Summit Southern Caribbean Cruise - Part 3

Antigua

Ugh, I couldn’t sleep! I finally gave up at 5:30 and walked down to the coffee shop for a cup of hot tea, then went up on deck to watch the sun rise as we pulled into port. Sometimes it’s not so bad to be up early. You get to see some pretty sunrises.

Our tour for the day was See Antigua by Sea, a boat ride that circled the entire island with a two-hour stop at Green Island for lunch and snorkeling. It seemed like the kind of tour that people either loved or hated. I figured that Ron would love it (a day on a boat is always a good day for him), but I wasn’t so sure about me. I’d read that there was a portion of the ride that was very rough, and I tend to get seasick. But I’d brought Bonine, so I was prepared. :-)

Our tour boat, an 80-foot catamaran, was docked next to Summit at the port. When we walked over, I was surprised to see that there were already quite a few people onboard. It turned out that the crew had just picked up a group of 40 from the Jolly Harbor Resort. Fortunately, it was a big boat so there was plenty of room for all. Ron and I found a couple of seats on the starboard side so we’d have good views of the coastline.

We motored out of the harbor and passed Fort James and Runaway Bay, making a quick stop to pick up a few more passengers from Sandals Grande Antigua. Hi, Sandals! Then we were out into the open water. Like in St Thomas, one of the crew members pointed out various sights as we went along. But unlike in St Thomas, we couldn’t hear a word he said over the speakers! He sounded like the adults in a Charlie Brown movie. I could only guess at what we were seeing based on our previous trips to Antigua, which was kind of frustrating.

Once we rounded the north side of the island and entered the Atlantic, the crew told us that this would be a good time to make our way into the covered part of the boat because it was about to get wet. I quickly found a spot inside. Soon the boat was launching over the waves, water crashing over the bow. I could hear everyone above yelling with each wave. Even under cover, we were getting hit by the spray. A couple of people decided too late that being on the bow was a bad choice, and the crew had to help them inside. As one poor woman came in completely drenched, she said, “You didn’t warn me about this part!” You have now been warned. When the crew says you might want to move inside, move! :-)  I actually thought this part of the ride was fun, but…I was very glad that I wasn’t out on the bow and that I’d taken my Bonine.

After about 20 minutes, the seas calmed down and before long we were pulling into a pretty cove on Green Island, just off the east coast of Antigua. There were a couple of sailboats anchored in the cove, but other than that we had the place to ourselves. While most of the group geared up for the guided snorkeling, Ron and I took a walk around the beach. I have no idea why we’d bothered bringing our masks and snorkels this trip. Snorkeling seemed like too much work. :-)  Once everyone was back from snorkeling, the crew set out a delicious lunch of barbecued chicken, fish, rice and beans, and salad. There was also an open bar with beer and rum punch.

Green Island

On the ride back to St John’s, we passed the Pillars of Hercules at the entrance to English Harbor and miles of cliffs dotted with beautiful resorts. The views slowly changed from rocky coastline to white sand beaches with turquoise water. It was a fun day, but I wished we’d been able to hear more of the crew’s commentary about the island like we had in St Thomas. To me that made the difference between a good tour and a great one.

Pillars of Hercules

When we got back to the ship, I sat out on our balcony and read while Ron took a two-hour nap. I finally had to wake him up so we could get ready for dinner. We said our goodbyes to Jaime and ate one last plate of escargot. Then it was time to pack our bags for the trip home.

San Juan

Since our flight back to Tampa wasn’t until 4:15, we decided to spend a few hours walking around Old San Juan before heading to the airport. I’d found out before the trip that there was a restaurant called Barrachina that would hold our luggage for free while we explored. Barrachina was also the birthplace of the famous pina colada. Bonus! Unfortunately, we woke up to discover that our perfect weather had given way to drizzling rain. I hate walking around in the rain. :-(  But there was no way we could get off the ship in time to catch an earlier flight, so we would have to make the best of it.

Debarkation was quick and painless, and we were soon in a cab on the way to Old San Juan. We ended up back-tracking a couple of times because our driver wasn’t familiar with the one-way streets, but eventually we made it to the restaurant, where a man stored our luggage in a back room and gave us a nice walking map of the city. Just down the street from Barrachina was the Paseo de Sombrillas (“Umbrella Walk”), an exhibition of colorful umbrellas installed by the Governor of Puerto Rico to represent the joy and perseverance of the Puerto Rican people. What a neat idea. I just wished we didn’t need real umbrellas!

Paseo de Sombrillas

From the restaurant, we were almost equidistant from Old San Juan’s two forts – El Morro and San Cristobal. I had thought we would visit San Cristobal since we had been to El Morro on a previous stop in San Juan. But the rain looked worse in that direction, so El Morro it was. We spent about an hour wandering around the fort and peering through the windows of the sentry boxes, or garitas. The paint on the El Morro Lighthouse had been stripped away by Hurricane Maria, but the lighthouse was still standing strong.

El Morro Fort

gato in the gift shop

El Morro Lighthouse

At 11:30, we decided we’d better start making our way back to the restaurant. We wound down the steep, blue cobblestone streets, taking a detour through the old San Juan Gate and then walking down the Paseo de la Princesa.  We hadn’t seen this part of the city before, so I was glad we’d made the detour, although we were both getting footsore by then. We’d been thinking about airports, not cobblestones, when we’d chosen our footwear that morning. :-)

blue cobblestones

Paseo de la Princesa

Raices fountain

We had lunch sitting at the courtyard bar at Barrachina. Of course, I had to try a pina colada, even though it’s not a drink I normally order. Our bartender, Gorge, told us that they serve 2200 pina coladas a day! Barrachina's pina colada was made with Bacardi Black rum and was very good, but I think I’ll stick with mojitos in the future. :-)

Barrachina

Too soon it was time to retrieve our luggage and catch a taxi to the airport. It was a wonderful cruise, one of my all-time favorites. After we got home, I filled out the online survey from Celebrity and told them that I would take a 4-day Southern Caribbean cruise every year if they offered them. I loved waking up to a new port each morning. I loved all the islands, especially St Kitts. I think we might be planning another trip to the Southern Caribbean before long.