Day 4 Antigua

Dinner last night at the Epicurean was outstanding, definitely the best meal we’ve had on P&O and we have had plenty of extremely good ones. The restaurant was surprisingly large and last night it was surprisingly empty. A few people were there but it was far from full. However the Maitre d said that was pretty common early on in a cruise and that it gets busier as people become more familiar with the ship and other restaurants. Steve had lamb and I had Iberian pork (😂) but it was totally different and very tasty. After dinner we went to the Crows Nest which is immediately next door, for a nightcap. But I couldn’t face anything as I was so tired. So Steve had a drink and we listened to a lovely lady singer but sadly I kept falling asleep, so an earlyish night at 10.00 ready for our day today.

Which was a Circumnavigation of Antigua with snorkel and lunch. This was the trip we were most concerned about, imagining it could be a jam packed noisy party boat. We need not have worried it was a fabulous day, possibly even better than yesterday. The boat was indeed a large motorised catamaran but joy of joys, it wasn’t very full and most people were around our age. We sped along the western coast with Caribbean music interspersed with a commentary as we passed areas of interest and we were served soft drinks. When we rounded the headland onto the eastern side we were warned that the wind would pick up and the seas become rougher, which they sure did!  We were bounced around as we blasted down the coast which of course Steve and I loved - we were in our element. Conditions calmed after about 20 mins and we headed to Green Island to snorkel. There were only two boats there whilst we were so not at all busy. Not everyone wanted to snorkel on our boat so not a big group - great again. It was a guided snorkel which was good as we were near a reef which we didn’t want to damage and they knew where the fish would be. We had a very brief glimpse of a turtle but sadly the water was very cloudy so we could see very little. We saw a few fish but nothing like what we saw the last time we were in the Caribbean. However we both enjoyed it as the water was lovely and it was just nice to be swimming here.

After the snorkel we went back on board for a simple but really delicious lunch - rice and salad with a fresh water fish (unfortunately didn’t catch the name) and perhaps the best chicken we’ve ever eaten, both texture and taste!

We then had some free time on the beach. I had another swim, and then we set off for home which was another lovely journey around the southern end of the island and back the western coast to St John’s with a detour along the way into Falmouth Harbour. Some of the most expensive yachts and dinghies are moored here and we did a slow nose round them all. But Steve and I liked one of the lovely sleek yachts best.

I stopped for 5 minutes in the harbour side duty free shop and picked up a pretty little necklace and earrings. Then back to the boat to collapse. We are undecided about dinner tonight but are also very chilled so will choose later.