Oldies On Tour

Saturday 25th January 2025

Martin heads home later today so need to visit a different beach but still be back in time for his flight and after some debate settled on the nice beach at long bay on the east coast.   From memory, though it is on the Atlantic coast it is very well sheltered, but first breakfast. 

To set us up for the day and especially Martin, he has a long wait for his “in-flight” meal, Christine produced another fabulous full English; I don’t know how she does it bearing in mind the primitive kitchen and utensils at her disposal.

After clearing up and in Martin’s case, packing, we headed the 13-miles, 35-minute journey across the island and parked.  The first thing that caused a little concern was how we were accosted by locals trying to get us to use their beach chairs etc., followed by others telling us which bar to go to.   Our memories of this beach are of a nice quiet sandy beach with a gentle walk into the blue sea and a “not-so-good” Italian restaurant, but OMG, the world and his wife was there, it was so busy we thought we were in Benidorm!!   We walked along the path behind the beach to see if there was any reasonable space but no, even the Italian restaurant seems to have disappeared, it was end-to-end beach bars with the odd gift shop in-between.   We suspect Taxi drivers have discovered this beach and it is now a destination for the cruise ship passengers, what a shame.  Without saying anything we looked at each other and did a “U” turn, jumped into the car and re-traced our drive back.   After a short discussion we headed back to our local, Runaway beach.

After about an hour of wasted time, we eventually parked in our favourite secluded space under the trees, just behind our adopted “wonky” table that someone had moved back off the sand; cheeky!!!   We even enjoyed drinking beers whilst in the sea and it was a lovely, sunny day; typical, Martin leaves us later today!!!!

We certainly prefer this beach as no tourists, only locals and those in the know use it; this is probably due to the difficult shelf about 5-meters into the sea that causes issues when trying to get out, certainly not on the cruise ships “go-to” beach😂😂

Eventually Martin had to say his good-byes as we headed home so he could get himself ready for his 9-hour overnight flight.   We also had time for a snack before leaving to the airport.

There is a short route over the big hill behind us but terrible the fiddly streets with some of the largest potholes on the island, or the longer route through St John’s with all its traffic; our usual route.  We haven’t used the short cut since the first week we were here in 2020 so as we have time I decided we would try it; surely they have improved it by now, No, it’s still as bad as before but it gave Martin some last minute sights!!!

Dropped him off at VC Bird International Airport, (the only airport) and headed straight back and had a very quiet evening, no alcohol!!!!

Just prior to take off we heard from Martin saying good bye etc., and to inform us he had been “up-graded” to Upper Class; Luck of the devil that man has!!!!!

Friday 24th January 2025

At last we woke to a blue sky and sunshine, hopefully all this bad weather is behind us now and Martin can get in some more “tanning”, he has been unlucky with his week.

We had a delay in getting out after breakfast today as Martin had an important business conference call but as it was his last day, he had elected to return to Half Moon Beach and the “Shack”, he likes this beach,

By late morning we hit the road, 47-minutes to cover the 13-miles, what a joke, mind you if you see these roads you will understand why!!!!!

We arrived a little after 12-noon an as it was approaching lunchtime, headed straight into the Shack; history tells us service is rather slow!!!   Today the usual “lady” who seemed to run the place, takes the orders, delivers the food and finally took the money wasn’t around; perhaps her day off!!! Today we were honoured, her job was being carried out by the owner so we thought he would speed things up, on the contrary things were much worse.   Yes we got our first round of beers in and ordered our food, then our second round of beers and around 1300-hrs, the owner came over to check our order; we think he gave our order to someone else!!!  One would think our second attempt to order would be given priority, no it was at the back of the queue; 1330hrs when our food eventually came.   Though we were somewhat “hissed off” one couldn’t fault our food, an excellent fish wrap and very nice spicy fries.   We couldn’t indulge in too much to eat as we are booked to go out tonight.   

Today, with the winds being south westerly’s and where there is a lot of Atlantic turbulence, swimming off the beach was going to be “interesting”, and Christine and I tried, but failed to get through the waves where we were, so had to move to a more sheltered spot along the beach.    There were more folk on the beach than usual but no-one in the sea!!!

We found a nice spot under a couple of mangrove type trees and here we went straight in, no problem, in fact our presence encouraged a few more to venture in.   As usual the sea was refreshing under the hot, but windy sky.  After a walk along the beach to dry off we headed back to base.

We explained to Martin one doesn’t go to Papa Zouk for the elegance and ambiance of a fine restaurant, however on the other hand, the food and atmosphere is, “top draw”.  We were just trying to manage his expectations as we had “banged” on about this place.

