It must be the old casino – on runaway bay Antigua, the new one being kings casion in St Johns catering for the cruise ship crowd – as if they didn’t have enough of that onboard.
Still its a great overrun pace and so typical of Antigua that it deserves to be blogged at this point in time.
An update to the blog post below and accurate measure / report of the storm can be found in the Antigua Observer today
Original blog follows..I think it was tropical storm chantal and I saw a water shoot or tornado at sea on the front cover today.
A storm that plagued the islands of Barbados and St Lucia (so I was told by a local guy) missing us yesterday still brought a bit more rain and higher winds which made Dickenson Bay a bit less fun as the sand was whipping up. We still had some fun and it was cruise ship day and we got to spy on the developments for the Halcyon Rex – they are increasing the shade around the BBQ and entertainment areas (that much we can see).
Today we will swing around and skip the beach doing some shopping and enjoying other people’s AC like at woods mall. We did swap out our rental car yesterday as an upgrade as I was feeling flush for some unknown reason. We are now enjoying the extra space of the Suzuki Vitara and left the Hyundai Terios behind which grew on me but was a little small in some ways. I hope to pick up a small sim for the iphone today we shall see.
A great little eatery found in Falmouth next to Baileys mini market on the main road all in pink. A great place to bring the kids.
We took a drive out today and I wanted to get a couple of photos of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium which is most magnificent if I may say seemingly out pf place. This is now the main Antigua Cricket Stadium and also operates to accommodate the Caribbean West Indies Team home events.
I did have an interest to make it up (northern shore) to see around Jabberwock beach (what origins did that name come from I wonder) for the kitesurfing and windsurfing. Apart from a couple of parked up trailers I saw nothing of interest. I am in need of more humble beginnings into these 2 sports. So if you know who and where to go please comment. Kite Surfing in Antigua Windsurfing Antigua
After searching for this beach and spotting it from across the bay hours before I set off in search of this recommended Antigua Beach. Its popular at weekends with locals because it has facilities and a restaurant and is close by a residential area (Falmouth).
But a bit earlier I took summer out for a hike and she fell asleep on me ! We found a few goats some locals and a great little private beach area though ungroomed you might like to just go visit Pigeon Beach.
Daddy Pig and Summer.
Pigeon Beach
Pigeon Beach Falmouth Antigua
It wasn’t at all busy today I will try and run there from Banana Tree Bungalows a U shape must be 2-3 miles there.
Ok so how can you find it ? If you look at the google map it is just past the yacht club and resort, but later found another way through – take a right past Stanley’s estate agents as you drive towards Nelsons dockyards and follow the road around. You can park up and take to the hills if your energetic.
Pigeon beach looks like the snorkelling could be good.
We got a birthday cake yesterday from Jolly Harbour Supermarket and splashed out at 59 ECD roughly 15 Pounds to mark Summers 2 years on planet earth and it was supposed to be a black forrest Gateaux.It looked good certainly and at the price we expected a good one given that food generally in Antigua is great ! It was a chocolate cake with some dark cherries on top and a bit dry at that so not really a black forrest and not all that great certainly not worth 59XCD. I needed to say that for in small hope that it reaches the right ears at some point.
Well we drove up to a beach called Dickenson Bay where there is the Halcyon Cove by Rex Resorts and The Sandals resort. We had to pass through St Johns Antigua’s capital its no drama that traffic moves slow as life unfolds here and there are stories on every face. It’s a place that I find intoxicating we will see if that lasts. We found the resort to be under renovations and so the beach was almost deserted by the Warri Pier Restaurant and yet we borrowed the shade of their wooden umbrellas. It is opening the 15th July all being well. We had a nice time and Summer really enjoyed making sand castles and messing around in the gentle surf. Summer got wiped out at one point but it was more shock than choking on salt water 🙂 the water here is the most lovely shade of turquoise and the only slight annoyance is the trade wind blowing the fine sand across you (its really not an issue) and you would probably rather this wind cooling you off. Sandals seem to have these beach shades like half tent thingy’s – wonder how they are. Sandals seemed to have some guests and one of the watersports bars was open between the two resorts. Some tourist boats were around and so was the very annoying jetskis passing too close (they are very dangerous – maybe I’m boring but they kill people yearly round the world and I like free swimming they are a major pain since the riders are not experienced and are not looking for swimmers generally.)
I think its time for some photos after a fantastic afternoon and one of the first we took as relaxation.
We arrived yesterday into VC Bird International and this time we were ushered into a fast track lane so no waiting with baby in arms for over an hour, good stuff. We had no evident baggage disasters but Summer had really by this time had enough of the plane and wanted out, we all arrived a bit warmly dressed and still had to pick up the rental car. I paid for one of the guys who transport your stuff out from the carousel we really needed it this time. We had seemingly everything and the potty !
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