Antigua and a Caribbean Treat

On Tuesday morning, before most passengers were up, “Arcadia” docked in St John’s, Antigua.

It seemed like an old haunt to us as we got off the ship but we’ve only been once before. The town’s very vibrant and colourful with a lot of the older wooden shacks in various forms of romantic decay and it’s well worth spending an hour or so wandering and socialising in some of the many cafes and bars.

While we were in one of the cafe/bars we were found by a really great guy called Mangesh. He was one of our wonderful waiters on a previous cruise and, on this occasion, it became our turn to wait on him for a change! We had a great half hour enjoying his company before he returned to his duties on the ship.

The cruise terminal is very close to the town and the ships seem to overwhelm St. John’s and everything else around them.

There’s some interesting wildlife swimming around in the pale blue waters of the harbour.

After the necessary “internet time” first thing in the morning we took a taxi the short distance to rather strangely named ‘Jolly Beach’ where, …………

…… after walking up to the end (where no one else is prepared to walk to!) we had the beach to ourselves to enjoy the incredibly warm Caribbean waters (and its incredibly hot sunshine!).

Although we saw less of the island than we did last time, we still noticed that the housing stock is not that good.

As we left St John’s at 5:30 in the evening it’s incredible ……..

……. how, even mid-sized, cruise ships completely dwarf the little town.

Today, Wednesday, we arrived at tiny Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. It’s the largest of about 50 islands in the group. The islands belong to the Leewards and are wedged between Puerto Rico and the Windwards. Volcanic and hilly and very green, Tortola is a very pretty place.

We teamed up with two of our dining friends, John and Nicola, and hired a car to explore the island. It wasn’t long before we just had to stop and take photos of the first of many breath taking vistas. From almost every viewpoint you can see the many tiny islands which make up this group.

Just as we were talking about stopping for a drink we came across a lovely bar ….

……. with another stunning view to enjoy.

And, just as we restarted our journey, we saw one of the many intriguing wildlife inhabitants! While we were watching these amazing characters one of them dived from the sky in front of us, down into the water like a bullet and surfaced with a large fish - which it swallowed with great ease! 

After leaving sea level, you rise very quickly up into higher parts of the island where some people have some very nice views! The highest point is Mount Sage at 1710 feet.

In the higher regions there were a lot of air plants “growing” on their host trees. Very different from seeing them attached to rocks and for sale in the UK

The gods blessed us even more than normal today as, just as we were talking about having some lunch, this marvellous place just appeared by the side of the road. Seemingly very remote, “Sebastian's on the Beach” is, as it says, ………..

………… on the beach. And what a beach! As the surf came right up to the open front of the restaurant ………..

………. we could not have wished for a more heavenly spot to enjoy a spot of lunch with two lovely people – Nicola and John. (Oh, and that’s Doug as well!)

After lunch Doug brought our very swish $60, (all inclusive) for the day, hire car up to the restaurant  so that John didn’t have to walk so far.

We noticed that the general housing stock on Tortola was rather better than that on Antigua.

The stunning views across the water to the many surrounding islands seemed never ending as we journeyed around the island

After our fabulous trip around most of this lovely island we arrived at a viewpoint over towards the capital, Road Town, where we could see “Arcadia” in the distance. While John stayed to take advantage of the air-conditioning in the car the rest of us braved the sweltering heat of the island for a quick photo shoot.

One last surprise for us before the end of a glorious day was to come across these beauties feeding in the shallow waters of the Beef Island Channel. We were certainly blessed during today’s adventure. Well done Tortola – you came up trumps!

A Pause in the Azores ….

On Wednesday, after 3 days at sea, the Azores popped up in the middle of the Atlantic – so we stopped.

We berthed at Ponta Delgada on the largest Azorean island of Sao Miguel. The islands are very green and lush but that’s due to the regular low cloud cover and rain. During our stay, luckily, we got just the low cloud.

A tour around the island would have been pointless due to the cloud so we had a great day mooching around Ponta Delgada where ………

……. it seems that when they decided on a particular style and look of architecture

……. they stuck to it!

To the point where nearly every building is the same! Very nice though.

One building that breaks the mould is the library! (Books on the shelves inside)

Another favourite is their collection of old anchors. Anywhere there’s a space there’s an anchor!

There were also plenty of Bird of Paradise – Doug’s favourite.

It’s a lovely atmosphere in the town, with the sound of horses hooves on cobbles.

After the Azores we’ve had 5 sea days covering 400+ miles each day as we head towards the Caribbean. One great pleasure has been the 22nd wedding anniversary of our dining friends Nicola and John. After 5 courses on Friday evening we enjoyed chocolate cake with them while the waiters sang “Congratulations”!

Another great pleasure was to watch the sunrise one morning.

Just before the sun broke on the horizon the cloud edges were lined with gold.

The moment of sunrise ……

…… and then full sunshine. What a special and glorious display of one of nature’s great wonders.

There’s not a huge amount to see during thousands of miles of ocean (not that we’re complaining!) but we have sailed through huge carpets of floating algae.

We’ve also had a gull flying along with the ship for most of one day …….

…… and shoals of flying fish displaying their talent by skimming along above the water for well over 100 yards.

Our cabin air conditioning is working overtime as it keeps us cool against the outside temperature of 30 degrees and, the captain tells us, the water temperature is also the same! That’s bit hard to believe but it’s along way down to dip your toe in to find out! We’ll wait until we arrive in Antigua on Tuesday to find out for sure.