After the usual showers and pre-dinner drinks we headed off, I think Martin was a little sceptical as we drove down this unlit narrow street and turned up into a back ally where the road was blocked by too many taxis dropping and collecting people; “good sign” says Martin.  After a few minutes and a taxi trying to do a 3-point turn with hardly enough space, why he didn’t just drive to the end of the road and stop all this confusion I don’t know!!!   We found an “unsuitable” space with two wheels in the deep drain; not to sure Martin was happy with this, but hey, drive like the locals BB&G (big balls and go)  and park like the locals!!!

Upon entry this young waitress came up to us and asked “Geoff?” How did she know, did I disgrace my self last time we were here, I think not.   Anyway after a few minutes she asked this table of four if we could join them, it was a long table with a long bench each side and a chair on the end, perfect, and perfect it was.  The four we joined were very friendly and we all had a laugh as we joined them.  I then recommended to Martin we each have one of the house special “Rum Punches”, Christine went straight into the wine!!    At this point Martin said this place was fabulous and his kind of place, good news!!   The four we were sitting with were very interesting, the lady next to me with an “outrageous” red hat, was a well known designer in the Caribbean and USA and was really outgoing, we had a laugh, and opposite her was her brother, a retired publisher who spent 3-months in Antigua, Rome, US and somewhere else I’ve forgotten.  They had their respective partners with them, a jolly party that included us and it helped they were regulars at Papa Zouk’s.  Whilst chatting they recommended a couple of other similar, local places to eat, that’s good.   

At the end of another superb meal of various dishes two that included half a lobster, it was time to go, but first we had to book a table for our last night!!!   I wonder if by then they will have forgotten my name!!!

As we were leaving Martin informed us that this was one of the best restaurants he had ever been to, he even went on to say “the best”, alternatively it may have been the rum punch and wine, not to forget the G&T earlier.

The car got us home nicely!!!!  And then the accusations came from Martin; he had the audacity to suggest I stitched him up by getting the barman to add additional rum; I didn’t, probably because I didn’t think of it😂😂, suffice to say no nightcaps tonight!!!!   We soon headed off to bed after a really nice day, again.

Thursday 23rd January 2025

We woke up full of hope and expectation of a nice day for our sailing only to have them dashed when the rains started again.  Next we got a message from our skipper offering us the opportunity to postpone our charter until Saturday when hopefully the weather would be better.  This was very kind of him but unfortunately Martin leaves on Saturday so no.   We eventually settled on a delayed start time and therefore finish an hour later as the “forecast” suggests things will improve this afternoon; we just hope Antiguan Forecasts are accurate!!

Eventually we headed off to Jolly Harbour, and arriving early, stuck our heads into the tour office as we passed and a few moments later she came running out saying we were late.   I explained we had re-scheduled and she was happy but insisted she would “escort” us to the boat.

We were looking forward to today, apart from being on the water, we had not experienced sailing on a Catamaran, quite exciting.   Very soon after we got to the pontoon our charter arrived with Captain Simon at the helm and “Tafari” his deck hand ready to help us aboard, but only after we had placed our shoes into a basket; no shoes on board.

After introductions and a discussion as to where to go followed by some refreshments, we headed down the channel to the open sea.

This man wants to buy a boat, I don’t think so!
There was quite a lot of wind today so out went the main and once we cleared the headland and headed north west, out went the jib, cut the engines and we were sailing.  It felt very strange being in a Cat, no sensation yet we were doing 8-knots!  The real point of difference was the slapping of the water against the underside of the boat between the hulls.

Our first stop was Pinching Bay where we dropped the anchor and immediately jumped into the water.   Because of the rain and wind we have been enduring these past few days, snorkelling wasn’t going to be very good so we swam about, we also had fun on the “Lilly Pad” floating off the stern.  I wish these things had been around when we had Anam Cara here in the Caribbean, they are fun.

After a time we weighed anchor and headed to Deep Bay and moored off the beach looking at the “Royalton Antigua Resort” a five* fully inclusive destination.  In fact around early 2007 I was due to fly out but the ‘plane broke down so they had to put us all up somewhere to wait for the parts to arrive the following day.  I was lucky as I was sent to this hotel where upon arrival they gave me a wrist band and it wasn’t until the following morning I released this band meant I was “fully inclusive”; what a missed opportunity!!!  The skipper also pointed out this “mansion” of “Georgio Armani” high on the hill top overlooking the Caribbean Sea; how the other half live.   Apparently if you have sufficient funds you can buy “Citizenship” for $500,000 and the government will sell you any piece of land that takes your fancy, for a price naturally: of course that’s just the start as these plots of land are on the side of a mountain and there is several months work just cutting out the mountain before a brick is laid!!!!!

