A MILLION DOLLAR DAY IN ANTIGUA

A MILLION DOLLAR DAY IN ANTIGUA

Norma says that this was the most perfect day of her life - certainly, the best shore excursion we have ever been on. We began by walking to a mini-bus for a half hour ride to the other side of the island of Antigua with explanations from the driver about the island. We arrived and walked down to the water via a beautiful garden full of birdsong to a floating, rubberized dock that tested our balance and sea legs. We climbed into boats to go across the most beautiful turquoise waters to an island where we disembarked onto another floating, rubberized dock. We were given a brief lesson on kayaking and we were off! Norma and I were like an old married couple as we squabbled about what direction to go, was I paddling at the same rhythm as her, on the same side as her, and why couldn't I figure out how to use the paddle as a rudder. We managed to keep up to everyone until the end when we were getting tired and the wind came up. One of the power boats came to tow us back to the dock where all the other kayakers were disembarking. There was another couple in difficulty as well but the man insisted that he was going to make it on his own. The guide wasn't pleased. After floundering around and not getting anywhere, he reluctantly agreed to be towed telling the guide that kayaking was his favourite sport and how good he was at it. I haven't seen such a display of male ego in a very long time. The disembarking procedure was interesting as we both had to leap out of the kayak into the water at the same time to avoid an ignominious plunge into the water. We accomplished this but watched a woman dump her husband into the water. I don't think he was too pleased. Did I mention how soaked one gets kayaking? Norma's paddles continuously splashed me as did my own so we were both soaked to the skin. Good thing it was warm.
From there, we had a fast race across the water to Bird Island. I couldn't keep my bum on the seat as the ride was very bumpy and spine jarring. At Bird Island, we had a short steep climb to the top of the island to enjoy the views of the scenery and red-billed tropicbirds, brown pelicans and their chicks, and frigate birds. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the colours of the water. It ranged from light turquoise to a deep purple and every shade in between - spectacular. After we got back to the beach, two boats took everyone snorkelling except for the two of us and one other couple. The guide of our boat said he'd take us on a short hike to the other side so we had a choice of beaches. He took us to the most beautiful beach. We immediately got into the water. It was so buoyant that it took no effort to float. Even though we were wearing our sandals (because of sea urchins) our feet still bobbed up and we were the only ones in the water. We had this wonderful swim by ourselves for almost an hour. We felt like millionaires. We stayed in the water for an hour while everyone else snorkelled. Then another fantastic run across the water to that beautiful garden where we were served a rum punch, banana bread, fresh coconut and plantain chips. I saw bananaquits and a Lesser Antilles Bullfinch (a lifer) and a Zenaida Dove.
Then it was back to the boat for a quick shower and trivia - another terrible performance. We have washed all the clothes we had on as they were all soaked by the salt water and we need to wear them on our long hike tomorrow in Puerto Rico. We are looking forward to dinner tonight as we are hungry from all of our exertions.