Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda

Today was the last port of this short cruise. We were in Antigua and had morning diving plans. We arrived on time…at a pier that we were told was newly revamped and we were the first boat to use it. Unfortunately, the crew on shore found it quite challenging to line up the gangways with the open doors on the boat. Really. This delayed disembarkment enough that we missed our dive boat. Fortunately, the dive shop accommodated us and took us to a beach to meet up with the dive boat for the 2nd dive. We were quite appreciative, but it did involve us “wading” through water that nearly covered my face. We got to the boat…with water-logged clothes, wallet, and towels. We *did* get to dive though, so it was worth it.

We dove a reef called Coral Alley. It has fingers of coral reef interspersed with fingers of sand. We had multiple shark sightings: black tipped reef sharks and a small nurse shark. The reef sharks (most likely 2 that we saw repeatedly) kept their distance. We also saw a good sized stingray and a huge spiny lobster. It was a nice dive and I’m glad we were able to make it. From the dive boat we were able to see multiple other nearby islands including Montserrat. There were clouds around it blocking a clear view, but we were told that it was erupting ash yesterday.

Overall, based on our brief visit, I would come back here for diving. We did have to sit through a lot of traffic to get from the boat to the dive shop. Not sure I’d want to actually stay on the island.

The next 2 days are at sea, so there may not be anything for me to write about.