to the beach and spent a couple of hours floating and sunning and generally enjoying the beautiful scenery. We've come to love that beach so much (no, it's not quite as pretty as Valley Church or Jolly Harbor Beaches, but it's the closest beach to the cruise ship pier and it's far less crowded than Dickenson Beach) that it's become our default beach on Antigua.
While I was in the water, I saw G on the beach having an extended conversation with a beach vendor selling pareos. By the time I got there, G excitedly showed me a yellow pareo with underwater sea life, two scuba divers and a map of the Caribbean on it. Well, it certainly has all my favorite things on it, and G knew that. It's essentially a giant
I remembered that too well.
G, though, is not easily deterred, and remembered with fondness the few minutes he'd spent on a Segway last winter on St. Lucia. When he mentioned the Segways on Antigua again yesterday, I was more inclined to go along, and so we emailed them from the ship. I didn't get their reply email until last night, but they said they had four openings for their 9:00am tour. Without a firm reservation, we met their representative (she was on a Segway!) right outside the secured area of the port. There was still space available on the tour, so we joined a family of four from England (with two young adult sons who looked exactly like Prince Harry!) and took a short taxi ride to the Segway office, just behind Millers by the Sea on Fort James Beach.
We had to first watch a training video about what to do and what not to do (points driven home by showing a stick figure either getting rolled over by or flying over the handle of a Segway). The video was quite effective...in scaring the beejeesus out of me. Too soon I was signing the release form and "gearing up" with a helmet and elbow pads.
Honestly, Segway Antigua was as good as it gets when it comes to showing us how to operate the Segways. We first learned how to get on one, with the Segway being held by an instructor, and then how to get off (which was much tougher). Once we could do that on our own, we practiced going straight ahead and then turning right and left. On a Segway, it's all about being in control of your center of gravity. Where your center of gravity goes, so goes the Segway.
So far so good. But I ride a Harley. I know that the most important thing is to be able to do is to stop. Without falling over, if possible. Absent that ability, everything else is useless knowledge. That was our next lesson, and once stopping was semi-mastered, we moved off the smooth training course and onto the nearby terrain, which was not only pot-holed but sloped.
Immediately, I ran into trouble. Yes, I knew to push the handle forward to climb a hill, but I would intuitively lean back when I did that, and start rolling down the hill backwards. Yikes! But G was wiser...after 30 years, he knows exactly where my center of gravity is. "Your butt, J. Push your butt forward to go forward and back to stop", he yelled, so that everyone plus the pelicans heard. Gees, thanks, coach.
But it worked. That exactly did the trick, and from then on I was climbing up and down and maneuvering around ruts and onto the grass on the side of the road when a car passed. I just pushed my center of gravity in the direction I wanted to go and the rest of me, plus the Segway, followed.
While we toured, first going north to Runaway Beach, one of our guides was educating us on the history of Antigua through a megaphone while the other was taking our photos. I missed most of the history part...my brain was so busy keeping my center of gravity pointed in the right direction that my ears shut down. The photos, however, will be online in about two weeks. That's nice, because we weren't allowed to take photos while operating the Segways. Not that I could have anyway; they showed us how to use hand signals for right and left turns, but I couldn't bring myself to take my hands off the handle to use them. Besides, I figured I was in a line of 8 Segways. Those riders in front of me couldn't see me, those behind me knew exactly where I was going because everyone in front of me had already gone there, and the taxi drivers had been around long enough to know to stay the hell out of our way.
We turned back to the south and rode down to and into Fort James, where we drove the Segways across that arched, cobblestone stone bridge with no sides (fear! big fear!), then parked them for awhile and explored. Do you remember when that taxi driver warned us we might get robbed there? Well, if there were any bad guys there today, they hid when they saw this group of tourists driving these Segways willy-nilly into the walled fort. We were served water and fruit kebabs and even pieces of sugar cane, which I have always wanted to try, but mostly we stretched our legs and feet. Foot fatigue, it seems, is the most painful part of Segway riding (assuming you don't crash). And you can't lift your feet...that changes your center of gravity. So you do what is called the "Segway dance", kind of raising up a bit on the balls of your feet to flex your feet. That helps, but the feet still take the worst of it.
While we were in Fort James, a large sailboat sailed by and someone on it was yelling G's and my names. Sorry, we couldn't see exactly who it was, but whoever it was, hi back!! And I hope you had a fun sail!
Eventually, we made our way back to the Segway office at Millers by the Sea. We took a few minutes to use the wifi there, and I was able to upload the Bonaire snorkeling videos, but then, along with the family from England, we walked over to the beach and spent a couple of hours floating and sunning and generally enjoying the beautiful scenery. We've come to love that beach so much (no, it's not quite as pretty as Valley Church or Jolly Harbor Beaches, but it's the closest beach to the cruise ship pier and it's far less crowded than Dickenson Beach) that it's become our default beach on Antigua.
While I was in the water, I saw G on the beach having an extended conversation with a beach vendor selling pareos. By the time I got there, G excitedly showed me a yellow pareo with underwater sea life, two scuba divers and a map of the Caribbean on it. Well, it certainly has all my favorite things on it, and G knew that. It's essentially a giant
map of the Caribbean, and since we're always trying to remember the placement of the islands in those arches of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, it's actually educational too. It's a multipurpose pareo! I'm not sure how nice it looks wrapped around my center of gravity, but I now own it and proudly wore it back to the ship.
Hey, I don't know these people anyway!
Near the pier, we looked for and found the lady handing out the coupons for the wheel spin at King's Casino (again...death and taxes). We each took one and went into the casino, spun the wheel and won $1 worth of nickels which we then traded for a $4 rum punch (whatever you win...deck of cards, tiny bottle of rum, etc., you can trade it in for a rum punch worth more. It's Antigua accounting!). We sat there in the air conditioned darkness and sipped our rum punches and used the casino's ssssslllloooowwww wifi. (That's when I uploaded the jet pack video). G eventually returned to the ship but I stayed behind until the video was done uploading, then joined him in the ship's buffet to get something to tide us over until Skywalkers and pre-dinner hors doerves an hour later.
Hey, I don't know these people anyway!
Near the pier, we looked for and found the lady handing out the coupons for the wheel spin at King's Casino (again...death and taxes). We each took one and went into the casino, spun the wheel and won $1 worth of nickels which we then traded for a $4 rum punch (whatever you win...deck of cards, tiny bottle of rum, etc., you can trade it in for a rum punch worth more. It's Antigua accounting!). We sat there in the air conditioned darkness and sipped our rum punches and used the casino's ssssslllloooowwww wifi. (That's when I uploaded the jet pack video). G eventually returned to the ship but I stayed behind until the video was done uploading, then joined him in the ship's buffet to get something to tide us over until Skywalkers and pre-dinner hors doerves an hour later.
Photo 1: Runaway Beach, Antigua
Photo 2: in honor of those living with snow tonight...
Photo 3: I like photos with a juxtaposition of old and new
Photos 4-6: Fort James, Antigua