“Out” of a Boat and “Onto” a Ship

With “Chance” now safely tucked up for the winter and a week in Selsey to get things up together, we felt very much “at home” as we boarded the P&O “Arcadia” at Southampton on Saturday. Probably our favourite ship at the moment, it’s our forth time aboard and we’re off to the Caribbean and back (no flying!) - so quite a few sea days ahead!

We had a chilly sail-away party on the back deck as we left Southampton …..

….. but we soon caught up with friends Gina and David (with the same idea!), who we met on our first Caribbean voyage on “Ventura” last year.

Looking forward to all the future sunshine, we sailed down a murky Southampton Water, past the romantic Fawley oil refinery ……….

……. and on through the busy shipping area of the Solent. After two days at sea, through the English Channel and out in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, we unfortunately picked up a fishing net around one of the propellers! Just like a plastic bag around our narrow boat prop, it had a marked effect on the ship and produced a strange wobble which had to be cleared. When the captain brought the ship to stop (leaving us bobbing about the ocean like a giant cork), the ship’s engineers reversed and forwarded the props again and again – the ship shuddered and shook and a few things rattled,the prop seemed to free itself and eventually we were on our way again. A diver will be sent down when we get to the Azores to check that all is now well. We must be grateful as worse things happen at sea!

On Monday evening we had the Captain’s Cocktail party where he buys all the drinks and introduces the main representatives of his 800+ staff who look after us.

We met two lovely people at dinner on Sunday evening – Nicola and John. John is a D-day Veteran and 90 years old and we so enjoyed their company ………

……. that, with Gina and David, we’ve arranged to have the same table for all of us each evening. John, Nicola, Doug, David, Gina and James dining on Monday evening.

Mornings are spent usually enjoying a fun game of deck quoits …….

…….. and then maybe attending a talk in the superb theatre we have on board “Arcadia”.

One of the guest entertainers on this leg of the voyage has been the very talented Sue Holderness, famous for playing “Marlene” in Only Fools and Horses. Her talks have ranged from her personal memories of “Marlene”, through a fascinating lecture on John Harrison’s timepieces which had such a dramatic improvement on maritime navigation, to a very funny interview with the ship’s entertainment director John Bartram. We shall miss her when she disembarks in the Azores.

Well, life isn’t all work – there’s the occasional bit of time to relax and enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we explore the Azores.

Journey’s End (for a while!)

The last week has been similar to all the other weeks we’ve had on “Chance” in the last two months – a sort of relaxed mania!

After we’d moored up all three boats at Crick it was time to walk the 15 minutes to The Red Lion for a meal. Just as we left the boats we had the most glorious sunset – no real justice done by this pic.

Here we are: Tony, Jan, Pauline, Neil, James and Doug just before the food came. It was a great night and in the morning “Waterlily” and “Chance” left Tony and Jan behind at Crick to continue our journey to Market Harborough.

AT LAST! We got a photo of a Kingfisher! Apart from this lovely little bird that gives us so much pleasure along the canals, the pic gives an indication as to the wealth and quantity of berries which grace the hedgerows this autumn. It’s been truly splendid.

After a good old 6 hours of lockless cruising we got to Foxton Locks where, as it wasn’t busy, we had only a short wait before going down.

It’s a special feeling we get as we embark down this flight of two lots of five staircase chambers with this tremendous view from the top.

After Foxton it was a gentle run into Market Harborough where we had a lovely evening on board “Chance” with Pauline and Neil. James and Pauline skivvying in the galley ………..

…….. while Neil takes a hard earned rest! The next morning Doug caught the train to Leicester to pick up the car from the MGM boatyard and Pauline and Neil went with James on “Chance” to help him back up the Foxton locks.

On a slightly negative note, if you catch Foxton in the day time it can be quite a wait for the next ‘slot’. On our passage back up we found out why! The volunteer lock keepers do too much talking. On one occasion, after a chamber had been empty for some time we had to ask for the gates to be opened. Added to that, they didn’t fully understand the sequence of the ‘red and white’ paddle operation! This resulted in unnecessary inefficiency so no wonder we had to wait ages at the bottom. We weren’t impressed!

Anyway, at the top of the locks James said a sad farewell to Neil and Pauline and embarked on the six hours back to Crick where he met up with Doug again. Blinding, but glorious sunshine ruled the day for James!

A quick ‘overnight’ in Crick we were on our way again and soon going down the Watford lock flight – always a snug fit in it’s deep chambers!

Stopping on Thursday night in Braunston to meet up with boating friends Alison and Dave on nb “Freespirit” we were surprised by two lovely people, Roger and Liz on nb “Meander” who we’d met two years ago on the Stoke Bruerne lock flight. They had just taken over their boat and were very new to the canals. James helped Liz steer the boat through her very first lock and, two years later, Liz had just done her thousandth lock! They brought two bottle of Prosecco on board for us to help them celebrate. We weren’t going to say no!

Coming down the Braunston locks we’d met blog readers Marilyn and Dave on nb “Waka Huia” who, bringing their own lovely contributions with them, also came along to join the celebration. When Dave and Alison (nb Free Spirit) turned up we had a full house and a very impromptu party!

It’s a poor pic but we all headed to the Boat House for a meal together. Roger, (Kiwi) Dave, Doug, Alison, James, (UK) Dave, Marilyn and Liz. A great night and thanks all of you for an enjoyable last evening on “Chance”

On Friday morning we cruised out of Braunston for our last journey this year. A lovely autumn morning, great countryside, ………

…….. passing the hoards of hedgerow fruits and ………..

……… the wonderful sights of autumn with the colours becoming sensational. “Chance” is now tucked up for the winter, we’re on our way with a full car and exciting expectations of the next few months ahead.