March 21 - St. John’s, Antigua

It’s hard to keep track of what day of the week it is, but I think it’s Tuesday and here we are in St. John’s.  I was here less than four months ago on my Thanksgiving cruise, and on that cruise it was exactly one year since my previous visit in 2021.  Things have changed since then.  In 2021 we were the only ship here and the main street was empty. Four months ago there was one other ship here. Today there are five!  I guess cruising has come back from the brink; at least I hope so.

A fellow passenger took this.  We're the little one on the far right.

I won’t bore you with a recap of the history of Antigua except to say it was discovered and named by Columbus.  It was then occupied and colonized by the British and today it’s part of the Commonwealth of Nations.

A friend and I went ashore for a little while and just browsed in the stores.  It was hot once we got away from the water so we didn’t stay very long.  I thought the shops looked like their inventory was depleted.  Maybe that’s because there are so many more tourists coming.  When we got back to the ship we had lunch outside on the stern of the ship and it was very pleasant with a fresh breeze blowing.  During the afternoon an occasional shower passed. Some other friends who were on a catamaran cruise got drenched.

Four of us “girls” had dinner and then we went out on the pool deck where the Hell’s Gate Steel Band performed for us.  They came onboard last time I was here and they were great then as they were tonight.  I posted a video clip of them that time (I don’t know how I managed that since I seem to be having a hard time doing that this cruise).  I’m trying again and I hope it works.  We were really lucky because the husband of one of my dinner companions got us a table right in front of the group. (He couldn’t join us for dinner because he had a zoom meeting.)

It’s impossible to sit still when these folks are playing and some passengers got up and started dancing, including me. I think I’ve done more exercise on this cruise than I have done in a couple of years between dancing and walking both on and off the ship.  That’s a good thing. Maybe I’ll have to start playing music at home and dance for a while every day.

We’re sailing late because we don’t have far to go tonight and the steel band people have to get off first.  I’m going to the club to dance a little more and then I’m off to bed. Tomorrow we’ll be anchored off St. Kitts and we have our beach barbecue.  Until tomorrow.