Antigua and Barbuda....

Our last stop of the island hopping cruise, Antigua and Barbuda. To be honest more of the same. 8 islands in 8 days you start to get 'Island Leg' ... how ungrateful am I😂. Although it does look a lot flatter and therefore less lush. Also when you get into the town it's much more modern, less ramshackle and its very clean. I'm presuming this is because it's been hit by tsunamis, hurricanes or earthquakes in the more recent past, so theres been a lot of rebuilding. There is the usual run through of duty-free shops none of which were selling banana ketchup. In fact there were more 'upmarket' clothes shops then anything else.

We walked up through town to the cathedral, but we decided not to bother going in as it was probably just as grand outside. Actually it looked A bit desolate, uncared for and run down. We did think perhaps if we'd paid to go in the money would go towards doing it up but it looked like it needed a lot of doing up. Quite an interesting building though.

We wandered around the streets and had a beer in a local cafe. We had a nosey in a lot of fabric shops but the array of fantastic colourful batik and printed fabric on offer was just over whelming... and really, do I need more fabric?   

We just headed back to the ship. We both agreed we might have done more trips if we'd have realised how similar and uninspiring most of the local ports we're going to be. But the end of the day this break has fulfilled its brief - 28 days away from the UK's cold and wet weather - Glorious sunshine on tap, Interesting places to visit, and lots of being looked after... and of course a lot of people entertained by Dr Fred... hes had quite a few requests for follow up information and the Go stargazing site should see an uptake in traffic and possibly binocular sales... sadly I think its like the rum punch - not quite so good once back on home territory... anyway we're not complaining.  

This a popular port, there are 5 huge cruise ships currently berthed. We watched 3 of the five sail majestically over the horizon in the early evening. The P&O one was enormous... it slid out from behind another and just kept going and going and going... It had to turn before it could sail into the sunset and it was surprisingly elegant executing a perfect stately swivel mid harbour.

There is something quite fascinating about these huge floating hotels that make our small but (almost) perfect ship look like b&b's🤣🤣. I know where I would rather be... (by the morning the 4th had left and a new 4 had berthed - all enormous apart from the 'Ambition' which might even been smaller than ours).

The evening entertainment was a local dance and drumming group from the island. I enjoyed the show - the dancers were good and very enthusiastic. It was carnival time lots of booty shaking and gloriously colourful costumes showcasing some good dancing. The drumming was great and no Bob Marley🤣🤣. Dr Fred wasn't as taken as me... I think its another addition to 'the things my partner has dragged me to' ..... but he did say it was better than the hula hooping native red indians!!!