Category Archives: travel

This was our second time on Antigua, but the first time that we toured almost the entire island.  I must say that Antigua is impressively beautiful and fun to photograph.  But before we get to that, let me tell you a little cruise secret for saving money:

It’s called Cruise Critic, and you can visit it at www.cruisecritic.com.  Cruise critic is a great site where you can log on and chat with people who will be on the same upcoming cruise as you, or who have taken similar cruises to the same destinations and know all the great deals for scheduling on your own a tour once you get into port.  Frequently, one or two energetic individuals will step up and take it upon themselves to put together just such a tour at a fraction of the cost that the cruise line will charge for the same service.  Indeed, our Antigua tour was one such example put together by a nice lady by the name of Anna Skipworth, who hails from Australia.

Anna took reservations from upwards of around forty of us weeks before we ever set foot on the Star Princess for this voyage.  For  a mere $47 per person, we had a tour that started at 9:30 A.M., lasted until after 3:00 P.M., and included not only lunch and refreshments but also entry fees to Nelson’s Dockyard and other attractions.  If you want to save yourself a small fortune in tour fees, Cruise Critic is a route I can highly recommend.  You’ll also find information about your ship, its specialty restaurants, things to do, and other onboard services.

As you can see from today’s blog photographs, we had a rather extensive travel itinerary that included many intriguing vistas of Antigua, including the aforementioned dockyards, beaches, yachts, flora and fauna.  Definitely carry spare, fully charged camera batteries and empty memory cards for an excursion such as this.  I wound up taking well over a hundred photographs, and that’s just the ones I kept.  I probably deleted at least half again as many.

Indeed, Antigua64 and Antigua65 are two shots I very nearly deleted because these two young ladies kept wandering into the frame.  I hate it when that happens.  Some people are just absolutely oblivious when it comes to a photographer trying to compose a scenic shot, thinking nothing of walking right into your carefully composed frame.  Alas, in the end, I was persuaded to keep these two shots because I found the cowboy boots made an interesting and subtly contrasting statement to the rather bulky and obscuring beach attire.  I guess Nancy Sinatra was right; those boots really are made for walking.

Eric Clapton fans should take locate among these photographs Antigua22 for a view of Mr. Clapton’s Antigua estate.  The small structure on the left houses the estate’s servants.  The large two-story structure on the right is the guest cottage.  The long single story structure between those two is the estate’s primary residence.

St. Thomas will be contained in the next blog entry. And look for a review of the Star Princess’ Crown Grill restaurant, which I found to be even more impressive than the Trattoria Sabatini.  Until then, here is Antigua:

Originally, the itinerary for this cruise called for a stop in Recife after Salvador. Approximately three weeks before the cruise, however, we were advised that Recife had been dropped in favor of Fortaleza.  That’s unfortunate, because Recife grants nearby access to Olinda, which is a World Heritage Site renowned for its old colonial architecture and churches.  Fortaleza on the other hand is, well, Fortaleza.  It’s grown a lot since the last time I was here back in 1995, and that’s about the only really nice thing I can say about Fortaleza.  Indeed, my only positive memory of Fortaleza was actually from an area to the north of the city, the incredibly tall sand dunes we braved in near-vertical descents while riding in dune buggies some sixteen years ago.

Alas, there would be no dune buggies on this trip. It was raining when we arrived.  It rained while we were there.  It continued raining upon our return to the Star Princess.  In fact, the rain did not let up until just before departure, affording me a brief respite during which I used to produce a few photographs of the skyline and harbor.

During our brief yet seemingly endless stay, we visited a local market located in a former prison.  Indeed, the individual vendors’ shops were the old cells, replete with barred doors and windows.  And, yes, those prison bar doors still work.  I know, because Ursula got locked inside one shop when the owner left for a bathroom break and padlocked the cell upon her departure.  Ursula was incarcerated for probably close to twenty minutes before the screws returned with the key to her release.  Yet she was totally unaware that she’d even been locked away until I told here, as she was lost in admiring the various crafts contained within her two-story digs.  And even after she managed her daring escape, she advised me that she could have happily stayed a while longer perusing the various handmade items.

Next up is Barbados on Saturday. Until then, have a great St. Paddy’s Day and enjoy a few photographs of Fortaleza, including one shot of the prison-turned-market.