Once settled in this bay, Christine and Martin jumped into the dingy to be taken back out to sea to snorkel over a wreck, I elected to stay and keep the skipper company, or annoy him!!  As they left the rains came down by the bucket, apparently with the rain at an angle and the speed of the dingy, it felt like hailstones and it was so hard it was like sailing in fog.  It wasn’t too long before they were on the way back due to poor visibility, naturally the Skipper was disappointed for them but pointed out he had no control over “God”.

Whilst they were away the Skipper fired up the bar-b-q and cooked chicken, again and as soon as they were back we sat down to eat.   As many readers will remember from our last charter, we weren’t particularly impressed with the food and we mentioned this to our favourite lady in the tour office and when we were with her booking up she rang Captain Simon “telling him” in no uncertain way to improve his food offer, well this time the chicken wasn’t tough and overcooked, it was nice and we had a green salad, no beans, a great improvement and a potato salad but unfortunately for Christine it had “muck” on it; Martin and I liked it though!!  So overall a great improvement but still not the spread one would expect when only 3-of us charter a boat at vast expense; at least on his other boat they also gave us fresh fruit, not today.   I will be having another word with our lady!!!

After lunch we headed back towards Jolly Harbour but pulled into another bay where there is a small reef close to the beach and the snorkelling is good, well on a clear day!!!  Here there is a rock formation that looks like a lady lying down, locally it’s known as the “Sleeping Mama”    Martin swam back to the boat whilst Tafari took Christine in the Dingy for a personal tour jof Hermitage Bay, just around the corner; apparently Tafari hadn’t been there and was happy for the experience.

Back on board we motored round to Jolly Harbour, said our goodbyes, left the catamaran and headed to the bar overlooking the marina before heading home.

Our day on the water was great but thanks to “God” visibility for snorkelling was virtually non-existent, but this didn’t spoil any bodies enjoyment and by the time we got back home we were all knackered and didn’t want to eat anything.   Our reflections of a cat verses a mono hull were similar; for a days enjoyment dropping the anchor etc., the extra space was great but for sailing, a mono hull every time.  

(Christine’s highlight). was having several rides in the dinghy and being shown several bays close up, my snorkeling was ok, we saw a wreck from 1906, I also learnt how to get back on a dinghy properly, and I loved sitting in the bow’s on beanbags. Both days were enjoyable but we did more on the catamaran which made it my favourite.

After a nightcap and nibbles we headed to bed, tomorrow is Martin’s last day so a visit to Papa Zouk’s is arranged  🦞🦀🦐

Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Awoke after a better night’s sleep as the bites from Monday evening had quietened down, thankfully.   Unfortunately the weather isn’t looking too good today, very cloudy, very windy and very annoyingly, heavy showers, still that won’t deter us.

After breakfast we seemed to linger about just hoping the rain would stop, and I “think” Martin would have be happy to just sit and read his book but unfortunately that doesn’t happen with the Page’s in Antigua, oh no.   Today we are taking him to Half Moon Beach in the South East; this beach is in a normally sheltered cove, but the cove also opens up to the Atlantic, so it will be interesting to see what the state of the sea is.

A lot later than planned we hit the road, Waze says this 13-mile journey will take 47-minutes; she was right of course, what with pot holes, traffic and now rain!!!

We pulled into the car park but being lunch-time and our “tums” were rumbling, we headed straight into the “Beach Bum Bar and Cafe”, known to us as the “shack” and ordered lunch.   The service today is still as slow as it was last week, still we enjoyed our choices, but as we ate the rain started again and with the wind, even tucked well under the “Shack” roof, we still got wet.   With this rain came many off the beach, including the couple from Jersey we met on Tuesday who joined us for a beer.

Today the Atlantic rollers penetrated the bay, and they rolled up the beach like we’ve never seen here before.  There was one guy out there kite-surfing, but struggling in the high wind but apart from a few walkers, most were in the Shack.

Though the rain came down hard, it soon stopped and Martin and Christine went for a walk to the rocks at the end of the beach, I stayed chatting with the couple from Jersey.  The rocks at the end were being bashed by the Atlantic rollers; quite a spectacle I was told.

