St. John's, Antigua & Barbuda

THIS POST IS OUT OF CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

FOR REASONS EXPLAINED EARLIER IN THE BLOG.

Eurodam had arrived before midnight, so when we got up at 6:30 and looked out our window, we were at the dock. 

At 8:45, we were off the ship and queued up, ready for today's six-hour tour. It would take us to the southern part of the island in an off-road vehicle. The need for such a truck seemed odd. As the trip progressed, we realized this was to ensure maximum discomfort on the island's bad roads. 

The scenery was generally interesting, including a house built to resemble a boat.

We drove by the "factory" where musical steel drums were made, as symbolized by the one nailed to the side of the building. It would have been fun to see the production taking place, but from the looks of the parking lot, Wednesday was not a workday.

Our first stop was Nelson's Dockyard. When the dockyard underwent a significant restoration in 1950, it was renamed in honor of Sir Horatio Nelson, the British naval hero.  Ironically, when Nelson was here (1784-1787), he was captain of HMS Boreas and charged with enforcing the British Navigation Act, which restricted trade in the British colonies to British ships. This made him most unpopular with the locals, who probably would only have sanctioned naming a dilapidated outhouse in his honor.

We were initially disappointed at the short time we would have at the dockyard before moving on. After a guided tour of about 15 minutes, we were given another 10 minutes before we needed to start back to the truck. 

Pam and I scampered around to take in as much as possible. In the end, we were less disappointed with our time there. While we would have liked a bit more time for boat gawking, Dockyard is more of an upscale location for super (not to be confused with mega) yachts than it is a historic site.

This picture of the picture in the visitor center shows why the harbor was so valuable to the British three centuries ago and is now a preferred destination for (mega-) yachtsmen. For the British, heavy gun emplacements on either side of the harbor's mouth discouraged enemy ships from entering it. For yachtsmen, it is a picturesque shelter from all but the worst storms.

Many of the boats are sailing yachts. A lot of them compete annually in Antigua Sailing Week. They then disperse to the Mediterranean and elsewhere for the summer season. A professional crew usually does these transits because the owners are far too busy for such mundane tasks. Sometimes, they are sent over on specially designed cargo ships that can submerge enough for the yachts to be driven on and off.

One of the interesting facts we learned while there was that careening a ship to clean its bottom could take up to six months. Elsewhere, the process took about 2-3 weeks. The difference was that here, the workers were paid in liquor. The choice was a quart of rum or a gallon of beer...every day.  The work took so long because the workers were constantly drunk.

Leaving Nelson's Dockyard, we passed an outboard mechanic for those with more modest boats whose work might be questionable but is done at highly reasonable rates.

Our next two stops - Shirley Heights and Sugar Loaf Hill - were remnants of the gun batteries that overlooked the mouth of the harbor. They provided great views.  

another shadowed face

shot - for better or worse

Those who appreciate the placement of heavy artillery will understand how well the harbor was protected. In addition to the accuracy that could be gained by calibrating the guns so that where the cannonball would hit was predictable, the fact that the ball would be dropping downward on the enemy ship made the strike particularly lethal. 

The sites we visited were only two batteries on this part of the island. In combination, this created a fortress capable of overlapping fire, so there was no way for an enemy ship to wiggle through holes between the range of the cannons.

Back aboard the truck and rolling along, we watched the countryside pass by. 

At one point, we turned off an adequate road to further misalign every bone in our body on a terrible one. My mapping app indicated this was for no good purpose in reaching our next destination, so it must have been part of our 4-wheeling adventure. 

Back on a good road, we descended towards the island's southwest coast on Fig Tree Drive. It was a lush landscape because of the rain it got due to the prevailing wind.  

Our final stop was for lunch and beach time at Turner's Beach. Pam took advantage of the beach. I should have. A local at the restaurant tried to engage me about the US military posture worldwide and how everyone should love their fellow man. Aware that several other locals were watching with amusement, I courteously disengaged from the conversation, which I realized was probably religious proselytizing on his part. My audience seemed pleased that I had not disrespected him. I would have been pleased if they had helped get me off the hook, especially since one of them was our tour guide.

When our tour ended, it was time for us to return aboard.

The harbor was shallow enough that we kicked up a lot of bottom sediment while backing away from the pier and turning around.

The ship moved straight into the Caribbean for some time before turning south. What a surprise! When we made the turn, we were far enough to open the onboard casino and shops, both big revenue earners for the cruise line.