bahamas – 2 J's World of Adventure

You might well ask what happened to Day 9, 10, 11 & 12…..Well!!!! ….Day 9 we were in St Thomas, it was crazy hot making you feel as if you’re skin was being dried to your bones or in my case I felt as if I was “deep fat frying”🤣🤣. We had been going to walk to the gondola and go up to the view point. It was sooooo hot we decided to just walk to an atm and get some money. We had spent quite a bit of cash because all our tours had been paid to local drivers in cash. The atm at St Thomas is in Mall 6&7 of the port shops, inside a nail bar… having both drawn enough cash to see us through the rest of our holiday we headed back to the air conditioning of our cabin…only as we went back through port security did we spy an atm machine at the security point 🤣🤣…

Day 10 we headed to one of my favourite islands Grand Turk. I love the wild donkeys….they’ve learnt to drink water out of your bottle and not spill a drop. I also like the fact that they provide free sunloungers and parasols to encourage tourists to come off the ship on to the island. However it was not to be this time. The sky was gray and it was raining on and off, we were definitely “rocking and rolling” . The captain and the port authorities decided it was not safe to try to dock so on we went.

Day 11 was at Sea – we played cards, took part in some quizzes, ate a nice meal and woke up on Day 12 in Fort Lauderdale. It was turn around day for us and disembarkation and embarkation for others. We complied with the bureaucracy of walking off the ship showing our passports to immigration and walking back on again…this process took 2 hours…we soon back at ‘our’ table playing cards and directing newbies towards the buffet…. I am beginning to wonder if all Americans have a phobia of starving to death so they have to carry food with them at all times, and don’t like to be more than a few strides away from their next meal…..this is the first caribbean cruise we’ve noticed this total obsession with food…..I think I am loosing weight just watching them eat 🤣🤣😢

Day 13 we woke up to blue sky and high temperatures…yeah!! After breakfast with Ernesto we went to the priority tender seating area…not quite certain which part of it is priority as we waited quite a while….seems a bit like their complimentary photo session…..no different from anyone else !!!!! Eventually we tendered to Princess Cays……I love this place….blue sea, sun-loungers…and not least of all this is where John proposed to me, in the sea some 11 years ago….We swam, sunbathed…..my mother would have been proud of me because it was so hot on the sun-lounger I put the waist of my shorts around my head to protect my ears, neck and top of my arm….it was a typical ‘Mum’ thing to do…John said at least it wasn’t my knickers !!!! After a second swim, we headed back to the tenders and back to the ship. 3 hours is about as long as we could stand the heat and most of that time we were in the water cooling off….but it was still long enough for me to do a good impersonation of a lobster…do so hope that when we get home to England I won’t be mistaken as Rudolph 🤣🤣 Great day…thanks Princess Cays you never fail to deliver a happy time.

Antigua

The Caribbean island of Antigua is one of the Leeward Islands and, together with the neighbouring island of Barbuda, is home to around 100,000 people. Its capital, St. John’s, on the northwest corner of the island, has a deep harbour and is a popular calling point for cruise ships. It has wonderful beaches – and there are said to be 365 of them, one for each day of the year, making it one of the area’s most popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean.
Having said that a lot of the American cruise ships don’t go there, it’s quite ‘British’ and the Americans tend to prefer to cruise to their own islands. We visited on a cruise in 2023.

It was Jenny’s first time visiting Antigua, where as I had been several times many, many years ago. Jenny was ultra excited. We’ve cruised the Caribbean many times and this is only the second time Antigua had been on our itinerary. On the previous occasion it was dropped from the itinerary due to the ship having engine trouble, Jenny had been very disappointed. So on this occasion we were fortunate to be able to sightsee the island. Strangely enough it’s on our itinerary again when we visit later this year..a Celebratory Cruise for our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

Since 1981, Antigua and Barbuda has been an independent state, although it remains within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Not surprisingly, the island has produced many fine cricketers representing the West Indies including Curtly Ambrose, whose mother used to ring a bell at her front door every time her son took a wicket! For me, though, he is eclipsed (just) by one of my alltime boyhood heroes, Sir Vivian Richards.

To the southeast of the island is English Harbour, home to the UNESCO site now referred to as Nelson’s Dockyard in recognition of Lord Hortaio Nelson’s time here as Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands.

The dockyard is a popular attraction today, having been carefully restored and preserved reflecting life here 250 years ago. It is one of the deepest, protected harbours in the Eastern Caribbean Sea.

A popular view point is Shirley Heights. From here you get magnificent views of the beautiful surrounding area.