 At an earlier visit I had noticed the Shack had a coffee machine, so upon Christine and Martin’s return we ordered coffees, result!!!  At this point the couple from Jersey took their leave and if by magic, we started chatting to the two ladies on the table behind us.   They told us they were “Empty Nesters” from British Columbia in Canada.   “Empty Nesters”, explain please, apparently they say this when their children have grown up and left home the parent heads to the sun, especially from Columbia in Canada at this time of the year!!!

Time to head back, as I have said before, I hate driving in the dark but this late afternoon I was also driving in the rain!!!

Our “snack” lunch turned out to be quite large so back on the verandah we settled for a roll and crisps, naturally with a G’nT before heading to bed.   Tomorrow we are sailing, we have everything crossed for decent weather.

Tuesday 21st January 2025

The alarm went off at an ungodly hour and when I ventured out there was a Martin, ready to go I thought but no, he had re-considered his planned dive.   Having had surgery not very long ago, he felt his fitness levels weren’t  quite there so for safety reasons he pulled out, and now he has to wait ‘till 0800hrs to cancel.   I on the other hand went back to bed but by then the damage was done and couldn’t get back to sleep.

After breakfast Christine and I popped to the local supermarket (again!!) as our plans had now changed, instead of driving to Jolly Harbour for diving, it was a picnic lunch on Pigeon Beach.

Arriving around lunchtime we commandeered one of their round table under a permanent roof covering we settled and had lunch. What a nice hot day, blue skies though a little windy and the odd spots of rain when a cloud came over.   After lunch we were in and out of the lovely warm sea before walking to the end of the beach to dry off.   Today there are many Egrets hanging around and one just strolled up to Martin as if he was a long lost friend!!!    We even got chatting to a couple holidaying here from Jersey; their first full day but were enjoying the weather; I wonder why!!!!

Heading back to base again we stopped at the supermarket but this time for the important things, beers and tonics!!!

After another masterpiece from this very limiting kitchen; roast chicken with top quality roast potatoes🥰🥰 we enjoyed the evening on the veranda.   Tomorrow we’re heading back to Half Moon beach

Monday 20th January 2025

This morning we headed to Jolly Harbour to “hopefully” meet up with our friendly lady in the tour office and also to reconnoitre where the dive-boat leaves from as Martin has booked a two-dive boat trip and it has an 0800hrs start time tomorrow, hence our “reconnoitre”

Again upon arrival our “friendly lady” made us most welcome and to add you “our” comfort switched on her air-con.   We were enquiring about a catamaran that takes about 20-people and does snorkelling day trips to the reef and serves lunch.  We “eventually” came out of there having agreed to charter a catamaran for just the three of us with Captain Simon, the same fellow who owns the monohull we chartered when Captain Charlotte was on the helm the previous week with Lee and Sarah.   This happened after we had explained they need to improve their food offer: Watch this space!!!  

Having been “seduced” by our friendly lady, we decided lunch at home would be more appropriate so headed back.   En-route our snack lunch had turned out to be our main meal of the day so stopped off at the local supermarket for some “bits-n-bobs” to enable Christine to cook an excellent lunch.  

In between all our activities we have been in contact with a specialist tour operator in South Africa as we are planning a visit there in December so after lunch did some more research.  We had decided to visit Runaway beach later in the afternoon and stay to watch the sun go down.

At the appropriate time we headed the beach, a one mile trip that takes at least 5-minutes!!! Again we found our special spot under the trees, next to a wooden table that has seen better days and established our “beach-head”; this is the same table we commandeered last time with Sarah and Lee but today we were brave, we moved it further onto the beach to be in the sun; a daunting task knowing how much maintenance it needs!!!  Anyway we moved it in one piece but sat on it with “caution”.

As usual the sea was excellent and the beach empty as we enjoyed several alcoholic beverages accompanied by nibbles trying to watch the sun going down, but thwarted as clouds appeared😡😡.  Have to try again another day.

It was dark when we drove back home and the usual pot-holes were harder to spot, so our 5-minute journey took 10-minutes!!!

Whilst sitting on our verandah the price of being on the beach at dusk was becoming evident, both Christine and Martin were scratching and applying “Aloe-Vera” and other creams to calm their bites, fortunately I’m on a course of B12 so was un-affected 😂😂. The thing is, we thought it was mozzies but now wonder if it was sand flies as the bites became bigger; even the extra alcohol didn’t help!!!

Off to bed later with them scratching even bigger looking bites; oh dear what sort of night will we have????  Tomorrow we have to be away at 0715hrs in time for Martin’s appointment with the dive boat which means an alarm, unheard of on our holidays